Erasing History: why IS is blowing up ancient Artifacts

chanakyakripa

One of the many tragedies that have unfolded in the wake of the Islamic State (IS) is their smashing of statues and the destruction of ancient archaeological sites. Indeed, the rapid and terrifying advance of the IS has proved fatal for much invaluable heritage.
They toppled priceless statues at the Mosul Museum in northern Iraq. They used sledgehammers and power tools to deface giant winged-bull statues at Nineveh on the outskirts of Mosul. At Nimrud, IS detonated explosives, turning the site into a giant, brown, mushroom cloud. They used assault rifles and pickaxes to destroy invaluable carvings at Hatra; and at Palmyra in Syria they blew up the 2,000-year-old temples dedicated to the pagan gods Baal Shamin and Bel.
It’s difficult to interpret the unprecedented scale of this heritage destruction. The global media and politicians have tended to frame these events as random casualties of wanton terror or as moments of unrestrained barbarism.
Source: ancient-origins.net
The article ‘ Erasing History: Why Islamic State is Blowing Up Ancient Artifacts ’ by Benjamin Isakhan and Jose Antonio Gonzalez Zarandona was originally published on The Conversation and has been republished under a Creative Commons license.

asr335704

It is really sad that these historical sites are being destroyed. IS terrorists are such freaks. They must be punished so hard that they never forget what they did and rot in limbo (nowhere to go).