The Illegal Excavation and Trade of Syrian Cultural Objects: A View from the Ground

The illegal excavation and trade of cultural objects from Syrian archaeological sites worsened markedly after the outbreak of civil disturbance and conflict in 2011. Since then, the damage to archaeological heritage has been well documented, and the issue of terrorist funding explored, but hardly any research has been conducted into the organization and operation of theft and trafficking of cultural objects inside Syria. As a first step in that direction, this paper presents texts of interviews with seven people resident in Syria who have first-hand knowledge of the trade, and uses information they provided to suggest a model of socioeconomic organization of the Syrian war economy regarding the trafficking of cultural objects. It highlights the importance of coins and other small objects for trade, and concludes by considering what lessons might be drawn from this model to improve presently established public policy.     

Aleppo in Asia: Mercantile networks between Syria,China and post-Soviet Eurasia since 1970

ABSTRACT

Indian Ocean and Mediterranean studies have highlighted the limitations imposed on our understanding of the dynamics of West Asia by the paradigm of area studies and the category of the ‘Middle East’. But less attention has been paid to how expansive perspectives that do not invoke an explicitly maritime geography might enrich our understanding of the region's formative connections. This article seeks to locate the modern city of Aleppo in a trans-regional Asian geography by tracing the shifting history of mercantile networks that connected Aleppo to other parts of Eurasia – notably, parts of the formerly Soviet world and the city of Yiwu in Southeast China. It highlights the importance of trans-regional flows of Soviet patronage, and then Chinese state subsidies and credit, in embedding Aleppo into these expansive circuits. It also argues that these flows have fostered the emergence of a hitherto-unstudied business class in Syria.     

Foreign ceramic tradition,local clays: the Handmade Burnished Ware of Tell Kazel (Syria)

Late Bronze Age Handmade Burnished Ware (HMBW) from Tell Kazel was studied by thin-section petrography and neutron activation analysis in order to investigate its manufacturing technology and origin of production. Results show that the majority of the HMBW fabric groups point to a local area of production while a few petrographic loners might have been produced elsewhere in the Akkar Plain or imported. The manufacturing technique, in terms of clay paste recipe, forming and finishing techniques, is however new in the Tell Kazel pottery assemblage, hinting at the work of foreigners present at the site. The historical and archaeological contexts further suggest that these foreigners were some of the Sea Peoples and the stylistic and analytical data further reinforce the link between the northern Levant and the western Mediterranean.     

Wars in refuge: Locating Syrians’ intimate knowledges of violence across time and space

This article examines the intimate entanglements of war and refuge. Situated within feminist political geography, I trace the ways in which war is at play in refugees' journeys for safety. Drawing on ethnographic research with Syrian refugees living in Denmark, my research shows the intimate contours of war in ways that disrupt conventional boundaries and definitions of war in two critical ways. First, I show how the war in Syria reverberates in Syrians' lives in refuge. Second, I unpack how Denmark -- a country that is purported to be a place of peace and protection from war -- is experienced by Syrians as a place of war. Taken together these findings call attention to how refugees themselves draw on and articulate geographical imaginations and knowledges of war, violence, and safety as they try to make new lives as refugees. I argue that the existence of war in refuge necessitates rethinking a broader set of questions about war; including where war is, what counts as war, and who decides. In doing so, this article contributes to feminist political geographers' and postcolonial scholars’ efforts to unsettle and decolonize conventional understandings of war.     

Realpolitik and Jihad: The Iranian Use of Shiite Militias in Syria

The Shi‘a militias that have been involved in the war in Syria since 2011 were dispatched by Iran from neighboring countries, and they have exploited their position as aid‐givers by implementing a long‐term scheme of Iran regarding Syria. This article seeks to define the purpose and modus operandi of the involvement of these militias in Syria, as a case study of Iranian policy throughout the region. The essence and purposes of this regional policy has been analyzed using realistic and soft power approaches, alongside political thought from the Sh'ia Islam and the fundamentals of the Islamic Revolution; the reflection of this policy in Syria is identified by tracing reports and publications regarding the complicity of the Shi‘a militias in the war. The article claims that war‐racked Syria is a sort of test case for Iran protecting itself by attempting to spread its hegemony — and thus deterrence — across the region, a plan that is combined with and carried out through an ideological Jihadist promotion of an Islamic order. Accordingly, the Shi‘a militias are striving to ensure a lasting foothold for Iran in the areas in Syria that are essential to Iranian regional aspirations, by imposing Iranian political, military, and religious influences among these territories and populations.     

试析叙利亚现代民族国家构建的阶段与特征

叙利亚现代民族国家构建可分为三个历史阶段:法国委任统治阶段(1920—1946年)、独立的探索阶段(1946—1963年)与复兴党统治阶段(1963年至今)。其构建过程有三大特征:其现代民族国家构建与中东的民族思潮及民族独立运动紧密相联;其民族国家构建过程中族群、部落、区域冲突等问题错综复杂;复兴党的统治为其民族国家构建带来了极大的独特性。     

A Probable Case of Thalassemia Intermedia from Tell Masaikh,Syria

In this report, we describe the first potential case of hereditary anaemia from the Middle Euphrates valley (Syria). The skeletal changes identified in the studied specimen were consistent with marrow hyperplasia, and the distribution, especially the involvement of the facial bones, the sternum and ribs, was suggestive of thalassemia. The identified haplotype indicates M4b1 haplogroup suggesting that the analysed specimen was either a newcomer from Asia or a descendent of Asian origin in the maternal line, most likely from the Indian Peninsula where characteristic mutations of mtDNA can be identified today. The genetic data might explain a case of thalassemia in the Syrian lower Euphrates valley. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the horns of the terrorist dilemma: syrian christians' response to israeli “Terrorism”

This article examines how the prevailing understanding of “terrorism” and contemporary Israeli military operations against the Palestinians provides different religious groups in Syria with a common ground on which to base their claim to share in the national identity. State‐sponsored nationalism is not the only source for establishing a unified community. Syrian Christians use their political protest against the Israeli operations to reinforce their attempts to reconstruct national history, based on biblical references, with the aim of claiming that their religious history is part of national history. This transformation from religious to secular identity reduces the risks against Christians being set apart from the rest of the population and, hence, serves to insure their position in society as well as maintaining their own group identity.     

Chronology during the Bronze Age in the archaeological site Tell Qubr Abu al-‘Atiq, Syria

Archaeosediments are deposits with a direct or indirect anthropogenic component. They provide useful information about past human activities and interaction with the environment. When other materials, such as pottery, are present in archaeosediment layers, the combination of TL ages from pottery and OSL ages from sediments can provide complete data about the occupation and evolution of an archaeological setting. In Mesopotamia, tells are mounds formed by the debris of human occupation and the accumulation of muddy sediments mainly due to the decomposition of mud bricks in ancient towns. Many other materials such as pottery fragments, bones and charcoal can be found in the sediment layers. The combination of OSL, TL and radiocarbon ages can be very useful in the case of the Bronze Age Period in Syria, allowing the occupation sequence of such archaeological sites to be reconstructed. Tell Qubr Abu al-’Atiq, is located on the left bank of the Middle Euphrates River (Syria). The archaeological artefacts found in the sediment layers (pottery) collected during excavations in two areas of the site, indicated the occupation of the tell during the Early and Late Bronze Age by typological pottery classification. The radiocarbon ages of charcoal indicate that human occupation fits the archaeological hypothesis, providing an older and maximum occupation period between 2800 and 2300 BC and a younger period between 1400 and 900 BC. OSL dating of sediments shows ages younger than charcoal, while TL ages of pottery are generally older than sediment and charcoal ages. This can be explained as the different materials correspond to different events. The charcoal and pottery correspond to occupation periods, while sediments correspond to the further destruction of the site.