Ancient heritage in the Middle East and North Africa threatened with decay

It was once the largest city in the world: Babylon, known to posterity above all for the hanging gardens and perhaps even more for the legendary Tower of Babel. Today, however, the remains of the more than 4000-year-old city in southern Iraq are in a state of open decay: the once reconstructed plaster facades are crumbling, some of the buildings that were once particularly popular with tourists are no longer accessible due to the danger of collapse.

“Over the years, groundwater has been seeping into the buildings. Coupled with some very dry summers, this has caused some of the buildings to collapse,” says Eleanor Robson, professor of Ancient Near Eastern history at University College London (UCL). The researcher has visited the cultural sites in Iraq several times in recent years. “I spent a day there with the World Monuments Fund team last May. It was heartbreaking,” she says. The place just collapses.

Fires, sandstorms, floods

The old city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2019, is not the only site in the region feeling the effects of climate change.

In Egypt, the stones of historical structures such as the pyramids take on a different color and their walls crack due to the high temperatures and high humidity. Forest fires, dust and sand storms, air pollution, increased soil salinity and rising sea levels are also threatening the country’s other historic sites.

Conservationists are also concerned in Jordan: They fear for parts of the thousand-year-old rock city of Petra. These are directly endangered by increasing landslides. In war-torn Yemen, too, the climate is affecting the historical substance: in the east of the country, heavy rainfall damages the famous mudbrick buildings in Wadi Hadramaut. Flash floods, which are occurring more and more frequently, are also undermining the traditional mudbrick buildings.

In Libya, on the other hand, the old oasis city of Ghadames is under threat. The reason: the town’s main water source has dried up. The native vegetation has died and the inhabitants have left the city. But cultural sites on the coast are also at risk: as in the entire region, they are at risk of damage from rising sea levels and floods.

Gloomy future predicted

A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany and the Cyprus Institute recently published a study, which predicts a bleak future for the region. The authors conclude that the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean region will warm almost twice faster than the global average – and also faster than other inhabited parts of the world. This has a direct impact on numerous castles, fortresses, pyramids and other ancient sites in the region.

The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) – responsible for the preservation of monuments worldwide – has been sounding the alarm for some time: According to the organization, climate change has become one of the most significant and fastest growing threats to people and their cultural heritage worldwide. Nikolas Bakirtzis, Associate Professor of Archeology and Cultural Heritage at the Cyprus Institute, takes a similar view. “There is no doubt that the cultural heritage of the Middle East is more endangered than that in Europe,” says the researcher.

For one thing, the region’s cultural heritage sites are at greater risk than those in other parts of the world due to faster and more intense warming. On the other hand, many countries in the region currently have more pressing concerns than preserving their cultural heritage, ranging from economic or political crises to wars.

“Everyone is aware of the challenge, but not everyone can afford to prioritize preservation,” he says. Of course, climate change also affects European cultural heritage sites, Bakirtzis continued. But Europe is far better equipped to face this challenge. Some countries such as Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf States have made progress in protecting their cultural heritage sites. Other countries, on the other hand, lack the opportunity to do so.

Too little money for monument protection

Antiquities researcher Eleanor Robson from University College London says that there are often government organizations that are responsible for managing cultural heritage sites. As an example, she points to the Government Agency for Antiquities and Heritage in Iraq. “However, due to the sanctions and the effects of the turbulence of the past 20 years, this authority is hopelessly underfunded and not even remotely adequately equipped. At the same time, the pressure to maintain the sites is increasing. If appropriate measures are not taken, maintenance will become considerably more expensive later on.”

“Awareness of this issue – the need to protect cultural heritage sites from climate change – is in many cases still in its infancy,” says Ibrahem Badr, a professor in the Department of Archeology at Misr-University for Technology and Science in Cairo. “Some studies have been carried out, but they have not yet led to any significant action on the ground. Unfortunately, most countries in the Middle East are not ready to deal with this problem. This is having a negative impact on the archaeological sites.”

Human effort required

In addition, the experts point out that climate change is increasingly having a negative impact on the communities and people living around cultural heritage sites. “It’s not just about an ancient temple or an archaeological site,” says Bakirtzis. “It’s also about the local communities that make the use of these sites possible in the first place and to whom they owe part of their importance.”

Bakirtzis fears that climate change will cause people to emigrate if their living conditions become unsustainable. But if nobody takes care of the sites, their cultural importance will gradually disappear.

As an example he points to some of the early Christian sites in Iraq. The Christian communities living there until recently have left because of the war, attacks by the terrorist organization “Islamic State” and changed environmental conditions. ‘Now there is no one there to visit or take care of those sites, so these places are increasingly turning into ruins,’ said the Cyprus-based scientist.

Looting threatened

But human presence in the vicinity of ancient sites can also have negative consequences: To alleviate their distress or to improve their personal economic circumstances, some locals are already looking there for ancient art objects that they can sell or smuggle.

“If people can no longer live off their land because of desertification and high temperatures, we will likely see a resurgence in archaeological looting,” Robson fears.

AAdapted from English by Kersten Knipp.