Moroccan Fossil Workers

The Sahara is the world’s second largest desert after Antarctica, but millions years ago it was just the opposite, a much greener and wetter place blooming with life. Nowadays the only testimonies of that are the Fossils than can be found below the desert surface. In the regions close to the Sahara there are people who make a living digging those fossils up and transforming them into beautiful artisan crafts to sell them later in the international fairs and markets.
With only a turban to protect themselves from breathing to much dust, the workers dig, pull, cut, wash, polish, hammer, shape and finally put on sale the fossils.
To go through all the different stages and achieve the final product that can be found on their showroom, a single fossil can take a few days to be finished as the workers do not have any fancy machinery apart from their own hands and a few stone cutting machines.
Being paid by piece not by fixed salary, the workers work from sunrise to sunset up to seven days a week, sacrificing even Fridays, which in Muslim culture is the resting and praying day.
Among all these workers I had the chance to find the true meaning of hospitality which is the essence of their amazing culture, The Berber.

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