Tell Shmid is an early sites from the Late Uruk (ca 3400-3100 BC) period, when urban civilization was first emerging.

This photo was taken from the air by Italian Carabinieri in November 2003. They were guarding the sites, but 18 were killed in a bomb blast later that month. You can see how the site has been excavated by archeologists, but the rest has been pockmarked by holes made by looters with heavy equipment.
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I’ve poked around on the fate of Iraqi antiquities and heritage a few times, as material was returned and the story became a tale of an American hero supporting the Iraqis to defend its past. According to Simon Jenkins in The Guardian,

“When I visited the museum six months later, its then director, Donny George, proudly showed me the best he was making of a bad job. He was about to reopen, albeit with half his most important objects stolen. The pro-war lobby had stopped pretending that the looting was nothing to do with the Americans, who were shamefacedly helping retrieve stolen objects under the dynamic US colonel, Michael Bogdanos (author of a book on the subject). The vigorous Italian cultural envoy to the coalition, Mario Bondioli-Osio, was giving generously for restoration.”

But the situation is much worse than it seemed. Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive, is supported a little by the British Library which posts his diary on its website. Some small flavour of the ghastliness is carried by this report of a meeting.

“The regular meeting of the INLA’s Council of Heads of Department was held at 10.15. We talked about a number of issues, including:

1. the security situation in Baghdad in general and in our area in particular, and its negative effects on the staff

2. the security measure that should be taken as soon as our two main projects (i.e. the Library of Pioneers and the Archive Storage) will be implemented

3. the reconstruction of the destroyed fence and the replacement of the old rear gate.

4. the expansion of internal training courses

I left my office at 13.00 heading to the nearest internet café to see my e-mails.”

By “security situation”, he means notes like “We had no electricity, internet or telephone lines.” & “Around 5% of the staff were unable to come to work, as the National Guards, the Police and US army blocked several roads in al-Karkh, including al-Jihad, al-Qadesiyah and al-Jame’ah.” & “The body of a young man was found near my home. He was shot several times.” & “According to some confirmed information, the commander had been collaborating with the armed men in al-Fadhel for months. He facilitated their movements and facilitated their car bomb attacks.” & “In the morning, a group of gangsters stole the monthly salaries of the Ministry of Culture’s General Directorate of Music Arts.”

What of the Museum, once a place of cautious hope, a propaganda good news story?

“Today the picture is transformed. Donny George fled for his life last August after death threats. The national museum is not open but shut. Nor is it just shut. Its doors are bricked up, it is surrounded by concrete walls and its exhibits are sandbagged. Even the staff cannot get inside. There is no prospect of reopening.”

The Guardian article is a concise, barbed and righteous indictment, well worth reading. Every word is carved in basalt rage.

Via Juan Cole.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 11th, 2007 at 12:51 pm and is filed under Iraq, history. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.