on the way
restored parts on the Tell, parts of one temple
Aaron working
The excavation I visited is in the far northeast of Syria, close to Hassake, in a place called Tell Beydar. There are Syrians, Germans, Italians and people from Belgium digging since about 20 years already. They work on a settlement that has been inhabited since 2,450BC, trying to excavate specially from this period because they found scripts in one of the excavated buildings and try to get as much knowledge about this period now as possible – although there are also younger layers from e.g. the Hellenistic time. I spent two days there – and belive me, the people working there have a rather comfortable life in a wonderful excavation house built in the traditionell Syrian mud brik style, they get really good food and a lot of alcohol. When I arrived in the late afternoon Aaron, the friend of mine who works there, suddenly stopped guiding me around and said that we have to leave the Tell quickly and get back to the house to not miss the cocktail-time… And they even got Kaviar (only Iranian, but who cares) and Syrian truffel. So life seems not too bad although very remote. But two days were perfect for me, especially because the boss of my friend took some time off to guide me through the whole excavation, explaining everything they did and do now and answering to all my questions. I never had such a good guide before!
