Al-Numan, Syria (AP)-A contractor was cleared dug on the ground where the ruins of the devastating house were cleared In northern Syria A surprise was stumbled: the remains of the underground Byzantine tomb complex believed to be more than 1500 years old.
The discovery appeared last month in the town of Marat Al -Numan In Idlib CountyWhich is strategically located on the road between the cities of Aleppo and Damascus. Society has become a communication point in the 14 -year -old Syrian civil war that ended with it The fall of former President Bashar al -Assad In the rebel attack in December.
Assad’s forces seized the area from controlling the opposition in 2020. The houses were looted and demolished. Aerial photos of the area show many houses that are still standing but without surfaces.
Now the population is The beginning of return and rebuilding. In the context of the reconstruction project, stone openings were discovered, indicating the presence of old graves. The residents informed the Antiquities Directorate, which sent a specialized team to inspect and secure the site.
Above the Earth, it is a residential neighborhood with rows of the buildings of the Windnder bloc, many of which were damaged in the war. Next to one of these buildings, the hole leads to the openings of the burial rooms, each containing six stone graves. The cross is dug at the top of one stone column.
“Based on the presence of the cross, pottery and glass that was found, this cemetery returns to the Byzantine era,” said Hassan Al -Emayel, director of antiquities in Idlib. He pointed out that the discovery adds to a group that is already rich in archaeological sites in the region.
He said Edlib “has a third of the monuments of Syria, which contains 800 archaeological sites in addition to an ancient city.”
The Byzantine Empire, which began in the fourth century AD, was a continuation of the Roman Empire with its capital in Constantinople – Istanbul today – and Christianity as an official religion.
Abandonment of the abandoned Byzantine era The dead cities through the rock hills and plains in northwestern Syria are called the ruins of the roaming limestone that include the remains of stone houses, kicas, cemeteries and pop -up streets.
In the past, Gatti Sheikh Diab, a resident of Maarat Al -Numan, who witnessed the moment when the grave complex was discovered, said that the owners of the sites that were found in archaeological ruins sometimes cover them, afraid that their property would be seized to preserve the rubble.
He said that he hoped that the new government will compensate for the owners of real estate in such cases and provide assistance to the homeless people who have returned to the area to find their destroyed homes.
The years of the war have caused severe damage to the archaeological sites in Syria, not only from the bombing, but from the looting and unauthorized digging.
Some see the rubble a sign of hope for economic renewal.
Another local resident, Abed Guevar, came with his son to explore the newly discovered graves and take pictures.
He said: “In the old days, many foreign tourists used to come to Marat just to see the rubble.” “We need to take care of the antiquities, restore them and return them to the way it was before … and this will help restore tourism and economy.”
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Siwil mentioned from Damascus, Syria.
