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Ancient Egypt Magazine -- Volume Three  Issue Six -- May/June 2003

Editor's Column

Regular readers of Ancient Egypt may be relative newcomers to Egyptology – we hope that you find plenty of information to help you increase your knowledge! – or ‘old hands’ at the subject, having attended courses regularly and read many books. If you’re one of the latter, you will know that there is always something new to be learned from studying ancient Egypt, and that one of the approaches taken by AE is to provide a new angle. Whatever your interest and level of knowledge, the important thing is that you have the motivation to learn more.

In either case, I’m sure you won’t be too surprised if the subject of this issue’s editor’s column takes us away from your primary interest, temporarily, to focus on the major issue in archaeology right now – the looting of the museums of Iraq.

The relative inaccessibility of Iraq in recent decades has meant that far less is known of this ancient culture by the majority of people. True, serious travelers and historians have made the effort to visit and Iraq has always had its ‘aficionados’. However, there is an obvious contrast when compared to the massive investment in, and commitment to, tourism by the Egyptian government. And for obvious reasons.

The ultimate outcomes of the war are still, in truth, unknown, and this is not the place for political debate; but here we can, with some justification, concentrate on that aspect of it, museum looting, which will surely be seen by everyone as a disaster.

As knowledgeable people, imagine a world in which there is no longer a Narmer Palette, a Khufu statuette or a Rosetta Stone. If you imagine those familiar objects missing from their places, you have some idea of how it must feel to students of Mesopotamian history. As it was pointed out recently, if Iraq were still called by that ancient name of Mesopotamia, our responses to it would be different.

The list of the items that are missing is still incomplete. Some items have already been returned – and some are in fragments. A figure of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, for example, was taken only to be returned, broken into three pieces.

There have already been arrests as a result of appeals put out to customs, police and art dealers world-wide by the Director-General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura. After an initial meeting in Paris of heads of archaeological missions, a follow-up meeting of senior curatorial staff from all over the world was held at the British Museum. The recommendations of the first meeting were an immediate prohibition on the export of all antiques, antiquities, works of art, books and archives from Iraq; and an immediate ban on the international trade in objects of Iraqi cultural heritage.

At the follow-up meeting in London, the Director-General commented, ‘Today’s meeting demonstrates our firm resolution to follow-up this initial mobilisation and to take immediate measures as well as prepare for the medium and longterm.’ He further called for a database to be compiled, combining the archives, lists and inventories relating to the Iraqi heritage, so that the authorities could check the status of individual items. This, he stressed, could only be done by an on-site mission.

And in conclusion, the Director-General commented that he was ‘deeply touched’ by the tokens of support and the willingness of governments, individuals and non-governmental organisations to assist in the undertaking. So, as much as possible is being done, and perhaps the majority of us can only watch, wait and hope. The greatest sadness and irony in the situation is that a likely consequence of the war will be interest in Iraq from those who simply want to find out more about the culture and the people, ancient and modern.

Miriam  A Bibby

Editor

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