First-of-their-kind tombs with skeletons of children unearthed in Syria

Washington, October 11 (ANI): A Syrian-Japanese archaeological mission has unearthed a number of individual tombs with skeletons of children inside, and the hole of the grave inside the tomb, in Palmyra, Syria, which is the first of its kind to be discovered in the region.

The mission also unearthed an earthenware jar with a skeleton of an infant inside.

According to a report in Global Arab network, the Excavation Director at Palmyra Ruins Directorate said that these discoveries date back to the Byzantine era at the time of renovating Palmyra wall in the 6th century A.D.

He indicated that the tomb under work is made of square building, each side of which is 11 meters, and has a gate leading into an exposed yard surrounded by rooms.

Palmyra was in ancient times an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 120 km southwest of the Euphrates.

It has long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and was known as the 'Bride of the Desert'.

The earliest documented reference to the city by its Semitic name Tadmor, Tadmur or Tudmur, is recorded in Babylonian tablets found in Mari.

Though the ancient site fell into disuse after the 16th century, it is still known as Tadmor in Arabic, and there is a newer town next to the ruins of the same name.

The Palmyrenes constructed a series of large-scale monuments containing funerary art such as limestone slabs with human busts representing the deceased. (ANI)