Archaeologists "Astounded" That Iraqi Historical Sites Not Looted by Coalition Forces as Previously Thought

by Teresa Neumann : Aug 17, 2008 : Melaka Kayla - The Wall Street Journal

After experts check sites such as Abraham's birthplace of Ur, the consensus is that most of whatever damage was done to historic sites was done by Saddam Hussein's forces, not coalition forces as widely reported.

(Iraq)—The Wall Street Journal reports that "a recent mission to Iraq headed by top archaeologists from the U.S. and U.K. who specialize in Mesopotamia found that, contrary to received wisdom, southern Iraq's most important historic sites—eight of them—had neither been seriously damaged nor looted after the American invasion." (Photo: A Ziggurat near Ur/National Geographic)

Among a team of archaeologists who visited the southern Iraq sites in June were, Elizabeth Stone from Stony Brook University, John Curtis, head of the British Museum's Middle East Department; Paul Collins, a Mesopotamia specialist at that museum; a top German expert; and Iraqi experts. The areas they studied included "cradle of civilization" sites as Ur, Erode (the earliest Sumerian city), Warta (Sumerian Uric), Lars (a Babylonian city), Tell el-Luella (ancient Upbraid) and Tell el-Lahr (an Assyrian site).

As reported in the July issue of the Art Newspaper: "The international team . . . had been expecting to find considerable evidence of looting after 2003 but to their astonishment and relief there was none. Not a single recent dig hole was found at the eight sites, and the only evidence of illegal digging came from holes which were partially covered with silt and vegetation, which means they [were] several years old."

Of the damage they did find, according to the Art Newspaper report, little was caused by coalition forces and "much of it was done by Saddam's forces."

   

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