Resurrecting the ruins of Aqar Quf

Iraqis and soldiers of Company C, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, ascend the stairs leading to the 3,500-year-old Aqar Quf ziggurat. The structure is one of the 10 most ancient in Iraq.


Resurrecting the ruins of Aqar Quf
By Travis J. Tritten. Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, January 25, 2009

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq — Shepherd boys scale the ancient tower at Aqar Quf with ease.

The ziggurat’s clay-brick walls have eroded into steep cliffs over the past 3,500 years, and the shepherds go hand over hand on a well-known path to the peak. There are no guards blocking the climb, no visitors to watch the spectacle.

On the desert below, the shepherds’ flock grazes among the gutted remains of a museum and restaurant.

The Aqar Quf ziggurat is among the 10 oldest structures in Iraq and once drew hundreds of visitors each week from nearby Baghdad. But the ancient site was abandoned and stripped by looters during the war.

As violence subsides, the government in this rural corner of the Abu Ghraib district is struggling to get national funding to reopen the Aqar Quf historic site and bolster the local economy.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60207