Days
Of Plunder
By Zainab Bahrani
31 August, 2004
The Guardian
The
destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban was met with an outcry
in the United States, Britain and the countries that form the coalition
in Iraq. Yet the coalition forces can now claim, among other things,
the destruction of the legendary city of Babylon.
Ironically, the
bombing campaign of 2003 had not damaged archeological sites. It was
only in the aftermath, during the occupation, that the most extensive
cultural destruction took place. At first there was the looting of the
museums under the watch of coalition troops, but that was to be followed
by more extensive and active destruction.
Active damage of
the historical record is ongoing at several archeological sites occupied
as military camps. At Babylon, I have seen the continuing construction
projects, the removal of and digging into the ancient mounds over the
past three months, despite a coalition press release early in June stating
that work would halt, and the camp would be removed.
A helicopter landing
zone, built in the heart of the ancient city, removed layers of archeological
earth from the site. The daily flights of the helicopters rattle the
ancient walls and the winds created by their rotors blast sand against
the fragile bricks. When my colleague at the site, Maryam Moussa, and
I asked military personnel in charge that the helipad be shut down,
the response was that it had to remain open for security reasons, for
the safety of the troops.
Between May and
August, the wall of the Temple of Nabu and the roof of the Temple of
Ninmah, both sixth century BC, collapsed as a result of the movement
of helicopters. Nearby, heavy machines and vehicles stand parked on
the remains of a Greek theatre from the era of Alexander of Macedon.
The minister of culture has asked for the removal of military bases
from all archeological sites, but none has yet been relocated.
Iraq is ancient
Mesopotamia, otherwise called the "cradle of civilisation".
It has more than 10,000 listed archeological sites, as well as hundreds
of medieval and Ottoman Muslim, Christian and Jewish monuments. The
coalition did not establish a means of guarding the sites, though they
would be protected in any other country rich in antiquities. As a result,
archeological sites are being looted to an extent previously unimagined.
The looting supplies
the appetites of an international illicit trade in antiquities, and
many objects end up in places like Geneva, London, Tokyo and New York.
The lack of border controls has only added to the ease with which the
illegal trade in Mesopotamian artefacts functions. The looting leaves
the sites bulldozed and pitted with robber holes. Ancient walls, artefacts,
scientific data are all destroyed in the process.
But it is not only
the stolen artefacts that are lost. The loss of this data is the loss
of the ancient history of this land. Many important Sumerian and Babylonian
cities have been irreversibly damaged in this way already. Passive destruction
of this kind has been widespread under the occupation, but antiquity
is not the only area of concern.
In Baghdad, the
National Library and State Archives building is a burned-out shell in
which the employees work in the most horrendous conditions. The Ottoman
archive that records the history of the country, spanning the 16th to
the early 20th centuries, is in the gravest danger. Having been soaked
by flooding last year, the archive began to mould. Upon the advice of
conservators, the entire archive was removed to freezers to stop the
mould.
Because of the lack
of electricity and equipment, the only place that could be found with
large freezers, and where power could be maintained, was an abandoned
and bombed building that had previously been a Ba'athist officers' club.
In Iraq, where it is not unusual for temperatures to soar up to 60C
(140F) in summer, and where the Coalition Provisional Authority never
managed to restore the electrical power to the country, this was no
small feat.
The power in Baghdad
(outside the US-occupied presidential palace and embassy buildings)
is available, sporadically, about nine hours a day. If the archives
should thaw, the documents will be destroyed. The conservation process
needs to be done in a time- and climate-controlled manner if the archive
is to be saved. But the Coalition Provisional Authority reassigned ownership
of this building to the ministry of justice. There is now still no place
to move this archive to, the loss of which would be the loss of the
modern historical records of Iraq, much of which has not been studied
or published.
In the midst of
the disasters of Iraq under occupation, the condition of its cultural
heritage may seem a trivial matter. But, as a historian of antiquity,
I am painfully aware that there is no parallel for the amount of historical
destruction that has taken place over the past 15 months in Iraq. The
Geneva and Hague conventions make the protection of heritage the responsibility
of the foreign powers during occupation. Instead, what we have seen
under the occupation is a general policy of neglect and even an active
destruction of the historical and archeological record of the land.
Zainab
Bahrani is professor of ancient near eastern art history and
archaeology, Columbia University