Suzanne E. Bott 162 NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY 78:3 (2015) Mapping the Heart of Mesopotamia: A Bittersweet Legacy in the Landscape of War Hatra, October 2009. Photograph by Suzanne Bott. T he looting and willful destruction of historic structures and sites within Syria and Iraq by forces of the Islamic State (ISIL, ISIS, or Daesh) have left the world in a state of disbelief and grief. UNSECO has declared the deliber- ate destruction of cultural heritage as war crimes (UNESCO 2015), and the mass killing and genocide of religious, gender, and ethnic groups as crimes against humanity (UNAMI/ OHCHR 2014). Scenes of extreme violence have populated the media since the start of the Syrian War in 2011. Archaeo- logical sites, artifacts, books, museum collections, religious structures, and other tangible representations of cultural and historical significance have fallen victim to intentional ter- rorism, while also suffering the effects of war from all sides within the conflict. Background During the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, US Department of State Provincial Reconstruction Teams were instrumental in US and Allied Coalition-led eforts to stabilize and secure the countries provinces. Civilian experts in areas of reconstruction, economic development, governance, public diplomacy, and law worked side by side with military personnel in restoring Iraq’s damaged physical and social systems. During both the Iraq War and combat operations in Afghanistan, Provincial Reconstruc- tion Teams (PRTs) have complemented and supported Coalition Forces in operations and post-conlict reconstruction. he re- construction teams assisted provincial governments in regain- ing viability of local government programs, economies, legal and judicial matters, and social programs of education, health, and women’s issues, among others. The combination of the Ninewa PRT’s location in Mosul and the expertise of its staff permitted reconstruction team experts to reach out to the Iraq Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) in Baghdad and Mosul, and regional UNESCO rep- resentatives in Kurdistan and Jordan to assist with the protec- tion and preservation of the area's historic sites and struc- tures. Mosul is the capital of Ninewa Province and the second largest city in Iraq, and was once the center of Mesopotamia – the home of dynamic civilizations that made significant advances in science, medicine, agriculture, law, the arts, and writing (fig. 1). he archaeological and cultural sites of the region, with their rich history, were expected to factor into the future eco- nomic and social development of Iraq. he ancient Assyrian walled city of Nineveh, located just across the Tigris River This journal was published by the American Schools of Oriental Research and is available on JSTOR at http://www.jstor.org/journal/neareastarch. You may receive the journal through an ASOR membership or subscription. See http://www.asor.org/membership/individual.html for more information.