say it with pie

Awesome votive statues from Tell Asmar, c. 2700-2500.

The Archaeology magazine newsblog linked to an article on Azzaman this morning which reported that the site of Tell Asmar (known as Eshnunna in Sumerian) in Iraq has been looted by an armed gang who “stormed the archaeological site, handcuffed the guards and stole its possessions," both artifacts and digging implements.

The plundering of Iraqi artifacts is not breaking news. Donny George, former director of the Baghdad Museum, has been speaking to international audiences about that very problem since 2003 (I caught a lecture of his at the ROM). The American military provided no protection to the museum during their invasion of Baghdad and roughly 15,000 artifacts were taken from the collection by rioting Iraqi citizens looking to sell them on the antiques black market. One of the museum's most famous pieces, called the Warka Mask, was recovered several months later after a man admitted to having it buried in his back yard. Around 4,000 other objects have also been returned.

Last week, I caught a free screening of Brian De Palma's latest movie, Redacted, a "multimedia mockumentary" about U.S. occupation of Iraq. It was absolutely awful, by the way: the 50% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes seems to back up my opinion. After being reminded how obviously dire the situation over there is right now, can you really expect Iraqi citizens to be worrying about archaeological sites? I guess not.

It's just so frustrating to see groups of people randomly digging holes into 5,000-year-old settlements. We're losing inconceivably valuable information about the heritage of civilization in general, not just the heritage of Iraq. Will nobody step in?