Ancient Human Remains Seized

Afghan officials are investigating the discovery of two remarkably well-preserved bodies that were seized last month from a ring of suspected artefact smugglers by anti-terrorism police in the remote northern province of Badakhshan.

Sayed Anwar Mojmir Ahmadi, deputy chief of Afghanistan’s the anti-terrorism department, said he had received reports that other seemingly ancient bodies, which he referred to as “mummies”, were being dug up in the northern part of the country and illegally smuggled overseas.

He said the damage done to the remains indicated that they had not been exhumed by professional archaeologists.

Representatives of the national museum and the ministry of culture are now awaiting the results of tissue samples sent to Italy to establish the exact age and identity of remains, which appear to be of two middle-aged men. It is not clear what historical period or culture they date to.

Mir Abdur Rauf Zakir, deputy director and chief inspector of the ancient relics department at the ministry of culture, said the bodies each measure about 1.76 metres in height and had been bearded, though most of their hair had fallen out. Their hands, feet and fingernails are largely intact, and their skin and flesh has dried out but is still visible. Authorities also discovered remnants of the shrouds the corpses had been wrapped in.

Deputy director of Afghanistan’s National Museum, Yahya Mohibzada, who also had a close look at the bodies, said they had been preserved by nature in some place that had just the right amount of heat, cold, and light, rather than being the product of ritual mummification.

“This is the first time such bodies have been found in Afghanistan with their flesh and skin dried,” said Mohibzada.

For now the bodies are being kept in the historical relic depot at the ministry of information and culture while specimens of the bodies' flesh, bones, and bits of the shrouds are being examined at a laboratory in Italy.

Mohibzada said he can’t be sure of anything until he gets the results.

"These bodies must be investigated in well equipped laboratories. This is why we sent the samples to Italy, and until have the official results of the investigation, we cannot say to which era these bodies belong, " he said.

Ahmadi said that, since the defeat of the Taleban, anti-terrorism and other police have seized more than 1,500 historical relics from suspected smugglers and handed them over to the national museum. In January, two ancient Buddhas were recovered in western Kabul and handed over to the museum.

Ahmadi said these two bodies were discovered after he and his team spent a year infilitrating the smuggling network with undercover officers, but he said police had been unable to make any arrests in the case. He conceded that it is difficult to capture and arrest artefact smugglers.

He said the anti-terrorism directorate was still not in a position to “show its power” in many remote areas of the country, especially in the northern regions, and local law enforcement officials frequently failed to cooperate with his unit.

Ahmadi said his team is continuing to investigate cases of smugglers exhuming similar bodies in the northern provinces of Badakshan, Takhar, Balkh, Kuduz and Jawzjan. He said historical artefacts are frequently smuggled through Pakistan for sale overseas.

Ahmadi said he hopes his unit will be better able to protect Afghanistan’s historical treasures once the rule of law is imposed everywhere.

Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR reporter in Kabul.