Ancient Iraqi wonders that have withstood centuries of warfare and destruction now confront a contemporary threat: being blasted and slowly buried by sandstorms linked to climate change.
In a nation plagued by rising heat and protracted droughts, carefully recovered ancient Babylonian artifacts are gradually vanishing once more beneath wind-blown sand.
One of the nations most severely impacted by climate change, Iraq, saw 12 huge sandstorms last year that turned the sky orange, stopped normal life, and left its citizens gasping for breath.
The Sumerian ruins of Umm al-Aqarib, “the Mother of Scorpions,” in the southern desert province of Dhi Qar, are completely covered in fine sand when the storms pass.
According to archaeologist Aqeel al-Mansrawi, sandstorms have started to undo years of labor that were expended to uncover the terracotta façade and several rare treasures of the temples.
Sand has always been a challenge for archaeologists in Iraq, but the volume is rapidly increasing.
Sand currently “covers a good part of the site” at Umm al-Aqarib, which goes back to about 2350 BC and covers an area larger than five square kilometers, after a decade of storms getting worse, he said.
The major danger in the past was theft of artifacts from the ruins, where clay tablets and pottery fragments with ancient cuneiform writing have been found.
According to Mansrawi, the current weather changes and their effects on the land, particularly the creeping desertification, pose an additional threat to the historic monuments spread throughout southern Iraq.
“In the next 10 years,” he said, “it is estimated that sand could have covered 80 to 90 percent of the archaeological sites.”
