Byzantine tombs found under destroyed buildings in Syria –

A construction worker discovered a Byzantine-era grave complex that cleared the ruins of a destroyed building in the northern Syrian city of Maarat al-Numan. The complex dates back to around the 6th century and consists of two large tomb chambers with multiple tombs.

Each has six stone tombs, and the signs of the cross are carved on the top of a stone pillar.

“Based on the existence of crosses and the discovery of fragments of pottery and glass, the tomb dates back to the Byzantine era,” said Hassan al-Imsail, antiquities director of the town’s Idlib province.

Located on the highway, Maarat al-Numan connects Damascus to Syria’s second largest city, Aleppo. Since the war broke out in 2012, the city found itself in a fierce battle between then-President Bashar al-Assad and the Islamic group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and will eventually seize power.

During the war, control of the city changed hands several times. Between the battle on the ground, artillery bombing and Russian air raids, the city had a city of 100,000 people before the war, leaving a shell with its residents fleeing to displaced camps. After Assad collapsed on December 8, 2024, no building survived unscathed, with unclear bodies, mines and unexplored ordinances scattered on the streets.

People have now begun to rebuild seriously, and residents return to their former homes to reintegrate the pieces together. The rubble removal found stone chambers underground, prompting residents to remind provincial antiquities, and they dispatched an archaeologist to excavate and enforce the site to secure the site.