Posted: 3/6/2015 6:26:00 AM
Author: BBC Dispatch
IS Erasing History In Nimrod
by the BBC
Many of Nimrud's artifacts have been transferred to museums in Baghdad and overseas, but giant "lamassu" statues - winged bulls with human heads - remain on site © AFP Many of Nimrud's artifacts have been transferred to museums in Baghdad and overseas, but giant "lamassu" statues - winged bulls with human heads - remain on site
Archaeologists and cultural officials have expressed heartbreak and outrage about the bulldozing of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq.
Islamic State militants began demolishing the site on Thursday, Iraqi officials said.
The UN cultural body's Iraq director, Alex Plathe, called it "another appalling attack on Iraq's heritage".
"They are erasing our history," Iraqi archaeologist Dr Lamia al-Gailani told the BBC.
IS says ancient shrines and statues are "false idols" that have to be smashed.
Iraqi workers clean a statue at an archeological site in Nimrud, 35km (22 miles) southeast of Mosul, northern Iraq, in 2001: Nimrud lies just south-east of Mosul, where militants attacked artifacts with sledgehammers last week © AFP Nimrud lies just south-east of Mosul, where militants attacked artifacts with sledgehammers last week
Nimrud, which was founded in the 13th Century BC, lies about 30km (18 miles) south-east of Mosul.
Many of the artefacts found there have been moved to museums in Baghdad and overseas, but larger artefacts remain on site.
'Levelled'
Nimrud covers a large area, and it is not yet clear whether it has been totally destroyed, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut, neighbouring Lebanon.
But a local tribal source told Reuters news agency: "Islamic State members came to the Nimrud archaeological city and looted the valuables in it and then they proceeded to level the site to the ground.
"There used to be statues and walls as well as a castle that Islamic State has destroyed completely."
Last week, IS released a video apparently showing militants with sledgehammers destroying historic artefacts in a museum in Mosul.
That attack was condemned by the UN as a war crime.
NOTE FROM LIBRARIANS FOR FAIRNESS: The Muslim Waqf has been doing the exact same thing on the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem. It has been deliberately destroying Hebraic artifacts and erasing 3000 years of Jewish continuous history in Jerusalem. The American Library Association's so-called Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT), which regularly demonizes Israel, has totally ignored this destruction of historical Jewish artifacts! We must also point that some in the SRRT believe Israel has no right to exist. They are, of course, wrong!
