Photograph by John Wendle
The city of Balkh, like many ancient cities across Afghanistan, is a treasure hunter's dream and an archaeologist's nightmare. Dubbed the "Mother of Cities" by early Arab explorers, the vast urban complex was home to Zoroaster and was rich enough to be sacked by both Genghis Khan and Tamerlane.
And the looting has never stopped. Poor villagers dig through the ruins of the ancient cultures that once thrived here, selling what they find. Mostly the villagers say they found these artifacts accidentally while working in a field.
With international demand for Afghan antiquities remaining strong, some in the region produce excellent fakes. Here, a stone engraving sits on a jeweler's bench in Balkh's central market. Though the young jeweler furtively showing off this piece claimed it was real, it is uncertain whether the tools he uses to make modern jewelry during the day are not used to produce replicas of artifacts at night.
—John Wendle
(See "Who's Stealing Afghanistan's Cultural Treasures?")
Published August 1, 2013
Photograph by John Wendle
Mohammad Hassan, an Afghan farmer, holds up a tiny golden head. He was leveling a field, and he and his friends took the leftover dirt and ran it through fine screens to see what it contained. He says he was not intentionally looking for antiquities. "This is the first face we have ever found. Now we know what they looked like," he says.
Published August 1, 2013
Photograph by John Wendle
Abdul Wahid wanders across a tepe, or hill, near the center of the ancient urban complex of Balkh. The tepe is now a ravaged wasteland of potsherds, crumbling mounds of excavated dirt, and pits dug by looters. Some of these pits yielded considerable finds, which were sold to dealers during the civil war.
UNESCO's Sara Noshadi calls looted and returned items "culture out of its context. You get it back, but you don't know where it comes from."
Published August 1, 2013
Photograph by John Wendle
Fahim Rahimi, chief curator at the Kabul Museum, calls Afghanistan a historic crossroads not only of culture, but also of armies and trade. The looting of goods has been going on for millennia, but he still sees the need to fight it. The museum is now working to catalog its collection to help prevent future illicit trafficking, should civil war break out again after U.S. and NATO troops leave at the end of 2014.
Published August 1, 2013
Photograph by John Wendle
A diorama at the Jihad Museum in Herat shows Afghans' tenuous link with their history, one that is based more on emotion than fact. Here, the Herat Citadel rises in the background as a burqa-clad woman throws rocks at Soviet troops. "Afghans need their heritage to build their identity, to build their state," says Noshadi. But with 99 percent of discovered sites looted, Afghanistan's ancient past remains unclear.
Published August 1, 2013
Photograph by John Wendle
The Herat Citadel, known locally as the Qala Iktyaruddin, rises over the early morning streets of the ancient city of Herat. The fortress is believed to have been built by Alexander the Great on an earlier bastion and has been the capital of numerous empires since. It was recently restored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture as part of a nationwide effort to save and protect historic monuments. While the conservation of large architectural complexes is problematic, the preservation of movable antiquities is nearly impossible, with porous borders allowing smugglers to easily get antiquities to dealers around the world.
Published August 1, 2013
Photograph by John Wendle
A relative of Gul Agha, a farmer in Balkh, unwraps a high-relief Kushan-style carving of a man and woman. The farmer says he happened upon the piece while clearing a canal in front of his home 15 years ago. Most of the archaeologists shown this piece believe it to be a fake, though most of them could not be certain.
"I didn't have any reaction when I found it. When I get the money, then I'll be happy. Now it's just a rock for me," says Gul Agha, who is asking $10,000 for the piece. Many Afghans live on a dollar a day.
Published August 1, 2013
Photograph by John Wendle
Mohammad Hassan holds up a stamp showing two lions fighting. He alleges he found it buried in a nearby field about six months ago. He did not want to show his face, because he is afraid the police will confiscate the piece and throw him in jail for looting.
"We are poor people and if the police find us with this sort of thing, they'll cause problems for us," he says.
Published August 1, 2013
Photograph by John Wendle
A traffic jam of motorcycles forms at the entrance to the road running between the four minarets of Sultan Hussein Baiqara. A fifth column, on the other side of the barricade, leans precariously toward the road, held up by cables. UNESCO worked for years to block the road of heavy traffic, to keep the rumbling of trucks from further destabilizing the minarets.
"The road which you drive on today was like the Champs-Élysées of the Timurid Empire," says Noshadi.
Published August 1, 2013
This has happened in Egypt, Iraq and many other countries during conflicts and unsettled times. It's certainly a difficult point to reconcile for those who state that Western museums should 'return' or 'give back' the artefacts and exhibits they safely hold.
Using ice cores, geochemistry, tree rings, and ancient texts, scientists discover which volcano erupted in the 13th century with worldwide effects.
For the first time, astronomers can forecast cloudy skies on a distant exoplanet.
The extinct animal's face structure could help explain how vertebrates, including people, evolved our distinctive look.
NG's new Change the Course campaign launches.
Future of Fish is helping fishermen improve their bottom line while better managing stocks for the future.
The Change Reaction blog investigates in California.
