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AlUla World Archaeology Conference to Explore Challenges, Future of Nomadic Societies

The conference will bring together researchers and experts in archaeology and cultural heritage from around the world. SPa
The conference will bring together researchers and experts in archaeology and cultural heritage from around the world. SPa
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AlUla World Archaeology Conference to Explore Challenges, Future of Nomadic Societies

The conference will bring together researchers and experts in archaeology and cultural heritage from around the world. SPa
The conference will bring together researchers and experts in archaeology and cultural heritage from around the world. SPa

The Royal Commission for AlUla will host a global archaeology conference addressing the future of archeology and the heritage of nomadic societies on October 30-31.
The conference, set to alternate with the AlUla World Archaeology Summit year after year, will bring together researchers and experts in archaeology and cultural heritage from around the world.
At the Maraya mirrored wonder nestled amidst the captivating landscape of AlUla, the event will consist of presentations, dialogues, workshops, and case studies, and will showcase a collection of archaeological artifacts discovered in AlUla by archaeological missions.
The conference will highlight the essential role of mobility in shaping the world we know today. Since prehistoric times, mobility has been the means to access new opportunities, improve living conditions, explore, and address environmental challenges, natural disasters, and social and political instabilities, among others.
While mobility remains challenging for some, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic's movement restrictions at the time, the conference provides an opportunity to shed light on various aspects of mobility and nomadic societies, challenging traditional assumptions about mobility in the past and present.
The conference will focus on the fundamental role of prehistoric mobility, when movement was the primary means to reach areas with new opportunities and seek life chances. Caravan mobility served as a means to address environmental challenges and natural disasters.
At a time when mobility remains a challenge, the conference offers an opportunity to illuminate different facets of mobility and nomadic societies.
Royal Commission for AlUla Vice President of Culture Abdulrahman Alsuhaibani said in a statement issued Tuesday that the conference aims to provide an advanced and pioneering platform for dialogue and collaboration, and that it will alternate with the summit the following year.
The commission, he said, seeks to maintain the momentum generated by the summit last year through the conference, while preparing for AlUla World Archaeology Summit in 2025.
Alsuhaibani said today AlUla is one of the most active regions in the world regarding archaeological exploration, with over 30,000 archaeological sites identified, and 12 ongoing search projects in its rich cultural landscape.
“AlUla has held a unique position for thousands of years as a crossroads for civilizations, serving as a beacon for cultural and intellectual exchange,” Alsuhaibani said.
Key speakers at the conference include Professor Willeke Wendrich from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles, archaeology Professor Stefano Biagetti from the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, and Peter Debrine, leader of Sustainable Tourism Programme at UNESCO World Heritage Centre in Paris.
Research overseen by the Royal Commission for AlUla by Saudi and international archaeologists has shed light on various wonders of AlUla's history through the ages, including the massive stone structures known as “mustatil” (rectangle, in Arabic).
Among the discovered wonders are also the ancient stone-built traps for animals, known as “desert kites,” the long “funerary avenues” that connected oases and pastures through corridors lined with tombs, and the dwellings known as the “standing stone circles.”
Studies indicate that early societies in northwestern Arabian Peninsula were more complex and interconnected with the broader region than previously believed.
The conference is anticipated to host the first-ever global exhibition featuring archaeological pieces from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples in Italy. The agenda also includes field visits to prominent archaeological sites in AlUla and surrounding areas of note, including Tayma and Khaybar.

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Culture

Syria's Aleppo Set for Revival Despite War Scars to its Heritage

During the four years of fighting before Assad's forces recaptured Aleppo following a devastating siege, the city was virtually emptied - AFP
During the four years of fighting before Assad's forces recaptured Aleppo following a devastating siege, the city was virtually emptied - AFP
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Syria's Aleppo Set for Revival Despite War Scars to its Heritage

During the four years of fighting before Assad's forces recaptured Aleppo following a devastating siege, the city was virtually emptied - AFP
During the four years of fighting before Assad's forces recaptured Aleppo following a devastating siege, the city was virtually emptied - AFP

The historic Baron Hotel in Syria's Aleppo is dilapidated and damaged by years of war but still standing and ready for a revival, much like the city itself.

Aleppo's old city, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, was ravaged by the conflict that erupted after a government crackdown on protests in 2011.

Between 2012 and 2016, it became a battleground between Syria's military and opposition factions.

The army of now-ousted president Bashar al-Assad shelled opposition fighters from the ground and struck them from the air, supported by Russian firepower.
Opposition groups, meanwhile, used mortars and artisanal rockets, as the fighting turned ancient streets into sniper alleys.

During the four years of fighting before the government recaptured Aleppo following a devastating siege, the city was virtually emptied.

Now, after Assad's fall following a lightning opposition offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, residents are looking forward to reconstruction.

"Unfortunately, more than 60 percent of the edifices in the old city, monuments of the old city of Aleppo, were devastated to ground zero," said Georges Edleby, a tour guide in the city for 35 years.

"Hopefully there will be a day that we see them again restored."

The ancient souks where Aleppo's famed olive oil soap is piled up in stacks for sale has been reduced in many places to little more than rubble.

- 'Hope for a better life' -

Aleppo's medieval citadel, however, remains relatively intact.

Opposition fighters, one with a rose slipped into the barrel of his gun, stood guard outside the ancient ramparts, which Syria's army turned into a stronghold during the war.

Most of the damage in the citadel was caused by a 2023 earthquake, locals say.

Below in the old city, a few alleys of the souk -- once the largest in the world with 4,000 stalls -- have reopened after being restored, including with Saudi financial aid.

Jamal Habbal, 66, has spent all his life under the stone vaults of the old city and reopened his macrame and rope shop there a year ago.

"We have so many memories here. It was a big market that was vibrant and lively. Girls used to come to buy items for their trousseaus. They could find everything," he told AFP.

"And then suddenly, the crisis," he said, reluctant to even say the word war.

"We had to leave. I returned in 2018, but it's still difficult," he added, speaking in a dark and largely deserted alley.

Fadel Fadel has also reopened his shop offering souvenirs, soap and mother-of-pearl inlaid boxes.

"It was completely destroyed here," said the 51-year-old.

He is hoping to see Aleppo returned to its status as a "center of commerce, industry and tourism."

"We hope for a better life."

- Museum ready to reopen -

Outside, dusty streets wind between ruins that await reconstruction and revival.

The Baron Hotel once welcomed Agatha Christie, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and France's Charles de Gaulle.

Visitors flocked to see the somewhat faded glory of its rooms, as well as its terrace and the unpaid bar bill belonging to one Lawrence of Arabia.

But now, several broken windows adorned with shutters hanging from a single hinge offer a view into a deserted building covered in dust.

The hotel's future is uncertain.

Its last owner, Armen Mazloumian, has passed away. He told AFP back in 2014 that he felt the hotel's glory days were behind it and it would "never be what it once was again".

Nearby, however, the National Museum of Aleppo is readying to reopen. Its courtyard was hit in shelling but its building and collection were spared.

Director Ahmed Othman said the museum "took lessons from the experience of our neighbours," including institutions in Iraq and Lebanon.

"We took the necessary measures to protect our collections," he said.

"The statues that were too heavy to move were encased in concrete and the smaller pieces were moved to safe places."

Treasures that trace nine millennia of history and the birth of writing in nearby Mesopotamia have been preserved unharmed as a result.

"We did many things in order to protect the museum as a whole," said Othman