Ancient Artefacts and Modern Conflict: A Case Study of Looting and Instability in Iraq

Abstract

Early in the Iraq War, media coverage sporadically informed the general public about the looting of the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad, yet the continuing issue of cultural property protection (CPP) during wartime has been largely ignored by the media and, as a result, the general public. Protection of museums and archaeological sites in Iraq, as in previous armed conflicts, has been typically seen as a small problem that concerns only overwrought academics. Compared to the more urgent problems during wartime, such as the preservation of human lives, protection of some dusty old trinkets should rightly take a back seat, but it is also important to keep in mind that the widespread and ongoing looting of archaeological sites in Iraq has contributed to the undermining of the security in the country. When archaeological sites are looted the artefacts ripped from the ground become commodities travelling the same black market networks as illegal weapons and drugs, and, like those commodities, funds from the sale of these stolen artefacts help to finance groups linked with violence (Bogdanos 2008). Although as cultural heritage experts we may be aware of the military’s moral and legal obligations to protect cultural property, possibly the biggest incentive for preventing looting at archaeological sites simply involves the issue of civilian and military safety.