The ACSYA Inc. and the Iraq Heritage Stabilization Program (IHSP) Virtual Meeting
On Sunday, 15 August 2021, ACSYA Inc.’s Director and archaeologist Nineveh Yakou met virtually with Dr. Michael D. Danti. Danti is a Near Eastern archaeologist, anthropologist, and serves as Program Manager for the Iraq Heritage Stabilization Program (IHSP). The organisation facilitates the mitigation of the impacts of genocide, cultural cleansing, and conflict in northern Iraq through the preservation and protection of cultural heritage sites.
Since 2018, IHSP has partnered with Iraqi stakeholders to document site conditions, focusing initially on the cultural heritage sites of minority communities, and to implement stabilization and restoration projects in Mosul and towns in the surrounding Nineveh Plains. IHSP oversees multiple restoration projects at heritage sites affected by conflict and cultural cleansing. These projects seek to return a building or architectural complex to a state where it can be used safely and regularly by relevant stakeholders.
Thanks to funding from the ALIPH Foundation, the IHSP has begun an ambitious restoration project of Nineveh’s Mashki Gate. This ancient monument, which bears testimony to cultural heritage dating back to the ancient Assyrian Empire, was destroyed by Islamic State in 2016. The objective of this project is to not only reconstruct this exceptional monument, but to also generate local employment in various disciplines: brickmaking, construction, as well as training opportunities in traditional building techniques. According to Danti, the project will also transform this sacred monument into an educational centre on the history of Nineveh and Assyria.
The Mashki Gate restoration is expected to be completed by 2023.
About Dr. Michael D. Danti
Dr. Michael Danti is a Near Eastern archaeologist and cultural heritage expert with over 30 years of experience directing archaeological programs and preservation initiatives in Syria, Iraq, Iran, and the United States. Since 2018, he has served as the Program Manager of the IHSP at the University of Pennsylvania. In the past, Danti has directed U.S. DOS programs in the MENA region focused on higher education and cultural heritage protection and preservation.
As a field archaeologist, Danti directs the Rowanduz Archaeological Program in Iraqi Kurdistan, which includes archaeological excavations, surveys, and cultural heritage management projects, as well as the Hasanlu (Iran) Publication Project. He has written numerous official reports and scholarly articles on the cultural heritage crises in the Middle East and has been a regular public speaker and presenter on television and radio to raise awareness of the plight of our global cultural patrimony.
Danti has testified before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade on cultural property crimes in the conflict zones of Syria and Iraq. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2011 and serves as a Consulting Scholar at the Penn Museum.
