Ambrelas, a Syrian Archaeologist

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Ambrelas is a professor of middle eastern history in anthropology at Ohio state university. Before moving to the states, he worked in damascus and did excavations all across syria. He felt like he needed to do his part to protect the country's cultural heritage during the war. Ambrelas cofounded an emergency initiative called day after which was made up of former students and colleagues from his teaching days inDamascus.

Priceless cultural artifacts have been plundered and sold for hundreds of years. You can find these relics in museums and in private collections. In recent years, with the advent of online marketplaces, researchers have begun to find a lot of artifacts for sale on the web.

The Syrian War has resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties. Not to mention, hundreds of billions in damages. And that battle has played out on land considered to be the cradle of civilization -- a place rich with layers of archeological history.

Producer Zeina Dowidar and her team on the Kerning Cultures podcast tell stories about the Middle East and North Africa. For this episode, they took a comprehensive, inside look at how one country struggled to retain its cultural heritage in the midst of a brutal conflict.

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Plus we have an interview and preview of the podcast Real Good