Archaeology awareness playing cards

The archaeology awareness playing cards are a set of playing cards developed by the United States Department of Defense designed to educate members of the United States military serving in Iraq and Afghanistan about the importance of respecting ancient monuments, to try to preserve the Iraqi and Afghan national cultural heritage.

The goal of the publication of the cards was two-fold according to Fort Drum archaeologist Laurie Rush - to prevent unnecessary damage to ancient sites and to stem the illegal trade of artifacts in Iraq.

The military has long recognized that educational playing cards are a good way to capitalize on the time soldiers spend waiting for orders.

[2] The set also contained other cards such as the jokers that provided additional information about heritage preservation.

[3] On November 7, 2007, the DoD program, entitled "In-Theater Heritage Training for Deploying Personnel", was awarded the "Chairman's Award" from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, an independent federal agency that promotes the preservation, enhancement, and productive use of the United States of America's historic resources, and advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy.