Within the first couple classes of ANP 264 this semester, Ethan talked about how archaeologists do many different things, including (but not limited to) mapping, surveying, excavating, engaging with the public, advocating for protection of material culture, and engaging with archaeology in conflict zones. Prior to the mention of conflict zones in the context of what archaeologists do, I had not considered the impact wars and conflicts could have on material culture and learning about the human past.
Yesterday, I was scrolling through Twitter when I came across a Newsweek article by Jack Moore titled, “The Ancient Sites Now Under Threat From ISIS in Libya.” The article cited that ISIS militants have destroyed material culture recently. The destruction took place in a museum in Mosul, Iraq. This shocked me at first because I did not understand why ISIS would put effort into destroying artifacts. Further reading of the article confronted this confusion and explained that ISIS “holds an intolerance towards items that are deemed jahili (pre-Islamic) and antiquities that depict humans” (Moore 2015).
The material culture destroyed included artifacts from the Assyrian and Akkadian empires. The Assyrian empire dates from 2500 BC to 605 BC, while the Akkadian empire dates back from ca. 2350–2150 B.C. As with all material culture, these artifacts hold value to learning about the human past. As archaeologists are now concerned about ISIS taking further steps to destroy similar culture – particularly in the region on the coastline of Libya. This region, as the article states, is rich in historical Roman sites. Because Roman and Greek artifacts include statues representing humans and ISIS is present the region close to the Libyan coast of the Mediterranean Sea, such sites are seen as the potential next-step for ISIS militants. One of the sites that is of concern is Leptis Magna, which is located near Tripoli, a town with a large ISIS presence. The Roman site contains a museum that holds statues similar to the ones destroyed earlier this month. Another site is Cyrene, the former Roman local capital. The site is sandwiched between a town under ISIS control and another town where ISIS is fighting to take control of.
From reading the article, I am curious and look forward to exploring the topic further. Reflection on what I’ve learned in ANP 264 and what I read in the article makes me wonder if there are archaeologists in the region currently trying to document what could potentially be destroyed by ISIS.
I found this article to be very interesting. Your review on it prompted me to check it out and just like you, I was very surprised by ISIS’s actions. For an extremist group such as ISIS, it should be no large surprise the lengths they go for what they believe in, but it is still hard to hear about. The sad part about destroying artifacts is that they can never be recreated. You cannot replicate artifacts that are thousands of years old and keep the meaning behind them. ISIS must know this and they obviously do not care that they are destroying such important history. This is concerning because there are many potential targets, especially the Roman sites as stated in the article where many statues depicting humans can be found. ISIS is focused on vandalizing artifacts that are pre-Islamic and with such a clear focus; it would be hard to stop a group with few moral limits.
It’s interesting that ISIS would find such a large interest in art and archeological finds. In the grand scheme of things, artifacts do not seem like they should be an important target for the extremist group. Artifacts are key in understanding the past, but because there are so many potential sites for ISIS to attack, they cannot all be protected. Archeologists at least have the advantage of knowing what the groups next targets may be, but again, with so many potential sites, many of large size, it would be nearly impossible to preserve them all.