A Syrian contractor made a historic discovery when clearing the rubble of a destroyed home, stumbling upon remains of an underground Byzantine tomb complex.
Believed to be more than 1,500 years old, the ruins were found in Maarat al-Numan in Idlib province, located on the route between the cities of Aleppo and Damascus.
Residents there have been rebuilding their communities after the collapse of Bashar al Assad’s regime last December.
After the contractor found stone openings during a reconstruction project, locals contacted the authorities, who then dispatched a specialised team to inspect and secure the site.
Images of the complex show that a pit next to a damaged building leads down to the openings of two burial chambers, each containing six stone tombs, with the sign of the cross etched into the top of one stone column.
Hassan al Ismail, director of antiquities in Idlib, said that “based on the presence of the cross and the pottery and glass pieces that were found, this tomb dates back to the Byzantine era”.
Idlib “has a third of the monuments of Syria, containing 800 archaeological sites in addition to an ancient city”, he said.
The Byzantine Empire began in the 4th century AD, and was a continuation of the Roman Empire with its capital in Constantinople – now Istanbul in Turkey – and Christianity as its official religion.
Ghiath Sheikh Diab, a resident who witnessed the moment when the complex was uncovered, told the Associated Press that under Assad, people in Syria who found archaeological ruins would cover them up over fears their properties would be seized under Assad.
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Another local, Abed Jaafar, said: “In the old days, a lot of foreign tourists used to come to Maarat just to see the ruins.
“We need to take care of the antiquities and restore them and return them to the way they were before… and this will help to bring back the tourism and the economy.”
