[this may be of interest to readers of this list - L.D.]


Babylon wrecked by war
US-led forces leave a trail of destruction and contamination in 
architectural site of world importance

Rory McCarthy in Baghdad, and Maev Kennedy
Saturday January 15 2005
The Guardian


Troops from the US-led force in Iraq have caused widespread damage and 
severe contamination to the remains of the ancient city of Babylon, 
according to a damning report released today by the British Museum.

John Curtis, keeper of the museum's Ancient Near East department and an 
authority on Iraq's many archaeological sites, found "substantial 
damage" on an investigative visit to Babylon last month.

The ancient city has been used by US and Polish forces as a military 
depot for the past two years, despite objections from archaeologists.

"This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great 
Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain," says the report, 
which has been seen by the Guardian.

Among the damage found by Mr Curtis, who was invited to Babylon by 
Iraqi antiquities experts, were cracks and gaps where somebody had 
tried to gouge out the decorated bricks forming the famous dragons of 
the Ishtar Gate.

He saw a 2,600-year-old brick pavement crushed by military vehicles, 
archaeological fragments scattered across the site, and trenches driven 
into ancient deposits.

Vast amounts of sand and earth, visibly mixed with archaeological 
fragments, were gouged from the site to fill thousands of sandbags and 
metal mesh baskets. When this practice was stopped, large quantities of 
sand and earth were brought in from elsewhere, contaminating the site 
for future generations of archaeologists.

Mr Curtis called for an international investigation by archaeologists 
chosen by the Iraqis to record all the damage done by the occupation 
forces.

Last night the US military defended its operations at the site, but 
said all earth-moving projects had been stopped and it was considering 
moving troops away to protect the ruins.

Babylon, a city renowned for its beauty and its splendour 1,000 years 
before Europe built anything comparable, was chosen as the site for a 
US military base in April 2003, just after the invasion of Iraq.

Military commanders set up their camp in the heart of one of the 
world's most important archaeological sites and surrounded the enclosed 
part of the ancient city. At least 2,000 troops were installed, daily 
passing iconic relics like the enormous basalt Lion of Babylon 
sculpture.

In September 2003 the base was passed to a Polish-led force, which held 
it until today's formal handover of the site to the Iraqi culture 
ministry.

In his report, Mr Curtis accepted that initially the US military 
presence helped protect the site from looters. But he described as 
"regrettable" the decision to set up a base in such an important spot.

He found that large areas of the site had been covered in gravel 
brought in from outside, compacted and sometimes chemically treated to 
provide helipads, car parks and accommodation and storage areas. "The 
status of future information about these areas will therefore be 
seriously compromised," he said.

Archaeologists were horrified by the confirmation of reports which have 
been filtering out of Iraq for months.

"Outrage is hardly the word, this is just dreadful," said Lord 
Redesdale, an archaeologist and head of the all-party parliamentary 
archaeological group. "These are world sites. 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."

Tim Schadla Hall, reader in public archaeology at the Institute of 
Archaeology at University College London, said: "In this case we see an 
international conflict in which the US has failed to take into account 
the requirements of the Hague convention ... to protect major 
archaeological sites - just another convention it seems happy to 
ignore."

Lieutenant Colonel Steven Boylan, a US military spokes  man in Baghdad, 
said engineering works at the camp were discussed with the head of the 
Babylon museum. "An archaeologist examined every construction 
initiative for its impact on historical ruins."

He said plans were being considered to move some of the units in order 
"to better preserve the Babylon ruins."

"The significance of Babylon is not lost on the coalition," he added. 
"The site dates back to the time of Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon, but there 
are very few visible original remains to the untrained eye."

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited

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