Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 10:26:58 +0000
From: Eleanor Robson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Fwd: Open Declaration on Cultural Heritage at Risk in Iraq (fwd)
Status:

Iraq has been a major world centre for scientific inquiry for the
last five thousand years. In the ancient Babylonian and Assyrian
cities of southern and northern Iraq, such as Babylon, Nineveh, and
Uruk, scholars developed sophisticated mathematical, astronomical,
and medical theories and techniques  recorded  on clay tablets. To
them we owe the sexagesimal place value system, observational
astronomy, and perhaps even the Hippocratic oath. In ninth-century
Baghdad the scholars of the 'House of Wisdom' translated, edited, and
preserved the scientific writings of the Greek world, stimulating a
culture of intellectual inquiry which proved vital to later
scientific culture across Asia and Europe.

The impending war and its aftermath puts the rich scientific heritage
of Iraq in grave danger: libraries, museums, and archaeological sites
are all at great risk. Please lend your support to the declaration
below, which is sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America
and supported by the British School of Archaeology in Iraq. It calls
on all parties involved to respect the 1954 Hague Convention for the
Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, and
its First Protocol and to support the Iraqi academic community in the
aftermath of war. To add your signature please send an email to
<[log in to unmask]>. For further information see
<http://users.ox.ac.uk/~wolf0126>,
<http://www.archaeological.org/webinfo.php?page=10174> or contact me
directly: <[log in to unmask]>.

Eleanor Robson
Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
Council Member of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq

>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 14:45:14 -0500
>From: Malcolm Bell III <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Open Declaration on Cultural Heritage at Risk in Iraq
>
>To All Concerned Institutions and Individuals:
>
>The Archaeological Institute of America is profoundly concerned
>about the possible disastrous effects of military conflict on the
>sites, monuments, and museums of Iraq. We intend to publicize as
>widely as possible the attached Declaration, which is aimed both at
>protecting cultural heritage from damage and supporting existing
>legal and administrative structures in Iraq.  It will be sent to
>heads of governments as well as leading journals and newspapers.
>
>We invite all scholarly and scientific institutions with an interest
>in Iraq, as well as individual scholars, to become signatories of
>the declaration.  To do so, please respond to this email address,
>providing the names of institutions in full; and for individuals,
>titles and affiliations.  We welcome dissemination of the document
>to scholars in the field and institutions.
>
>The situation is clearly very urgent; please respond as soon as
>possible, to  [log in to unmask]
>
>Malcolm Bell
>Professor of Classical Archaeology
>University of Virginia
>Vice President for Professional Responsibilities
>Archaeological Institute of America
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Open Declaration on Cultural Heritage at Risk in Iraq
>
>The extraordinary global significance of the monuments, museums, and
>archaeological sites of Iraq (ancient Mesopotamia) imposes an
>obligation on all peoples and governments to protect them. In any
>military conflict that heritage is put at risk, and it appears now
>to be in grave danger.
>
>Should war take place, we call upon all governments to respect the
>terms of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural
>Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, and its First Protocol. We
>urge all governments, institutions, and individuals in a position to
>act to recognize and uphold the validity of Iraq s existing, strong
>Antiquities Law. To secure the long-term safety of the
>archaeological and cultural heritage of Iraq of all historical
>periods, and to stop the illicit digging and smuggling of
>antiquities that have occurred during the period of the Embargo that
>may follow a period of conflict, the staff of the Department of
>Antiquities must be returned to pre-Embargo numbers in academic and
>technical fields. Most important, the number of guards for
>individual sites, monuments, and museums must be returned to
>pre-Embargo strength.
>
>As represented by the signatories of this letter, the international
>scholarly community is prepared, at the conclusion of the present
>crisis, to support the Iraqi Department of Antiquities in
>strengthening and retraining its staff, in assessing the
>conservation needs of artifacts and buildings, and in refitting
>laboratories. Foreign archaeologists are also willing to play a role
>in any needed assessment of damage done by illicit digging or
>warfare, in salvage operations directed by the Department of
>Antiquities, and in repatriating stolen antiquities. In the long
>term, international scholars could aid the Department in carrying
>out a systematic, country-wide survey in order to locate all
>identifiable archaeological sites.
>
>The signatories of this letter urge all governments to recognize
>that fragile cultural heritage is inevitably damaged by warfare,
>that irreparable losses both to local communities and to all
>humanity are caused by the destruction of cultural sites, monuments,
>and works of art, and that it is our common duty to take all
>possible steps to protect them.
>
>Content-Type: APPLICATION/MSWORD;
>NAME="Open_Declaration_Iraq_Heritage.doc"; X-MAC-TYPE=42494E41;
>X-MAC-CREATOR=4D535744
>Content-ID: <[log in to unmask]>
>Content-Description:
>