N. Carolina Guard Soldiers help preserve Iraqi history
BAGHDAD – What may look like large, weathered mounds of dirt in rural farmland near Mahmudiyah are actually artifact-filled ruins of an ancient civilization.
Soldiers of the North Carolina National Guard's 120th Combined Arms Battalion, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, surveyed the sites, here, recently, with officials from the Government of Iraq's Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism to examine ways to preserve and protect two ancient Sumerian sites from looters.
The complexes of dirt mounds – Tal Aldair and Sobbar Abu Habba – were once Sumerian city walls outside of what is today Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad. Pottery and clay tablets with the world's first form of writing, Cuneiform, are known to be in the mounds. The Sumerian culture is the oldest civilization in the world, dating back to the 6th century B.C.
"It's for the world and not just Iraq to preserve these world heritage sites because a lot of folks know it as the cradle of civilization," said Morrison. "These [Sumerians] were the first people we know of in history to be able to write and keep records and those are the kinds of artifacts that are here today."...
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Soldiers of the North Carolina National Guard's 120th Combined Arms Battalion, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, surveyed the sites, here, recently, with officials from the Government of Iraq's Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism to examine ways to preserve and protect two ancient Sumerian sites from looters.
The complexes of dirt mounds – Tal Aldair and Sobbar Abu Habba – were once Sumerian city walls outside of what is today Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad. Pottery and clay tablets with the world's first form of writing, Cuneiform, are known to be in the mounds. The Sumerian culture is the oldest civilization in the world, dating back to the 6th century B.C.
"It's for the world and not just Iraq to preserve these world heritage sites because a lot of folks know it as the cradle of civilization," said Morrison. "These [Sumerians] were the first people we know of in history to be able to write and keep records and those are the kinds of artifacts that are here today."...