Don’t rebuild the dam: Ukrainian experts urge Unesco to protect site uncovered by Russian sabotage

AI Summary

Ukrainian archaeologists and conservationists are urging UNESCO not to rebuild the Nova Kakhovka dam, arguing that the newly exposed Dnipro floodplain holds significant archaeological discoveries and that reconstruction could cause severe environmental harm. Their expedition is taking place near Khortytsia Island, within range of ongoing Russian drone activity in southeastern Ukraine.

As archaeologists find treasure trove along new floodplain, conservationists say another Nova Kakhovka would be ecocide On a warm September day, a group of underwater archaeologists and researchers were boiling water for tea on their campfire on the banks of the Dnipro River, tents pitched on the sandy shoreline. They were three weeks into an archaeological expedition of the waters around Khortytsia – a rocky island 12.5km long and 2.5km wide that lies just downstream of the city of Zaporizhzhia, in south-eastern Ukraine. High above the island, a Shahed drone whined on its way. A Ukrainian interceptor, and small-arms fire from the ground, tried, unsuccessfully, to bring it down. The archaeologists ignored it. This is life as normal, 28 miles (45km) from the combat zone in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Continue reading...