The archaeologists and international organizations expressed anger against the destruction of the ancient city of Assyria, Nimrud, by a group calling itself the Islamic State in Iraq or ISIS.
On Thursday (05/03) ISIS - which controls parts of Iraq and Syria - began to destroy the site that was established in the 13th century BC, said Iraqi officials.
Irina Bokova, the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) condemned the destruction of "systematic" in Iraq as "war crimes".
"This is an attack on the Iraqi people, which reminds us that no one is safe from the cultural eradication in the country. All being targeted: human lives, minorities, and is characterized by the systematic destruction of ancient cultural heritage," Bokova said.
ISIS said shrines and ancient statues are "religious art" that must be destroyed.
"They're erase our history," said Iraqi archaeologist Lamia al-Gailani. Gailani said Nimrud is one of the most important sites in Iraq.ISIS also sell artifacts
Nimrud is located approximately 30km to the southeast of Mosul.
Many of the artifacts found there had been moved to the museum in Baghdad and outside the country, but still much left at that location.
As an act of cultural vandalismes, attempt to destroy Nimrud been compared with the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues rock by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut, Lebanon.
In addition to destroying artifacts, ISIS also sell and trade is one of the sources of their income.Profile Nimrud
The ancient city of Assyria on the Tigris River
The capital of Assyria for about 150 years
The first excavations in modern times is done by Europeans began in the 1840s
Treasure obtained from excavations including royal palaces, statues and small artifacts
Investigation stopped for several decades, but in 1949 Sir Max Mallowan (husband writer Agatha Christie) start a new excavation
Photos of the remaining property made extensively in the 1970s
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