Naomi
01-07-2008, 09:28 AM
Apparently the U.S. Military built a helipad over the ancient site of Babylon. The Ishtar gate is the one that features the Mushushu dragons that are the animal forms of the god Ningishzidda.
Dr. John Curtis of the British Museum's Near East department writes:
"caused substantial damage to the Ishtar Gate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar_Gate), one of the most famous monuments from antiquity [...] US military vehicles crushed 2,600-year-old brick pavements, archaeological fragments were scattered across the site, more than 12 trenches were driven into ancient deposits and military earth-moving projects contaminated the site for future generations of scientists [...] Add to all that the damage caused to nine of the moulded brick figures of dragons in the Ishtar Gate by soldiers trying to remove the bricks from the wall." The head of the Iraqi State Board for Heritage and Antiquities, Donny George, said that the "mess will take decades to sort out". Colonel Coleman issued an apology for the damage done by military personnel under his command in April 2006, and claimed that they were protecting the site from looters of the strife that filled the streets of Iraq's major cities following the US invasion.
Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon#Effects_of_the_U.S_military
Dr. John Curtis of the British Museum's Near East department writes:
"caused substantial damage to the Ishtar Gate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar_Gate), one of the most famous monuments from antiquity [...] US military vehicles crushed 2,600-year-old brick pavements, archaeological fragments were scattered across the site, more than 12 trenches were driven into ancient deposits and military earth-moving projects contaminated the site for future generations of scientists [...] Add to all that the damage caused to nine of the moulded brick figures of dragons in the Ishtar Gate by soldiers trying to remove the bricks from the wall." The head of the Iraqi State Board for Heritage and Antiquities, Donny George, said that the "mess will take decades to sort out". Colonel Coleman issued an apology for the damage done by military personnel under his command in April 2006, and claimed that they were protecting the site from looters of the strife that filled the streets of Iraq's major cities following the US invasion.
Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon#Effects_of_the_U.S_military