Palestinian archaeologists race against time to save Gaza’s heritage

Alongside Israel’s genocide in Gaza, there has been an apparent attempt to erase the Palestinian enclave’s cultural heritage.

At least ۱۶۴ cultural sites in Gaza have been damaged since Israeli military operations began in October ۲۰۲۳ and March ۲۰۲۶, according to UNESCO.

Among the ancient landmarks affected in waves of Israeli bombing are the Great Omari Mosque and Hamam al-Sammara, Qasr al-Basha in Gaza’s Old City, and the al-Qarara Cultural Museum near Khan Younis.

Among the rubble are precious artefacts and antiquities, which tell a story of Gaza’s rich cultural history, being at the crossroads of multiple empires and peoples over centuries.

Amid the destruction and disorder of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed at least ۷۴,۰۲۲ Palestinians, valuable relics of Palestine’s history are being lost.

The Mayasem Association for Culture and Arts’ “Guardians of Heritage” team is racing against time to recover these items at risk of deteriorating or being stolen.

Shaimaa Mohammad al-Natour, assistant coordinator of the programme, told Al Jazeera that her team has so far rescued more than ۱,۷۰۰ historical pieces from four museum collections since their work began.

The team is working hard to recover the remaining lost artefacts of Gaza’s ۵,۰۰۰-year-old history. But they face huge challenges, including continued displacement, a shortage of specialised restoration equipment and Israeli military restrictions.

There is also the dangerous task of rescuing items near the so-called “Yellow Line”, a dividing zone in Gaza where Israel has complete military control. As of April, ۱۹۶ Palestinians have been killed in this area since a ceasefire came into effect in October ۲۰۲۵.

“The nature of the areas used to be manageable, but their current locations are completely inaccessible,” al-Natour told Al Jazeera.

“The main difficulty in continuing our work with these collections is their location behind the ‘Yellow Line,’ which poses a grave risk to the team. One of our core principles is: human life comes first.”

With ۸۴ percent of all structures in Gaza damaged or destroyed since Israel’s war on Gaza began, the team currently works from a tent in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis. What began as a self-initiated effort has turned into a field operation with the huge burden of ensuring that Gaza’s heritage is not lost.

The team conducts extensive field surveys across southern and central areas of Gaza to document the damage inflicted on both private and public museum collections during Israel’s nearly three-year assault on the enclave.

It is the first organised local effort to address the impact of the war on the region’s historical landmarks. The team works closely with locals and displaced residents who find artefacts among the debris which carpets Gaza.

“We handle notifications by first filling out a comprehensive survey containing the informant’s details, the artefact’s location, and its condition,” al-Natour said.

“The team then heads to the site to rescue the items, after which the processing stages begin: cleaning, archiving and photography.”

The team follows a strict protocol to ensure the historical and spatial value of each retrieved piece is preserved, starting from recording the circumstances of its discovery to giving it an independent digital identity.

“After rescuing the pieces from their locations, the documentation and archiving process begins. We try as much as possible not to bring any artefact into storage without a record and basic information to help us identify its origin,” said al-Natour.

“We start by logging the location and it from multiple angles and link the images to a unique number or code for the artefact to prevent any mix-up.”

The team is committed to preserving the information, image, unique code and origin of every artefact they find, despite encountering significant challenges.

Certain archaeological items, particularly pottery and glassware, are subject to immense physical stress caused by explosions and collapsed building debris, resulting in fractures. These need the utmost care when being handled, with the team operating a policy of minimal intervention and stabilisation through conservation first aid. They know that permanent restoration could cause irreversible damage or alter original features.

They begin by inspecting each piece, documenting its condition, and photographing damage to the item. But they are limited by the technical gear at hand: mobile phones for high-resolution photography and parallel paper records to safeguard against any possible data loss from the Excel sheets that document the items.

Identification tags with a unique number record each artefact, while basic packaging materials and wooden crates store the items. Soft brushes are used to gently remove surface dust from pottery without compromising original markings.

While these tools provide a short-term solution to the problem of conservation, more professional methods remain contingent on securing essential equipment and resources, which they currently lack. Securing these tools is difficult in a war zone.

“In times of war, sometimes the greatest achievement is simply halting the deterioration of an artefact and keeping it intact as much as possible until suitable conditions for specialised treatment become available,” she said.

Operating from a tent in a coastal region exposes the recovered materials to volatile weather conditions, as well as insects and rodents. Destructive environmental factors such as humidity, mould and vibrations also threaten both the artefacts and the wooden boxes they are stored in.

“The wooden crates themselves require continuous monitoring because humidity and temperature fluctuations can rot the wood or foster mould growth, which in turn damages the contents inside,” al-Natour said.

“Furthermore, constant movement and transporting crates from one spot to another expose the items to shocks and vibration, particularly fragile or broken pieces … Working in an area housing vast numbers of displaced people makes daily movement and transport much harder, while storage space remains extremely limited.”

The solution would be to establish a stable storage environment where temperature, humidity, ventilation, and lighting can be controlled. Specialised packaging and preservation materials suitable for each archaeological item are also needed, along with devices to monitor environmental conditions within the storage space.

“Our greatest need is to transition from emergency rescue to long-term professional conservation,” al-Natour said.

“Furthermore, we need specialised training in preventive conservation, emergency collection management, handling damaged artefacts, damage assessment and database management.”

The team is now looking at the next stage of operations – shifting items from tents to more secure locations. But this will be a lengthy process that will require reviewing records and databases, cross-referencing item numbers with crate contents, photographing their condition before and after transfer, and reorganising them to ensure easy access and tracking.

The impact of the initiative extends beyond saving stone artefacts and ancient vessels to building community awareness that makes residents and displaced individuals the guardians of their own culture, oral history and heritage.

“Through our activities with children, youth, women and displaced residents, we organise simplified educational and field activities, workshops, and programmes linked to antiquities, traditional crafts and oral history. We encourage participants to ask questions and document stories tied to places and artefacts,” said al-Natour.

Still, despite the challenges, there are lessons learned in saving Gaza’s cultural heritage.

“The rescue process itself has become an educational tool – when people see a team working under these conditions to extract a historical piece from beneath the rubble, they begin to view heritage as something worth protecting rather than something dispensable in times of crisis,” said al-Natour. “We firmly believe that community awareness is one of the most vital lines of defence.”