Babylon and Beyond: Preserving Iraqi Cultural Heritage (original) (raw)

Abstract

There are many challenges involved with protecting cultural heritage sites, but adding events such as war, reconciliation, fluctuating security situations, and social changes requires special attention, which is the case in Iraq. Since 2003, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has worked with Iraqi antiquities authorities on a wide range of preservation projects throughout the country. Embassy personnel recognized the need to not only support tangible preservation projects, but more importantly, to provide state-of-the-art training opportunities to help shape a new and upcoming class of cultural heritage specialists. The embassy has provided the means in which cultural heritage specialists from across Iraq are able to engage in long term preservation projects that will ultimately benefit an international audience. This talk at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science highlights my experiences as the U.S. State Department’s cultural heritage liaison officer at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq since 2006, building partnerships between Iraqi and American civilians, academics, military personnel, and government officials that will help ensure the preservation of some of Iraq’s most significant archaeological sites, including Babylon.

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