"All we are breaking are stones"

Ancient Mesopotamia is what archaeologists consider the 'cradle of civilisation.' In other words, it is where the human race really began to shine, where life as we know it began. From around 5000 BC people in this area were settling down, domesticating plants, building, craft specialising, creating complex societies and feverishly inventing everything. It's here we have the earliest glimpse of religion and philosophy, writing and international trade. It's the land of people you have heard of - Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians to name a few. Today we know it as Iraq. Archaeologically it is one of the richest places in the world and unfortunately, one of the most threatened.

Iraq was in chaos after the 1991 Gulf War and by 1993, thirteen museums in the country had been ransacked. In April '93 the Baghdad archaeological museum (see before pic of museum on left and after on right), which had long been regarded as perhaps the richest of all such institutions, was looted. Approximately 15 000 items were stolen including cuneiform tablets, cylinder seals, statuettes and other archaeological artefacts. Can you imaging the British Museum being looted or the Met in New York? Since then, as a result of an amnesty for looters, about 4000 artefacts have been found in Iraq. The scary part is that many artefacts have made their way to Europe and the U.S. and have been sold to wealthy collectors who, I am sure, are most annoyed when these goodies are confiscated. Strange though, the artefacts confiscated have still not been returned to Baghdad??

The black market value of antiquities is incredible and it is almost impossible to control. It is often equated with the drug and arms markets! For this reason you find many artefacts smuggled into Western countries. There are 1000's of archaeological sites in Africa and the Middle East that have not yet been excavated and recorded. The locals know where these sites are, they excavate these sites themselves and sell the artefacts for a few dollars to whoever is buying (often Western soldiers on their way home or illegal antiquity brokers). What you need to realise is that a few dollars in Chad is 2 months salary... People are starving and struggling there and collectors in the West are eager and wealthy. It makes for an insurmountable problem - irreplaceable cultural heritage being exchanged for a meal.

The problems continue...

Tourism. I love to travel and I am a tourist when I do. I will go to Macchu Picchu and visit the ruins and go to Egypt to see the pyramids but I won't draw on them or take a piece home to put in my little collection box! What is wrong with people?!*@#! Enough said.

And what is this? Since when can you have military drills on a 6000 year old world heritage structure? This is the ziggurat (stepped pyramid) of Ur from Ancient Sumer (Iraq). It is the most well-preserved monument from the remote age of the Sumerians. Tourists are not allowed to touch...

And then there is this....

In February 2001 the Taliban militia supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar issued a decree ordering the destruction of all statues in Afghanistan including ancient pre-Islamic figures. The militia destroyed several ancient relics in Kabul Museum as well as the Bamiyan Buddha statues (see pics below).

The tallest Buddha figure in the world, 55m. Carved in the third century AD.

Now just a few meters of rubble.

When confronted by media and UNESCO about the destruction of priceless world heritage, a Afghan militia leader casually said "All we are breaking are stones."

The sad thing is that these are not isolated incidents. People can really be complacent and/or negligent with regards to cultural heritage. They forget (or just don't care) that once these things are gone, they are gone forever.