Ingholt worked in Palmyra with a great number of people that he mentions in his excavation diaries. We can distinguish local workers (see 7. Excavation Life in 1920s Palmyra) and Danish and foreign collaborators. He also mentions the presence of the French military, which reflects the historical setting of the excavations.
Ingholt worked in Syria during the French Mandate and thus always under a French concession held by French colleagues. The French architect Albert Gabriel (1883–1972) surveyed the site and published a new map of Palmyra that succeeded an older map by the traveller Robert Wood (1717–1771). Gabriel also came to Ingholt’s excavation in 1925 to visit the hypogea (underground tombs), and he participated in the discovery of some finds, including a statue base found in April 1925, during the period he stayed with Ingholt. Gabriel also brought materials with him for Ingholt to study. On 30 March 1925, Ingholt wrote in his diary that he could not make any sense of the Syriac inscription on a pottery sherd that Gabriel had showed him. Gabriel’s actual role in Ingholt’s excavations remains unclear. In the diary, it is mentioned that Gabriel received money from other Frenchmen, and in another instance Ingholt writes that Gabriel had approved of work to be done at another grave. There is thus some authority attached to Gabriel as the concession holder.
Other French colleagues mentioned are the archaeologist Maurice Dunand (1898–1987) and the epigraphist Jean Cantineau (1899–1956). Cantineau, after visiting Ingholt’s excavations in 1928, would in the 1930s survey the inscribed stones found at the site. Dunand was on the excavation in 1924 and maybe 1925, but he does not seem to have been involved in any archaeological activities.
Not a direct collaborator but an entity closely connected to Ingholt’s work is the French military. Various officials and soldiers visited the excavation, and the latter sometimes helped with the dig. In an article, Ingholt mentioned the positive side of the military presence, as he felt safer and was no longer worried about attacks by the Bedouins.
Another example of collaborative work is that of the Danish architect Charles Christensen. He worked in Palmyra alongside Ingholt in 1928 and painted watercolours of grave murals. Some of his paintings from the Tomb of Hairan were presented by Ingholt in his articles on the tomb, which were published in the journal Acta Archaeologica. These paintings document the state of preservation at the time of the exploration of the tomb. Christensen also drew some monuments in the city, for example the Temple of Bel in 1928. This drawing documents the state of the temple before the post-antique phase was removed. One of Christensen’s works is his drawing of the so-called ‘Skønheden fra Palmyra’ (‘Beauty of Palmyra’), which was published in the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende (22 December 1929).
