The irony of excavation being destruction

KIM SEUNG-JUNG
The author is a professor of art history and archeology at the University of Toronto.

In 2015, a video clip of a Middle Eastern armed terrorist group ruthlessly destroying ancient relics was posted on the internet. It was an incident which attacked the sensitivity of Westerners who respect cultural properties and artwork.

At first glance, they seemed to be destroying randomly, but actually they were very strategic. They only destroyed artwork and monuments that would not bring financial gain. They were known to have raised terrorist funds by facilitating the large-scale illegal trade of cultural properties.

They had local residents dig for and collect relics, and they systematically sold the items online or through black markets. I was speechless to see the Syrian region full of pits in satellite images.

Even now, if you search Roman coins excavated from Syria on eBay, you can find recently discovered items described as “with green rust from the desert.” Anyone can buy them easily and cheaply with a few clicks. The money is a direct donation to terrorist organizations.

The illegal trade of archaeological artifacts creates a bigger problem whether or not it funds terrorist groups. Illegal excavation permanently destroys archaeological information that can be obtained. When I participated in excavation projects in Greece and Italy, I would put up a tent and guard the place if we made an important discovery or if we reached a layer with many relics. If you didn’t do that, you would witness the scene of holes all over the place the next morning.

Archaeology is not just the work of excavating valuable articles to be displayed in a museum. It is a process of systematically investigating mysterious data recorded in layers and solving the puzzle of history. Unless the human desire to collect and own historic relics can be controlled, archaeologists must continue the fight in the unreasonable environment.

It is ironic to demand that local residents struggling to survive should protect their cultural properties. But the rhetoric of historians, that “excavation is destruction,” should be taken seriously.