[CPProt.net] Ancient Babylon site wrecked by US-led forces: British Museum

[MusSecNetworkCulPropProtNet]

Ancient Babylon site wrecked by US-led forces: British Museum 
 
LONDON : US-led forces in Iraq have caused irreparable damage to the site of
the ancient city of Babylon, contaminating the soil and destroying
archaeological evidence, according to a damning report by the British
Museum. 

According to John Curtis, curator of the museum's Ancient Near East
department, the site has suffered "substantial damage" while being used as a
military depot by American and Polish forces for the past two years. 

"This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid
in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain," Curtis charged in his report. 

"The status of future information about these areas will therefore be
seriously compromised," he warned in comments that were published by
Saturday's edition of the Guardian newspaper. 

Curtis has called for an international investigation to be carried out by
archaeologists chosen by the Iraqi authorities, to compile a full inventory
of damage sustained at the site, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Baghdad.


The British Museum report follows an assessment mission carried out in Iraq
in December at the request of a group of Iraqi antiquities experts. 

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/