Editing Openai/680fb62a-7c94-8002-8f67-b9a2a8c7c7ef (section)

===== Digital initiatives aside, there is a strong desire in Palestine to physically repatriate key artifacts one day. International conventions and bilateral agreements could facilitate the return of at least a representative collection to a Gaza museum. Until then, collaboration is key: lending artifacts for special exhibitions in Gaza, or setting up traveling exhibits, could let local people experience these antiquities firsthand. Another strategy is “in-situ preservation” through replicas – for example, using high-end 3D printing to create replicas of the Ajjul gold hoards that could be displayed in Gaza while the originals remain secure abroad. While not the same as true repatriation, such replicas (clearly labeled as such) can inspire community pride and educational engagement. =====

Crucially, documentation is a form of repatriation. Publishing site reports, photographs, and analyses in open-access formats ensures that the information extracted from Gaza’s soil is available to all. The 1930s excavators published only summary reports (and some detailed tomb inventories by Olga Tufnell), but never a final site report. Modern scholars have taken up that mantle – for instance, a forthcoming volume by a Palestinian archaeologist compiles all tomb pottery from Ajjul in one reference, effectively “reuniting” this dispersed corpus on paper. Each such effort, while academic, is also a political act of reclaiming Gaza’s past.