This is Sad, very, very Sad!

[Puffin]

Never mind the cost of human lives, the loss of heritage is maddingly Sad.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/j ... ndon-shops

Mark Altaweel is surprised at how easy it is. A few hours into a hunt around London, the near-east specialist from the UCL Institute of Archaeology has uncovered objects that, he says, are “very likely to be coming from conflict regions” in Iraq and Syria. The items – pieces of early glass; a tiny statue; some fragments of bone inlay – range from the second to fourth centuries BC. Altaweel says they are so distinctive that they could only have come from a particular part of the region: the part now controlled by the so-called Islamic State. That we were able to find such items openly sold in London “tells you the scale – we’re just seeing the tail end of it,” he says.

This week, Unesco has added its voice to a chorus of concern, warning that looting in Iraq and Syria is taking place on an “industrial” scale – one more sorry aspect to the devastating conflicts in the region. This Mesopotamian area, the cradle of civilisation, is a giant archaeological site – it’s where the first cities were built, and contains treasures from the Roman, Greek, Byzantine and Islamic periods. Today, the pillaging of cultural heritage sites shows up on satellite maps that are pock-marked with hundreds of recent, illegal excavations. Some media reports suggest this income stream is the “second-largest source of revenue” for the group (after oil sales), but in reality it’s impossible to tell. What’s certain is that, while Isis grimly documents its destruction of Unesco sites such as Nimrud, profiteering from plundered antiquities has helped make it the most cash-rich terror group in the world.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/islamic-st ... to-pieces/

lamic State militants publicly destroyed a number of ancient statues they confiscated from the historic Syrian city of Palmyra, also known as Tadmor, in north-western Syria.

Photos published by the jihadist group Thursday depicted the statues being unloaded at a public location where militants hammered the priceless Roman-era artifacts into pieces in front of a crowd of onlookers.

[JBM1]

It makes me feel sick.

People who have not been on the planet for 5 minutes, destroying thousands of years of National Heritages artifacts. Jerry.

[paulmt22]

The human loss is more tragic than anything. ...but I feel anger also towards the senseless destruction of ancient sites, I had the pleasure seeing palmyra myself nearly 20 years ago. It stood almost alone in the desert an incredible site , I could never have envisaged what is happening today.

[bodvoc]

Just more publicity for IS. They crave notoriety. They like to shock! This is their stock in trade!!

[Strollingby]

I'm more concerned about their depraved act's against people after a former pupil from my son and daughters school was executed in Tunisia last week..............

[beachcombermike]

I think murdered would be the better word as "executed" makes it sound like it's legal. mike.