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As part of collaboration between Ancient Merv Project and Heritage Without Borders (HWB) three experienced conservators travelled to Turkmenistan from 27 August to 23 September, 2011. This was aided by kind sponsorship from the Global Heritage Fund and UCL Qatar. HWB provided support to the excavation team on-site, assessing, stabilising and packing small finds from previous field seasons. They also provided conservation proposals for a number of museum objects and provided training for a small group of Turkmen conservators/museum professionals. HWB in collaboration with Ancient Merv Project staff also looked into the feasibility of setting up a more permanent conservation laboratory on-site at Merv, to carry on the conservation work in future seasons.
An important part of the remit of the Heritage Without Borders project at Merv was to provide conservation training and advice to local conservators and heritage professionals. The four trainees received in-depth training.
In a very successful first year of involvement, the HWB volunteers contributed to the stability and investigation of 50% of the 1300 small finds on site. They also opened a mutually beneficial dialogue with the local conservators and students in providing training.
In the spring of 2013, Margrethe Felter, Ciarán Lavelle and Francesca Guiducci - three HWB conservators - travelled to Turkmenistan with Ancient Merv Project team and undertook further training and conservation activities on the ground. Through its volunteers and through collaborations with Ancient Merv Project, HWB had established very good links with the Ancient Merv Archaeological Park and with the Institute of History of Turkmenistan.