1,000 Words: The end of culture

There actually are no words.

In this image made from video posted on a social media account affiliated with the Islamic State group on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, militants take sledgehammers to an ancient artifact in the Ninevah Museum in Mosul, Iraq. The extremist group has destroyed a number of shrines --including Muslim holy sites -- in order to eliminate what it views as heresy. The militants are also believed to have sold ancient artifacts on the black market in order to finance their bloody campaign across the region. (AP Photo via militant social media account)

The winged bulls featured on Iraq currency since the 1950's are gone forever. pic.twitter.com/IOhn8loOdy

— Ihsan (@Thawra_city) February 26, 2015

Related: From 2009 – Iraq's urban sprawl, not looting, threatens Ninevah antiquities (Christian Science Monitor).

About the blogger

Bob Collins

bcollins@mpr.org • @newscut

Bob Collins retired from Minnesota Public Radio in 2019 after 12 years of writing NewsCut and pointing out to complainants that posts weren’t news stories. A son of Massachusetts, he was a news editor 1992-1998, created the MPR News regional website in 1999, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started several blogs, and every day lamented that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.