Alongside Assur, Salem’s role also included managing all the archaeological sites in the Shirqat area, which numbered 274. “In total, we have four archaeologists and nine security guards,” he told me. “Every guard has to look after ten to twelve sites, and the other locations have nothing.” He shrugged and we walked again, now past the headquarters where Walter Andrae had been based. Broken glass and rubble were strewn on the ground, and what remained of the walls were streaked with graffiti. Inside, a single window looked out on the Tigris. When British archaeologist Max Mallowan visited in the 1950s, his wife, Agatha Christie, accompanied him. She saw this window and was inspired to write, said Salem. “If it was up to us, we’d build a monument to her. We love her. She believed in Iraq.”
The Villains Threatening the Cradle of Civilization
