Friday, March 6, 2015

Latest Tragedy

Kate FitzGibbon, writing for the Committee for Cultural Policy, reports on the bulldozing of  Nimrud.  Meanwhile, the Economist does its best to explain the iconoclasm of ISIS.  It only fails by repeating disinformation blaming looting at Apamea on ISIS rather than the odious Assad regime.  And what of the culprits?  Archaeo-blogger Paul Barford, relying on Arab sources, suggests that local men may have been responsible for the destruction at the Mosul Museum.  If so, that would once again raise the question whether the "state owns all" approach favored by Barford and the archaeology lobby inexorably leads to the trash the past model of ISIS and others.
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2 comments:

  1. kyriMarch 7, 2015 at 1:18 PM

    Hi peter ,greece,cyprus and italy have the state owns all approach, but I can't think of one example of civilians of those countrys destroying their cultural heritage.issis destroying ancientartifacts is all about religious ideology & nothing to do with cultural heritage laws
    Kyri

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  2. Cultural Property ObserverMarch 7, 2015 at 1:52 PM

    It's really a matter of degree. There are tons of collectors in Italy, and an open trade in at least ancient coins. The others have collecting to some extent, at least for the connected few. And none are dictatorships so there is not the same level of hatred obviously. However, trash the past comes in fhe form of neglect in those countries. The state owns it all so why should I care?

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