The famous and most mysterious civilization of all times named as Indus Valley Civilization and its features still exist in the northwestern regions of South Asia. Its existence is predicted mainly at the time of 3300 to 1300 BCE. The archeologists are still not able to find out that what the religious views of the civilization were and what were the main reasons for the destruction of Indus Valley. The Buddhas of Bamiyan were the statues of Buddha that were created between the era of the 4th and 5th century. These were crafted into a cliff in the area of Bamyan, Hazarajat, in the country of Afghanistan. The Buddhas of Bamiyan’s height were 53, and 35 meters and these were created using the Gandhara art design. The statues were designed in a way that the expressions of the faces were so clear and their structure was based on straw and stucco. They were destroyed in 2001, by Taliban (an extremist Muslim terrorist group) who considered these statues idols so decided to destroy them. Another ancient site named Palmyra, which was an ancient city in Syria. It was an ancient city established in late second Millennium BC. There were many monumental projects including Great Colonnade and Temple of Bel. When the civil war started in 2015, Palmyra came under the complete control of Islamic rulers who destroyed the city and its ancient sites. Mausoleum Alpha Moya in Timbuktu, country of Mali, was one among different mausoleums that were destroyed by Islamic terrorists. Almost 16 mausoleums were destroyed in the conflict of war 2012. These were historical heritages of Muslims, including saint shrines and several ancient works were there that were destroyed badly by the Muslim extremists.
The Indus Valley Civilization is considered as mysterious due to its unique structure, features, characteristics, and culture. Many materials are found which represents several important aspects of the civilization, but still, many aspects are not clear to the archeologists. The main features which are important about the civilization include its structural design of the cities, baked brick houses, water and waste management system, art and handicraft system, urban planning and the style of designing the cities. The mysterious things include some major factors that the reasons behind its destruction are still not clear. Mausoleum Alpha Moya in Timbuktu, Palmyra in Syria, and The Buddhas of Bamiyan are some ancient sites that are destroyed due to war and conflicts. These all were destroyed by the Muslim extremist people named Taliban (Terrorists).
The protection of ancient sites is important because of several reasons. The major one is that these sites are the representations of old cultures; ancient times, and serves the world by their ancient historical events. These sites are the heritage of world cultures, and it is significant to protect these sites in their original form.
Moreover, the ancient sites are worthy of the archeologists who study the ancient sites and defines its historical significances (Bussiere, 2016). They are the ones who provide a detailed analysis of the history of the ancient sites and provide details about all the small or large elements present in the ancient sites. Many times the ancient sites damages by the uncertain circumstances such as war, accident, earthquake, flood, rainfall, or due to volcano erosions. Except for war, other scenarios occurred by nature, and there are fewer measures that could be taken in these scenarios to protect the ancient sites. But humanmade incidents are the ones that could be stopped to protect the ancient sites.
The countries that are having their ancient cultural sites are most responsible for protecting their cultural heritage. However, when some war scenarios occurred, other world countries and the international organizations should try to take actions to protect the ancient sites in any country facing the war. The historic heritages are important and need preservation. When any war or conflict scenarios occurred, the most integral factor is to recover the place as soon as possible.
After the countries, world communities are responsible for the safety and protection of ancient historical sites. It is because the ancient sites help the modern world to learn about the past, cultures, pattern of people and their lives, and their whole living structure. The ancient sites help to understand the past social structures and help to learn from the failures of past that should not be repeated in the future. The ancient sites are also important because these invite innovation and economic profit.
Many countries are earning a huge rate of profit from the tourism of their ancient sites by the other world people. These ancient sites also help to boost the culture of tourism and provide profits to the country (“5 Reasons why we should Preserve Heritage Sites”, 2014). When the countries are failed to protect their ancient sites such as war situations of conflict situations, then the world countries are responsible for the protection of these sites.
The people who are responsible for the destruction of ancient sites are the ones who do not care about the importance of these sites. Many times cultural, religious, and ethnic issues increases that led the people to destroy the ancient sites such as the terrorist extremist people in the destruction of Mausoleum Alpha Moya in Timbuktu, Palmyra in Syria, and The Buddhas of Bamiyan. When the scenarios of destruction are humanmade, then the situations are preventable and inevitable, but in the case of natural disasters and incidents such as an earthquake, the conditions are not preventable.
The artwork is important that is linked to an ancient site, and it helps to provide evidence of the historical events. Many countries which are paying attention to the safety of their ancient sites such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and many others are the ones that are protecting the artwork of their ancient sites. Many times the artworks are placed in the museums under the protection of high security so that these artworks could be secured in a proper pattern.
The ancient sites such as Mausoleum Alpha Moya in Timbuktu, Palmyra in Syria, and The Buddhas of Bamiyan, and Indus Valley Civilization are the ones that might be overlooked for sometimes, but many world organizations worked to protect the artworks of these sites. The biggest example of Indus Valley civilization in which several writing symbols, artwork, sculpture, crafts, and metal works are found. In the National Museum of New Delhi, India the artwork of the Indus valley civilization placed with protection.
Moreover, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is the one who had taken part in the restoration of the Mausoleum Alpha Moya in Timbuktu. It helped to recover the sites of different mausoleums that were destroyed by the Muslim extremist people. The organization helped the local people to recover their ancient work and to recover their dignity back (“Timbuktu marks rebuilding of mausoleums destroyed by Islamists,” 2016). The Islamist people destroy the Buddhas of Bamiyan, and the recovery measures are designed to initiate the remedial measures. The organization UNESCO designs the remedial measures but not initiated yet due to several issues of the country (Bobin, 2015).
The ancient sites, their artwork, and their security are important as these sites are the cultural and societal heritage of the world countries. The countries that are having ancient sites are responsible for the security of their sites and need to protect these sites with the protective measures. Moreover, after the countries, international archeological world organizations and all world countries are also responsible for protecting the ancient historical sites. These are important because these link sites can link the modern world to the historical world, and provide in-depth knowledge about historical cultures and people that existed in the world in the past centuries.
The ancient sites such as Mausoleum Alpha Moya in Timbuktu, Palmyra in Syria, and The Buddhas of Bamiyan are the ones that are destroyed by the humans due to several certain reasons. The measures that are taken by humans to destroy the ancient sites are preventable, and several things are initiated to protect the ancient sites to save them from human-made disasters. But in the case of natural disasters and incidents such as earthquake, flood, and rainfall the situations are not preventable. Many world organizations such as UNESCO, working on the global level to secure the world heritage present in the form of ancient sites. These organizations are helping the countries to apply measures to save their ancient sites and the sites which are destroyed by the people or natural disasters. They are trying to restore these sites such as Mausoleum Alpha Moya in Timbuktu that was restored by UNESCO. Also, UNESCO is trying to save the Buddhas of Bamiyan, but the initiatives are not taken yet due to the difficult scenarios of the country Afghanistan. All the sites which are destroyed and need remedial measures in the world should be restored appropriately to save the ancient heritage of the world.
References
5 Reasons why we should Preserve Heritage Sites. (2014). GoUNESCO | Go UNESCO. Retrieved 30 March 2018, from https://www.gounesco.com/why-preserve-heritage-sites/
Bobin, F. (2015). Disputes damage hopes of rebuilding Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Buddhas. the Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/10/rebuild-bamiyan-buddhas-taliban-afghanistan
Bussiere, L. (2016). Why protect archaeological sites? | The TARL Blog. Sites.utexas.edu. Retrieved 30 March 2018, from https://sites.utexas.edu/tarl/2016/10/02/why-protect-archaeological-sites/
Timbuktu marks rebuilding of mausoleums destroyed by Islamists. (2016). the Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/04/timbuktu-marks-recovery-of-mausoleums-after-destruction-in-islamist-takeover
