This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A new study sheds light on how Syrian archaeologists risked their lives to rescue approximately 30,000 priceless artifacts from the Deir ez-Zor Museum during the summers of 2014 and 2015 as the city faced the imminent threat of capture by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as Daesh. Situated on the banks of the Euphrates River near Iraq's border, Deir ez-Zor is the capital of the province of the same name.
The region contains some of Syria's most important oil and gas fields, turning it into a fiercely contested battleground during the conflict. Maamoun Abdulkarim, professor of archaeology and history at the University of Sharjah and author of the study published in Museum Management and Curatorship, said the significance of the rescue effort extends beyond the number of artifacts saved. The researcher presents the operation as a compelling case study in protecting cultural heritage during wartime, particularly in light of the damage inflicted on museums and archaeological sites across the Middle East, including in Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Yemen.
According to Abdulkarim, conducting a rescue mission amid active hostilities requires more than logistical planning. "It fundamentally involves decision-making, institutional resilience, trust, and the ability to adapt rapidly to changing circumstances," he explains. "There is rarely a perfect moment to act during an armed conflict; often, delaying a decision in search of greater certainty poses a greater danger than acting under uncertainty." At the time, the researcher oversaw the operation as the director-general of Syria's Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM).
Access to the city was severely restricted, with the museum connected to the military airport only through a narrow and highly vulnerable corridor, rendering the mission exceptionally dangerous. There are no official estimates of the number of archaeologically significant sites in Syria, but the country's antiquities department is said to have a file of about 10,000 sites. These, however, are primarily locations that have either been excavated or identified through visible archaeological remains on the surface.
Modern-day Syria forms part of the broader Mesopotamian cultural sphere, where some of the world's earliest and most influential civilizations flourished. Given that large areas of the country remain archaeologically unsurveyed, it is reasonable to estimate that Syria may contain tens of thousands of archaeologically significant sites. Before the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, Syria was home to 35 archaeological museums spread across the country.
Although not the largest among them, the Deir ez-Zor Museum ranked among the country's most valuable institutions. Many of its priceless collections originated from renowned Mesopotamian civilizations and sites, including Halaf, Dura-Europos and Mari. In his study, Abdulkarim does not provide a precise estimate of the number of artifacts that were looted during the civil war, which lasted nearly a decade and a half.
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