Syrian archaeologists rescued roughly 30,000 artifacts from a museum threatened by ISIS, highlighting how protecting human history can depend on trust built before a crisis.
A narrow, highly vulnerable corridor was the Deir ez-Zor Museum’s only connection to the military airport. Access to the Syrian city was severely restricted, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as Daesh, threatened to capture it. Archaeologists trying to move the museum’s collections to safety had to act amid active fighting.
During the summers of 2014 and 2015, Syrian archaeologists risked their lives to rescue approximately 30,000 artifacts. Maamoun Abdulkarim, Professor of Archaeology and History at the University of Sharjah, examines the operation in a study published in Museum Management and Curatorship. He oversaw the rescue as Director-General of Syria’s Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM).
ISIS’s advance forced urgent decisions
Deir ez-Zor sits on the Euphrates River near Iraq’s border and is the capital of the province of the same name. The region contains some of Syria’s most important oil and gas fields, which made it a fiercely contested battleground during the conflict. As ISIS expanded its control across large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, the danger to cultural collections became increasingly clear. Abdulkarim describes the period that followed as “an important example of the sort of looting, destruction, and illicit trafficking of sites and museums that took place in this context.”
“This period formed a critical juncture, as it coincided with the fall of Mosul in Iraq, the looting of its civilizational museum, and the destruction of antiquities from Nineveh and Assyria,” he writes. “These occurrences compelled Syrian antiquities authorities to promptly reevaluate protection policies and expedite emergency measures in cities that were at risk of siege or collapse.”
Before the civil war began in 2011, Syria had 35 archaeological museums. Deir ez-Zor’s was not the largest, but it ranked among the country’s most valuable. Many of its collections came from renowned Mesopotamian civilizations and sites, including Halaf, Dura-Europos, and Mari.
“The 30,000 objects rescued from Deir ez-Zor represent more than just museum pieces; they hold thousands of years of human history and are part of the identity and memory of the communities in the Euphrates region.”
For Abdulkarim, leading the rescue meant making necessary decisions at the right moment, even when none of the choices was easy.
“My foremost priority was the protection of cultural heritage, and I was prepared to bear whatever personal and professional risks and consequences those decisions might entail,” 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.”
About 300,000 artifacts moved to safety
The Deir ez-Zor evacuation was part of a much larger effort. During Abdulkarim’s tenure as DGAM’s Director-General from 2012 to 2017, approximately 300,000 museum artifacts were rescued and relocated to secure sites across Syria.
“The artifacts accounted for the overwhelming majority of the country’s museum collections,” he said. “This included approximately 30,000 objects from the Deir ez-Zor Museum.”
Those rescue figures do not provide a complete accounting of the war’s toll. The study gives no precise estimate of how many artifacts were looted during the civil war, which lasted nearly a decade and a half. It also does not specify how many of Syria’s 35 museums escaped destruction or preserved their collections intact.
Even the extent of Syria’s archaeological heritage remains uncertain. Modern-day Syria forms part of the broader Mesopotamian cultural sphere, where some of the world’s earliest and most influential civilizations flourished. There is no official estimate of the country’s total number of archaeologically significant sites. Its antiquities department is said to have records for about 10,000, primarily places that have been excavated or identified through visible remains on the surface. With large areas still archaeologically unsurveyed, the actual number may run into the tens of thousands.
Abdulkarim views responsibility for this heritage as extending beyond the borders of the countries where it is found.
“We did not rescue 30,000 objects simply to save 30,000 museum pieces. We were protecting thousands of years of memory that war threatened to erase,” he said.
Museum rescues require preparation and trust
His account treats a rescue during active hostilities as more than a logistical operation. “It fundamentally involves decision-making, institutional resilience, trust, and the ability to adapt rapidly to changing circumstances,” he explained.
He identifies competent personnel, effective institutions, meticulous inventories and documentation, and trusted colleagues on the ground as essential to protecting endangered collections. These resources help determine whether an organization can respond when its usual procedures are no longer workable.
“The most valuable resource during a crisis is not always money or technology,” he noted. “Sometimes it is trust, the trust between colleagues who can make the right decision when there is no time left for normal procedures.”
Abdulkarim presents Deir ez-Zor as a case study for heritage professionals confronting war and crisis elsewhere. Museums and archaeological sites in countries including Iraq, Libya, Sudan, and Yemen have also suffered destruction, looting, and illicit trafficking amid war and civil unrest. His analysis emphasizes the timing of decisions alongside the resources available to carry them out.
“In a cultural emergency, waiting for perfect conditions can become more dangerous than acting under uncertainty,” he stressed. “Heritage protection during war is not only about what we save. It is also about when we decide to act, whom we trust, and how quickly we are prepared to adapt.”
The study argues that museum and heritage professionals should make risk management part of their everyday work, rather than introducing it only after an emergency begins.
“The relationships, documentation, professional capacity, and trust required for effective emergency action must be established during periods of stability,” Abdulkarim concluded. “They should not wait until a crisis erupts before taking action. These foundations cannot be built overnight.”
Reference: “The rescue of the Deir ez-Zor museum collections during the Syrian conflict: cultural emergency management, multi-level governance, and lessons for heritage protection” by Maamoun Abdulkarim, 15 August 2026, Museum Management and Curatorship.
DOI: 10.1080/09647775.2026.2710063
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