Archaeology and Syria

Note that there are some more specific links in the powerpoint slides accompanying the lecture on 'Archaeology and the Restitution of Artefacts'.

All sources are to be used critically; think about who is writing and what their agenda is. Be explicit about this in your essay. 

 

Academic sources

Special issue of Near Eastern Archaeology on the heritage crisis in the Middle East (Sept 2015) (this will need an on-campus computer)

Resources on the cultural crisis in the Middle East, by the American Schools of Oriental Research (an academic organisation); regularly updated. 

Looting research at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, University of Glasgow

Trafficking culture: researching global traffic in cultural objects (main website of the same UofG team) 

Shirin: community of archaeologists specialising in Syria to help government bodies and NGOs preserve and protect antiquities

The Heroic Effort to Digitally Reconstruct Lost Monuments: Scholars create a virtual archive of antiquities destroyed by extremists in Syria and Iraq. Katie Nodjimbadem, Smithsonian Magazine, March 2016.

 

Newspaper reports etc.

These are to be used cautiously and critically, but still very valuable sources of up-to-date information and evidence. 

Use of satellite imagery to confirm destruction of ancient monastery in Iraq by ISIS (Guardian, Jan 2016)

Video of 'Islamic State' apparently destroying ancient statues in Mosul, Feb 2015

Dramatic aerial photos of looting in Apamea

Looted antiquities end up in London shops (Guardian, July 2015)

Project Mosul: cyber-archaeology project to create digital reconstructions of destroyed monuments, Palmyra (BBC, May 2015)

Before and after pictures of Syria's heritage (Guardian, Jan 2014)

Plunder of artefacts in Syria's civil war (Feb 2013)

 

More (but older) links in the Who Owns the Past and Archaeology and Iraq sections.

 

Others

To be used even more cautiously and critically! 

Facebook group on 'Syrian archaeological heritage in danger'