X A V I ™ Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 Dozens of archaeological sites in Afghanistan have been bulldozed to allow systematic looting, according to researchers at the University of Chicago. They say their analysis of satellite photos provides the first definitive photographic evidence that looting patterns that began under the previous government have continued since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Ancient settlements dating back to the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age - some earlier than 1000BC - are among those they say have been damaged. Most of the sites identified are in northern Afghanistan's Balkh region, which more than two millennia ago was the heartland of Bactria. It was one of the richest and most populous regions of ancient Afghanistan under the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th Century BC. By 327BC, Alexander the Great had conquered the region and married a Bactrian woman named Roxana, after defeating the Achaemenid ruler. Located on a major east-west Silk Route, the region's central city Bactra - later called Balkh - has been a centre of both the Zoroastrian faith and Buddhist learning. It later became an important Islamic city. The researchers from the University of Chicago's Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation have identified more than 29,000 archaeological sites across Afghanistan, helped by satellite imagery and other tools. But they spotted a new pattern in the Balkh region from 2018 onwards. They say they have identified specks on the images that they are confident are bulldozers because of the way they appear and disappear over time, and the tracks they leave in their wake. These freshly bulldozed areas then appear in later images, covered with pits dug by looters, Prof Gil Stein, the centre's director explained. "Basically, the people were clearing out vast areas to make it easier to loot the site systematically," he told me. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68311913 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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