History, as Cicero teaches us, is the "witness of the times, light of truth, life of memory, teacher of life, interpreter of the past"... (Historia vero testis temporum, lux veritatis, vita memoriae, magistra vitae, nuntia vetustatis: Cicerone, De Oratore II.IX.36).
History and archaeology, however, when they are not communicated, interiorized, valued, lose their educational significance.
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AVASA, the Italian Association for Furthering Value Archeology and Ancient History (Itanian acronym, "Associazione per la Valorizzazione dell'Archeologia e della Storia Antica"), is a research institute committed to the sharing of values that are rooted in the past. The past, when shared, constitutes the vertical dimension in time of our communal identity, linked to a specific territory.
AVASA is based in a small mountain village in the Val d'Ossola, but it has wide-ranging connections, in Italy and Europe, in the Near East and Asia, in the United States.
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AVASA promotes many large-scale activities, through which we want to reach adults, youngsters and children from the villages around Tell Mozan. Our aim is not only to recount them the historical events that led to the flourishing of the Hurrian kingdom and its capital city Urkesh, but also to "accompany them" through the process of this rediscovery in the acquisition of a full awareness of the value and potentiality of the present, for the construction of their future.
Therefore, we organize guided tours of the site at Tell Mozan for schools, teachers and families; exhibitions, in the city of Qamishli and the surrounding villages; we collaborate with local universities for the organization of workshops on pottery and archaeological survey; we involve children and youngsters in educational activities of various kinds.
Visit the AVASA website to learn more about our activities and the most recent developments in Urkesh.
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