Initial assessment of archaeological relics’ destruction by ISIS terrorists in the recaptured ancient city of Hatra, Iraq, shows that the damage by the terrorists was lesser than feared.
Mid-January is the moment that our Staff would like to announce the 2016 Archaeological Awards for projects undertaken in Poland and worldwide. It is time to announce the research projects that our site would like to award for their contribution in archaeology, expanding our knowledge about the past, crossing new frontiers, and preservation of the cultural heritage.
Geneva Investigations Bureau confiscated nine artefacts in Switzerland, including three sculptures from Libya, Syria and Yemen. Among the finds is a sculpture for Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty.
As government forces drive ISIS terrorists out of Mosul and nearby Nimrud the scale of destruction to one of Iraq’s greatest archaeological treasures comes to light. Once magnificent masterpieces of art are now broken into pieces and bulldozed flat. Moreover, the crippled Mosul Dam threatens to flood vast populated areas filled with archaeological sites with water from the Tigris river.
The crowd-sharing system called Arches, utilising satellite imagery, photographs, technical data and eyewitness descriptions documents damage and destruction of monuments by the so-called Islamic State and due to fights near the Syrian city of Aleppo.
ISIS extremists destroyed the 2,500-year-old temple of Nabu in the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud and released footage of the incident. The final scene in the ten-minute video shows the Great Pyramid of Giza near Egypt’s capital, Cairo and a fanatic pledging to blow up ancient sites built by the infidels.
Polish archaeologists continue work in Palmyra, the ancient city in Syria that was recently freed from ISIS forces’ occupation. A short visit of the experts from Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of University of Warsaw focused on securing artefacts for transport and gathering pieces of shattered sculptures and wall decorations.
During a recent conference on “The Presence of Polish Archaeologists in Near East” Syrian officials of the Department of Antiquity invited archaeologists from Institute of Archaeology at University of Warsaw to come to the ancient city of Palmyra which has been recently freed from occupation of the Islamic State troops.
In Iraqi, Syria and Libya, ISIS has systematically destroyed more than 30 major historic churches, mosques and tombs – some of which date as far back as the seventh century.