Reforming (and Decolonising) Excavation and Survey in Iraq
December 2022 | Vol. 10.12
By Jaafar Jotheri
Archaeology in Iraq has always been bound up with its external and internal politics. Iraq’s heritage law was written in 1936, four years after Britain granted independence. The law was then rewritten in 2002. But in neither case were the Iraqi heritage authorities capable enough to create a heritage law that served the country’s actual needs.
In 1936 Iraq was a new independent state with little experience in the heritage sector. In 2002, it was under international economic sanctions that led to putting heritage low on the list of Iraqi priorities. Then, after 2002, Iraq entered a civil war and endured the ISIS invasion. But during the last few years, Iraqi academics and the heritage authority have had several opportunities to think about reforming heritage law in Iraq.
What are Iraq’s needs in the 21st century, and how can archaeology contribute to the country’s development while preserving and studying heritage? Many aspects have been discussed, but here I summarise new points that have been suggested to be added to the excavation licence sections of the heritage law:
- Selecting sites for excavation based on Iraqi needs
Iraqi academics and heritage authorities should create a list of sites where excavation teams would be allowed to apply to work. Iraqis should prepare this list based on priorities such as preservation threats or the potential to expand knowledge in particular areas. Currently, international teams select sites they would like to excavate or areas they intend to survey, and the Iraqi heritage authority approves their plan without considering a national set of priorities.
Archaeological sites buried by sand dunes should be prioritized for excavation and survey by international teams. Photo by Jaafar Jotheri 2022, Nasiriyah, southern Iraq.
The western Iraqi desert has not been surveyed by international teams. However, it contains many archaeological sites from the Stone Age until the Islamic period. Photo by Jaafar Jotheri 2022, Samawa western desert.
- Involving the local Iraqi experts in excavations
Iraqi academics and heritage authority professionals should be fully involved in planning and executing each season of excavations. Currently, only some investigators from the heritage authority are included; these representatives typically only have bachelor’s level training in archaeology and are not experts.
Having underskilled Iraqi archaeologists on excavation teams excludes Iraqi professionals from understanding the aims and results of projects. One unintended consequence ultimately is to leave Iraqis far behind international teams in terms of understanding Mesopotamian archaeology and new methodologies.
It would therefore be fair if every member of an international team had an Iraqi counterpart. For example, if the international team has a professor specialist in Assyriology, there should be an equivalent Iraqi counterpart. They should work together from the beginning and publish results together. This means that if an international team consisted, for example, of ten professors and doctoral-level specialists in different subjects of archaeology, then the Iraqi side should find 10 Iraqi counterparts to become fully involved in the work and its finds. Generating a cadre of qualified Iraqi archaeologists is, therefore, another priority.
International teams should hire more Iraqi academics, students or young graduates to work on excavation. Photo by Jaafar Jotheri 2021, postgraduate student of the University of Al-Qadisiyah.
- Training and empowering Iraqi archaeologists
Critics may point out that Iraqi authorities have no clear national strategic plan to be followed by international teams, most of which have been working in Iraq for decades and know where and when they can excavate or survey. But it is fair to ask why these decades of international work did not enable Iraqis to gain the necessary skills to generate a proper strategic plan for the excavation and survey of their country. Moreover, as noted, Iraqi academia still lags far behind its counterparts.
We also know that French, American, British, and German archaeologists have long histories of legal (and illegal) excavation in Iraq. Yet they could not contribute seriously to creating a skilled and professional Iraqi archaeology. As a result, many Iraqi archaeologists must still seek specialized training in Europe or the US. There are several ways to empower Iraqi archaeologists, such as offering them postgraduate scholarships and helping them build centres for archaeological training in Baghdad. But part of the challenge is to expand Iraqi awareness and interest in the archaeology of their own country.
- Opening social media accounts for the projects
To help the local people become more engaged with the projects, each excavation team should be required to open social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, websites etc.) to share news, events, and progress about anything related to the project or the team. At present local communities may know less about projects than people outside of Iraq! At best, this is simple neglect. At worst, this lack of connection may lead communities to imagine nefarious conspiracies and unfounded rumours about the excavations and the team.
Keeping the international team separated from the local community and limiting their engagement with the ordinary people around the site or the village where they reside may bring actual hostility. So many international teams only move between three locations while they are in Iraq, the airport, the dighouse, and the excavation site; police and tanks may even accompany them at all times. However, for ordinary Iraqis, the international team is more likely a security or diplomatic team rather than a group of civilian archaeological specialists. Social media is the easiest and most obvious way of creating long-overdue connections.
- Conservation after excavations
Another long overdue requirement is that sites should be preserved after each season of excavation, and conservation measures should be applied to structures and other uncovered features, which will otherwise be subjected to weathering and erosion. Currently, excavation teams have no obligations to preserve the sites, and buildings and artefacts are often left exposed to the elements. However, basic standards of archaeological stewardship demand that sites be preserved and that architectural finds be conserved, no less than objects.
One unintended consequence of this neglect is that locals sometimes see excavation teams as looters or vandals. They see mounds being dug, the soil removed, and the foundations of buildings being exposed and then left subjected to the weather to be destroyed within a few months. This casts archaeology in a negative light along with the sites themselves; if archaeologists can dig and then run, why should local communities be concerned with preserving the remains in their midst? Reaching out to communities is vital.
- Hosting conferences and exhibitions in Iraq
After or during each excavation season, each team should host or attend conferences or workshops for the local community to present preliminary results or information about their excavated site. At present teams keep their results confidential and leave local communities with unanswered questions about new finds and the significance of the sites in their midst. The concern is reaching Iraqis with information about the archaeology of their own country.
International teams should be more eager to present their findings from the survey and excavation at conferences and workshops in Iraqi universities: Photo by Jaafar Jotheri 2022, University of Al-Qadisiyah 3rd international conference.
International teams should give the Iraqi local police officers, workers, and site guards more knowledge about the sites. Photo by Jaafar Jotheri 2021, Nasiariya.
International teams should consider conserving and preserving archaeological sites in Iraq rather than focusing only on excavation and surveys projects. Photo by Jaafar Jotheri 2022, a heritage building in Samawa.
- Publishing results in Arabic in Iraqi journals
Preliminary results of each season of excavations or news regarding critical new findings, artefacts and objects should be published in Arabic in Iraqi journals. Currently, teams publish results in international journals that often do not reach Iraqi professionals, much less the public. Reaching that public also has another tangible, physical dimension, local archaeological infrastructure.
- Developing Iraqi museums
The excavation team should also contribute to developing Iraqi museums that act as local resources and repositories. Museums should have the sufficient capacity to store excavated materials, to function as research facilities that can analyze and restore the artefacts properly, and then present them to the public. Currently, Iraqi museums lack space to store artefacts and the ever-growing quantity of finds; that means some materials will be subjected to the elements and potentially destroyed. Successfully developing institutions such as museums means international teams must work with local authorities, local communities, and each other.
- Cooperation with other excavation teams
To better understand the larger picture of archaeology and heritage excavation, teams working in the same region, province or occupational periods should develop means of cooperation and integrate their plans. Now, each team works separately without any formal communication. Local conferences and events aimed at the public are one obvious means, along with jointly developing museums and other capacity-building measures, such as sponsoring postgraduate study for Iraqi students.
Iraqi archaeology and heritage have come a long way since the country gained its independence. Working jointly with international teams in the 21st century will allow the long-overdue professionalization of archaeology in one of the world’s most important centres of civilization.
Jaafar Jotheri is a member of the Faculty of Archaeology at the University of Al-Qadisiyah.
How to cite this article
Jotheri, J. 2022. “Reforming (and Decolonising) Excavation and Survey in Iraq.” The Ancient Near East Today 10.12. Accessed at: https://anetoday.org/jotheri-reforming-excavation-survey-iraq/.
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