Libya's other wealth: Archaeological Treasures
Sabtu, 03 September 2011 by Android Blackberry
Ahead of Moammar Gadhafi, there were the Phoenicians. And also the Greeks. The Romans. The very first Arabs. They're a reminder that no civilization -- and no leader -- is forever.
The Libyan transitional leaders have a great deal to deal with when they quit being rebels, and begin shaping a new Libya: Keeping law and order, setting up a rudimentary government, dealing with cash -- and oil.
But what about Libya's other wealth? Its archaeological treasures?
They are all more than the country.
In the south, in Acacus, rock paintings 12,000 years old cross an whole mountain range.
Inside the east, the city of Cyrene holds a thousand years of history -- Roman general Mark Antony when gave it to Cleopatra.
And along the coast, the splendid ruins of Leptis Magna that were buried for centuries under the sand was stated to be one of probably the most attractive cities of the Roman Empire.
What will take place to these web sites in the days ahead? If you look at history, their fate doesn't bode nicely.
"We're really worried," stated Francesco Bandarin of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.
Treasure already stolen
UNESCO is like the world's watchdog for protecting historical cultural sites and property.
You might think the worst time for preserving cultural websites are when the shooting as well as the bombing are under way. Not so, Bandarin stated, from his office in Paris.
"The conflict moment is 1 thing," Bandarin said. "But the post-conflict moment is extra risky. There is not an administration, you have got lots of weapons all over -- after which you may have the take. This is what happened in Egypt, in Iraq, in Afghanistan -- that is specifically what takes place."
It's already happened in Libya. Bandarin stated somebody stole the most critical treasure of gold and silver from the time of Alexander the Excellent from Benghazi -- right after the city was liberated from Gadhafi.
"It's called the treasure of Benghazi ... It was in a bank in Benghazi," he said. "Can you think that this treasure has disappeared?"
Gadhafi's forces and also the opposition fought about the Roman ruins at Leptis Magna and in the ancient theater and temples at Sabratha. It is not yet clear how much harm there's.
"We cannot wait to obtain in there and learn," Bandarin said.
Connecting the past to the future
For now, UNESCO has only its moral authority to lean on to secure the cultural heritage sites, which include 5 which are listed on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
1 archaeologist has been on a quiet campaign to convince Libya's new leaders to make this a priority.
Hafed Walda was born in Libya and he's based in London. A Libyan friend convinced a rebel Army officer to call Walda to talk about Libya's cultural web sites -- and also the must guard them.
The officer has a high school education -- and military training in Gadhafi's Army. He didn't study the Phoenicians or the Greeks in school.
"He knows the Romans and that is it," Walda said from his office in London.
Walda said his 1st talk with the officer, back in March, was about the have to have for the rebels to guard the web-sites -- for future generations of Libyans. He stated the officer was polite -- but blunt.
"He came out clean. He said, 'People are much more essential. And I can not truly tell my officers to put an excessive amount of work on this, when they're worried about their families and their places and their kids.'"
But the officer agreed to talk to the archaeologist once again. They kept talking - night following night.
They've spoken possibly 20 or 30 times more than Skype.
The archaeologist told the officer bits of history -- but he tried not to lecture.
"I began talking about the old city in Tripoli, due to the fact he can relate to that. It is been there given that the Phoenicians. So I stated, you may have this treasure, and you are not conscious of what you might have! You might have the modern day Libya, the Turkish Libya, and also the Islamic Libya.
"So I hit on the Islamic period, simply because he's very a religious man. It assists that I know the place -- so I talked about some of the Islamic locations and he felt part of it. Then I talked about how they were built on leading of the other factors -- the Byzantines, the Romans and the Phoenicians.
"I stated, 'OK, how would you really feel if they bombed the Mosque of the Camel [Tripoli's oldest mosque]'?"
And Walda told the officer that that mosque was built with old Roman columns, from Roman times. He wanted the officer to know how connected everything is.
"And that's when it began to click for him, due to the fact this is what he knows."
Walda says now, the officer is usually a convert to protecting Libya's archaeological web-sites and property. But he is only 1 Army officer.
Walda doesn't know if it'll make any difference within the coming days. But he stated he had to attempt.
UNESCO is poised to send in a team to examine the damage to the websites as soon as it's safe to do so, and they're preparing a significant international meeting in October to discover the future of Libya's archaeological web-sites.
Libya's other wealth: Archaeological Treasures
