Timbuktu Artifacts Rescue
The civil war in Mali had taken a brutal toll on the country's population, but in the ancient city of Timbuktu, Islamic militants directed their destructive puritanical zeal on cultural artifacts alongside hapless, "sinful" bystanders. Fortunately, a brave consortium of preservationists (including a part-time janitor and security guard) mounted a bold effort to save thousands of ancient manuscripts. These documents were hidden in trunks, packed onto the backs of donkeys and smuggled out into safe houses in what one participant called an "Indiana Jones in real life" scenario. In the end, 278,000 manuscript pages evaded likely torching at the hands of Mali's militants.
