The Archaeology of Terrorism
In a recent video from November 22nd 2023, Prof. Aren Maeir, an archeologist, shared his experiences and observations regarding the aftermath of the October 7th attack on Israel. His account highlights the devastating impact of the attack and the efforts to identify the victims.
“On October 7th, early in the morning, Hamas, the barbaric Palestinian terrorist organization, attacked Israel. A couple of weeks ago, I visited three different locations where these massacres and acts of barbarism occurred: the musical festival near Kibbutz Re’im, and private homes at Kibbutz Kfar Aza and Kibbutz Be’eri. In some cases, the destruction was so massive that the occupants’ remains were reduced to ashes only and could not be identified.
To assist in identifying the remains of all the murdered people, colleagues of mine from the Israel Antiquities Authority stepped in, using archaeological techniques to find the remains of those murdered. I saw my brave colleagues conducting this indescribably hard and gut-wrenching work, at times even under enemy fire. Their work enabled the identification of the remains of several people who had been killed in these houses. This was important to the families of the murdered, as they could at least know what happened to their loved ones.
So a new type of archaeology has been born — the archaeology of terrorism. This is horrible.
This was carried out on people murdered a few weeks ago. Sifting through the remains in these houses, the archaeologists managed to find bones and teeth, which enabled identification and provided some form of burial.”
You can watch the 11 minute full video here, but 🔞trigger warning🔞 —
⚠️contains graphics description⚠️
