Beirut’s garbage crisis

Project

Ancient human history is being bulldozed in Lebanon. A rare Roman chariot race track was gutted to make way for luxury apartments owned by a government minister. A site believed to be a Phoenician port was chiseled away by jackhammers to build a $300 million high rise. A bronze age settlement, which contained the oldest scale ever discovered, has been largely bulldozed to make way for a beach resort parking lot.

While the international community abhors the destruction of antiquities carried out by extremist groups–and often campaigns for their protection–little is said when Western architectural firms and Lebanese real estate companies are involved in erasing historical sites, key to understanding early human civilization. Has postwar reconstruction become a cover for archaeological destruction, and will this pattern play out in other war-torn countries across the region?