Urkesh

Youngsters without borders

Seminars and workshops

Hiba Qassar – November 2023

Introduction

For the young university students in Syria, we organize seminars and workshops that focus on the materials found at Urkesh. In this case, we focus on archaeology in the strict sense of the word.

The fact that Urkesh may serve as a laboratory of excellence for these students’ works (in particular the study of ceramics and topography, which today are both impracticable at other sites in the area) gives to our project a significant value on the scholarly level.

2016: The Pottery Workshop

In October of 2016, Mohammed Hamza (familiarly called “Ham[m]ade”), the man who has been responsible for the analysis of the sherds from Mozan in the last years, conducted a workshop on ceramic analysis for archaeology students at Qamishli University. We are proud that these students are now ready to benefit from such academic experience and that they could acquire a deeper archaeological expertise by analyzing materials from Tell Mozan.

2017: The Exhibit in Qamishli

In April 2017, on the occasion of the exhibit set up in Qamishli, we decided to rely on young people coming from the area around Mozan, because they were the ones who would be most involved in this exhibit and who could benefit the most from it. Therefore, we invited archaeology students from the University of Al-Furat, from the city of al-Hasakah, in addition to the universities and institutes recently established in Qamishli. They helped both with the set-up and the reception of visitors during the exhibit.

2017: The on-site workshop

In the summer of 2017, we gave to a group of twenty students from Qamishli University the possibility of a two-day seminar in excavation techniques: in fact, Urkesh was (and still is!) the only site in the region where it is still possible to study excavation techniques directly in the field. Other archaeology students came to Urkesh from Erbil, the Iraqi city where they attend the University, to visit the ancient structures and practice topography and excavation techniques.

2019: The research seminar

In May 2019, students from the Roj Ava University in Qamishli, together with our local collaborator Amer Ahmed and their teacher Sipan Ismail, organized a seminar on Urkesh at our site. Divided into research groups, they prepared presentations and written panels on various aspects of the excavations and material culture of ancient Urkesh which they presented to each other while standing on the large monumental staircase leading to the temple. The students’ original panels can be found at this link, while here you can find an English translation of the texts.