The looting of the Iraq Museum was widely publicized in the international press. However, it is less well known that ongoing looting of archaeological sites poses an even greater threat to the cultural heritage of Iraq. The exhibit “Catastrophe! The Looting and Destruction of Iraq’s Past” and the April 12 symposium (see below) examine the ongoing destruction and looting of Iraq’s cultural heritage.
Iraq, ancient Mesopotamia, is the cradle of civilization, the region that spawned the seminal inventions of writing, the calendar, the wheel, and even the concept of cities. The history of the world quite literally begins in Mesopotamia, making the loss of its cultural patrimony a loss for all humanity.
Archaeologists involved with the exhibit include McGuire Gibson, University of Chicago Professor of Mesopotamian Archaeology, Geoff Emberling, Director of the Oriental Institute Museum, and exhibit co-curator, Katharyn Hanson
The exhibit is organized around the following themes:
- The importance of archaeology to history and identity: Why does the past matter? What can it tell us about ourselves and our community?
- Looting and damage to archaeological sites: dramatic photographs, including recent satellite images, show illicit looting and destruction of sites.
- The threat of war: combat damage and the more significant construction damage being done by the US military at important sites including Babylon, Ur, and Samarra
- The importance of archaeological context: how much context can tell us about an object and about the culture from which it came.
- Looted artifacts: the routes that looted artifacts take from Iraq to art markets around the world, and where seizures have been made.
- The Iraq Museum five years later: what in fact was looted and the progress of recovery efforts to date.
- What has been done and what can be done? The exhibit examines what efforts are and can be made to stem the looting of archaeological sites in Iraq and on a local and national level throughout the world
A goal of the exhibit is to encourage people to think about the importance of archaeology and cultural heritage throughout the world, to ask questions such as: Why is archaeology important? What does the past mean to me, my family, my community and my nation? What can be done to preserve the past? How can individuals and communities as well as larger bureaucratic organizations safeguard the records of the past?
Thursday, April 10 at 6:30 pm: Opening of the exhibit at the Oriental Institute will feature a lecture by University of Chicago Professor of Mesopotamian Archaeology, McGuire Gibson, followed by a candlelight vigil commemorating the five years since the looting of the Museum in Baghdad. The vigil is one of many being held throughout the world, coordinated by SAFE (Saving Antiquities for Everyone), a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving cultural heritage worldwide. Free and open to the public.
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The Oriental Institute announces the publication of a new title, both in print and on-line
(as part of its Electronic Publication Initiative). The printed copy is
available from the David Brown Book Company/Oxbow Books: http://www.oxbowbooks.com.
Catastrophe! The Looting and Destruction of Iraq's Past
Edited by Geoff Emberling and Katharyn Hanson
Oriental Institute Museum Publication 28
Chicago: The Oriental Institute
ISBN-10: 1-885923-56-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-885923-56-1
$29.95
With an introduction by Professor McGuire Gibson, this up-to-date account describes the
state of the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad and chronicles the damage done to
archaeological sites by illicit digging.
Contributors include Donny George, John M. Russell, Katharyn Hanson, Clemens Reichel,
Elizabeth C. Stone, and Patty Gerstenblith. Published in conjunction with the exhibit of
the same name opening at the Oriental Institute April 10, 2008, this book commemorates the
fifth anniversary of the looting of the Iraq National Museum.
Pp. 88; 48 illustrations, most in color
- Foreword. Gil J. Stein
- Preface. Geoff Emberling
- Map of Iraq
- Time Line of Events
- The Looting of the Iraq Museum in Context. McGuire Gibson, Oriental Institute, University
of Chicago
- The Looting of the Iraq Museum Complex. Donny George, Stony Brook University
- Efforts to Control Damage to Sites and Monuments. John M. Russell,Massachusetts College of
Art and Design
- Why Does Archaeological Context Matter? Katharyn Hanson, University of Chicago
- Cataloging the Losses: The Oriental Institute¹s Iraq Museum Database Project. Clemens
Reichel, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
- Archaeological Site Looting: The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Southern Iraq.
Elizabeth C. Stone, Stony Brook University
- Legal Aspects of Controlling the International Market in Looted Antiquities: The Paradigm
of Iraq. Patti Gerstenblith, DePaul University
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University of Chicago
Oriental Institute Symposium:
Looting the Cradle of Civilization: The Loss of History in Iraq
This special event takes place during the 5th anniversary of the looting of the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad.
Saturday, April 12
9:30-4pm; Reception follows
$65 Oriental Institute members; $75 non-members; $25 students
Pre-registration required.
Call 773-702-9507
The looting of the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad stunned the world in April 2003. Much less well known is the ongoing looting of archaeological sites throughout Iraq, which poses an even greater threat to the history of the land that gave the world its earliest writing system, the first cities, and the concept of the rule of law.Examine the archaeological tragedy taking place in Iraq with scholars and experts who have experienced the situation at first hand. Hear the latest information on the looting of the Baghdad museum, discover how scholars are helping to protect Iraq's threatened archaeological sites, and learn how the laws safeguarding cultural property in wartime are being challenged in Iraq.
Symposium speakers include:
* Donny George, former director of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad
* Patty Gerstenblith, Professor, College of Law, DePaul University, Chicago, and
Director of DePaul's Program on Cultural Heritage Law
* McGuire Gibson, Professor of Mesopotamian Archaeology, University of
Chicago.
*Abdulamir Hamdani, Director of Antiquities in Nasiriya Province in southern Iraq
* John Russell, Professor of Art at Massachusetts College and former Deputy
Advisor to the Iraqi Minister of Culture and the Coalition Provisional Authority
* Elizabeth Stone, Professor of Mesopotamian Archaeology at SUNY
Stonybrook University, New York.
Offered in conjunction with the special Oriental Institute exhibit "Catastrophe: The
Looting and Destruction of Iraq's Past," this symposium also includes a viewing of the exhibit and the world-renowned collection of ancient art and artifacts on display in the Oriental Institute Museum's Mesopotamian Gallery.
