Tor's Trip to Syria

Want to take a 4-week un-paid job in the Middle East, 3 miles from the Iraqi border ?

Of course you do -- and thanks to Peggy Sanders -- Tor Muehl got the dream job of a lifetime -- drawing artifacts as they're pulled from the ground at an archeological expedition for the University of Chicago.



Not exactly a resort destination -- and this is the view from Tor's hotel in Damascus -- the wealthy part of the country.


But this is a view within the national museum -- with this tourist's favorite subject matter (the animal kingdom) and one of his favorite media (mosaic).



More of same



Gotta love those ancient Romans !



Here's the building where the expedition lived -- in the far northeast corner of Syria.



Here's the next door neighbors -- possibly in need of a home improvement loan.



Here's Tor's luxurious suite.



And here is the artist at work -- 13 hours a day of drawing sealings -- and an occasional ax head.







Here's the kind of thing he was drawing -- the seals used to identify various kinds of property.

The example shown above is Akkadian (c. 2300 BC) and now in the Oriental Institute of Chicago. But the ones Tor drew were 1700 years older -- and those deemed important are destined for a dark, dusty shelf in a Damascus museum. (unfortunately, none of the Tor's drawing can be yet be shown -- archeology is a very competitive profession)




Time for a break -- and perhaps a flashback to Tor's youth in the sixties.

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Update - January - 2007: The New York times has a feature story
on the expedition -- with Tor as the poster child for archeology.