Jason Ur illuminates the conflicting and abandoned part of the world known as ‘Mesopotamia’ to be utterly left to be archaeologically undiscovered. With it being the land and area of one of the first human civilizations, there are extreme treasures to be found. Unfortunately, this part of the world has experienced war and neglect which has caused many archaeological remains to be destroyed for eternity. Likewise, Harmansah illustrates how the terrorist organization ISIS has destroyed a vast amount of archaeological remains in and around the Middle East and their reasons range from broadcasting a radical ideology of religious fanaticism in order to recruit new militants to defying the common values attached to cultural heritage in the globalized world.
Contemporary politics have destroyed and diminished many opportunities to an archaeological fantasia. For example, due to the former political stance between Iraq’s former president Saddam Hussein and the U.S. government under George Bush, there has been a bound to war break tension between the two countries.
Eventually a war erupted and the U.S army invaded Iraq and many of the deep historical remains were utterly destroyed. Furthermore, the tensions between Kurdistan and Iraq have caused one of the world’s manifest of archaeology to be undiscovered and possibly destroyed. However, a glimpse of hope has been reinstated in the hearts of archaeologists as now archaeologists are allowed to enter Kurdistan and Iraq without facing any issues. ISIS implemented a program of cultural heritage destruction which destroyed an enormous amounts of archaeological artifacts.
Whether archaeological remains are documented, preserved, or destroyed is a vital aspect for people from the Middle East such as myself.
It matters because it brings back a deep history of the region and the ancestral paths which were taken. Moreover, it helps create an image of nationalism and social identity. We Middle Eastern people hold a high value on our identity and our heritage, it has become integrated in our everyday lives as our history is what drives our mindset. I believe that in general, the larger part of the world are interested in archaeology and would like to preserve the remains because it makes a difference in our world by allowing people the ability to understand the history of their ancestors better by providing us an insight of where we originated from and what stages of history we bared through to come to where we are today. For example, archaeology studies the patterns of human behavior and the way we lived, these are highly explicit to convey the development of human beings.
The goal of archaeological research is to understand how and why human behavior has changed over time and how the human past impacts our lives today and how we can gain greater insight into cultural change and respond to many of the social, political, environmental, and demographic challenges we face today. Archaeological remains should be preserved as we have learned a variety of things about the history of civilization through archaeological remains. Such as, the early writing in the Sumerian period or the cone mosaics in the Uruk period. These findings are highly necessary for our own purpose and education and why limiting archaeological artifacts should be banished.
Preventing Cultural Heritage From Destruction. (2022, Jul 15). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/preventing-cultural-heritage-from-destruction/