TEMPO.CO, Damascus - Archaeological storehouses in Syria have been looted by gunmen during the country's civil war. Syrian Archaeological Service reported that the looted items were found in the city of Raqqa.
However, the report did not specify what or how much was stolen. "I cannot check the extent of the damage because due to all the violence the area is too dangerous to enter," Peter Ekkermans, an archaeologist from Leiden University in Netherlands said to LiveScience on Wednesday, March 12, 2014.
Peter and his partners found most of the historical artifacts at the northern Syrian site of Tell Sabi Abyad. Since 1986, the team has successfully collected the remains of Assyrian, Persian and Akkadian, and Roman artifacts.
However, since violent situation started to escalate in Syria in 2011, the research has been halted and the team eventually left the country. All of their findings were stored in a storehouse with minimum security.
Peter said that his team must wait for the violence to end to be able to return all of their findings to the storehouse. "Only then will we be able to determine the extent of the damage," he said in a statement.
ANINGTIAS JATMIKA | LIVE SCIENCE