ISISと考古学者 - Living, Loving, Thinking, Again

ISIS*1の擡頭と中東の政治的・軍事的混乱の拡大は考古学研究にも大きな影響を与えている。

Tim Cornwell “Islamic State advance halts archaeological research in Iraqi Kurdistan” http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Islamic-State-advance-halts-archaeological-research-in-Iraqi-Kurdistan/35704

昨年９月の記事だが、伊太利のアッシリア考古学研究者Daniele Morandi Bonacossi氏*2がイラク・クルディスタン地方のアルビール*3の発掘現場からの撤退を決定したという話が出ている。同じ地域にいる独逸の考古学ティームはまだ残っているといい、Bonacossi氏も2015年１月には発掘の再開を希望しているということなのだが、それ以降どうなったことやら。
問題には、発掘する考古学者が危険に曝されるということだけではなく、大量死者と難民が出現している中で暢気に考古学をやっているのは如何なものかという倫理的な問題もある。

The destruction of Syria has driven out archaeologists including Christa Tonghini*4, of the Ca’Foscari University of Venice, with the Syrian government estimating that between 120 and 150 foreign archaeological missions have left the country. Invited to a dig in Mosul before the IS advance, Longhini then gained permission to work in Urfa, Turkey, and is trying to learn Turkish.
“The work was in an area north of Mosul,” she said. “But we didn’t want to talk of archaeology with all the refugees. It’s immoral. How can you speak about the culture of the Assyrian period when people are dying?”

考古学研究の対象地域のシフト。中東ではヨルダン。さらには、中央亜細亜のトルクメニスタン；

Longhini still pays a security guard at her previous site in Syria. Jordan remains stable, but is now crowded with archaeologists, while Egypt remains uncertain and Libya impossible, she said.
Alastair Northedge*5, professor of Islamic art and archaeology at the University of Paris, is an expert on one the world’s most famous Islamic sites, Samarra*6, currently being defended by Shiite forces against IS militants. Northedge is planning a return trip to Turkmenistan, where he worked in 2012. The Gulf states, he said, were also attracting more archaeological teams. “Everybody descended on Kurdistan because it was a way of doing Iraq which was peaceful, but it turned out that it wasn’t quite as peaceful as we thought it was.”
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, president of Turkmenistan, was elected with 97% of the vote and heads an authoritarian regime. But, situated on the outer border of north-eastern Iran, the country offers a window on to the region’s culture through its fertile southern fringe.
Northedge’s interest is in Dehistan, the ancient name for a medieval city in the south-eastern corner of the Caspian sea. A team from University College London’s Institute of Archaeology has focused on Merv, to the east of the capital Ashgabat, an oasis where rivers come out of the Iranian highlands. There are also French, Spanish and some Russian archaeologists working in the country.

See also

Henri Neuendorf “Islamic State Drives Last Archaeologists out of Middle East” http://news.artnet.com/art-world/islamic-state-drives-last-archaeologists-out-of-middle-east-113841

*2:See eg. http://uniud.academia.edu/danielemorandibonacossi/CurriculumVitae http://www.sisba.it/node/27

*3:See eg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erbil http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AB%E3%83%93%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB

*4:Tonghini or Longhini?

*5:http://www.univ-paris1.fr/recherche/page-perso/page/?tx_oxcspagepersonnel_pi1[uid]=anorthed See eg. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Northedge

*6:See eg. “Samarra Archaeological City” http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/276 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samarra http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9E%E3%83%83%E3%83%A9%E3%83%BC