Un articolo di New Lines descrive il problema dei tombaroli nella nuova Siria. In un contesto di povertà diffusa e instabilità, molte persone, spinte dalla disperazione, scavano nei siti storici alla ricerca di tesori nascosti, spesso basandosi su leggende popolari o promesse ingannevoli di ricchezze. Di conseguenza, il patrimonio culturale siriano — tra i più ricchi del mondo — è seriamente compromesso. Siti romani, bizantini e islamici sono danneggiati o distrutti, mentre gli archeologi e le autorità culturali lottano per proteggere quello che resta, con risorse limitate.

One evening, at the start of Ramadan, I joined the new director-general of DGAM, Anas Hajj Zeidan, for iftar in Damascus. He had held a similar role in Idlib and said he knew the scale of the challenge. “We will be firm,” he answered when asked about security. He had commissioned a digital map to show the status of all registered heritage sites in Syria, based on reports gathered from regional colleagues. There would be investment in equipment and personnel, and training for new recruits. For the next three years, his focus was on consolidation, repair and establishing new relationships with foreign missions.

Uno degli elementi che potrebbero aiutare le autorità a ridurre il saccheggio dei siti archeologici potrebbe essere la ricostruzione del senso di appartenenza dei siriani con la loro cultura, restituendo loro l’orgoglio di vivere in un posto ricco di storia che potrebbe essere visitato da moltissime persone da tutto il mondo:

There is a psychological element to mitigating the crisis, too. “We need to rebuild people’s relationship with their heritage and culture,” Al-Azm told me. Abdulkarim said that, in the past, the local community had been a great asset to the authorities. If Syrians can be reminded of their role as guardians of history, then they could become stakeholders in the effort to protect it. This must come hand in hand with other solutions that alleviate the desperate situation for so many Syrians, but I had seen some small examples myself. At Palmyra, a trinket seller by the Greco-Roman theater told me he patrolled the site at night by motorbike. “We need this place ready for when visitors come back,” he said. He would protect it because tourism seemed a more sustainable business. All over the country, I had conversations with Syrians who spoke of their great pride in living near archaeological sites.