The is a distinct chill in the air and heavy cloud cover that dogged us all day. There are mountains all around and this is definitely the antithesis of what I expect for Iraq. As the road winds up the mountains we stop briefly to see yet another Saddam palace, the walls around the perimeter painted with murals paying homage to the Peshmerga, the Kurdish military.
Our destination is Amediya also known as the city in the sky. Legend has it that the 3 wise men saw the star and set out from here to Bethlehem. It is built on a high mesa on the Great Zab river valley. It dates back 3000 years and is perfectly situated with just one entrance, the 300BC Bab Zabar gate. With natural spring water and ample food it perfectly withstood any seiges and was never taken. Sadly the poor weather amd reconstruction work means fairly dull photos.
After lunch we visit the Shanidar Cave. From 1955 – 1960 American archeologist Ralph Solicki discovered and excavated 7 Neanderthal skeltons dating back some 45,000 years. Remains of flowers with the bones suggest burial ceremonies and that the Neanderthal probably had social structures and customs better than what have thought in the past. Sadly, as so often happened in the past these remains are not here and are at the Smithsonian in Washington.
Overnight we are at at Rawanduz in Barzani country and our local guide tells us of yet another episode of crimes against humanity. In 1983 Saddam ordered his army to massacre the Barzani people. 8000 males over the age of 10 were killed by being buried alive. The gnocide brings me to tears. This is asociety where every family has been touched by violent death, rape, imprisonment or torture. Our 2 local guides relate imprisonment and torture and killings in their families also. It brings me to tears listening to it. I wonder who are the real savages, homo neanderthalis or homo sapiens sapiens.