<
https://www.futurity.org/ukraine-war-cultural-heritage-antiquities-3010392/>
"Ian Kuijt and William Donaruma from the University of Notre Dame visited
Ukraine to see firsthand and begin to document the extent of the damage to
cultural sites including churches, schools, opera houses, libraries, and
archaeological sites.
Their report, the first ground-based survey of the region since the invasion,
is published in the journal
Antiquity.
“The intent by the Russians is essentially obliterating Ukrainian culture,
heritage, and history,” says Kuijt, a professor in the anthropology department.
“They have been targeting cultural features of society that have no military
capability, no hardened infrastructures that would be used in defense. And
there are many researchers who have started doing work with satellite and
aerial photos, but at some point, you have to go into the field to truly get a
sense of the damage.”
Kuijt and Donaruma, a professor of the practice in the film, television, and
theatre department, visited liberated areas in Ukraine to assess, film, and
document the cultural heritage destruction. Their interdisciplinary
collaboration allowed Kuijt, an archaeologist, and Donaruma, a narrative and
documentary filmmaker, to provide a more holistic view of the conditions in
Ukraine’s built environment.
Walking through the ruins, Kuijt says, revealed more widespread and far more
extensive damage than the team anticipated. They also found that the
devastation not only exists above ground from missile strikes, but also extends
below the surface due to the widespread trench systems used by military forces.
The researchers mapped out the substantial damage incurred by churches and
historic buildings from as early as the 11th and 12th centuries. Architectural
monuments and UNESCO-listed heritage sites—even those that have appeared fairly
intact in satellite imagery—have also suffered.
“Beyond the destruction and damage, particularly in populated, civilian areas,
we were astonished to see the amount of preparation and defense of cultural
heritage sites and objects,” Donaruma says. “Large sheets of metal covered
stained-glass windows. Fortified cages covered statues, and museums were boxing
artifacts for storage.”
For every church the researchers found in similar condition, Kuijt estimates
there are three to four other archaeological sites below ground that are also
impacted.
Despite modern military advancements such as satellites, drones, and tanks,
much of the war in Ukraine is reliant on trenches and bunkers—which has
resulted in digging and tunneling through the ground, often underneath or right
up to the foundations of crucial heritage sites.
This has likely destroyed thousands of archaeological spaces, Kuijt says,
including medieval cemeteries and Bronze Age settlements."
Via Rixty Dixet.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
