The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities launched in 2015 a national campaign to protect Iraqi antiquities by documenting archaeological and ancient sites, while encouraging people to report any archaeological materials they may find near their homes.
However, what impedes this campaign is the lack of appropriate security conditions, particularly in Islamic State (IS) controlled areas such as the northern city of Mosul and areas where IS still has a strong influence such as Ramadi. Also, the successive wars that have gripped Iraq since the beginning of the 1980s have prevented continuous and systematic exploration works for decades.
Layth Sahar, an activist in the field of protection of antiquities, told Al-Monitor, “The role of security and stability in the detection of many of Iraq’s antiquities that are buried in the sand will promote exploration investment opportunities.” He said, “This will significantly contribute to the world’s participation in bringing out the hidden antiquities to sunlight.”
He added, “Since 2003, the year in which the political system changed and the country opened up to the world at the cultural level, Iraq succeeded in attracting scientific missions of universities and prospectors from different countries, albeit insufficiently, as the large number of available archaeological sites requires further cooperation with foreign expertise.”
He said, “The excavations should not be postponed amid the continuing stealing of antiquities on the part of smugglers. Also, a large number of antiquities were lost and damaged due to environmental conditions such as rain.”
Rain that fell on ancient hills and other areas on April 5, 2016, washed away about 74 archaeological pieces located above ground and dating back to the Babylonian era in the ancient city of Babylon.
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