Posted on 11/19/2004 7:39:37 AM PST by Ginifer
WASHINGTON - Ivory statues, Buddhist carvings, gold coins and thousands of other precious objects from the Kabul Museum feared stolen or destroyed under Soviet occupation and Taliban rule have been found, an American archeologist said yesterday.
Packed in toilet paper and sawdust in iron safes and tin boxes, the treasure trove of 5,000 years of Afghan history was hidden 25 years ago by museum staff in the Kabul presidential palace and other places, said National Geographic fellow Fredrik Hiebert.
"The majority of the items that were on display in the old Kabul Museum -- and that is the masterpieces -- are preserved," Mr. Hiebert said from Philadelphia, where he holds a research position at the University of Pennsylvania Museum.
Most of the Kabul Museum's collection, which included Silk Road artifacts from China, Egypt, India, Greece and Rome besides ancient Afghanistan, disappeared following the 1979 Soviet invasion and the years of civil war which followed the 1989 Soviet withdrawal.
Statues and other artifacts considered "un-Islamic" were smashed by the Taliban after the fundamentalist Islamic militia took power in 1996.
But a total of 22,596 objects, including 2,000-year-old Bactrian gold jewelry and ornaments, ivory statues of water goddesses and Buddhist terra cotta sculptures and carvings, have been recovered in the Kabul hoard, Mr. Hiebert said.
At the invitation of Afghan government officials and with the support of the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities, Mr. Hiebert carried out a National Geographic-led inventory of the items.
Mr. Hiebert said his team of 18 Afghans initially thought they would only be inspecting six boxes in the presidential bank vault containing the fabled collection of Bactrian gold discovered by Soviet archeologists in northern Afghanistan in 1978.
"But when we finished with the six boxes they said, 'Well that's great, now what about these other boxes?'" he said.
"So it started with another 20 boxes which were in the presidential bank vault, and when we finished with that, they said, 'What about these other boxes' and by this time our heads were sort of whirling," Mr. Hiebert said.
"We're up to 120 boxes and there's still a few more," he said.
Mr. Hiebert said how the treasures were removed from the museum and where they have been hidden for all these years remains shrouded in mystery.
"Unfortunately, most of the people who were involved are gone," he said.
"When the Kabul Museum building itself was destroyed all the paper documents were destroyed, all the archival materials," he added.
"Any information about what these boxes contained was gone so by the time we got there 25 years later people didn't know what was inside. The boxes had never been opened. None of the boxes were labeled. None of them had keys.
"We'll never actually know the full story of how these boxes got to where they were," Mr. Hiebert said. "The boxes themselves are a fascinating little piece of history."
Does anyone think that the recovery of these artifacts will get one-tenth the play from the media that the looting of the Baghdad Museum received?
Of course it will. The only reason these artifacts were missing is because American troops weren't there to prevent the looting 25 years ago!
Outstanding...dedicated workers indeed!!!
It's nice to hear good news.
What a wonderful find! The archeologists of the world must be salivating. Yes, you're absolutely correct. This isn't big enough news for mainstream media. The media only prints anything that's puts the US in a bad light.
This is fantastic! It would have been a shame if all these artifacts had been lost. Bet these people feel like they are little kids on Christmas morning.
What a miracle! God bless the workers who hid them.
Bump to find for a letter to the editor...
Amen! Saved them from the Soviets, civil war, and the Taliban! Unsung heros in Afghan history.
I think this qualifies for a GGG ping.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
This is really a good new story, thanks for posting. I hope that someday the story will come out about those who saved these artifacts
Good news bump.
saw some of the saved Bactrian treasure in The Los Angeles Times story...
another case of Dubya and some good men (and gals) liberating a country
and giving it a chance to regain it's past.
And maybe a future, if they can keep it. (to steal from Ben Franklin)
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