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December 2011, Daily News

Untold Stories of Plight of Afghanistan’s Archaeological Treasures Released

Wed, Dec 21, 2011

None too soon, Afghanistan officials speak out about the perilous and sometimes destructive journey their national treasures have taken within their war-torn country.

Untold Stories of Plight of Afghanistan’s Archaeological Treasures Released

There was a time when Afghanistan's priceless archaeological and cultural artifacts and monuments were relatively safe, though they were not widely known to the world outside. When the Russians departed the country in 1988, the transitional shift to the Mujahadeen saw a power vacuum that created an environment of instability that, along with one conflict after another and continuing through the most recent war, has left much of the country's cultural heritage on the brink of extinction. 

The Director of the National Museum of Afghanistan now speaks to the world about the story of Afghanistan's archaeological and cultural treasures, now documented in a series entitled, ‘Untold Stories: the Oral Histories of Afghanistan’s Cultural Heritage’, funded by a Hollings Center for International Dialogue Grant. Shown below is the first of the just-released series made available on video in collaboration with Kabul at Work Television, also available on their website at http://www.kabulatwork.tv/.  While the last three decades have been a turbulent and often destructive one for some of the nation's most cherished material culture, Museum Director Omara Khan Massoudi makes clear that signs of new hope and progress are emerging.

The Afghanistan story unfolds through two videos, the first (below), the most recent, and the second, a documentary produced by National Geographic that tells several fascinating stories focusing on recent events and discoveries bearing on the country's archaeological and cultural heritage.  

Details of recent interviews with key Afghan officials about the topic can also be found in the articles, Mes Aynak: Recent Excavations along the Silk Road, and Along the Watchtower, published in the September and December issues of Popular Archaeology, respectively.

Cover Photo, Above: An archaeologist points out one of the major finds at Mes Aynak, a major archaeological site in Afghanistan. Photo credit Joanie Meharry.

 

 

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