« Math and the Study of the Ancient Near East
Main
Moain Sadeq on Tell es Sakan and Tell el 'Ajjul »

March 6, 2007

Moain Sadeq and Palestinian Archaeology

This is the first of two planned posts on a talk given today by Moain Sadeq, Founding Chairman of the Department of Antiquities of Gaza. In this post I will focus on a few of the issues faced by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and in a future one I will discuss a couple of the archaeological sites he referenced during his presentation.

The presentation was called "Palestinian Archaeological Explorations and Present Status: 1994-2007" and was hosted by the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture. Dr. Lynn Swartz Dodd of USC's School of Religion introduced Dr. Sadeq.

The talk was a bit of a sandwich with the top and bottom consisting of the history, role and problems of the Department of Antiquities of Gaza specifically and the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in general and the meat, the actual fieldwork, arranged nicely in the middle. Like any good sandwich, the bread was every bit as interesting as the meat.

Dr. Sadeq told us that in 1994, when his agency was established, they had nothing, no library, no archives, no equipment. They pooled their personal libraries. But they did have a charter: the exploration, protection and development of the archaeological sites in Gaza and the West Bank, but not all of the West Bank. The Palestinian Department of Antiquities Gaza, a branch of the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, only has responsibilities in those urban areas of the West Bank that are under the control of the Palestinian Authority. In addition, Dr. Sadeq went out of his way to explain that the Palestinian Department of Antiquities has no authority or control over the Waqf, which controls the Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mound) under an agreement between Israel and Jordon.

In Gaza, the law concerning antiquities under which Dr. Sadeq works was established in 1929 during the British mandate period. In the West Bank, the governing law with regard to antiquities is the Jordanian law from pre-1965. In addition, an Israeli military order concerning antiquities and ancient sites is still authoritative in some areas. Dr. Sadeq is part of a team that drafted new, modern, legislation concerning antiquities and antiquity sites but the Palestinian Parliament has not as yet been approved it.

Among the problems faced by Dr. Sadeq in Gaza and his colleagues on the West Back are:

Communications and travel: Since the Oslo accords, and even more so, since the ascendancy of Hamas in the Palestinian government, it has become extremely difficult to travel from Gaza to the West Bank. For this reason, it is difficult to maintain an ongoing working relationship between Palestinian Department of Antiquities workers in Gaza and their counterparts in the three archaeological divisions of the West Bank. It was upsetting to hear that Dr. Sadeq needed invitations from his Israeli, European or American contacts to travel to meetings in the West Bank.

Protection of Antiquity Sites: One of his frustrations is the low level of appreciation of ancient sites and objects of material cultural among the Palestinian population as a whole. The density of the population in Gaza compounds this issue. He bemoaned the fact that the high school history curriculum was over 40 years old and didn't even mention the archaeological heritage of Palestine that has been unearthed by either the Israelis or Palestinian Department of Antiquities. One of his missions is to improve this state of affairs. But other issues are equally important. He showed us pictures of the remains of a mosaic floor after an Israeli tank drove over it. He did not blame the tank driver. "For all I know the tank driver loves ancient mosaic floors," he said. But he did blame the on going conflict and by implication the Israelis. Even more interesting are the challenges attributable to current local geographical divisions. Large areas of the West Bank are neither under the control of the Palestinian Authority nor, for all practical purposes, the Israelis. Therefore neither the Palestinian Department of Antiquities nor the Israel Antiquities Authority is able to function there. These areas provide havens for illegal excavation and smuggling of antiquities. The serpentine Security Fence also provides, among its many negative side affects, security in certain places for illegal excavation and smuggling. These illegal operations cannot be observed across long stretches of the barrier and the outlaw's activities are therefore protected in ways that they had not previously enjoyed.

Extremely limited resources: "I have only 'No' to say." When faced with the discovery of archaeological remains on private property, Dr. Sadeq can offer neither money nor property in exchange for the loss that the owner may experience. This fact adds greatly to his problems in protecting ancient sites in the densely populate Gaza Strip. . Other limited resources include funds and expertise for preservation and restoration. The ascendancy of Hamas and the cutoff of much of the international funding have exasperated this issue.

Dr. Sadeq also discussed various important issues that were "on hold" because of Hamas and Israel's reaction to Hamas. Among these are discussions of the ownership and control of antiquities found in Palestine, the control of the Palestine Museum (the Rockefeller Museum) and its archives and antiquities collections, and the transfer or even availability of excavation records. He believes all these issues will be easier to resolve between scholars than between politicians.

While Dr. Sadeq told us that he was a scholar and not a politician, it is clear that he is more than a little politically savvy. He spoke of the need for a regional approach to archaeology. By regional, he meant Palestine, Israel, Jordon, Lebanon and Egypt. "We are all in the same boat." He invited us to visit him in Gaza, "but not now." It is too dangerous. Peace and security are required to solve most of the problems he faces. But he told us that the archaeological community is laying the foundation for the resolution of the problems that are under their control to resolve. I had the feeling he just wished it wasn't so hard.

While there were several questions, two stand out but for quite different reasons. Someone asked him about the role or potential of archaeology as a propaganda tool. His answer was both politically correct and, I thought, genuine. He reminded us that Palestinians are not Canaanites and Canaanites are not Palestinians. But whatever is found in Palestinian territory was part of the cultural heritage of Palestine deserving of protection and professional study. He gave a specific example of an ancient synagogue. He indicated that some Palestinians may or may not be related to those who worshiped there but that synagogue is part of Palestine's archaeological heritage in the same way as is the remains of an Umayyad Palace. I could only wish that more of my contemporary Americans held that view concerning Native American antiquities.

And then someone asked him his view on Anna Nicole Smith the Jesus Tomb! He more or less punted. But before the punt, he reminded us of the extremely common nature of the names on the inscriptions and that DNA evidence doesn't mean very much without something to compare it to.

I found Dr. Sadeq's talk energetic and extremely informative. I also found him a profoundly pragmatic man. For example, he knows that for now it is impossible for us to provide financial support for his work through the Palestinian Authority so he suggested that there were private institutions that are supportive of specific projects that are better choices for outside contributions. While listening to him talk I was strangely exhilarated; he exuded optimism in the face of almost unimaginable difficulties. But as I walked across campus to my car, a certain melancholy set in. While I believe, the scholar's will be able to solve their political problems, I not so sure the politicians ever will or in some cases, even want to.

Tomorrow or the next day, I'll post on a couple of the excavations Dr. Sadeq told us about.

I want to thank Jim West for bring this talk to my attention.

Update: March 7, 2007
Added link to Tell es Sakan and Tell al 'Ajjul post.

Update March 14, 2007

In an email, from Dr. Sadeq suggested a couple of corrections in the dates of effective laws and in the name of his unbrella agency which I have incorpoated in the body of the post.

Posted by Duane Smith at March 6, 2007 9:01 PM | Read more on Archaeology |

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.telecomtally.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2047

Comments

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.
Send me an email if it is important.

Tags: