Monuments Woman

Laura and George answer questions submitted by our listeners.

In this candid finale, Laura and George talk about the highs and lows of her decade in Afghanistan and an uncertain future. A mystery lover is revealed.

Laura shares a memory about a media appearance and George talks about his time as an election monitor in Kabul.

Before her first trip to Afghanistan, Laura "Jason Bournes" her way through a barricade of cars. Years later, she corners Matt Damon in a conversation about Kabul.

Laura investigates a loud crash on her roof and visits a close friend from Afghanistan, triggering memories of a project that aimed to fix what the Taliban destroyed.

Continuing their discussion about Herat, George and Laura talk about a frightening day that marked Laura's last visit to Afghanistan's cultural capital.

After unleashing a pent-up rant, George and Laura talk about Herat and the restoration of its legendary citadel.

Laura and George discuss the work of a team of University of Chicago archaeologists who use satellite photos to track looting in Afghanistan and catch up on Laura's French husband.

If you had to leave your home with one suitcase, what would you take? That's a question that became real for many Afghans as the Taliban swept over the country.

The saga of the National Museum of Afghanistan continues as Laura and George talk with Toño Foraster Mariscal, the Spanish architect who in 2013 won the competition to design a new museum and who believes that architecture cannot be the protagonist of the story.

After channeling Redd Foxx while nearly choking to death, George talks to Laura about her jaunt to Zabul province and her quest to find historic sites to preserve.

Laura hires an intrepid and seasoned photographer to shoot Afghanistan's heritage sites. As it turns out, this is no easy mission, as Robert Nickelsberg tells us in his own words.

After Armenia, Laura heads to a dig in Syria. In between stories of wild dogs and being detained by police, she teaches us a thing or two about Mesopotamian civilizations.

After her cat survives a fight with a venomous snake in her front yard, Laura reminisces about an Urartian archaeological dig in Armenia in the 1990s and an unexpected marriage proposal.

So how does one exactly become an archaeologist? Laura's answer transports us to the 1990s to graduate school in a gritty New York and digs in broiling Cyprus and a newly independent Armenia.

With Kabul's internet at a slow drip and telecom companies losing staff and clients left and right, Laura and George manage somehow to connect with an Afghan colleague and friend. Jamal stayed in Kabul after the Taliban took over, and has a story to tell.

The Taliban are racing towards the gates of Kabul. Everyone is heading for the exits, even Afghan friends Laura and George thought would never leave. They reminisce about Laura's life in the confines of the US Embassy and the city just beyond the compound.

The discussion of the atmospheric Afghan north continues as Laura takes us on a sweep of its archaeological history. She uses words like "silverback" and "tumuli" that George had to look up and has now added to his everyday vocabulary.

Laura and George head to the north of Afghanistan, where archaeological riches abound and challenges mount as the once rebellious north comes under Taliban control.

Laura had an idea: a book on heritage work across Afghanistan, that tells the stories of how Afghans live and observe the archaeology and history around them. This book has become a document of what might be lost in the years ahead, now that the Taliban have taken over the country.

In this 3rd part of the story of Mes Aynak, Laura and George talk about past and present, and the stunning exhibit of artifacts at the National Museum in 2011. But the conversation turns dark as they face the reality of the Taliban's takeover in 2021.

The story of Mes Aynak continues as George and Laura ask: does Afghanistan have to eliminate a chapter of its history to become less poor? And Laura gets personal and talks about how she avoided becoming a cat lady.

Laura makes a surreal journey to Mes Aynak, Afghanistan's largest Buddhist archaeological site not far from Kabul. George suggests a motto for Afghanistan's tourism industry.

A message from the host of Monuments Woman to our Afghan friends and colleagues.

Back in South Carolina, George, our host, asks Laura's daughter what she thought about mom spending so much time in Afghanistan.

Laura and George discuss the competition to design a new national museum in Afghanistan. But will the winner become the loser?

Laura shows up at the national museum in Kabul. What she finds inside the building moves her and begins a saga to set the stage for building a new museum for the nation.

Laura takes another swipe at the dreaded podcast title before she continues the story of Ghazni and why the work to preserve culture and history mattered.

Laura, in flak jacket and helmet, heads to Ghazni, a city whose rich history is matched by crushing poverty. Two ancient minarets just outside the city become the focus of her attention. Rocket attacks and punishing heat prove challenging, but not insurmountable.

Laura, our archaeologist, arrives in Kabul jet-lagged and without a plan. Her job is to help preserve Afghanistan's vast archaeological and historical treasures. Money is no object. But where do you even start?

Host and oral historian George Gavrilis introduces the podcast featuring American archaeologist Laura Tedesco's 11-year journey to help protect and preserve Afghanistan's cultural heritage.