The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage like that at an archaeological site in Nimrud, Iraq, amounts to a "war crime", the head of the UN's cultural agency said.
Unesco director-general Irina Bokova appealed in a statement to people around the world - "especially youth" - to protect "the heritage of the whole of humanity".
The Iraqi government said Islamic State (IS) militants "bulldozed" the renowned archaeological site of the ancient city in northern Iraq with heavy military vehicles on Thursday.
Ms Bokova denounced "this cultural chaos" and said she had alerted both UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
The discovery of treasures in Nimrud's royal tombs in the 1980s is considered one of the 20th century's most significant archaeological finds.
A statement from Iraq's ministry of tourism and antiquities did not elaborate on the extent of the damage, saying only that IS continues to "defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity".
The latest act follows an attack on the Mosul museum just days earlier.
The destruction of the site of one of ancient Mesopotamia's greatest cities recalled the Taliban's annihilation of large Buddha statues in Afghanistan more than a dozen years ago, experts said.
Nimrud was the second capital of Assyria, an ancient kingdom that began in about 900 BC, partially in present-day Iraq, and became a great regional power.
The city, which was destroyed in 612 BC, is located on the Tigris River just south of Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, which was captured by IS in June.
After Iraq was invaded in 2003, archaeologists were relieved when the treasures were found hidden in the country's central bank, in a secret vault-inside-a-vault submerged in sewage water.
IS extremists, who control a third of Iraq and Syria, have attacked other archaeological and religious sites, claiming that they promote apostasy.
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