generalspeaking

Archaeological Heritage

"I told them that this is property of the Egyptian people and you are destroying it. They were apparently upset with me because I am not veiled."
Monica Hanna, Egyptian archaeologist

When the Taliban held their Islamist rule in Afghanistan they infamously destroyed the giant ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan as world outcry was raised, decrying the destruction of the 1,700-year-old largest Buddhas in the world. The intention to destroy them raised the ire of archaeologists, historians and world heritage preservationists. The Taliban first tried to destroy the sandstone statues with anti-aircraft and tank fire. Then they brought dynamite from Kabul and succeeded.

Undated photo of the world's tallest statue of Bhudda measuring 53 meters (175 feet) in Bamiyan, 125 kilometers (90 miles) west of Kabul in Afghanistan. Supreme Commander of the Taliban Mullah Mohammad Omar had ordered the destruction of all statues in Afghanistan, including the centuries-old Buddha in Bamiyan, and armed Taliban troops fanned out across the country Thursday to implement the supreme leader's order. (AP Photo

The operation in the Hindu Kush mountains of central Afghanistan was undertaken at the decree of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban, and collegial protector of al-Qaeda's Osama bin Laden.
By no means, however was this a one-time, unusual event undertaken by fanatical Islamists who consider the artefacts, holy sites and heritage memorials representing religions other than Islam to be disposable; in fact, requiring destruction for what they represent; faith in a religion other than Islam and by definition representing spiritual abomination. In destroying those objects of veneration, they fervently subscribe to the belief that they do service to Islam.

Whenever holy places are in contention because a prior religion had built a structure like a church or a synagogue, when the Muslim tide of conquest  took possession of lands in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia or Europe, those institutions were converted to Islamic places of prayer; they were converted to mosques. In Jerusalem, the world's most famous holy site for what is often named the "Abrahamic" religions, the site of the ancient Temples of Solomon was co-opted for Islam.

Israeli archeologists feverishly seek out ancient treasures of that venerable geography where every foot of ground hosts discoveries yet to be made. Islamists deny that Judaism ever had a heritage in the Middle East, and deny the presence of ancient Jewish temples destroyed by the Assyrians and the Romans pre-dating that of Islamic mosques that stand now on the Temple Mount. If Jewish artefacts are discovered by Muslims they are destroyed; ancient sites sacred to Judaism are often defaced.

And now, in Egypt, with Islamist Muslim Brotherhood supporters running amok after the military's removal of Mohammad Morsi from the presidency and the Brotherhood from government, Egypt's antiquities and its famed museums holding national treasures of irreplaceable value are being ransacked, looted, destroyed and carried away. This is not the first time the Cairo Museum fell victim to looting and violation; the protests removing former President Hosni Mubarak also gave vent to these abhorrent actions.

FILE -- In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2013 file photo, rows of display cases are broken and empty at the Malawi Antiquities Museum after it was ransacked and looted between the evening of Thursday, Aug. 15 and the morning of Friday, Aug. 16, 2013 in Malawi, south of Minya, Egypt. The theft of about 1,000 artifacts spanning some 3,500 years of history from a small antiquities museum south of Cairo showcases the tenuous security in the provinces. (AP Photo/Roger Anis, El Shorouk Newspaper, File) EGYPT OUT

And now, as violent clashes upend civil society in Egypt, thugs have stolen 3,500-year-old artefacts; statues, jewellery and other objects beyond value. They will likely surface on the international markets that operate underground in the sale of looted national treasures. Islamists who are involved in these actions have no respect for such antiquities of their own country, since they represent a period before Islam was revealed, when the worship of false gods and idols pre-dated Islam so these items have no redeeming value whatever to their way of thinking.

(Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked Mali Islamists armed with Kalashnikovs and pick-axes began destroying prized mausoleums of saints in the UNESCO-listed northern city of Timbuktu on Saturday in front of shocked locals, witnesses said.

Just as in Mali insurgent Islamists destroyed precious ancient documents as trash and destroyed holy sites in Timbuktu. And just as in Libya even the sacred Sufi sites of Muslims worshipping a variant of the two major Islamic sects were destroyed by Islamist thugs.

In the Malawi Museum in the southern Nile River city of Minya, security was low as a result of police absence, permitting vandals to ransack the museum. Teenage boys overseen by older Brotherhood supporters ransacked the building, burned mummies, broke limestone sculptures too heavy to be carried off.

A statue of the daughter of the Pharaoh Akhenaten who first conceived of monotheism, though he felt the sun was god, was taken. Gold and bronze Greco-Roman coins, pottery, bronze-detailed sculptures of animals sacred to the ancient Egyptians, depictions of deities, all taken away or broken. Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi, mummies and other items too heavy to readily be removed were left, damaged, as of no value to the looters.

The head of museums for the Antiquities Ministry, Ahmed Sharaf, accused members of former president Mohammad Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, spearheading protests against the government, of being responsible for the looting and attacks on police stations. They might also, on the other hand, have been the work of armed gangs of thieves taking advantage of the general lawlessness afflicting Egypt during this perilous time of great unrest.

Labels: Archaeology, Conflict, Egypt, Heritage, Islamism, Muslim Brotherhood

posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, August 20, 2013