The Italian archaeologist in Iraq: “Let’s save history from the water after saving it from ISIS”

ROME – “I arrived here in Kurdistan, in the first missions in 2013. We were only able to experience one year of security; then there was the attack by ISIS. It’s It was a very difficult year and the repercussions were felt for the next three years. Here are other problems of destruction of archaeological sites that need to be addressed. […]

ROME – “I arrived here in Kurdistan, in the first missions in 2013. We were only able to experience one year of security; after that there was the ISIS attack. It was a very difficult year and the repercussions were felt for the three years to come. Here there are other problems of destruction of archaeological sites that must be addressed. With my project I deal with sites destroyed cyclically by the fluctuation of the level of the Mosul dam which submerges the landscape and causes erosion and destruction” .

The archaeologist Paola Sconzo, from the University of Palermo, recalled her experience to the Dire agency: having seen ISIS in the face, the fears, the destruction of a millenary culture. Today, at the inauguration of the Italian archaeological exhibitions, that moment “is just a memory”. The project for which Sconzo is responsible is called ReLand and was created precisely to study the damage to the archaeological heritage caused by the construction of large hydroelectric basins in the arid regions of the Middle East. Born in 2023, the project is co-directed with Bekas Jamaluddin Hasan Al-Brifkany (Dohuk Antiquities Directorate). The field research will involve ten sites on the eastern shore of the basin, chosen from those that re-emerge every year.