LONDON, UK.- The British Museum has announced that the troops led by the Americans using the ancient Iraqi city of Babylon as a base have damaged and contaminated artifacts dating back thousands of years. As an example, military vehicles crushed a 2,600-year-old brick pavement, and archaeological fragments, including broken bricks stamped by King Nebuchadnezzar II. Following are some of the conclusions of the report:

In the early days after the war, a military presence at Babylon served a valuable purpose in that it prevented the site from being looted. But it is regrettable that a military camp of this size should then have been established on one of the most important archaeological sites in the world. This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain. A full-scale international investigation should be launched into the damage done to the archaeological site of Babylon during its occupation by coalition forces. The findings of this investigation should be supported by detailed plans, descriptions and photographs. All disturbed areas should be investigated, recorded and published by archaeologists appointed by the Iraqi Board of Antiquities and Heritage. All mines and ordnance should be cleared from the area of the site.

The Iraq Government should be urged to propose Babylon for inclusion on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites as soon as possible. Now more than ever Babylon needs the care, attention and advice that being a World Heritage Site would ensure it received. Many areas around the site have been covered with gravel, sometimes compacted and chemically treated, to be used as a helipad and to create spaces for vehicle parks, accommodation, storage, etc. These areas are now flat, but the extent of the levelling operations before the gravel was laid down is unclear. It is estimated that c.300,000 sq. metres of the site have been covered with gravel in this way. All the gravel has been brought in from elsewhere, and will of course work its way into the archaeological deposits. This is extremely unfortunate from an archaeological point of view, as previously undisturbed archaeological deposits on the site will now be contaminated. The status of future information about these areas will therefore be seriously compromised.