for National Geographic News
Fears of the continued plunder of ancient antiquities in war-torn Iraq may be laid to rest, according to a new survey of eight of the most important archaeological sites in the south of the country.
An international team of scholars who visited the historic sites in June found no obvious evidence of recent looting, according to a report recently published by the British Museum in London.
The findings came as a surprise to antiquities experts and scholars who had expected continued destruction of Iraqi heritage sites after the U.S. invaded in 2003.
"We didn't see any new looting at the eight sites, which was really very, very encouraging," said team member Elizabeth Stone, a Mesopotamia specialist from Stony Brook University in New York.
While the study team cautions that the situation may be very different elsewhere in Iraq, the findings suggest a dramatically improved situation at the eight locations since 2003, when widespread illegal digging was recorded in the region.
The survey, however, uncovered other significant damage to ancient Mesopotamian monuments caused by neglect and military activity.
The British Museum-led expedition to Basra and three other southern provinces was supported by the British Army, which provided armed security and helicopter transport.
Using high-resolution satellite images from 2003, Stone, a National Geographic Society grantee, identified extensive looting at more than 200 sites in southern Iraq.
Larsa, an important second millennium B.C. city nearly 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of modern-day Baghdad, was among the badly looted sites visited by the team.
"If there was major recent looting there we would have expected to find it," Stone said. "But I didn't see anything that was there in late 2003 or early 2004."
Looting activity identified at other southern sites, including Tell el-'Oueili, Tell al-Lahm, Lagash, and Eridu, is also thought to have occurred at least four years ago.
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