British Museum and Army Team Up in Move to Rescue Iraq's Heritage

The British Museum and the British army have held talks about a new initiative aimed at restoring, as far as it ever can be, Iraq's shattered cultural heritage.

The plan involves assessing major archaeological sites, including the ancient Sumerian cities of Warka and Eridu, to see how badly damaged they are and the full extent of looting.

Another aspect will concentrate on southern Iraq's emptied museums, the main one being in Basra, but also smaller ones in Kut, Amara and Wasit.

The initiative is revealed in this week's Art Newspaper. Basra-based Major Tom Holloway told the paper that the plan was for soldiers to help at what he called iconic cultural locations and leave a positive "legacy" after the withdrawal of British troops. "The British army's role in the cultural project will be to facilitate specialists coming out from the UK to south-east Iraq, to liaise with Iraqi civil contacts, and to assist where possible with contracts for work required, underwritten with a degree of funding."

At the British Museum the initiative is being driven by Dr John Curtis, keeper of the Middle East collections and an expert on Iraq and Iran. He said the plan was at an early stage and they had not yet talked to the Iraqi authorities, who would be key to it happening at all.

"What's encouraging is that the army is now taking an interest in cultural heritage," said Curtis. "Looting has been very bad but we believe it might be on the decrease and that seems to be the evidence from satellite pictures." He said the situation may have improved because the last Iraqi director of antiquities was from the south and used his local connections to help stamp it out.

He admitted the most depressing aspect was the feeling of helplessness. It had been too dangerous to go to the areas that experts needed to visit and he hoped the initiative would be a step forward.

If the initiative gets off the ground, the first step may be a small team going to Basra for up to a fortnight, staying at a British army base and making day trips to sites under the protection of guards. The initiative is not due to be formally announced until May. According to the Art Newspaper, British troops will not get involved in actively stopping looters by patrolling archaeological sites.

Collections from the southern Iraqi museums were moved to the Baghdad museum before the allied invasion in 2003. A team of experts will have to assess whether the buildings are in good enough condition to allow the return of their treasures.

The army will be able to provide protection for any experts in Iraq, and also use its contacts with Iraqi private contractors to carry out any work needed.

Gordon Brown has talked of reducing the size of the British army contingent in southern Iraq from more than 4,000 to about 2,500 in the spring, although that timetable looks optimistic. The man in charge in Basra, Major General Barney White-Spunner, told the Observer that he would not put a deadline on reducing troop numbers. "It's like we've been pushing a rock up a hill; we're just on the top of the hill and once the economy takes off, when people have got jobs, health and education, that's when things will really start going," he said.