U.S.-Led Soldiers Said to Damage Babylon

[jamotto]

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By SUE LEEMAN, Associated Press Writer

LONDON - U.S.-led troops using the ancient Iraqi city of Babylon as a base have damaged and contaminated artifacts dating back thousands of years in one of the world's most important archaeological sites, the British Museum said Saturday.

For example, military vehicles crushed a 2,600-year-old brick pavement, and archaeological fragments, including broken bricks stamped by King Nebuchadnezzar II around the same time, were scattered across the site, a museum report said.

The dragons at the Ishtar Gate were marred by cracks and gaps where someone tried to remove their decorative bricks, the paper said.

John Curtis, keeper of the British Museum's Near East department, who was invited by the Iraqis to study the site, also found that large quantities of sand mixed with archaeological fragments have been taken from the site to fill military sandbags.

"This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain," Curtis said in the report.

In an interview Saturday with Associated Press Television News, Iraq (news - web sites)'s Minister of Culture Mufeed al-Jazairee said coalition troops in Babylon had used "armored vehicles and helicopters that land and take off freely. In addition to that, the forces also set up other facilities and changes."

He added: "I expect that the archaeological city of Babylon has sustained damage but I don't know exactly the size of such damage."

The remains of Babylon have been occupied since the early days of the invasion by U.S. Marines and, more recently, by soldiers from Poland and other countries. Babylon is 50 miles south of Baghdad.

A Polish military spokesman in Iraq said troops were cooperating with Iraqi authorities in efforts to protect the site.

"I have asked our archaeologists to prepare a specific answer to the accusations, but I have to give them some time," Lt. Col. Artur Domanski said.

The city's main sites ÔÇö the Ishtar Gate, the ruins of Babylon and the Nebuchadnezzar Palace ÔÇö are in a separate area on the camp's perimeter, run by Iraqi officials as an archaeological park to paying visitors.

The U.S. military says all earth moving has been halted and it is considering moving troops away to protect the ruins.

Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said all engineering works were discussed with the head of the Babylon museum.

"An archaeologist examined every construction initiative for its impact on historical ruins," he said.

In the report, Curtis acknowledged that at first the U.S. presence had helped to protect the site from looters.

But subsequent work ÔÇö including the decision to cover large areas of the site with gravel brought in from elsewhere to provide car parks and helipads ÔÇö was damaging, he said.

Lord Redesdale, an archaeologist who heads a parliamentary archaeology committee, described the report's findings as "just dreadful."

"Not only is what the American forces are doing damaging the archaeology of Iraq, it's actually damaging the cultural heritage of the whole world," he said.

For more than 1,000 years, Babylon was one of the world's premier cities, where King Nebuchadnezzar II built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

The city declined and fell into ruin after it was conquered by the Persians under Cyrus the Great around 538 B.C.

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Sad, but largely unavoidable.

[LostInSpace]

Yup, all wars (even non wars could be new contruction over old, local unrest, natural disasters or causes) have their antiquity casualties. It is un-avoidable. I wouldn't worry about it.

[Guest Arthur_Dent1976]

Horrible. I -would- worry and do care. Scattered troughout Iraq and Syria are some of the worlds most unique archeological sites the world has ever known. Wheter we know it or not, as a species we would not be were we are today if those civilizations had never florished. Despite the fact that I realize the unavoidability of some of the destruction, I would never downplay these mistakes or wave them aside.

[Soback]

Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, alright.

It's just like the enemy hiding in mosques, and our soldiers unable to shoot at them because of people saying "It's a mosque, don't shoot..." Next thing you know they would be hiding in those ruins and then what?... leave them be, to just hide out there and strike at our flanks?

[Guest Arthur_Dent1976]

Very true yes, and like I said: I do realize destruction is unavoidable in some cases. But it saddens me nontheless. Having seen some artefacts from those regions with my own eyes I can attest for their uniqueness and beauty. Once you start studying them and their context (e.g. the societies in wich they were made) you stumble upon a wealth of knowledge and the realization that a lot of our own cultural history is actually very intricately linked. (Although I realize that is all a bit subjective).

Anyway, I feel it's quite a loss if some of them would be destroyed. I feel the same about other causes for destruction as well btw. Commercial exploitation has left it's scar on some of the world's historical treasuretroves for instance, as have ignorance and religious zeal.