Excavation team
YUAG, Dura-Europos Collection, negative number dura-c161~01
This group photograph of workers and several members of the Yale-French team was taken outside the excavation house, most likely on payday. The French flag is visible in the background (other photographs show the French, American, and Yale flags all flying together) and underscores the colonial-era atmosphere in Syria under the French Mandate within which the Yale-French excavations took place. Maurice Pillet (wearing a hat), appears in the archway on the right: he was field director through the fourth season until his dismissal in spring 1931. Under his leadership, part of a wall collapsed due to improperly dug trenches, causing the deaths of three workers and injuries to others. Additionally, no records were kept that note objects’ find-spots. The appointment of Clark Hopkins from Yale (under the archway on the left, wearing a hat) as field director in the fifth season resulted in a significant improvement in archaeological methodology.