This book is the first authoritative and up-to-date survey of the history of Iraq from earliest times to the present in any language. It presents a concise narrative of the rich and varied history of this land, drawing on political, social, economic, artistic, technological, and intellectual material. It also includes excerpts from works of ancient, medieval, and modern literature written in Iraq, some of which are translated for the first time into English.The final chapters provide an introduction to the history of archaeology in Iraq, set in the wider context of the development of archaeology into a scientific discipline. A special section highlights selected objects from the Iraq Museum, with emphasis on their cultural significance and current status in the aftermath of the looting in April 2003. The last chapter offers a unique guide to the complex international and national legal regimes for the protection of cultural heritage.The American-led invasion and occupation of Iraq are a turning point in Iraq's modern history, with important cultural consequences for all periods of its past. For all who seek to understand more fully the current situation, this book includes discussion of cultural and legal issues of the war and occupation, placing recent events in their full context.

How does the Iraq War affect the future world order? What kinds of problems has this war brought about, and what is needed to remedy these problems, so as to reconstruct an order in Iraq and beyond? The present volume is a collection of essays exploring these issues, written by leading scholars in their respective fields. Importantly, the Iraq War has caused numerous long-term security and economic problems in Iraq (Chapter 1) and in the Middle East (Chapter 2). In addition, this war represents a failure of the Western liberals' project of establishing a liberal market democracy, and these liberals are likely to repeat the same error elsewhere in the future (Chapter 3). Moreover, the war underlines the crisis in global governance today, but the idea of reforming the United Nations has some serious limitations (Chapter 4). With regard to the issue of terrorism, ?Al-Qaeda in Iraq? has been operating in the field for some time, and thus Iraq will likely remain an important global center of terrorism in the foreseeable future (Chapter 5).

Discussion of the issues surrounding the destruction of cultural property in times of conflict has become a key issue for debate around the world. This book provides an historical statement as of 1st March 2006 concerning the destruction of the cultural heritage in Iraq. In a series of chapters it outlines the personal stories of a number of individuals who were - and in most cases continue to be - involved. These individuals are involved at all levels, and come from various points along the political spectrum, giving a rounded and balanced perspective so easily lost in single authored reports. It also provides the first views written by Iraqis on the situation of archaeology in Iraq under Saddam and an overview and contextualisation of the issues surrounding the looting, theft and destruction of the archaeological sites, the Iraqi National museum and the libraries in Baghdad since the war was launched in 2003. Beyond this, it examines our attitudes towards the preservation of cultural and heritage resources and, in particular, the growing political awareness of their importance. Although related to a single conflict, taking place at a specific time in history, the relevance of this work goes far beyond these self-imposed boundaries. PETER STONE is Professor of Heritage Studies and Head of School of Arts and Cultures at Newcastle University; JOANNE FARCHAKH BAJJALY is a Lebanese archaeologist and Middle East correspondent for the French magazine Archéologia.

This volume examines the distinctive and highly problematic ethical questions surrounding conflict archaeology. By bringing together sophisticated analyses and pertinent case studies from around the world it aims to address the problems facing archaeologists working in areas of violent conflict, past and present. Of all the contentious issues within archaeology and heritage, the study of conflict and work within conflict zones are undoubtedly the most highly charged and hotly debated, both within and outside the discipline. Ranging across the conflict zones of the world past and present, this book attempts to raise the level of these often fractious debates by locating them within ethical frameworks. The issues and debates in this book range across a range of ethical models, including deontological, teleological and virtue ethics. The chapters address real-world ethical conundrums that confront archaeologists in a diversity of countries, including Israel/Palestine, Iran, Uruguay, Argentina, Rwanda, Germany and Spain. They all have in common recent, traumatic experiences of war and dictatorship. The chapters provide carefully argued, thought-provoking analyses and examples that will be of real practical use to archaeologists in formulating and addressing ethical dilemmas in a confident and constructive manner.

In A Fragile Inheritance Saloni Mathur investigates the work of two seminal figures from the global South: the New Delhi-based critic and curator Geeta Kapur and contemporary multimedia artist Vivan Sundaram. Examining their written and visual works over the past fifty years, Mathur illuminates how her protagonists’ political and aesthetic commitments intersect and foreground uncertainty, difficulty, conflict, and contradiction. This book presents new understandings of the culture and politics of decolonization and the role of non-Western aesthetic avant-gardes within the discourses of contemporary art. Through skillful interpretation of Sundaram's and Kapur’s practices, Mathur demonstrates how received notions of mainstream art history may be investigated and subjected to creative redefinition. Her scholarly methodology offers an impassioned model of critical aesthetics and advances a radical understanding of art and politics in our time.

Cities, scripts, literature, the rule of law – all were born in Iraq. That so many see this ancient land as nothing more than a violent backwater steeped in chaos is a travesty. This is the place where, for the first 5,000 years of human history, all innovations of worth emerged. It was the cradle of civilization. In this unrivalled study, John Robertson details the greatness and grandeur of Iraq’s achievements, the brutality and magnificence of its ancient empires and its extraordinary contributions to the world. The only work in the English language to explore the history of the land of two rivers in its entirety, it takes readers from the seminal advances of its Neolithic inhabitants to the aftermath of the American and British-led invasion, the rise of Islamic State and Iraq today. A fascinating and thought-provoking analysis, it is sure to be greatly appreciated by historians, students and all those with an interest in this diverse and enigmatic country. This paperback edition features a new epilogue, bringing the work up to date and looking ahead to Iraq’s future.

Born from the fields of Islamic art and architectural history, the archaeological study of the Islamic societies is a relatively young discipline. With its roots in the colonial periods of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its rapid development since the 1980s warrants a reevaluation of where the field stands today. This Handbook represents for the first time a survey of Islamic archaeology on a global scale, describing its disciplinary development and offering candid critiques of the state of the field today in the Central Islamic Lands, the Islamic West, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. The international contributors to the volume address such themes as the timing and process of Islamization, the problems of periodization and regionalism in material culture, cities and countryside, cultural hybridity, cultural and religious diversity, natural resource management, international trade in the later historical periods, and migration. Critical assessments of the ways in which archaeologists today engage with Islamic cultural heritage and local communities closes the volume, highlighting the ethical issues related to studying living cultures and religions. Richly illustrated, with extensive citations, it is the reference work on the debates that drive the field today.

This collection is the product of a collaborative venture between criminologists and archaeologists concerned with the international market in illicit antiquities. It examines the state of regulation in the antiquities market, with a particular focus on the UK's position, but also with reference to the international context. Looting happens routinely and many countries have rich deposits of cultural material. Antiquities are highly collectable, and there are several prominent international centres for trade. As well as the legitimate face of the antiquities trade there therefore exists an international illicit market in which cultural objects are trafficked for profit in breach of national laws and international conventions. It is within such a complex international and local regulatory context that the essays presented here emerge, focusing upon three areas in particular: the demand for looted antiquities; the supply of cultural artefacts which originate in source countries; and regulation of the international market in antiquities. Criminology has long been interested in transnational crime and its regulation. Archaeologists' concerns lie in the destructive consequences of antiquities looting, which erases our knowledge of the past. In the papers presented here both disciplines present new data and analysis to forge a more coherent understanding of the nature and failings of the regulatory framework currently in place to combat the criminal market in antiquities.

This volume brings together work by authors who draw upon sociological and criminological methods, theory, and frameworks, to produce research that pushes boundaries, considers new questions, and reshape the existing understanding of "art crimes", with a strong emphasis on methodological innovation and novel theory application. Criminologists and sociologists are poorly represented in academic discourse on art and culture related crimes. However, to understand topics like theft, security, trafficking, forgery, vandalism, offender motivation, the efficacy of and results of policy interventions, and the effects art crimes have on communities, we must develop the theoretical and methodological models we use for analyses. The readership of this book is expected to include academics, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of criminology, sociology, law, and heritage studies who have an interest in art and heritage crime.

The modern history of Iraq is punctuated by a series of successive and radical ruptures (coups d''etat, changes of regime, military adventures and foreign invasions) whose chronological markers are relatively easy to identify. Although researchers cannot ignore these ruptures, they should also be encouraged to establish links between the moments when the breaks occur and the longue dur(r)e, in order to gain a better understanding of the period.Combining a variety of different disciplinary and methodological perspectives, this collection of essays seeks to establish some new markers which will open fresh perspectives on the history of Iraq in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and suggest a narrative that fits into new paradigms. The book covers the various different periods of the modern state (the British occupation and mandate, the monarchy, the first revolutions and the decades of Ba''thist rule) through the lens of significant groups in Iraq society, including artists, film-makers, political and opposition groups, members of ethnic and religious groups, and tribes."