Art and Empire: On Oil, Antiquities, and the War in Iraq

The oilfields of Mesopotamia: Resource conflict, oil extraction and heritage destruction in Iraq

“…To this end, the British launched multiple invasions, eventually capturing Baghdad in 1917, after more than three years of steady attacks (Dodge, 2003). Following this victory, the British established the ‘Mandate of Iraq’, a new nation whose borders were deliberately drawn to include the most oil-rich areas of the region as well as the ancient sites of Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia and Assyria; existing ethnic and religious groups and regional divisions were ignored (Mathur, 2008; McNabb, 2016). Hence, the Mandate was established as a resource colony for the British, marking the start of the systematic extraction of both oil and antiquities.…”

“…The region became one of the two major energy sources for Britain and its allies (the other being Iran, where oil extraction was similarly controlled by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company) that upheld the massive infrastructure of Empire (Odell, 1968). The importance of the ancient sites, too, cannot be overstated; the findings from Mesopotamia almost singlehandedly fuelled the birth and expansion of archaeology as a discipline, filled European museums and became a major aspect of the political and social consciousness of twentieth-century Europe (Bernhardsson, 2005; Bohrer, 2003; Kathem and Kareem Ali, 2021; Mathur, 2008). Much of this came to an abrupt stop, however, with the anticolonial Iraqi Nationalist movement of the 1960s, which overthrew British protectorate rule and saw attempts to reclaim both oil extraction projects and archaeological excavations to serve the pan-Arab, pan-Islamic political and social context of the newly independent regime.…”

“…The sheer scale of damage and extraction of heritage caused by the Iraq War remains unprecedented. While pre-invasion Iraqi governments had always placed high importance on cultural heritage and ensured the preservation and protection of hundreds of thousands of priceless artefacts even in times of war (Mathur, 2008; Rothfield, 2009), things changed drastically with the US invasion. US and Allied forces directly and indirectly caused immense and irreparable damage to Iraqi heritage, both in the short and long term.…”

“…Passive destruction is defined as inaction on the part of the US and its allies, both on the level of strategy and planning and on-the-ground combat. The rich history of the region makes ‘essentially all of modern Iraq an archaeological site’ (Mathur, 2008: 126), which led archaeologists and experts to raise concerns about the protection of heritage prior to the invasion. In the days leading up to the invasion, US leaders, too, appeared concerned about this; the State Department, Department of Defense and the Pentagon commissioned extensive archaeological reports and assessments outlining the importance of protecting Iraq's cultural heritage, listing the most vital archaeological sites, predicting threats and proposing strategies for protection and preservation of as much cultural heritage as possible (Bahrani, 2003; Brodie et al, 2006; Kathem, 2019; Mathur, 2008; Rothfield, 2009).…”

“…Leaving archaeological sites and museums unprotected exposed them to ‘the unchecked violence and frenzy of looters’ (Mathur, 2008: 129). In a single day, the Iraq National Museum, which held arguably the most important archaeological collection in the world (Brodie et al, 2006; Reichel, 2013), was systematically plundered by ‘a combination of professionals…and amateurs’, with the former targeting the most valuable items while the latter ‘indiscriminately smashed and grabbed whatever they could’.…”