Ecofood

When documentary filmmaker Brent Huffman first visited the Buddhist archaeological site

of Mes Aynak in eastern Afghanistan in June 2011, he was awed by the 2,600-year-old city,

how it stretches for 100 acres, encompassing artifacts, monasteries and more than 200 statues.

 

On Thursday, he's on his way back to bear witness to its last days.

 

Huffman is an award-winning director, writer, editor and cinematographer.

He is also an assistant professor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

 

We recently spoke to him about Mes Aynak, from its history to the current the situation:

Brent Huffman: First off, it's difficult to get there. It's about 90 minutes from Kabul, even though, in terms of miles,

it's only 25 miles southeast from Kabul. The roads are really bad and they often get washed away if it rains.

You also have drive slowly through villages, many of which have been known to be Taliban friendly,

so it's very dangerous. You also have to go down roads that are often land-mined, and sometimes

people will shoot rockets at cars that drive through. It's really dangerous to get on site.

But once you get to Mes Aynak, it's absolutely incredible. It's awe inspiring. It reminds me of Machu Picchu in Peru

in terms of massive structure. You're looking at a very large Buddhist city about 400,000-square meters in size.

It encompasses mountain ranges, a monastery complex and dozens of temple structures.

There are 400 life-size or larger Buddha statues on site.

They're finding manuscripts inside some of the structures, so they're constantly pulling out amazing new things.

 

A BRONZE AGE city is BELOW the Buddhist city.

 

The real HEROS of Mes Aynak are the archaeologists risking their lives to save this ancient Buddhist city.

Huffman has been documenting the story of three archaeologists who are working to save the site.

He follows Marquis, a French archaeologist leading the effort, J. Mark Kenoyer, an American archaeologist

and professor at the University of Wisconsin, and Abdul Qadeer Temore, an Afghan archaeologist

who is also trying to preserve his cultural heritage.

The documentary will also feature Zhenguo Liu, an MCC manager working in the Mes Aynak compound,

sits on a rich copper mine worth more than US$100 billion.

 

Nov 2012, 50,000 had signed. Pls share our TWO official petitions to save Mes Aynak:

 

 

 

一座面積達100英畝的五世紀佛教古城正面臨被毀危機。但這回破壞佛教文物的不是塔利班政權，而是一家從阿富汗現任政府標得該地區銅礦開採權的中國採礦集團。該公司已發出最後通牒，將在12月底收復麥斯阿納古佛城。屆時所有考古學家及志願者將被驅逐，具有古代希臘風格的佛寺、佛塔、成千上萬的佛菩薩像、城牆，乃至無價的古代文獻將在資本主義的名義下遭到無法挽回的摧殘。由於麥斯阿納古佛城規模宏大，此次的文物遭到破壞的規模遠遠超越2001年塔利班毀佛事件，堪稱是人類文明的一大浩劫！

您可以拯救麥斯阿納古佛城！

請在經濟上支援布朗.赫夫曼教授為了拯救麥斯阿納古佛城冒著生命危險十次進入阿富汗而製作的紀錄片。此紀錄片旨在喚醒各界人士對於古佛城所面對的危機， 停止（或至少延遲）為了開採銅礦而破壞佛教珍貴文物的行為，讓考古學家有更多時間搶救可以移走的無價佛教文物。並通過國際壓力有效阻止有關單位在阿富汗境內其他考古地點以開採天然資源之名破壞人類的無價文化遺產。

請點擊銜接: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/472409280/the-buddhas-of-mes-aynak

拯救古佛城，人人有責！您可以加入保衛麥斯阿納古佛城在面子書的官方頁面。在那裡您可以簽署兩份分別致函聯合國文教科組織和阿富汗總統哈米德.卡爾扎伊的請願書。

官方頁面： www.facebook.com/buddhasofaynak

考古學家已公認這座麥斯阿納古佛城在完美修復之後其規模可以媲美古羅馬的龐貝古城，是考古史的重要里程碑，更是揭開絲綢之路佛教文明之謎的關鍵線索。

麥斯阿納古佛城躲過了阿富汗常年的極端氣候侵襲、躲過了三十年的戰火蹂躪、躲過了掠奪者的貪婪洗劫、躲過了塔利班政權的野蠻破壞，她能躲過此次以資本主義之名開採銅礦的徹底破壞嗎？請今天就付出行動，為拯救古代佛城盡一分力！

Photo credit: Brent E. Huffman Artwork design: Wendy Tay