Friday, December 16, 2016

Hundreds of Historic Texts Hidden in ISIL-Occupied Monastery

Over 400 texts, dating as far back as 800 years, were saved from the Mar Behnam monastery in Iraq after more than two years of ISIL occupation. Just weeks before ISIL occupied the monastery a priest put the 400 texts in metal containers and built a wall to conceal them.

http://www.livescience.com/57240-historic-texts-hidden-isis-occupied-monastery.html

http://www.livescience.com/57239-photos-historic-texts-hidden-christian-monastery.html

Monday, December 12, 2016

ISIL Members May face war crimes charges

ISIL members may face war crime charges for the destruction of heritage sites. Photographs show that a number of fighters were captured at Mar Behnam (an ancient monastery that was heavily damaged and vandalized), near the site of Nimrud (which was largely destroyed) and even a few in Mosul (where numerous sites were destroyed). The propaganda videos created by ISIL may help convict those who destroyed the sites.

http://www.livescience.com/57173-isis-war-crime-charges-for-heritage-destruction.html

Friday, December 9, 2016

Surviving Inscriptions from Nimrud Revealed

Several surviving inscriptions from Nimrud have been revealed. One inscriptions which ISIL tried (but failed) to destroy tells about how Ashurnasipral II founded a monkey colony at Nimrud "I brought them [the monkeys] to my land Aššur. I bred herds of them in great numbers in Calah [and] displayed [them] to all the people of my land."