Iraq, the "looting of sites is over"?

Martin Bailey in an article in last month’s issue of the Art Newspaper proclaimed loudly “Archaeological sites in south Iraq have not been looted, say experts”. This month the Art Newspaper carried a further article on the subject by Martin Bailey who dryly notes “Our article generated considerable controversy, provoking strong reactions from both ends of the political spectrum”.

In order to substantiate his earlier interpretation of the information, Bailey has now phoned Dr Abbas al-Husseini, former chairman of the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities now based in Al Qadisiyah University in Diwaniya who is characterised as the leading archaeologist in the country. Dr al-Husseini talked with the Art Newspaper reporter about the looting that had taken place in Iraq since the 1990s and which had become severe in 2003. He said that the scale of this activity had considerably declined in 2004 and he believes it has continued to diminished since then, saying that now “professional looting has ended, although just like anywhere in the world there may be some occasional digging by children”. According to Dr al-Husseini, one reason for this was that the looting had been driven by the existence of a black market in the antiquities it produced, and this market seems to have dried up, “so looters get nothing for their work”. Other reasons he gave were the presence in some areas of properly equipped guards and the fatwas against damaging the Iraqi heritage issued in some regions by religious leaders. In addition, the renewal of the excavations of some sites by Iraqi archaeologists have meant that these sites at least are better monitored.

Perhaps it should be pointed out that there is a significant difference in the two Art Newspaper articles by Martin Bailey. The earlier article proclaimed on the basis of an examination of just eight sites that there had been “no looting” in southern Iraq as a whole. This later text says there was looting in Iraq (we may note that the journalist fails to establish which regions are being discussed), but was declining in frequency from 2004 onwards.

Mr Bailey could however have saved his newspaper the cost of a phone call to Diwaniya by reading Elizabeth Stone’s “Antiquity” article where pp. 135-7 tell the same story in more detail.

Stone, E.C. 2008, Patterns of Looting in Southern Iraq, Antiquity 82 (315) 125-138. See also SAFE's online version here.

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