Palmyra: Heritage Adrift

Author(s): Cheikhmous ALI

Year: 2015

Summary

This report contains details on all damage done to the archaeological site of Palmyra between February 2012 and June 2015.

Palmyra is one of six Syrian sites registered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the World Heritage List since 1980. On June 20, 2013, Palmyra and the other five sites (Bosra, Damascus, Crac des Chevaliers and the Citadel of Salah ed-Din, Aleppo, and the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria) were then registered on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

The Syrian army made significant changes in the structure of the archaeological site and its surroundings to ensure better control and to install armored vehicles and other military equipment. The changes included the following:

• Removing soil and digging trenches.

• Building roads, dumps, and levees.

The different types of damage include:

• Building of roads within the archaeological area

• Building of levees

• Creation of positions for military equipment

• Creation of spaces to collect and bury scrap metal

• Removing and displacing ancient stone blocks in the center of the archaeological site for defensive purposes (especially to protect tanks, rocket launchers, and other armored vehicles positioned in the archaeological area, including adjacent monuments such as funerary towers).

Cite this Record

Palmyra: Heritage Adrift. Cheikhmous ALI. 2015 ( tDAR id: 447773) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8447773

Keywords

Material
Bronze Coins • Funerary Statue • Terracotta Lamps

Site Name
Artaban Tomb • Baal-Shamin Temple • Baal Temple • Bulha Tomb • Iarhai Family Tomb • National Museum of Palmyra • Tybul Tomb • Valley of the Tombs

Site Type
Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Funerary and Burial Structures or Features • Non-Domestic Structures • Resource Extraction / Production / Transportation Structure or Features • Road • Road, Trail, and Related Structures or Features • Settlements • Temple • Tomb • Town / City

Investigation Types
Heritage Management

General
List of World Heritage in Danger • UNESCO

Geographic Keywords
Mount Um al-Hysaniyat • Palmyra, Syria • Syria

Temporal Keywords
Byzantine Era

Spatial Coverage

min long: 38.2; min lat: 34.486 ; max long: 38.379; max lat: 34.615 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): The Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology

Contributor(s): The Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology

Prepared By(s): American Schools of Oriental Research

Notes

General Note: The Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology Website : www.apsa2011.com Facebook : www.facebook.com/apsa2011 Twitter: @apsa2011syria Globallshare: www.globallshare.com/apsa2011 YouTube : www.youtube.com/user/ayazali12 E-mail : apsa2011syria@gmail.com

File Information

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2015-ASOR-CHI-Palmyra_Heritage_Adrift_Special-Report.pdf 6.81mb Dec 13, 2018 4:24:17 PM Public