THE HANDSTAND

JULY 2003

Coverup Of US Role In
Iraq Antiquities Looting
The stories created the misleading impression that the looting was significant simply because so many objects were missing, or that the chief interest of such pieces as the missing Warka Head or the ivories from Nimrud resides solely in their beauty or the fabulous prices that they might bring on the art market. Later stories--reporting the good news that the number of stolen objects was fewer than first estimated, and that some items had been voluntarily returned--unfortunately encouraged the public to relax their heightened sense of concern. In fact, it will take many more months, perhaps years, before an accurate count of precisely what is missing can be made or for vandalized artifacts to be restored. Similarly, when lists of the ten or twenty "most valuable missing treasures" are published, one loses sight of the thousands of less glamorous and less easily recognized artifacts that record for us, through writing or archaeological context, their place in the day-to-day life of the citizens of ancient Mesopotamia.(Jane C. Waldbaum)

Looting of archaeological sites and regional museums is continuing in Iraq despite the responsibility under international law of the US as the occupying power to protect cultural sites.

 

The journal Archaeology is documenting the extent of looting. Journalist Roger Atwood, who specialises in the antiquities trade and is in Mosul, reports that 30 bronze panels that once hung on a gate leading into the Assyrian city of Balawat have been stolen from the museum there along with numerous cuneiform tablets and 20 valuable books. At Hatra, a first century B.C. world heritage site to the south of Mosul, looters have hacked out a carved face from the apex of a stone archway.

 

Meanwhile in Baghdad some of the artefacts stored offsite for safety have been recovered and some of the stolen items have been returned to the city museum. Among those returned is the famous Warka vase, a 5,000-year-old ceremonial vessel >from the city of Ur. According to the British Museum, which has two members of staff working in the Baghdad Museum, at least 28 items from the exhibition halls remain missing along with numerous less spectacular objects that have an important research value.

 

The major pieces that have been recovered are some of the artefacts from the Assyrian city of Nimrud and some material from the royal burials at Ur, which were stored in the vaults of the Central Bank at the time of the first Gulf War. The presence of this material in the bank vaults is not a revelation. A visiting Unesco delegation was told about it in May, but it was inaccessible because the vaults were flooded. Moreover, the recovery of these artefacts does not minimise the damage that has been done and is still being done by organised looting.

 

"Several key sites out of two dozen visited were found to be unguarded. Hundreds of people could be seen making illegal excavations at many places."

"Far more material than what has been reported missing from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad is being ripped from the ground and leaving the country," expedition leader Henry Wright said in a conference call with journalists today. "Extraordinary damage is being wreaked on this irreplaceable archaeological record." (quote from Nat. Geographic team)

Despite the devastating losses that have been suffered and the continued looting, however, certain journalists have made it their business to assert that the extent of the problem has been exaggerated and even to claim that Iraqi archaeologists are responsible for stealing whatever is missing. This campaign of denial and disinformation can only compound the damage already done to Iraq's cultural heritage. Not only will it distract from the task of >tracking down the artefacts that are flooding onto the antiquities market, but it is also being used to discredit Iraqi archaeologists and to take control of the country's history out of their hands.

 

In an April 15 Guardian column David Aaronovitch had already asked, "Is this plundering really so bad?" "There is a lot of sentimentality attached to archaeology by outsiders," he went on. He belittled the importance of cultural history in giving the Iraqi people a sense of their identity when compared to the evidence of mass murder in Abu Ghurayb prison. It did not really matter if archaeological artefacts were looted and ended up in western museums which were already full of material from all over the world.   In a June 10 article, he accused Dr. Dony George of Baghdad rticle, he archaeologists internationally of deliberately creating a false picture of "100,000-plus priceless items looted either under the very noses of the Yanks, or by the Yanks themselves. And the only problem with it is that it's nonsense. It isn't true. It's made up. It's bollocks."

 

 

Also to watch the architectural journalist,Cruikshank, on the BBC interview you would believe that he was the only Westerner in Baghdad apart from the US Marines. He breathlessly entered the vaults of the Central Bank as though he alone had made this discovery. The presence of a team from the television series National Geographic Ultimate Explorer, who had paid to have the vault pumped out, was not mentioned. National Geographic magazine report that the vault had been flooded by bank staff in an attempt to protect the stored artefacts from looting.

 

Far from the world being ignorant about the fate of Iraqi archaeology untilCruikshank arrived, a number of international teams have been present in Baghdad and elsewhere advising on conservation, reporting on looting and attempting to itemise what has been lost. Few of them have been accorded the assistance that Cruikshank seems to have received from the US authorities. A team of international experts assembled by Unesco met with considerable obstruction in their mission to Baghdad. British Museum director Neil MacGregor told the Art Newspaper that negotiations with the US authorities were "tortuous" and that the size of the delegation had to be reduced.

 

That Cruikshank seems to have met with every assistance from the US authorities is hardly surprising since it was their story that he told.

 

He interviewed marines who told him that the museum had been fortified and a centre of Iraqi resistance. Had that really been the case it would have been reasonable to expect US forces to have occupied the museum and not left it unguarded as they did. The only evidence of fortification Cruikshank offered was a crude dugout roofed with corrugated iron and earth on the lines of a World War II Anderson shelter. This, Dr. Dony George told him, the museum staff had made for themselves to shelter in during the air raids. There was some evidence that Iraqi soldiers had used rooms in the museum, which in a city that had been the scene of a running battle for several days was hardly surprising.

 

Cruickshank's aim was to implicate the staff in the looting of the museum. He criticised them for not clearing up the looted galleries, ignoring the fact that international experts had advised them to leave the debris. The whole scene will have to be treated as an archaeological excavation so that broken material and scattered pieces can be retrieved scientifically and forensic evidence gathered for a future war crimes trial.

 

There is a serious agenda behind this vicious journalism. Wealthy collectors in the West are casting avaricious eyes on the museums of archaeologically rich countries like Iraq. The American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP), which advised the US government in the run-up to the Iraq war, has led the way in calling for legislation restricting the export of art objects and archaeological artefacts to be ignored in the US courts.

 

The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) has vociferously opposed the ACCP and is campaigning for legislation that will prevent plundered artefacts being brought into the country.

 

Aaronovitch's defence of looting elicited a response from the Assistant Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, who criticised his flippancy in "sniggering over the genitalia of Greek gods". His latest article accusing the staff of the Baghdad Museum of being fascists produced a defence of these internationally respected scholars from chairman of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, Doctor Harriet Crawford; Doctor Eleanor Robson of All Souls College, Oxford; and Doctor Jane Moon of the Centre for the Study of Global Ethics.

 

Doctors Crawford and Robson write, "Our high opinion of the character of Dr. George and his colleagues has been formed over two decades of working with them throughout an era of extraordinarily difficult circumstances from the Iran-Iraq war to the few months leading up to the most recent conflict. George deserves the world's praise, not its condemnation, for saving so many of Iraq's treasures, and strong practical support in restoring the museum to functionality."

 By Ann Talbot WSWS.org 6-14-3

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jun2003/loot-j14.shtml

." I'm sure the illegal digging didn't stop when the war was going on and I will bet you that its going on even as we speak. Last week we heard looters were using front-end loaders, doing tremendous damage to the sites. There is no control in the country."
Do you see any good coming out of this?
"We'll I'm hoping if nothing else it will bring to the [public's] attention that antiquities are not just a commodity but a part of global heritage, and should not be used as something to enhance your reputation, as something to enhance your little collection, or to enhance your reputation by giving it to a museum at some point. If major museums in this country would stop showing material on loan from the collection of various people, it might put a damper on the trade also. If there weren't that social cachet, if there weren't that legitimizing of stolen objects and the eventual donation or selling of them for a great deal more money because they've been on display and therefore have picked up value. If museums would stop cooperating in that venture it might just put a damper on collecting and on the illegal trade. (Interview with McGuire Gibson at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago)

In an article on the area near Inistioge and New Ross,County Kilkenny, Eire,in a past issue(August 2002), this stone bowl was depicted. Here is a short article on the discovery of the creation of stone bowls in Iraq, 4000 years BC, that was discovered in 1958.

 “Revealing the findings at Agaparthea”

..For the past four years Dr. Tony Hochard has spent every waking hour searching for the lost city of Agaparthea.

The news arrived late last year(1957) that the city had been found.   Not along the Euphrates as everyone had suspected, but along the Tigris river.  “All the evidence we had pointed to the city lying along the banks of the Euphrates... It’s amazing we found it at all considering how far off our estimates were.  It wasn’t until my daughter began researching the hieroglyphs on the fragments [we uncovered earlier] that we realized we were looking along the wrong river.”

During the ancient era of Agaparthea, the dominant river seems to have been the Tigris.

After spending the better part of this year excavating the ruins, the Hochard family has released their preliminary findings.  It sheds light on the mystery of a once remarkable city that shone brightest at the dawn of civilization.

A BRIEF HISTORY

The origins of Agaparthea lay somewhere in the early 4th millennium BC as groups of nomadic hunters and herders settled along the banks of the Tigris river to farm the rich and fertile land.  Over a remarkably short period of time, the city gave rise to a sophisticated societal structure.  The city grew and prospered for almost a thousand years.  Although there is clear evidence the citizens of Agaparthea repelled numerous invaders over the centuries, there is little proof that the city attempted to annex any of the neighboring lands.  This passive approach to diplomacy is quite unusual for ancient cultures. As the 4th millennium BC drew to a close, Agaparthea was the richest and most powerful state among an ever-growing group of city-states that now included the likes of Sumer and Ur.  Evidence shows that trade among these city-states was prolific and Agaparthean culture heavily influenced growth if its neighbors.

 Our preliminary excavations revealed that the city did not survive into the 3rd millennium BC.  Much of the city was destroyed in a single catastrophic event.  We have yet to uncover a root cause for its destruction, but the collision of a celestial body (like an asteroid or meteor) is likely. 

    The manufacture and use of stone vessels in Agaparthea became a trademark of the artifacts of the era. High-quality workable stone was a rare commodity in Mesopotamia, so stone vessels, like this decorated bowl, were highly prized and often inscribed as votive dedications to temples or deposited as grave offerings. The presence of vessels made from imported stone such as translucent calcite, chlorite, marble, and obsidian reveals that the people of Agaparthea engaged in an active trade with Anatolia, Iran, and regions to the east with access to the Persian Gulf. Some stone vessels, like this example, were manufactured locally from imported stones, but many were made abroad .
Archaeology Monthly Magazine, Vol.20,Sept.1958

 

THE OLDEST LOVE POEM IN THE WORLD??

This 'spell' is perhaps one of the oldest ever found. It was discovered at the site of the ancient city of Kish, in 1930. That year an English expedition lead by Ernest Mackay discovered a small cache of tablets in a layer of the city dating from around 2800 - 2600 b.c.e., a period known historically as the First Dynasty of Kish. These tablets revealed the earliest examples of the Akkadian language (known as "Old Akkadian"), as well as affording the most ancient example of any type of 'spell'. This small tablet, measuring 87 x 46 x 11 mm, is almost perfectly preserved, and is an incantation for love.

1. dEn-ki ir-e-ma-am 2. è-ra-a-am 3. ir-e-mu-um DUMU dInnana 4. in za-gi-im e-ra-ab 5. in ru-ùh-ti ga-na-ak-tim 6. ú-da-ra wa-ar-....... -da 7. da-me-iq da-tu-... da-pumx 8. ki-rí-šum tu-ur4-da-am 9. tu-ur4-da-ma a-na GIŠ.SAR 10. ru-ùh-ti ga-na-ak-tim 11. ti-ib da-ad-ga 12. a-hu-EŠ ba-ki ša ru-ga-tim 13. a-hu-EŠ bu-ra-ma-ti 14. e-ni-ki 15. a-hu-EŠ ur4-ki 16. ša lim-na-tim 17. a-áš-hi-it ki-rí-iš 18. dEN.ZU 19. ab-tuq GIŠ.A.TU.GAB.LIŠ 20. u-me-iš-sa 21. du-ri-ì i-da-as-ga-ri-ni 22. ki SIPA ì-du-ru za-nam 23. ÙZ ga-lu-ma-sa U8 SILA4-áš 24. a-da-núm mu-ra-áš 25. si-ir-gu-a i-da-su 26. X ù ti-bu-ut-tum 27. sa-ap-da-su 28. a-za-am X in ga-ti-su 29. a-za-am i-ri-nim in bu-ti-su 30. ir-e-mu ú-da-bi-bu-si-ma 31. ù iš-ku-nu-si a-na mu-hu-tim 32. a-hu-EŠ ba-ki ša da-ti 33. dInnana ù dIš-ha-ra 34. ù-dam-me-ki 35. a-ti za-wa-ar-su 36. ù za-wa-ar-ki 37. la e-dam-da 38. la da-ba-ša-hi-ì

Enki ir'emam era"am ir'emum mara' Innana in zaggim errab in ruhti kanaktim udarra ......... damiq ..... tâbum kiršum turdam turdamma ana kirim ruhti kanaktim tib dâdka âhuz paki ša rûqatim âhuz burramati êniki âhuz ûrki ša limnatim ašhit kiriš Suen abtuq sarbatam jumišša dûri in-taskarinni ki re'ijum idûru sa'nam enzum kalumaša lahrum puhadaš atanum mûraš širkua idašu .......... u tibuttum šaptašu assam ....... in qâtišu assam irinim in pûdišu ir'emu udabbibušima u iškunuši ana muhhu'tim âhuz paki ša dâdi Innana u Išhara utammîki adi zawaršu u zawarki la êtamda la tapaššahi

Ea loves Ir'emum, Ir'emum, Ištar's child, Sitting in her lap in the sap of the Kanaktu-tree You, N., beautiful girls, You are sweet, ........ You go down to the garden, You go into the garden, You collected the sap of the Kanaktu-tree. May you please your lover! I seized your luscious mouth, I seized your colorful Eyes, I seized your vulva Moistening. I jumped into the garden Of Sin, the Moon-God I cut off branches For her day. You shall surround me among my boxwoods, Like a shepherd circles his flock, The she-goat her kid, the ewe her lamb, The jenny her foal. His arms are covered with jewels, Like oil and tibuttum-plants Are his lips; A cruse of oil is in his hand, A cruse of oil is on his shoulder The Ir'emu have bewitched her And made her love-sick. I've seized your mouth of love By Ištar and Išhara I conjure you: As long as his neck And your neck Are not entwined, You shall find no peace!

Photos National Geographic Magazine
BelMurru@BabylonianMagick.com