Birthplace of Civilization at Risk in New Gulf War
March 10, 2003 -- As a famous general once said, war is hell and if it's staged in Iraq — the land where advanced cultures first flourished — archaeologists fear it could also wreak havoc on history.
"Ancient Iraq was the cradle of civilization," explains Elizabeth Stone, an archaeologist at State University of New York at Stony Brook. "They had the first writing, the first urbanization, the first poetry, the first everything."
Stone and other scientists acknowledge there are certainly more vital concerns than ancient temples, stone tablets and other artifacts should a war begin in Iraq. But they fear much of the history housed in the region — history that has already been battered and depleted following the previous Gulf War — will be lost through bombs, tanks and looting.
"I think the military is being as sensitive as possible," said McGuire Gibson, an expert in Mesopotamian archaeology at the University of Chicago who recently met with U.S. defense officials to inform them of vulnerable archaeological sites in Iraq. "But war is war and modern warfare has become a tremendously destructive thing. It doesn't even take a direct hit — damage can be done just by the concussion of a bomb."
The problem is in Iraq, an ancient ruin is hard to miss.
Chock-Full of Culture
Six thousand years ago, the region now known as Iraq was Mesopotamia, a civilization which rose along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The region was home to rich cultures that operated under democratic-like systems, shared written literature and poetry, built armies and temples and fostered the invention of modern plows, irrigation and sanitation systems.
Archaeologists figure nearly every acre in Iraq contains archaeological remains. More than 10,000 sites have been identified in the country — ranging in size from a small city to a small backyard — and many more. Some estimate at least half a million sites have not yet been discovered.
"I'm most worried about the sites I've never seen," says John Malcolm Russell, a specialist in Iraqi antiquities at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. "These are the sites that excavations will reveal completely unknown things."
Among the known sites, the list is already extraordinary.
Giant Arches, Royal Cemeteries, Ancient Texts
There is the site of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon — famed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The gardens, which represented the first effort to integrate greenery, irrigation and architecture, were among the crowning achievements of the ancient Babylonian empire.
Excavations at Erbil in the north have revealed traces of a town dating to 7000 B.C. There is the 100-foot-high Arch of Ctesiphon, the ancient world's largest arch, which dates to the second century B.C. The ancient Assyrian capital, Nineveh, is believed to contain the tomb of Jonah and the ancient city of Ur in southern Iraq contains a famous temple and a third millennium B.C. royal cemetery.
Baghdad, itself, hosts the Iraq Museum where some of the most prized collections of ancient and Islamic art are held. And ancient stone tablets known as cuneiforms are scattered throughout the region and represent the first known examples of written records. They reveal intimate details about life in ancient Mesopotamia, including marriage and divorce proceedings and tips on when to garden.
Many of these stone tablets haven't even been translated.
"We just haven't gotten to them yet," said Stone. "Only a handful of people can read them."
Damage Already Done
Some sites already sustained damage during the 1991 Gulf War.
At least 400 shells struck the 4,000-year-old temple monument in Ur and ripped chunks from it. The arch at Ctesiphon was shaken and suffered indirect damage. And at least one site, known as Tell el-Lahm, was bulldozed and looted.
In fact, it's looting that remains the biggest concern of most archaeologists. Russell says that since the 1991 Gulf War thousands of ancient artifacts from Iraq have entered the black market. He fears a chaotic period following another war in the Persian Gulf could worsen the problem.
"All you have to do is be willing to buy stuff — and there are plenty who are willing — and you're encouraging looting," he said.
John Hillen, a former U.S. Army captain who served in the 1991 Gulf War, said the military took efforts to preserve archaeological sites. He said his unit was charged with guarding an ancient temple at the site of Babylon in southern Iraq after the bombing had finished.
This time around, there are signs the military plans to be as careful as possible.
Military to Try and Avoid Damage
Defense officials at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., affirmed the military would be keeping ancient sites in mind if bombing begins.
"Whenever we do targeting, that's always a concern," said Lt. Commander Nick Balice.
Gibson of the University of Chicago was among a group of people who met with defense officials in January and presented a list of 4,000 sites that could be in peril should bombing begin. But he is doubtful damage can be avoided.
"We made the point that these 4,000 sites are only a tiny fraction of the sites in Iraq," he said. "Any hill in southern Iraq is a manmade feature. Even in the north, many of the hills you see are ancient sites."
Patty Gerstenblith, legal adviser to the Archaeological Institute of America and a law professor at the DePaul University in Chicago, has also been involved in alerting defense officials to sites in Iraq. She points out that the State Department was reportedly adding a panel on antiquities to working groups studying the future of Iraq. But, she says, there's no sign that panel has been appointed yet.
"It seems like they're more responsive to the conduct of the war itself than to post-war planning," she said, adding that if the United States and allies take action in Iraq, their responsibility for antiquities after the war is likely to be much more extensive than after the previous war due to a possible regime change.
"Humanitarian relief planning has to come first," she said, "but history is at stake and this should be a close second."