Interesting; especially the idea that "bulldozing was apparently a new form
of protection" - but I wonder where this will end: should the French give
the "Mona Lisa" back to Italy? Should the British pack up Hadrian's Wall and
ship it over to be stored down in some basement in Rome? Where would it
end???
In the case of Afghanistan/Iraq, there might even be a case for distributing
material globally, just as they set up a centre for storing seeds a while
back: if something wipes out all the apples, there is a reserve stock
somewhere... if all of a nation's heritage is located in one place and then
wiped out by war, looting, natural disaster, it's gone... & having
Roman/Egyptian items spread around the world ultimately contribute to the
overall goals of UNESCO anyway: wider perspectives, sense of shared rather
than narrowly nationalistic heritage, etc.
Anyway:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/arts/design/27conn.html