Damage to Syria’s heritage 01 November 2014

Looting of artefacts continues in various sites around Syria. The DGAM has documented illegal looting near Najem Castle (Qal’at Najm) near Manbij in Northern Syria here. Protect Syrian Archaeology has also posted a photo and video here and here of digging in Tell Hizareen. See the ‘News’ section below for articles discussing the issue.

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The Director General of the DGAM, Prof. Maamoun Abdulkarim, has won the Cultural Heritage Rescue Prize. This is a new award established by Italy’s Associazione Priorità Cultura and the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin, and was made necessary, in the words of Francesco Rutelli, in light of a “resurgent barbarian attitude” taking root in Syria and Iraq, as well as elsewhere, with reference to archaeological sites. The DGAM and the New York Times have reported this story here and here respectively.

A new exhibition in Berlin, “Cultural Battlefield”, held at the German-Arab Friendship Association (DAFG) in collaboration with the DGAM, showcases photographs by Kathleen Göbel of damage in Aleppo and Homs. It will run until December 10, and will include lectures by the Director General of the DGAM, Prof. Maamoun Abdulkarim. Further information can be found at the DAFG site here and via the DGAM here.

Archaeologists have completed a successful mission of digging in Amrit, hoping to return again soon. They unearthed a cemetery and another building in Amrit uncovering Byzantine coins, skeletons, and other artefacts. Photographs of the dig can be found DGAM’s website here.

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• ASOR’s Syrian Heritage Initiative is providing weekly updates on its activity. These can be found here.
• Patrimoine sans frontières (Heritage Without Borders) with Heritage for Peace has an interview with Cristina Menegazzi, head of the “emergency safeguarding of the Syrian heritage project”, under the title  ‘UNESCO and the protection of Syrian cultural heritage’ The article offers a detailed view of international efforts with regard to Syrian heritage . A PDF of the interview is also available.

(Not covered in other sections)

• Sam Hardy offers a piece on ‘How the west buys ‘conflict antiquities’ from Iraq and Syria (and funds terror)’ for Reuters (October 27 2014). Hardy quotes Michel van Rijn, described as ‘one of the most successful smugglers of antique artifacts in the past century’, who was recently interviewed by Das Erste. Hardy builds on the other reports currently circulating which show the shocking extent of ancient artefacts looting for sale on international markets.
• Deutsche Welle reports (20 October 2014) on how art dealers are reaping the benefits of looting in a two minute video here.
• Public Radio International claims that ‘America isn’t doing much to stop a booming trade in looted Syrian art’ (19 October 2014). The story also features the full audio interview (7 minutes) with Erin Thompson, Professor of Art Crime at John Jay College.
• Justine Drennan for Foreign Policy magazine asserts that ‘Degrading and destroying ISIS could take place in the halls of auction houses, not the Pentagon’ (17 October 2014).
• Das Erste provides a 43 minute reportage here from 14 October (in German) here.
• The New Yorker runs a story called ‘ISIS’s Looting Campaign‘ (14 October 2014). The article address the situation in both Syria and Iraq, and the ‘thousands of vital archaeological sites—remains from Bronze and Iron Age settlements as well as from Islamic, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine civilizations—…now at risk.’