TECHNOLOGY CAN BE THE SAVIOUR OF SYRIA’S RAVAGED HERITAGE
French team’s digital scans may right wrongs fanatics have done to nation’s archaeology, writes James Langton
Jacques Seigne has a simple answer to the question of priorities in Syria: archaeology can wait; people come first
For 3,000 years, the finel carved basalt stone lions had guarded the temple of Ain Dara, to the northwest of Aleppo. It took seconds for a series of explosions last month to reduce many of them to rubble.
Syrian officials blamed Turkish forces fighting Kurdish militias in the region for the destruction. Turkey denies that it targets archaeological sites.
No matter who is to blame, it seems another part of Syria’s extraordinary heritage has been shattered; a lengthening roll call of vandalism that includes the centres of Aleppo and Homs, the Crac des Chevaliers medieval castle and Palmyra, the complex of temples and tombs that felt the full fury of ISIL’s misguided anger.
Even as the fighting continues, examining what remains and deciding how best to restore it is at the heart of debates among archaeologists.
“Sometimes it is possible and sometimes it is not,” said Jacques Seigne, an architect and former director of the French Archaeological Mission at Jerash in Jordan. “We may have some philosophical position about restoration. To restore, or not to restore.”
Mr Seigne visited Syria twice in the past year, visiting Palmyra after it was first liberated with help from Russia and then again, more recently, after it was reoccupied by ISIL until they were driven out a second time.
His verdict? “There is very important damage. And in some cases totally irreversible.”
One example is the Tomb of the Three Brothers, its interior covered in exquisite and beautifully preserved wall paintings from the 2nd century.
Or rather it was. At some point during their occupation, ISIL fighters used the interior as a base. They also covered the walls in a thick layer of white acrylic paint.
“The kind of acrylic paint is a modern one and unfortunately the ancient painting is not strong enough to be restored,” Mr Seigne said.
Of the Tetrapylon, the four sets of four columns at the heart of the site that were dynamited a year ago, he said: “It is out, totally out. The problem is that the stones are preserved, but they are not in very good condition.
The Temple of Bel, levelled in another explosion?
“Totally blown up. It is unbelievable, terrible. It cannot be restored as it was.”
It sounds like a grim obituary for a country the French expert describes as “an open-air museum”. But Mr Seigne has not visited Syria simply to mourn, as he explained on a visit to the Paris-Sorbonne campus in Abu Dhabi recently.
He was joined by Bruno Deslandes, the director of Art Graphique and Patrimoine, a French company using cuttingedge technology to document what has survived – and what can be preserved.
Mr Deslande and his team use mobile 3-D scanners on site for their work. In 10 minutes, the cameras rotate 360 degrees collecting 470 million measurements. To complete the picture, each scanner will be moved hundreds of times.
The results are extraordinarily accurate surveys that can be processed in Paris for a virtual recreation, one that can be studied from any angle. So far he has visited four sites in Aleppo, the crypt of the Church of the Holy Belt in Homs, and of course, Palmyra.
At Palmyra, they studied one part of the Temple of Bel that survived the destruction. The gateway to the temple stands, but as the 3-D images showed, perhaps for not much longer.
“There are cracks in the columns,” Mr Deslandes said. “It is not supported by any foundations. It is moving and it could collapse.”
By studying the profiles created by the scanners, it is possible to decide where immediate intervention is needed.
It is too early to speak about restoration right now, he said. “We are looking at emergency interventions based on the data we have collected to avoid more damage.”
Of course, not all the problems faced by archaeologists today are technical. During past conflicts, including the US invasion of Iraq, they could monitor sensitive sites.
But the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan by the Taliban in 2001 ushered in an era of destruction of the past – one that was ideological rather than accidental.
Recording what remains at least creates a permanent record for the future. By coincidence, the paintings from the Tomb of the Three Brothers had been photographed in every detail before the war for a book to be published shortly.
The Monumental Arch at Palmyra was also destroyed by ISIL. A one-third-sized replacement was created by the Institute of Digital Archaeology, but the task was difficult because no detailed survey of the structure had been made.
Or so it was assumed. Now one has turned up in Paris, carried out not by historians, but by a French architect in 1988, acting under instructions from former French president Francois Mitterrand, who wanted an exhibition on arches to commemorate the opening of his own 110-metre Grande Arche in the city’s new business district, La Defense. Sometimes, Mr Seigne said, the problem is locating recordings that have been made.
The French archaeologist remains pragmatic about what can be done for the future. “With restoration you have to make a balance with the cost, and what you get from the cost.
“Also, very frankly, it is a question of what is urgent for Syria. The restoration of monuments? Hmm. They have no more water, no more electricity, no more hospitals, schools are destroyed.
“So it is much more important to make choices and, very frankly? I like archaeology, I spent my life in archaeology, but if I had to give advice – archaeology can wait.”
Many of the structures destroyed or badly damaged by extremists were in fact earlier reconstructions by archaeologists. The Temple of Bel is one example. It was just one of several temples to the Babylonian god at Palmyra.
French archaeologists worked on the site until 1938. “Lots of columns were ready to be restored, but it was stopped because of the Second World War. Maybe, if not for the war, the Temple of Bel would have many more columns.
“Some are ready for restoration. So it could be possible to restore another Temple of Bel if we wanted to.”
Both men agree it will take time. “We need to have priorities,” Mr Deslandes said.
“In Aleppo it makes sense because the old city is the economic heart, so by restoring you are initiating a process of revitalising.
“This is not the case in Palmyra.”
Mr Seigne has another perspective on the ancient site. “We have to keep it as it is. It shows what happened. It is the face of the history of Palmyra.
“The Romans came once. Time is passing. This is history and I think it is better to keep it as it is and wait.
“Eventually, we can restore it. If not, khalas, we close the door.”