Magnus T. Bernhardsson. Reclaiming a Plundered Past: Archaeology and Nation Building in Modern Iraq.

Magnus T. Bernhardsson. Reclaiming a Plundered Past: Archaeology and Nation Building in Modern Iraq. MAGNUS T. BERNHARDSSON. Reclaiming a Plundered Past: Archaeologyand Nation Building in Modern Iraq. 2005. xiv+328 pages, 16 plates.Austin (TX): University of Texas Press; 0-292-70947-1 hardback 28.95[pounds sterling]. 'It is evident that an important item in our job is to educatea small group of these ignorant and fanatical Iraqis, and I propose toundertake it' (p. 193). The above is not part of an accidentally overheard conversationbetween Western politicians in the early years of the twenty-firstcentury but taken from a letter written by the American archaeologistJames Henry Breasted James Henry Breasted (August 27 1865–December 2, 1935) was born in Rockford, Illinois and was an archaeologist and historian. He was educated at North Central College (then North-Western College) (1888), the Chicago Theological Seminary, Yale University (MA 1891) and the in 1935. Plus ca change, plus c'est la memechose. In this rewrite of his 1999 PhD thesis, Magnus Bernhardssonidentifies three stages in the history and practice of archaeology inIraq: an international 'removal' stage, characterised byWestern domination and extremely limited Iraqi engagement orinvolvement; a transitional period in which Iraqi nationals began towrest control of archaeology from Western outsiders; and a final periodbetween 1941 and 2003 when Iraqis had full control of archaeology inIraq. Given the difficulty of access to necessary archival documentsregarding the third stage (and no doubt the difficulty, if not futility,of interviewing Iraqis during the Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein(born April 28, 1937, Tikrit, Iraq—died Dec. 30, 2006, Baghdad) President of Iraq (1979–2003). He joined the Ba'th Party in 1957. Following participation in a failed attempt to assassinate Iraqi Pres. regime), the bookconcentrates on the first two stages of this history. It is afascinating and, with the clear vision of hindsight, a salutary tale.Would that archaeologists and politicians can learn from it. Archaeology in Iraq, in common with that of much of thenon-European world, was originally carried out by European or NorthAmerican North Americannamed after North America.North American blastomycosissee North American blastomycosis.North American cattle ticksee boophilusannulatus. specialists with funding supplied through major museums. It wasan obvious prerequisite of such expeditions that most, if not all, ofthe major objects found during excavation would be removed from theircountry of discovery for display in the museum that had funded theexpedition. Thus were the major Western museums filled with thetreasures of ancient civilisations from around the world to the, now,obvious detriment of the source countries. To criticise those involvedfor the removal of archaeological artefacts would be unfair andessentially pointless. Any such attempt at retrospective criticism wouldbe especially unfair to those working in much of the Middle East, wherethe local populations appear to have been uninterested in ancienthistory and where there were no 'indigenous' trainedarchaeologists. This is understandable: most of the early Westernexpeditions had as their research objectives to validate and shed lighton the Christian Bible. Little wonder there was little interest in suchactivity from predominantly Muslim populations. Bernhardsson's argument that such endemic indifference wasexacerbated in Iraq by the wider political necessities of having tocreate a nation from scratch is very convincing. It fits precisely thewider discussion of a past excluded from school curricula that does notimmediately match the political aspirations of those in power (Stone& MacKenzie 1990). Pre-Islamic archaeology was irrelevant--indeedpotentially dangerous--to politicians faced with the daunting daunt?tr.v. daunt��ed, daunt��ing, dauntsTo abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay.[Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin task ofcreating a new, Islamic, nation. No surprise then that it was left to aWesterner, Gertrude Bell Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell CBE (July 14, 1868 – July 12, 1926) was a British writer, traveller, political analyst, administrator in Arabia, and an archaeologist who found Mesopotamian ruins. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1917. , to draft, implement, and then oversee Iraqiantiquities legislation. Indeed neither should it be a surprise (whichit appears to be to Bernhardsson) that the Antiquities Department wasplaced under the Ministry of Public Works public workspl.n.Construction projects, such as highways or dams, financed by public funds and constructed by a government for the benefit or use of the general public.Noun 1. rather than Education. Thisnot only reflected British archaeological legislation of the time butalso avoided any clash between Bell and Iraqi nationalists who wouldhave preferred to (and subsequently did in Bernhardsson's secondstage) transfer the bulk of funding from pre-Islamic excavation to thepreservation of Islamic sites and monuments. Bernhardsson (p. 202)quotes Sati al-Husri, the first Iraqi Director of Antiquities, andprevious Minister of Education, who noted '... to revert to thoselost epochs was an attempt to revive that which is dead andmummified', and himself concludes, '... ancient history wasirrelevant for the present [1940s Iraqi] population ...'. It was only at the celebrations of the 1958 revolution thatpoliticians began to legitimise Verb 1. legitimise - make legal; "Marijuana should be legalized"decriminalise, decriminalize, legalise, legalize, legitimate, legitimatise, legitimatize, legitimize themselves in the context of pre-Islamiccivilisations. Here was the Eastern-bloc inspired political movementthat concentrated on building a sovereign Iraq set apart from thepan-Arab movement that paved the way for Saddam Hussein'sisolationism isolationismNational policy of avoiding political or economic entanglements with other countries. Isolationism has been a recurrent theme in U.S. history. It was given expression in the Farewell Address of Pres. , and then disastrous expansionism ex��pan��sion��ism?n.A nation's practice or policy of territorial or economic expansion.ex��pansion��ist adj. & n. . Reclaiming a Plundered Past is a fascinating and extremely topicalread, engagingly written and extremely thought provoking. It should becompulsory reading for all archaeologists who want to understand theirwider responsibilities and the fuller implications of their work. Itwould be extremely useful reading for all Westerners who claim to knowwhat is best for Iraq and the wider Middle East and its people. I lookforward to a time when Bernhardsson will be able to carry out theresearch for his third stage. I am saddened to think that the likelihoodof him doing so is some way off and wonder whether many of the archiveshe would like to consult will actually be there waiting for him. Reference STONE, P.G. & R. MACKENZIE. 1990. The Excluded Past:Archaeology in Education. London: Routledge. PETER STONE School of Arts and Culture, Newcastle University,Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK (Email: P.G.Stone@newcastle.ac.uk)