保护叙利亚遗址

保护叙利亚遗址

The museum in the Syrian town of Maarat al-Numan is well-known for its ancient Roman and Byzantine mosaics 1,mosaics are now hidden from view, indefinitely.

在叙利亚马特奴曼镇的博物馆中，古罗马与拜占庭镶嵌名扬海外，如今，我们将无法看到这些艺术品。

They were wrapped and sandbagged by volunteers shown in these vedios.

志愿者已经将它们包裹起来，并用沙袋进行了保护。

Activists 2 working to preserve Syria’s history from the destruction caused by the country’s civil war.

由于内战对文物造成的破坏，活动人士正在对叙利亚文物进行保护。

It’s in territory controlled by the opposition 3, but the government regularly barrel-bombs it.

反对派正在控制这片区域，但政府频繁向这里进行轰炸。

Syrian opposition member Amr Al-Azm, says government forces launched an assault on Maarat al-Numan not long after the mosaics were sandbagged.

叙利亚反对派成员阿姆鲁·阿泽姆称，就在人们将镶嵌用沙袋保护后不久，政府军就向马特奴曼发动了进攻。

Al-Azm as director of Syria’s Science and Conservation Laboratories and taught at the University of Damascus. He fell out of favor with the Syrian regime and left the country before the civil war . But his concern for Syria’s past, and its future, did not end when he left the country.

阿泽姆是叙利亚科学与保护研究所主任，并在大马士革大学授课。他对叙利亚政权失去了兴趣，并在内战开始之前离开了叙利亚。然而，就在他离开祖国之时，他对叙利亚的过去，未来依然念念不忘。

We started to try to see if there was anything we could do to reduce the damage where possible, and more importantly, document what damage was already done.

他们对叙利亚局势进行关注，与此同时，他对破坏进行记录，编辑报告。

From a computer at Shawnee State, Al-Azm coordinates 4 preservation 5 efforts with a network of colleagues and former students who remain in Syria. They are his eyes and ears on the ground, while he documents and compiles reports of the destruction, remotely.

从肖尼州的电脑中，阿泽姆就保护工作与叙利亚同事和学生进行协调。他们关注着叙利亚的局势，与此同时，他对破坏进行记录，编辑报告。

The Maarat al-Numan museum is just one example of thousands in the Middle East that archaeologists are concerned about. While the museum’s mosaics may have been saved from permanent destruction, many sites at risk are not easily accessible, including those in places controlled by Islamic State, where militants 6 have already looted or destroyed important historic sites.

考古学家担心的不只是马特奴曼镇博物馆，它也只是中东数千座遗迹之一。虽然，博物馆中的镶嵌可以免受破坏，但是还有许多很难受到保护的古迹，包括“伊斯兰国”极端组织控制的区域，极端组织已经洗劫了这里，破坏了重要的历史遗迹。

These are carefully crafted atrocities 7 and they send a very specific message that ISIS is here and it can act with impunity 8.

这是他们精心计划的暴行，并告诉我们他们可以堂而皇之地进行。

The looting that’s been taking place on tremendous scale all over Syria is happening in areas where the various opposition groups are in control, not just ISIS.

叙利亚遭受了大规模洗劫，不只是“伊斯兰国”极端组织，还有一些遭到反对派控制的区域也遭到了洗劫。

Professor McGuire Gibson, who specializes in Mesopotamian archaeology 9 at the University of Chicago’s Oriental institute.

麦圭尔·吉布森是芝加哥大学东方研究所教授，他的主要研究方向为美索不达米亚考古。

He said part of preserving Syria’s past is getting the international community to crack down on the trade of looted artifacts.

他称对叙利亚古迹的保护工作让国际社会打击了洗劫艺术品的贸易活动。

Any site that archaeologists have worked on has been subjected to looting, because they know that there is something there that people will want.

考古学家的所有研究遗址均遭到了洗劫，因为他们知道这里有人们渴望的东西。

Some pillaged 10 items might never make their way back to Syria. Compound with what's already been destroyed, Professor Al-Azm acknowledges the Syria of the future may look very different.

许多遭洗劫的文物或许永远不会再回到叙利亚。从已经遭到破坏的古迹来看，阿泽教授承认到，叙利亚的未来将会发生改变。

I hope that one day my children will be able to go back to Syria, and they’re not going to have the opportunity to see what I was able to see and grow up with.

我希望我的孩子未来还能够回到叙利亚，他们将不会再有机会看到我所能看到的这一切。

Which is why, despite the challenges of distance and access, Al-Azm and his network race to save what is left of Syria’s priceless and irreplaceable treasures.

不论距离有多远，不论遗迹是否能够得到保护，阿泽教授和他的团队正在争分夺秒挽救叙利亚瑰宝。