People walk through the rubble of the Prophet Younis Mosque after it was destroyed in a bomb attack by militants of the Islamic State in Mosul, Iraq.STRINGER/Reuters
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization earlier this month condemned the destruction at the archaeological site of Nimrud by the terrorist group the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Lisa Cooper, an associate professor of Near Eastern art and archeology at the University of British Columbia, has conducted research in Iraq and Syria for decades. Ms. Cooper will be one of the speakers at a UBC symposium Saturday on saving endangered cultural heritage. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, she discussed the cultural destruction that has taken place.
Which sites have been damaged or destroyed by the Islamic State?
We've all seen the clip from the Mosul Museum, which has shown the destruction of some of the objects within that museum that date back to the neo-Syrian period and also from the later period, from the site of Hatra. So we certainly know that quite a few of those objects were willingly destroyed. We also know that some damage was done, some destruction was done to the standing monuments at the site of Nineveh, which is also in northern Iraq, and it also has a lot of material from the neo-Syrian period. Some of the other sites from northern Iraq, which have purportedly been damaged or destroyed, we can't confirm that yet. There are no visual images.
Now, over on the Syrian side, the reports that we are getting are just a lot of bulldozing of ancient sites. Basically looting, to look for antiquities that can be sold on the antiquities market. That seems to have escalated over the last few months. It seems to be one of the major revenue-making tools of ISIS. So there's great concern about that.
What is the impact of this destruction?
For those of us from the West, we like to see these antiquities, these sites, as part of our shared cultural heritage, our shared humanity around the world. We're looking back to some of these cultures that come from one of the cradles of civilization. So it's something that we can all be interested in, to celebrate human endeavour going back thousands of years. That is something we should take an interest in and regard as important to us. There is also their significance to the local Iraqi and Syrian communities, who can regard these ancient remains as part of their own shared heritage. They can be a potent and effective source of identity and pride among these diverse peoples and build a sense of social cohesion and unity among them irrespective of their specific religion, culture and ethnicity.
Is there anything that can be done to halt the destruction?
It's impossible for us to do anything at the moment. But we can certainly try to make more concerted efforts, if looted antiquities do show up in Europe and over here in North America, to apprehend the objects.
Can you recall any other incidents of cultural destruction like this in recent memory?
Everybody recalls the Bamiyan statues in Afghanistan that were willingly destroyed there in 2001. So that would be comparable. There's kind of a deliberate attempt to obliterate history, to wipe out people's identity altogether. And there does seem to be that going on in Syria and Iraq as well. It's a very measured strategy to rid people of their identity. I find this very interesting from a historical point of view because, for example, the neo-Syrians who dominated the near East going back around 900 BC to 600 BC were using the same tactics. They would try to wipe out people's identity, in their case, by deporting people and destroying their property. Just completely removing them off the land and resettling them somewhere else.
This interview has been edited and condensed.