The profession of “Gravedigging” is an ancient practice that has been historically linked to attaining wealth for its practitioners, who often use the simplest and cheapest tools to eventually gain money to improve their social status.
In ancient times, the main tool of the gravedigger was their physical strength, sometimes combined with a love for exploration, which required courage and fearlessness in the face of risks and the unknown.
The tale of the gravediggers begins with the search for treasure. Since ancient times, humans have sought to dig the earth and delve into the depths of the seas in search of gold, jewelry, and gemstones, providing them with wealth and achieving a happy life. As most people associated happiness with wealth before the emergence of socialism and the embrace of a simple life where women were content with a tent, a few potatoes, olives, and a mat to sleep on, as the “Subuha” sang, “On simplicity simplicity.”
Digging in Graves
The profession of digging graves spread among the poor at a time when people adorned their teeth with gold caps. However, this occupation was not very profitable, as often, gravediggers would retrieve only one golden tooth from a grave, which would not suffice to cover their living expenses for a short period of time.
In the village of Basamis in Idlib Governorate, there is a gray hill with a cave where legend has it that the Prophet Job lived in seclusion. It is said that a volcano erupted in this place, and he extended his blessed hand, extinguishing the volcano, with water gathering at the bottom.
People from that region believed that the worm that had consumed his body when it fell to the ground had transformed into coral and agate. Excited by this story shared by a Bedouin who practiced fortune-telling and palm-reading, some residents searched the area, as the man had scattered some cheap beads there to make people believe that there was a real treasure deep in the ground. This led them to dig in the mud and fall ill, seeking a remedy for recovery.
Searching for Treasure
Many search for treasures in the sea, believing that pirates who once owned sunken ships possessed a great deal of treasure. In the tombs of kings and pyramids in the village of Al-Barra, as well as in numerous archaeological sites, the government has taken note of these places and prohibited people from digging in them.
In the 1980s, some residents of Daraa believed they were far from the authorities’ eyes, and while digging, they stumbled upon a genuine treasure. The news reached the authorities, represented by the heir, Bassel al-Assad, who had control over archaeological sites in Syria at the time. Subsequently, these gravediggers were quietly arrested, and the story circulated among the people, exchanged in secret whispers, as no one dared to speak out on matters related to “state affairs” at that time. It was under the responsibility of one of the sons of Daraa that a helicopter flew to the treasure site, carrying the entire treasure and flying away.
During the same period, individuals from Jericho dared to dig and found a treasure for which they paid with days of imprisonment. This led to a crackdown on all the archaeologically rich areas in the town, especially the markets buried by the earthquake. Throughout its history, Jericho has been hit by a devastating earthquake that buried the entire city. People returned and rebuilt it anew.
Gravediggers of the Syrian Revolution Era
The profession of looting antiquities emerged at the beginning of the revolution, led by the son of Rifaat al-Assad, who arrived in Syria at that time, looted as much as he could and transported it to Britain, then to America, where it was sold.
There are several layers of gravediggers:
The smaller layer did not rely on looting antiquities, which was dominated by the Assad family and those close to the regime; they replaced the term “gravedigging” with “pillage.” The soldiers resorted to pillaging houses after killing their owners, displacing them, or even while they were still in the house.
They established the well-known “Sunni Market,” as the stolen goods came from the houses of Sunni Muslims, specifically those killed, displaced, and whose houses and neighborhoods were destroyed since the beginning of the revolution. Alawites from Homs were the first to inaugurate the Sunni markets and were the first to announce the conversion of Sunni areas of Homs into empty lands for future potato cultivation.
Once the houses were pillaged, there was no longer a source of livelihood for the Assad gravediggers, so they began to return to the devastated houses to dismantle their roofs and extract iron as well as electrical wiring and sewage pipes.
The destruction caused by Assad in the devastated cities, the economic collapse, and the hunger that gripped the people made the gravediggers’ occupation noticeable, leading the Damascus police to intervene to stop their activities and prevent their spread in the city.
Today, gravediggers dig in the garbage, sort it, sell it, and earn more money than a state employee’s salary. This prompted the authorities to tighten the noose around them.
The practice of garbage digging is known in all countries around the world, although people tend to look down on those working in this field. However, the fourth brigade led by Maher al-Assad moved quickly to control the situation and prevent the police from intervening, leading a campaign of the “gravediggers” in search of useful items in the garbage.
Undoubtedly, those poor people who engage in this profession, including women, children, and men, derive significant benefits from it. By controlling their trade, they face more oppression and further crushing of this marginalized class of individuals who found in this job a means to secure their livelihood.
The Assad family will not leave anything for the people to live on at all levels. This is not a recent issue; it dates back to the time when the “first gravedigger” assumed power in Syria and passed on the profession to his children. However, when it reached Maher, its final days approached, as he immersed himself in “garbage,” with only his father, then his brother Bassel, and then his brother Bashar, leading the fourth brigade of gravediggers, maintaining leadership and income sources within the garbage bins.
