Nafez Abed’s cramped workroom is filled with sculptures and mosaics with patterns from the Byzantine, Greek and Roman periods. It is an emporium of West Asian antiquity tucked away in Gaza. And none of it is real.

Abed, 55, is a self-taught archaeologist, preserver and restorer who crafts reproductions of ancient pieces he finds or has seen in museums. He gives his work so much authenticity that international experts have been wowed by his skills.

He spends almost all his time in his studio, built on the roof of his unfinished house in a refugee camp in northern Gaza. “The Museum of Mosaics” is written on the wooden door that leads into his workroom. On a large table in the middle of the dark room stands a reproduction of a statue of Alexander the Great, looking as if it truly dated from 300 BC, amid oil-fired lamps and copies of coins dating back more than 2,500 years. “My fixation with archaeology runs in my veins,” said the father of seven, who trained as a blacksmith before deciding 30 years ago to dedicate himself to a more refined art.

Ancient Gaza It was Abed’s father who got him started, imbuing him with a love of antiquity and the rich ancient history of Gaza, where the blinded Biblical hero Samson lived.

Over the millennia, Gaza has served as a trading port for ancient Egyptians, Philistines, Romans and Crusaders.

Beneath its sands lie ruins from Alexander the Great’s siege of the city, Emperor Hadrian’s visit, Mongol raids and the arrival of the Islamic armies 1,400 years ago.

Napoleon and the Ottomans camped here and British armies passed through in World War One. Abed frequently tours Gaza’s beaches looking for ancient remains. Sometimes he restores pieces he finds and other times he uses the clay in a reproduction, treating the material in such a way that it looks to be centuries old. Via extensive reading on archaeology in Arabic and English, he has developed a range of techniques for restoration and aging. “Some clients, some visitors, including scientists who have visited me, thought some of the pieces were real before I told them they were imitations made by own hand,” he said.

By presidential decree, he was appointed deputy director of rehabilitation at the Palestinian Ministry of Archaeology in 1995 and he has also been in charge of the mosaic department.

In 2007, the Islamist group Hamas seized control of Gaza. Since then, travelling abroad has become much harder and life inside the territory has grown tougher, with restrictions on the import of goods and a series of short wars with Israel.

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