A main reason for this catastrophe is the short-term (and sometimes longer) loss of Government control over key areas, a predicament that leaves heritage sites vulnerable to vandals, thieves, and heavy equipment excavators, while also opening them up for militias to use as camps or firing ranges. Complicating preservation efforts further is despoilment by forgers and looters, smugglers of antiquities and black market operators, as well as extremist ideologues bent on the extirpation of priceless monuments. Such assaults have, in the main, been done with impunity, and the looting is continuing today. Without more awareness, without an effort at galvanizing the international public and their governments to act, these assaults on Syria's cultural heritage will continue until little is left to be learned from the decontextualized and ravaged artifacts.
Some of the most destructive and anguishing damages this observer was briefed on at Palmyra are to the Temple consecrated in CE 32 to the Semetic god, Bel. He was worshipped at Palmyra with the lunar god Agilibol and the sun god Yarhibol and this triad formed the center of religious life in Palmyra and the widespread Palmyrrene culture.
This observer
took notes as he was shown the hole in the southern wall of the Temple (1x2m
approx.) as well as another in the eastern wall of the wood warehouse adjacent
to the guesthouse, to its southern side (1.5x1.5m approx.). In addition,
several columns of the southern portico of the Temple were hit, and two of them
collapsed. The southern wall of the Temple was hit by hundreds of bullets and
many shells in several places; the western wall was hit on the inside and
outside; the northern wall was struck by two limited hits and the eastern wall
of the Temple endured two large holes.
The column in the northeastern corner of the portico of the fence of the Temple
was hit and one can see traces of burning the lintel of the eastern portico of
the Temple. More burning was done to the northern wall and eastern wall as well
as to the southern window of the Temple. Also shown by a guide from the Palmyra
Museum and allowed to photograph, were the damaged and illegal excavations in
the SE and SW tombs area, damage and illegal excavations of the Camp of
Diocletian, damage to the walls of the Palmyra Museum, and antiquities thefts
in the Oasis, Theater and Guest house. The latter was occupied by Daish
and/or Jablat al Nusra for ten months and they stole and stripped basically
everything including the electrical wiring. Several forty foot high columns
adjacent the Guest House were also targeted in the summer of 2013 and parts of
them were knocked off their foundations. Many shell cuts and bullet scares
cover large areas of the ancient ruins.
photo: flamb 3/27/14) damaged columns at Palmyra protruding pieces hit by rockets. Some column sections have ben toppled and others used for target practice. Below: chunks of shelled columns more than 2000 years old show blast marks. Palmyra Museum staff photo.
The Director of Palmyra's very impressive Museum, Dr. Khalil al Hariri, showed this observer more than one hundred priceless artifacts that had been stolen by rebels and recovered over the past two years from hiding places. This was mainly accomplished with the help of the local Syrian Nationalist population who refer to themselves as Palmyrenes. Sometimes risking sniper fire or revenge attacks, local citizens continue to collect and report to authorities the stolen treasures. These and many other antiquities are now secured due to their efforts. As a result partly of citizens vigilance and the far-sightedness of the Syrian government, and the lessons learned from Iraq and the Baghdad Museum, all of Syria's 32 Museums, as well as 80% of all antiquities housed inside the local Palmyra Museum were buried secretly early in the conflict and as of today, none of the storage vaults have been discovered or damaged, with locals keeping secret what they know. Heavy metal doors have also been installed at the entrances of Syria's Museums with security augmented by government forces and volunteer local "neighborhood watch' committees comprised of ordinary citizens.
As recently as 3/15/14, more stolen objects have been located Palmyrenes and returned to the Museum of Palmyra. photo: 3/27/14 Museum staff.
This observer left Palmyra at dusk. En route back to Damascus, the more than two-dozen army checkpoints we were stopped at, as my driver raced like a bat out of hell the more than 200 miles, were remarkably understanding given that it was pitch black in the desert and they had earlier warned us more than once not to stay on the road after dark due to "terrorists' sometimes appearing along the desert highway. When I would suggest to my driver that maybe he should lower his speed a bit, at least down to a leisurely 75 mph or so since, we could not see much ahead of us partly due to his beat car and pretty dim one working headlight, he just smiled and said what so many around here seem to say to put one at ease when there is an eminent high probability of catastrophe about to erupt: "No problem. Good road. Just like America no? Obama Qwess (good)? Then the guy floorboards and off we fly.
Rather than preparing for a crash, I was actually wistful during our dark return trip to Damascus and was thinking about all what I experienced at Palmyra and the sadness that came across the face of Palmyrene, Dr. Kahlil Hariri, and Director of the Palmyra Museum during parts of our time together. I will never forget the look on the gentleman's face as he discussed how archeologists painstakingly shift the soil of archaeological sites teaspoon by teaspoon wearing nylon gloves to protect their finds, maybe a team working weeks or more on one square meter of earth. And as he explained how today, international mafia operations backed by investors in Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and even by certain Western Museums and famous antiquity auction houses, are using massive heavy equipment to scoop thousands of square meters from deep into our past in just minutes, as they violently and brutally gouge out our culture heritage to cash in by selling our treasures . And all the while these and many of governments are turning a blind eye or fail to enforce current municipal and international laws.
Syria's Cultural Heritage, the cultural heritage of every one of us is also protected by a legal penumbra that emanates from and extends the 1949 Geneva Convention (IV) on the Protection of Civilians. Attacks on cultural heritage are also outlawed by post WW II bilateral and multilateral international treaties as well as international customary law.
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