The Arab Civil War And The Destruction Of Ancient Objects And Cultural Heritage Sites

Context and Research Question: In August 2015, after capturing the ancient Roman site of Palmyra, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) spectacularly exploded the remains of the Temple of Bel and the Temple of Baalshamin. They immediately spread the images of their destruction online by creating videos and news reports. ISIL’s acts of destruction mark the largest-scale mass destruction of antiquities by one group since the Second World War (Kulish and Myers 2016), and their videos are extremely effective in disseminating their spectacles outside of the Middle East. Scholars in art history, archaeology, and law consider these acts the destruction of cultural heritage (Harmanşah 2015; Bauer 2015; Brodie 2015; Drasewska 2015; He 2015; Kila 2015). In particular, ISIL’s videos seek to defy Western European ideas about cultural heritage which are often cast as universal (Meskell 2002, 568) and engage a worldwide audience through carefully articulated performances. However, the many Canadian journalists using digital media to protest the destruction and reassert their own humanitarian, cosmopolitan, and civilized heritage values clearly mark the success of this strategy (Manley 2016). In fact, a trend emerged where popular news stories claim that ISIL is destroying the heritage that belongs to all of humanity (Harmanşah 2015, 173). Some scholars dispute the validity of this

Did you know that the Fall of Ancient Egypt was the period of time where the Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom took over Egypt. This occurred in 30 BC. Then It fell to the roman empire and became a roman province.

These assumptions may seem alarmist. However, Da'esh has repetitively said that they despise "Western" culture and find it idolatrous. Therefore, to contain Da'esh and simultaneously achieve maximum strategic success, the United States and its allies must evolve by focusing efforts on countries to adopt proactive measures that will curb the market for antiquities and artifacts from Syria and other parts of the Middle East and North Africa. A law signed by President Obama on May 9, 2016 makes it illegal to import antiquities from Syria into the United States. This law should focus the efforts of the Joint Terrorism Task Forces to assist prosecutors in order to seize the wealth and jail those engaged in this illicit market at all levels. Severe prosecution and the associated public disgrace of western collectors and dealers will reduce market demand and by doing so diminish a major funding stream for terrorists, rogue regimes, and transnational organized crime. Following this law, it is critical that the United States Government makes efforts to include international cultural experts to depoliticize and optimize transdisciplinary and interagency strategies including counter-threat finance. By using such enhanced efforts, the United States will lead the global community in holding those accountable who commit and profit by cultural

Since the start of the Syrian War in 2011, archaeologists have run into roadblocks with tracking specific damages and scope of the damage done to historical sites and artifacts. This destruction takes many forms

They can add extra security measures and checks at the historical sites. In addition, they can employ more security guards. However, I also think that defeating ISIS would require more than just extra security, as ISIS is an extremely powerful force. For this reason, it would definitely be helpful if some of the stronger and more powerful nations aided the countries being victimized by ISIS. I think the United States might be able to assist the foreign officials and stop the destruction ISIS is causing or at least some of it, but it would require them to use a lot of their military budget and power, and I don't know if they are willing to do that because of the economic and military-related strain it would put on our own nation. But in the meantime, I think that it would help to have protocols for what to do in case of a terrorist-related emergency. This would help prevent emergencies as well as deal with them in an organized manner if they are to happen. But the most important thing we can all do is to show ISIS that we cannot be defeated, because then ISIS gets what they want. Just like America showed that 9/11 made us stronger as a nation, the nations being attacked by ISIS need to do the same sort of thing. Doing this shows to ISIS that no matter what they do, nations will just get

In May 2015, troops of Isis swept Palmyra, which is one of the oldest ancient cities in the world, and as always, Isis made many massacres starting from killing civilians down to destroying the valuable artifacts. After that, the militants of the Islamic state committed a new barbarian crime when they killed “Khaled al-asaad”, the manager of museums in the old city.

On March 19, 2003 Baghdad was under fire. Three weeks later, American tanks roll into the Iraq capital scenes of triumph replaced by chaos. The US Military wasn’t prepared for citywide civilian crisis and eventually everything went up for grabs—even the treasures of the Iraq museum. The Iraq Museum have object materials from about half a million years ago – carvings, statues, and pottery. All the archaeological data was housed

Unesco has named Iraqi marshlands once ravaged by dictator Saddam Hussein as a world heritage site, a bright spot for a country where jihadists have repeatedly sought to wipe out history.

The Middle East has faced many controversial topics over the last few decades. A recent problem has been the looting of artifacts and artwork from many different museums and important sites. During and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, people broke into the National Museum of Iraq and stole thousands of artifacts, resulting in damage to not only the museum, but also the lives of Iraqi citizens. The looting in this museum caused it to close for many years, and many of the artifacts were never found. Although the looting of artwork in the Middle East is not a popular topic in the United States, it has been an ongoing controversy over the last decade, causing many problems for the people of Iraq and the culture.

Once you take away a historical artifact from its original place, it is no longer historical. Though Dr. Hawass states that a nation keeps legal documentation to keep the artifact valuable and keep its culture (A Case In Antiquities for ‘Finders Keepers’), the local people of where that artifact originated should get to view the artifact before anyone else. Those cultural artifacts are a huge part of their identity and

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is committed to conserving and protecting the naturally and culturally significant sites of the world. A world heritage site is a place that is culturally or environmentally significant to the world. The World Heritage Convention, adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1972, puts together both the preservation of nature and the preservation of sites that are culturally significant to society. The idea for this convention came after UNESCO was involved in rescuing the Abu Simbel Temple in Egypt. The building of the Aswan High Dam threatened to flood the valley and destroy the ancient temple. UNESCO launched an international campaign to save the temple and the temple was eventually dismantled, moved, and reassembled in a location safe from flooding. Fifty countries donated to the campaign, raising nearly half of the cost of the operation. The convention was adopted a few years later so that the states parties could join together to protect the world’s natural and cultural heritage. The convention also provides access to the World Heritage Fund to help fund the states’ efforts in identifying and preserving sites.

Both Egypt and Baghdad seem to be going through the same problems but under different circumstances. War has affected them both but one more so than the other. Hawass was trying to garner a lot of attention to Egypt's museums and excavations, and seemed to be doing a pretty good job until the protests. I believe Hawass cared more about the fame and power than the artifacts, but he did help bring more pride to Egypt. He made people care about Egypt's past and got people to go to museums and tour historical monuments. He definitely brought money into Egypt, but now that he's gone, I wonder if the SCA will recover. Whoever is finally in charge will sure have big shoes to fill. They can't move forward until the government figures out what it will

ISIS has initiated concerns in the district and around the globe by butchering minorities, regulating sex slavery, getting rid of state armed forces, and killing rivals in awful shows of brutality. It annihilated heritage sites, for example, sanctuaries in the ancient city of Palmyra, and powered the worldwide relics

In Syria there is one of the most important temples of the Middle East, which a center of religion in Syrian city Palmyra. The Temple of Bel is also one of the oldest temples in the world, the temple was built 2000 years ago and Syrians have huge respect and appreciation for one of the most important places in their country which is the temple itself. It was recently found that parts of it are destroyed and reports are stating that ISIS are totally responsible for the destruction of the Temple of Bel. They also killed Khalid Al Asaad who was an 82 year old man who protects all the antics of the temple, after he refused to tell them where some precious antics were placed.

In their papers on Islamic iconoclasm, G.R.D. King and F.B. Flood approach the topic from two different temporal viewpoints. While King situates his paper within a medieval period and delineates an evolution of the origins of Islamic iconoclasm and compares it to Byzantine iconoclasm, Flood extends his arguments to the present and asks how our understanding of the development of iconoclasm can elucidate contemporary militant groups’ iconoclasm. Despite the temporal disparity, both King and Flood argue that Islamic iconoclasm had more than just religious considerations and must also be seen in a political and economic context. Additionally, Flood postulates that in the modern day, museums can function as new means, which inform Islamic iconoclasm. long, culturally determined, and unchanging tradition of violent iconoclastic acts"