Assessing the Damage at Palmyra after a Week

A week after the recapture of Palmyra from the Islamic State, considerably more information is emerging about the degree of damage to the antiquities in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. My initial assessment last week seems to still hold true: the destruction is not complete, but it's bad enough.

ASOR, the American Schools of Oriental Research, today released their detailed assessment, based on journalists' reports, the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM),  and military sources. In addition to the videos I posted last week, there are links to many more by Russian and Syrian media and an AFP photographer. You can read the ASOR report online here, or download the PDF here. This is probably the best overview I've seen to date,

You can also find extensive photographs at the DGAM web page, including photos of the damage to the ruins  (English; Arabic here) and to the museum (English; Arabic here); a more recent report here. (Arabic here).

DGAM also posted a Tribute to Khaled Assad, the octogenarian archaeologist  and Director of the site, who was executed last year by ISIS.

The Gates of Nineveh website also has a good survey with links, photos, and videos.

Not all sites have been fully investigated as mines are still being cleared.

Here's an overview video among many:

The museum was extensively damaged; however some reports say that many key exhibits were moved to Damascus and replaced by casts before the fall to ISIS.

Palmyra Destruction is Not Complete, But Bad Enough

Now that the Islamic State has been driven out of Palmyra, there have been some reports suggesting that the damage to the ancient site is not as bad as had been feared.

Insofar as it proves to be true, that's good news, of course, but let's not sound too optimistic. We know the once beautifully well-preserved Temple of Bel was razed:

Temple of Bel (my photo, 1972)

And we know little was left:
 

Triumphal Arch (My photo, 1972)

We also know that the Temple of Baalshamin and the Great Triumphal Arch (above) were also turned to rubble.  ISIS also destroyed several tower tombs which, like the temples, they considered idolatrous. But the amphitheater received little damage, though it reportedly was used for executions, and while some exhibits in the museum were smashed, others are said to be intact.

Russia has released drone footage showing the site from the air. The first version, from RT, is in English without commentary; the second has fuller commentary in Russian, which I don't speak but some readers will.

Finally, I add an ASOR aerial shot of the site before ISIS for comparison.

ASOR Updated Report on Palmyra

I've noted The American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR)'s Syrian Heritage Initiative in the past. The latest of their Special Reports is here: "Special Update on the Situation in Palmyra."  For previous Special Reports on Palmyra and other threats to Syrian heritage, see here.

Temple of Bel Said to Still Be Standing Despite IS Attempt to Destroy It (UPDATED)

UPDATE: see important update at end.

During my vacation, the news from the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Palmyra was pretty much universally bad. The Islamic State executed the octogenarian Syrian archaeologist Khaled Al-Asaad, and destroyed the two-millennium old temple of Baal Shamin, (Before and after photos below.)

Yesterday and earlier today there were reports of an even greater potential loss for Syrian heritage: a report that ISIS had planted explosives around one of Palmyra's most iconic sites, the Temple of Bel, yesterday afternoon.and blown it up.

There is, however, some glimmer of hope. Syria's Head of the Department of Antiquities and Museums, Maamoun Abdulkarim, is quoted today as saying "our information is provisional, but it indicates that any damage done was partial, and the basic structure is still standing."

Dedicated in 32 AD, the Temple of Bel was already a couple of centuries old during Zenobia's reign, and was later a Byzantine church. We even know the name of its Greek architect.

What counts as a glimmer of good news in ISIS territory is that they didn't apparently succeed in destroying this priceless antiquity on their first try. The bad news is they may well try again. Please indulge the obscene expletives of your choice.

Below, a photo I took personally 43 years ago in 1972 of the Temple of Bel. Original was an old Kodachrome slide.
UPDATE: UN imagery suggests the destruction was much worse than today's reports suggested:

ISIS' "Archaeology Book Club Reading List"

The Conflict Antiquities blog has for some time now been documenting (and occasionally debunking) allegations of the Islamic State destruction of antique sites and also its efforts to sell on the international black market those antique artifacts small enough to transport.

Now it offers evidence that appears to show that Islamic State fighters have been systematically collecting a reading list on Syrian antiquities and especially ancient coins: "Islamic State archaeology book club reading list – deliberately acquired and transported in conflict."

ASOR Report on Threat to Palmyra

Aerial View of Site (ASOR)

The American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) Syrian Heritage Initiative has published a "Special Report on the Importance of Palmyra" addressing the importance of the site and the need for international concern. Given that there have been conflicting reports about the security of monuments since the ISIS takeover, it's good to see an assessment from a respected source. An excerpt:

So far, there have been few confirmed reports of damage to the site of Palmyra. Video footage has documented combat-related damage to the Citadel, and unconfirmed reports suggest that several mortars fell within the Temple of Bel. The DGAM has also reported the destruction of modern plaster statues at the Museum by ISIL, and other reports suggest that at least one government airstrike hit a position within the ancient city. ISIL also posted a video and a series of images online showing various views of the ancient city, including the Temple of Bel, the Colonnaded Street, and the Theater. On May 26, 2015, a purported ISIL representative made a statement claiming that the group plans to destroy “statues” at Palmyra but will not “bulldoze” other historical monuments. Given current uncertainties about the extent of looting at the site and the state of the collection at the Palmyra Archaeological Museum, it is impossible to specify exactly which archaeological materials are most at risk. Some rumors suggest that deliberate destruction of sculptures has already begun – with the Lion of Al-lāt that stands at the entrance to the Bel Temple – but these claims have not been confirmed (and have recently been denied by the DGAM). At the same time, it is unclear whether or not ISIL will in fact refrain from harming other monuments at the site, either deliberately or for looting purposes. A satellite image taken on May 27, 2015, shows several trucks in the vicinity of the Theater but otherwise shows no visible damage; it must emphasized, however, that many types of damage would not necessarily be visible in the satellite imagery.

Whether or not significant damage has already occurred, the site must be considered at high risk of further damage – in light of the ongoing airstrikes in the area, the potential for renewed conflict on the ground, and the possibility of looting and deliberate destruction by ISIL. The summary provided above has shown that Palmyra is a site of significant cultural and historical importance. As part of the broader, humanitarian response to the current crisis, the international community should do whatever it can to save Palmyra.

Vehicles Parked Near Theater (ASOR)

Linguistic Notes II: An Extremely Early Arabic Inscription in Greek Letters

My second linguistics post tonight will be more erudite than my first, but perhaps less popular, with no four letter words more objectionable than "will" and "four," But it's important.

Lameen over at the Jabal al-Lughat blog calls our attention to  a discovery of "Old Arabic in Greek letters, in 3rd/4th century Jordan."

In linguist-speak he notes

There are a fair number of Arabic names transcribed in Greek at this period in various sources, but this seems to be the only known attempt to write Arabic text in Greek letters until much later. Most contemporary Arabic inscriptions were instead written in the Safaitic script, which does not indicate vowels. A text like this thus enables us to see much more clearly how the Arabic of the nomads of 3rd/4th century Jordan was pronounced. It confirms two crucial points. In Arabic, case is usually indicated only by final vowel choice; in this inscription, accusative case (-a) is clearly marked, but the Classical nominative and genitive (-u, -i) are not transcribed, suggesting that this dialect had dropped final short high vowels and thus developed a case system like that of Geez. Also reminiscent of Geez is the fact that intervocalic semivowels elided in Classical Arabic were unambiguously pronounced - thus 'atawa rather than 'atā for "he came". There may well be more material like this out there in the deserts on the Syrian-Jordanian border; let's hope research on the Syrian side becomes possible again soon.

Many of the pre-Islamic inscriptions this early are in Old North Arabian, Arabic's presumed immediate ancestor, but Old North Arabian has the definte article h- while this inscription uses the article al-, unique to true Arabic.

The emergence of Classical Arabic is a fascinating topic for another day but for those of you seriously interested the article is "New Epigraphica from Jordan I: a pre-Islamic Arabic inscription in Greek letters and a Greek inscription from north-eastern Jordan," by A. Jallad with A. al-Manasser.

A part of the inscription:

Sometimes it isn't ISIS that Destroys Ancient Heritage Sites; Sometimes it's the Ministry of Antiquities

April 18 was World Heritage Day. Earlier last week, it was learned that a Hellenistic Theater complex in Alexandria, the Masrah al-‘Abd, only discovered by archaeologists in 2013, and including adjacent tombs had been obliterated with no trace remaining and with the archaeologists who excavated the site not warned in advance.

A preservationist group called the Egypt's Heritage Task Force (الحملة المجتمعية للرقابة على التراث والأثار) had lobbied against the demolition and protested its being done without warning. The photos here are theirs, and they're the "before" photos. "After" is just a hole in the ground.

Another radical jihadist group like ISIS or the Taliban, trying to erase the pre-Islamic past? A predatory developer? No, it was the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.

While it's drawn some press coverage and some blog comment, the Ministry has said the site was destabilizing neighboring buildings (how? It's been there 2000 years) and besides, it duplicated finds found elsewhere. So they are selling it to a private developer. As Zeinobia notes in the link, won't construction of a new building destabilize the neighborhood even more?

Now I realize full well the necessary role of rescue archaeology when ancient sites are found under modern cities. Sometimes you're building a parking lot in Leicester and accidentally dig up King Richard III, as happened not long ago. At least they reburied his bones with honors and didn't just pave them over.  Many countries require potential developers to pay for the cost of full archaeological surveys and excavation, with full photography, before allowing development to proceed. Perhaps the theater has been fully and professionally surveyed and recorded, though two years after discovery seems quick by archaeological standards. Given some of the allegations about development at Saqqara, Meydum, and elsewhere since 2011, it's natural to suspect that greed may have outpaced preservation here.

That's unfortunate in a country that, when the High Dam threatened to drown the great temple at Abu Simbel under the waters of Lake Nasser, Egypt worked with UNESCO and international donors to raise the entire temple complex above the lake, in one of the greatest engineering feats in Egypt since the Pyramids. (The Temple of Philae and other sites were also saved.)

If I learn that the site was in fact fully documented and recorded, I'll gladly stand corrected.

Tin Hinan, Legendary Ancestress-Queen of the Tuareg, and Her Tomb, and Women Leaders in Amazigh History

Hocine Ziyani, La reine Tin Hinan, (Wikimedia)

Let's do a cultural post far from any of the current (and slowly merging into each other) wars. (And a hat tip to Diana Buja for calling this to my attention.) A post at the Ancient Origins website discusses "The Monumental Tomb of Queen Tin Hinan, Ancient Ancestress of the Tuaregs."

Besides being an interesting story in its own right, it gives me a chance to talk about the prominent role women leaders have played in the history of North Africa's Amazigh ("Berber") people.

In 1925 a monumental tomb was excavated in Abalessa in southern Algeria near Tamanrasset in the mountain region known as Hoggar (Arabic) of Ahaggar (Berber/Tamazight/Tamasheq) by archaeologist Byron Khun de Prorok. It contained the remains of a woman buried with fine jewelry, and inside an elaborate structure that may have been a Roman frontier fort. Coins and later carbon dating suggest a 4th or 5th century AD date.

The Tuareg, the nomadic Saharan Amazigh people who live in southern Algeria and Libya, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and some neighboring countries, consider this the tomb of their legendary Queen Tin Hinan, who is considered the ancestress of the Tuareg people and the ruler of the Hoggar region. In Tuareg tradition, the monumental tomb is that of Tin Hinan, or T'in Hinan, ancestress and Queen of the Tuareg people. Tin Hinan literally means "she of the tents," or "she of the camp," and she is also known as Tamenukalt,  or "Queen."

Some of the traditions relating to Tin Hinan, such as those which make her Muslim, are unhistorical if the identification of the tomb (4th-5th centuries AD) is accurate. In Tuareg tradition she is said to have come from Tafilalt in the Atlas to the Ahaggar, along with a servant, Takamat. Tin Hinan was held to be the ancestress of the Tuareg nobility, and Takamat of the commoners.

There is no certainty, other than popular identification, that the monumental tomb is really that of Tin Hinan or even that Tin Hinan is a historical figure, and some have even suggested the skeleton may be male. But there is an interesting coincidence. The skeleton found in the tomb, now in the museum in Algiers, shows a deformity that may  indicate that the  woman in question was lame. Now, in Ibn Khaldun's universal history Kitab al-‘Ibar, the most famous parts of which (after its "Introduction," the famous Muqaddima) are the sections on Berber genealogies and history, translated into French by de Slane as Histoire des Berbères, Ibn Khaldun says that the Huwwara, Lamta, Sanhaja and other Berber tribes all claim descent from a single woman, a queen he calls "Tiski the Lame." Many students of the Hoggar region, including Charles de Foucauld, the famous missionary at Tamanrasset who studied the languages and traditions, have assumed or argued that Tiski may be identical with Tin Hinan (which is a title, not a personal name). And Ibn Khaldun says the place name Hoggar derives from Huwwara.

Clearly, a monumental female tomb adorned with jewelry suggests a powerful queen, The Tuareg traditions of Tin Hinan and Ibn Khaldun's tale of Tiski the Lame both speak of an ancestress Queen of the Tuareg of the Hoggar. And the skeleton found in the tomb appears lame.Separating out legend from fact is difficult.

it is a reminder, though, that Amazigh history in the pre-Islamic period witnessed instances of strong female leadership. Another example at the time of the Arab conquest of the Maghreb is the woman resistance leader called by Arab historians al-Kahina (the priestess or sorceress; a cognate of "cohen") who led the resistance in what is now Algeria and is variously considered Berber or Byzantine or both,

Some further readings and videos, in French except for a couple:

Dida Badi, Tin-Hinan; une modèle structural de la société touarègue," in Etudes et documents berbères, pp. 199-205.(at academia.edu)

M. Gast, entry "Huwwâra, Houuara, Houara, Hawwâra," in Encyclopédie berbère.
 
Ibn Khaldun, Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l'Afrique Septentrional, translated by Wlliam MacGuckin Baron de Slane, Vol. I (Algiers, 1852), pages 272-273 (Google Books).

Daily Kos; "The Tuaregs I: Tin Hinanm the mother of us all:"

El Watan (Algiers),  "Tin Hinan, une reine ou un roi ? 

Wikipedia,"Tin Hinan"

algeria.com: "Tin Hinan Festival a Tribute to the Legendary Tuareg Queen"

Updates on the Ongoing Threat to Antiquities in Syria and Iraq

It's been some time since I've blogged about the threat to antiquities and archaeological sites in Ira and Syria by ISIS and by ongoing warfare by other parties. Here are a few useful readings and references.

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), Society for American Archaeology (SAA), American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), American Anthropological Association (AAA), and Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago issued a joint statement deploring developments a few weeks ago.

While ISIS has circulated video of some of their destruction, other reports have come from the Iraqi government and my be exaggerated. The Assyriology blog Gates of Nineveh offers a rundown and assesses the reports, providing a number of videos: "Damage around Tikrit, Destruction in Mosul."

Eleanor Robson at the Times Literary Supplement examines the question: "Modern War, Ancient Casualties."

It's also worth remembering that ISIS is not the only combatant, and that there's much propaganda in play, and in anarchic situations looting may be a temptation to all sides, as several headlines at Conflict Antiquities make clear:

"A Photoshopped frame of the destruction of a lamassu at Nergal Gate"

"Islamic State-looted antiquities on eBay? ‘The stories are absolutely false and defamatory.’ Multiple libel actions will follow."

"Conflict antiquities from Apamea do not finance the Islamic State – they finance the Assad regime."

 "Was most of the looting at the most extensively looted site in Syria conducted under the Islamic State or the Free Syrian Army?"

"State arms-for-antiquities trafficking between Turkey and Syria?"

I can't testify to the accuracy of these posts, and of course, whoever does it, the world loses.

A Ring with an Arabic Inscription from the Viking Age

I'm crashing on deadlines and appointments today and haven't had time for blogging, but wanted to at least show the flag.

This is probably being given more attention than it deserves since it isn't quite as strange as people are making it sound: "Why was a 9th century Viking woman buried with a ring that says ‘for Allah’ on it?" (Washington Post); "Ring brings ancient Viking, Islamic civilizations closer together," (Science News), and similar reports.

They are all reporting on a scholarly piece from The Journal of Scanning Microscopies,  of an article called "Analysis and interpretation of a unique Arabic finger ring from the Viking Age town of Birka, Sweden,"  for those who prefer the original paper to the journalistic summaries. The illustrations below are from that article.

The ring comes from a woman's grave in which the clothing and other burial goods are all Viking Age Scandinavian. The silver ring, set with a stone originally thought to be amethyst, but which is actually colored glass, is inscribed with what appears to be a Kufic inscription which the article interprets as "for/to Allah," I presume reading it as li-llah, though they write it as al-_llah.

Unpointed Kufic is always a challenge, and inscribed on glass even more so. Here's their rendering:

It could as easily be {stray alif] billah, since it;'s unpointed.

Interesting, but not that revolutionary. Rings with Arabic inscriptions have been found in several sites in Eastern Europe, and Birka, Sweden, was a key Viking trading center, so the ring presumably arrived as trade goods.

Offa's "Dinar" (British Museum)

Arabic coinage (especially gold dinars and silver dirhams due to their intrinsic value) circulated all over Europe, and the 8th century Anglo-Saxon King of Mercia Offa (builder of Offa's Dyke to hold back the Welsh), famously struck a gold coin that directly imitated a dinar of the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur, with the Arabic shahada imperfectly copied on one side and "Offa Rex" on the other. Offa was a Christian and the British Museum site suggests the coin was struck for the Pope, so we can assume Offa was better at holding back the Welsh than at recognizing the shahada.

And of course there was Ibn Fadlan, the medieval Arab traveler who visited the Volga Vikings in what is now Russia. He didn't like them much. Michael Crichton's novel Eaters of the Dead was a fictionalization of Ibn Fadlan's travels. A bad movie was made from it, The 13th Warrior.

So the Birka find is interesting, but not unprecedented. The trade routes across Europe are quite ancient; Ancient Near Eastern jewelery has been found in Scandinavia, and the Ancient Greeks knew Baltic amber.

Now, Khorsabad as Well?

The Iraqi government is now claiming that ISIS has now begun destroying the ruins of the Assyrian city of Khorsabad (Dur al-Sharrrukin) as well.

Again, there are only the government reports. The city was founded by Sargon II (722-705 BC) as his capital, but abandoned undwer his successor Sennacherib, who ruled from Nineveh instead.

This Looks Like a Promising Read from Donald Reid

Donald M. Reid, Professor of History Emeritus at Georgia State University, is an old Egypt hand, and a distinguished historian of Modern Egypt. Among his previous works is
"Whose Pharaohs?: Archæology, Museums, and Egyptian National Identity from Napoleon to World War I," dealing with the interplay between archaeology and national identity from the Rosetta Stone to World War I.

Now I've learned that the sequel is due out later this year: "Contesting Antiquity in Egypt: Archaeologies, Museums, and the Struggle for Identities from World War I to Nasser," pursuing the theme from the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb to the Nasser era. It should be fascinating.

Professor Reid mentioned in a recent e-mail that he sometimes reads my blog, so if you see this, Don, know that I'm looking forward to reading it, and am accordingly plugging it here.

"Gates of Nineveh" Assesses Damage to Hatra Gallery

The Assyriology website Gates of Nineveh continues its assessment of the damage to the Mosul Museum with a post on the damage to statues in the Gallery dealing with ancient Hatra. (I previously linked to their Part I report here.)

The short version: "The damage by ISIS to the artistic legacy of Hatra has been catastrophic."

Gates of Nineveh on the Mosul Damage

The Assyriology blog Gates of Nineveh has Part I of its assessment of the damage done by ISIS in Mosul.

From the conclusion:

It is worth noting that in 2003 around 1,500 smaller objects from the Mosul Museum were relocated to the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad in order that they may be better protected. Nevertheless, many statues otherwise too large or delicate to be moved remained.

When it comes to the Assyrian artifacts, by far the most important losses are the lamassu at the Nergal Gate, one of which was exceedingly well preserved. They were some of the few lamassu left in their original locations to greet visitors to Nineveh the same way they would have greeted visitors in ancient Assyria.

As for the items inside the museum, a number are replicas of originals held elsewhere, while others are likely genuine.

The destruction of sculptures from Hatra [a Seleucid foundation - MCD] appears to be even more devastating, and I will have another post on this damage shortly.

If Only Mosul Had Been So Lucky: How Maurice Chehab Saved the Beirut Museum During the Civil War

Note: I'll be in an MEI staff retreat all day today. This will be my only post unless I have something this evening. 

Yesterday's shocking videos of ISIS destroying antiquities in the Mosul Museum again underscored the threat war and instability pose to irreplaceable historical and archaeological heritage. Not since the Nazis looted Europe of art treasures during World War II (many of which have never been seen again, despite the efforts of Allied forces as depicted in the film The Monuments Men), have so many historical and archaeological treasures been threatened. The civil wars in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, and the 2011 Revolution in Egypt, all saw cases of looting of museums and archaeological sites, as well as collateral damage from artillery of ancient and medieval monuments. But ISIS is embarked on a campaign to destroy antiquities not as a casualty of war but as a matter of direct policy. Shi‘ite, Christian, and Yazidi religious sites and libraries were first, but now the ancient heritage of ancient Mesopotamia is being targeted: the walls and gate of Nineveh and the Mosul Museum.

Source: phoenicia.org

It's a good time to remember the work of the late Maurice Chehab, Director of the Lebanese Antiquities Department and Curator of the Museum during the Lebanese Civil War, and a man who saved much of the collections even though the Muesum was quite literally on the front lines: the division between Christian East Beirut and Muslim West Beirut (the Green Line) was the street in front of the museum, and a key but dangerous checkpoint between the two sides was called the Museum Crossing. Lebanese know this story and have honored him; I suspect it's less well known outside.

Emir (Prince) Maurice Chehab was a scion of the Chehab or Shihab dynasty which once ruled Mount Lebanon; originally Druze, the family today has both Maronite and Sunni branches; the former produced Maurice, as well as former Lebanese President Fouad Chehab.

The National Museum, Beirut

Born in 1904, Chehab attended the Jesuit St. Joseph University in Beirut and then did graduate work in France at the Louvre. He became an accomplished archaeologist and specialist on Ancient Phoenicia, and dug at Tyre most famously but also elsewhere; from 1928 onward he held various official posts under the French Mandate and after independence, heading what evolved into the Directorate-General of Antiquities.He taught at the Lebanese University and was designated as the first Curator when Lebanon's National Museum was being organized in the years after 1928; it opened in 1942.

Wartime Museum Damage

He was a distinguished scholar and already past 70 when the Civil War broke out in 1975, when the grim twist of fate brought the war quite literally to the Museum's doorstep. Eventually, the Museum would not only be the target of artillery but would become a frontline bunker for militiamen and a death trap for anyone else. The card catalog, photographic archive and much else were lost.

But not the prize collections. Early in the war, using a rear entrance as the story goes, Chehab and his wife Olga (with a few other senior people) gathered the smaller objects on display and moved them to basement storage to avoid looting. The area was sealed off with steel-reinforced concrete. The larger objects, including the best-known objects, the stone sarcophagus of Ahiram and the other Phoenician sarcophagi, were also encased in wooden or concrete coverings.

Maurice Chehab retired in 1982 and died in 1994. In 2013 the Museum rededicated one of the key galleries as the Maurice Chehab Hall.

You can find other retellings of this story here, and at the museum's Wikipedia page, and even fuller accounts at several tribute pages: here and here and here..

Mosul could have used a Maurice Chehab.

More on the Destruction in the Mosul Museum

Following up on those videos  of ISIS smashing Assyrian antiquities in the Mosul Museum, here's a roundup of commentary and detail from several websites around the preservationist community. And let me emphasize that I am not giving more weight to the destruction of antiquities than to the slaughter of human beings, but that barbarity is already well known.

At the blog Conflict Antiquities, where Sam Hardy regularly tracks the illicit traffic in looted and smuggled antiquities from war zones, he makes a major point: the videos show the Islamic State destroying large statues that are too large to smuggle out and sell; smuggled artworks and artifacts are a major source  of revenue for ISIS. He notes:

There is no doubt that the Islamic State is profiting from the illicit trade in antiquities. Although the criminals have destroyed some ancient artefacts, the have also destroyed a lot of modern reproductions – as is visible, for example, around 00h03m58s. All this video really shows is that they are willing to destroy things that they can’t ship out and sell off.

A post by Lynda Albertson for the Association for Research into Crimes against Art  has some "before" photos from a UNESCO report, identifying the gallery shown in the photo.

An AP story by Sinan Salaheddin quotes a professor from the Archaeological College of Mosul as saying that most of the artifacts are genuine and not replica; the story also confirms that the sites shown are the Mosul Museum and the Nergal Gate in the ruins of Nineveh.

Another heritage preservation website, Gates of Nineveh, has not yet posted on the video, but you can find a summary of earlier destruction here.

Videos Show ISIS Smashing Assyrian Statues in the Mosul Museum

ISIS is not just kidnapping Assyrian Christians today; it is also destroying the heritage of Ancient Assyria. Videos of ISIS followers smashing the statuary in the Mosul Museum are circulating today:



Many reports, including here.

While some of the statues are said to be plaster casts, they have destroyed the famed winged bull of Nineveh. I hope to have more detail in a later post.

Hmm. Did Old Kingdom Egypt Have Movie Dates?

Amid so much carnage in the Middle East, and my ongoing postings about the centenary of World War I, I thought it might be worth lightening things up a bit, even if it means employing somewhat adolescent humor.

The Fourth Dynasty of Egypt was the age of the Great Pyramids. The full details are below the picture, but as the caption says "This statue evokes the intimacy of Memi and his companion, Sabu, although she is set somewhat apart by her oblique gaze." In my youth (which despite what my daughter thinks was not really the Bronze Age), we'd have called it copping a feel, or getting to second base, but the Pyramid Age didn't have baseball. I'm far too mature and adult to pursue this theme further.

Full original caption:

The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu.
This statue evokes the intimacy of Memi and his companion, Sabu, although she is set somewhat apart by her oblique gaze.
Until recently, the flowering of nonroyal statuary was believed to have occurred only in the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties. Recent studies indicate, however, that many of these nonroyal statues, including Memi and Sabu, are better dated to the Fourth Dynasty, contemporary with the great royal statuary programs. The early date for Memi and Sabu is based both on her coiffure and on the reciprocated embrace.

Well, at Least They Didn't Use Duct Tape: The Curious Case of King Tut's Beard

The gold burial mask of Tutankhamun is probably the most precious and most famous treasure of the Egyptian Museum,  which in turn is one of the world's greatest museums. Yet, as you've no doubt heard by now, when Tut's beard came loose in cleaning, someone unspecified tried to put it back using epoxy. When the epoxy was visible, someone tried to remove it and scratched the mask.

The Ministry of Antiquities is investigating, but this adds to the concern over the fate if antiquities in Egypt since 2011. The single best known attraction of the museum (and an exhibit whose world tours have earned lots of money), has been repaired (and botched) by museum conservators using the kind of technique a kid might lose to fix a broken toy.

I have no words. Or none of more than four letters at any rate.