We do not live in a soap bubble. We are all rooted in a real territory. And an archaeological site generates an even stronger attachment to these roots.
Initially foreigners, we found ourselves, archaeologists active in Syria, embraced by today's Syrians in our commitment to rediscover the Syrians of yesterday. All linked and united by the embrace of a country that lives today of a life tha is like the one of yesterday.
In this sense, the territory becomes a treasure chest of the past, a treasure chest that we can open so as to enjoy its hidden treasures, if we know how to preserve them.
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The commitment we had set ourselves during the excavations has continued and continues today. In 2012, a mission of the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums went to Mozan in our absence to explain the goals we had in mind. Organizing presentations to young people and convivial meetings with the adults of the various villages, it laid the foundations for a project that is based, with extreme effectiveness, on the goodwill and collaboration of local communities. |
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The two images below testify the effectiveness of this approach.
On the left, women of different communities prepare lunch for the adults' meeting: here is the initiative that comes from below.
On the right (an image not very spectacular but of great significance) is the current water line for the village of Mozan. It is the first result of this commitment "from above": it was actually implemented by the governorate of Hassaka between 2012 and 2013, at the peak of the war!
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