Archaeology Magazine's 2008 List of Endangered Archaeological Sites

Even as major discoveries were made throughout the year, important sites worldwide were threatened with imminent destruction. Our list is just a sampling of those that will be lost without intervention on an international scale.

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Rock art at the Sudanese site of Sabu features New Kingdom-period boats. (Courtesy Bruce Williams)

Sabu
Near the village of Sabu, in the northern Sudanese Nile Valley, hundreds of rock-art panels dating as far back as the Neolithic period will be inundated by the Kajbar Dam, now being built downstream. No archaeologists have made a systematic study of Sabu, meaning its depictions of giraffes, New Kingdom ships, and Christian churches will be lost forever.

Bulgaria
Like its neighbors, Bulgaria is rich in archaeological remains—ancient Greek, Thracian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman. But rather than draw millions of visitors each year to its ancient sites, this poor Balkan country mainly exports its cultural heritage. The transition from Communism to a free market economy has left Bulgaria exposed to the swirling forces of the global illicit antiquities trade. Desperate poverty means huge numbers of Bulgarians—up to 4 percent of the entire population—are involved in the trade.

Nine Mile Canyon
More than 10,000 prehistoric images of hunting scenes, bighorn sheep, and abstract designs adorn the cliffs of Utah's Nine Mile Canyon. Created by the Fremont people, who lived in the region from A.D. 300 to 1300, the images have been under threat since natural gas deposits were discovered nearby in 2004. Thick clouds of dust raised by energy-related trucking in the canyon adheres to the images, obscuring them and causing long-term damage.

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A mud-brick wall in the lower town of the Indus center Mohenjo-daro shows signs of severe salt damage. (Courtesy Gregory L. Possehl)

Mohenjo-daro
Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan was one of the largest cities of the Indus Valley civilization, which thrived between 2600 and 1900 B.C. Today, the square-mile mud-brick city is threatened by high groundwater and salt deposits that are destroying the site's ancient bricks.

Isin
Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, looting has resulted in the industrial-scale destruction of some of the world's first cities. One of the most important is Isin, the capital of southern Mesopotamia beginning in 1953 B.C. For roughly 100 years Isin ruled important cites such as Ur, Uruk, and Nippur. About 25 percent of the site has been looted.

Mirador Basin
Guatemala's north-central Petén region contains the largest concentration of Preclassic Maya cities in Mesoamerica and features the grandest architecture in the Maya world. But the sites are threatened by massive deforestation, looting, and destruction caused by equipment used in logging road construction, which itself facilitates intrusive settlements.