By Anas al-Bar | 2023-09-12

During a reign of terror that began when it overran swathes of Iraq in 2014, the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) looted and destroyed an untold number of Iraqi antiquities and vandalized archeological sites.

Though protecting Iraq's myriad and scattered archeological sites is a difficult task, federal authorities are working hard today to secure them from thieves, smuggling networks, vandals and trespassers.

They also are working to ensure looted artifacts are returned to Baghdad.

There are thousands of officially registered archeological sites in Iraq.

Six are included on UNESCO's World Heritage List: Babylon; Hatra; Ashur, also known as Qalaat Sherqat; Samarra; the Erbil Citadel and the southern marshes (ahwar), renowned for their biosphere and the ancient cities and hills within them.

In the aftermath of the ISIS incursion, these sites and others have been under tight security, protected by round the clock police patrols, said Iraqi Antiquities and Heritage Authority director Laith Majeed Hussein.

Sites of national significance also are monitored by fixed surveillance points, checkpoints and barbed wire, he told Al-Fassel.

"An intensive security effort is being made to protect Iraq's cultural heritage sites, and to catch thieves and smugglers and recover the antiquities in their possession," Hussein said.

On August 5, Antiquities Police seized 52 stolen artifacts during search operations in Dhi Qar province.

On August 19, they arrested an antiquity smuggler in Salaheddine province, who was in possession of ancient coins he reportedly intended to smuggle out of the country.

This year also saw the arrest of 16 individuals charged with trading and smuggling antiquities, and the seizure of hundreds of ancient statues, coins and other archeological finds.

Deterring thieves and vandals

As a deterrent to would-be thieves, Iraq imposes penalties of up to life imprisonment on those convicted of stealing, trading or smuggling antiquities and cultural and national heritage property.

Though security efforts are being made, totally securing all antiquity sites remains a key but complex issue, Hussein said.

"We currently have 15,000 archeological sites, and to protect that large number of sites, we need to deploy tens of thousands of guards and security personnel," he said. "This is hard to do."

In an attempt to overcome this challenge, the police are using new methods to monitor the sites, such as flying drones equipped with imaging and tracking technologies for early detection of thefts, excavations and unlawful extraction of antiquities.

Residential encroachments are imposing another burden on archeological sites, and the authorities frequently conduct campaigns to remove them.

On August 8, for example, several buildings and dwellings built illegally at the Samarra site were removed.

Hussein said fences have been built around a number of archeological sites "to prevent the occurrence of such abuses and also protect them from theft and vandalism."

He stressed the importance of "increasing public awareness of the need to preserve antiquities, as they are the historical record of the country's civilization and culture."

Protecting cultural heritage

To help it protect its cultural heritage, Iraq is coordinating with international governments and organizations, said Lama Yas al-Douri of the Iraqi General Museums Department.

This has resulted in the recovery of a large number of Iraqi antiquities that were looted and smuggled over the past two decades, especially those removed by ISIS, she told Al-Fassel.

According to official statistics, more than 34,000 artifacts that are considered Iraq's cultural property have been returned from abroad in the past five years.

Among the most important pieces recovered is the "Gilgamesh" tablet.

This was among 17,000 returned artifacts, a large number of which the United States was able to collect and retrieve from art auction houses and hand over to Iraq at the end of 2021.

On June 18, Iraq recovered from Italy a precious 2,800-year-old stone tablet bearing cuneiform inscriptions that had vanished from the country 40 years ago.

It also recovered an Assyrian mural on July 18, from Switzerland.

On May 5, Britain returned close to 6,000 artifacts it had borrowed from Iraq a hundred years ago for research and scholarly purposes.

New discoveries continue

In conjunction with the efforts to protect and recover antiquities, Iraq is supporting the work of foreign archeological missions, whose number has grown in recent years thanks to the stable security situation in the country.

Dozens of missions from the United States, France, Germany, Italy and other countries are currently working on restoring the antiquities destroyed by ISIS.

Some are attempting to make new archeological discoveries, such as the one made by a University of Pennsylvania mission earlier this year.

During its excavations at the Lagash site in Dhi Qar province, this team discovered a public place that is believed to be the remains of a restaurant dating back to 2,700 BCE.

Iraq had in March called on UNESCO to conduct a comprehensive survey to identify its undiscovered antiquities, a massive number of which observers believe have yet to be unearthed.