Archaeologist gives speech on lost findings in Iraq

By: Sarah Sherry
Contributing Writer

When people think of Saddam Hussein and archaeology, these two topics are rarely thought of having anything to do with each other. Paul Zimansky gave a lecture to Monmouth College students and members of the Archaeological Institute of America at noon on March 1 entitled “City of the Grim Reaper: Rediscovery and Demise at Mashkan-shapir, Iraq,” in the Highlander Room of the Stockdale Center.

Zimansky, a professor of archaeology and ancient history at Stony Brook University, in Stony Brook, N.Y., spent from 1986 until shortly before the Gulf War excavating a site at Tell Abu Duwari in Iraq. This archaeological site not only offered a picture of Mesopotamian city life, but proved to be the ancient city Mashkan-shapir, a city dedicated to the Mesopotamian god Nergal, the lord of death.

Zimansky described the site as having small mountains of debris from many years and it was “three millennia in an archaeological profile.” When he got there with his team, they found hundreds of cracked pottery pieces. “This was everything we ever dreamed of,” Zimansky joked, showing the audience a photo of broken bricks and pieces of pottery. The pottery found was described as unpainted and monotonous, and all dated back to the Macedonian period.

After excavating more of Tell Abu Duwari, Zimansky was able to get an idea of what the city of Mashkan-shapir looked like. He noted the peculiar structure of the city, and that the religious buildings were not in the middle of the city as they were in other ancient cities. There were homes in the central area of the city, and to the north of those homes was where the temples were located, which leads Zimansky to still ponder over what type of organization the inhabitants of Mashkan-shapir had.

Among the artifacts found at this site were tablets which had been collected by someone at an earlier time, which led Zimansky to come up with the “Grim Reaper” idea. He said tablets are preserved very well underground, and wondered why someone would dig them up and leave them. The team also uncovered a house, as well as other artifacts including cylinder seals, baked bricks, clay statues, model chariots, seal impressions and balanced weights.

Zimansky and his team tried to revisit the site at Tell Abu Duwari after the Gulf War, but were unsuccessful. Looters had ruined the site by digging holes and taking objects they could sell to antiquities collectors. Cylinder seals are especially valuable and worth the current price of an automobile. Zimansky had artifacts stored in the Iraq museum, but the museum staff hid them and was sworn to secrecy. The artifacts were never recovered, and all that remains of Zimansky’s work are the books he and his team members have written about their research.

There is a debate over whether it is ethical to purchase tablets from looters in order to salvage what is left of this part of Mesopotamian history.