“So far 51 Roman tombs dating from the first century AD have been found”, explain the archaeologists who estimate that about twenty remain to be explored.
Roman tombs dating from around 2,000 years ago have once again been exhumed in the northern Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave under the control of the Islamists of Hamas, the local Ministry of Antiquities announced on Monday (December 12th). Earlier this year, Palestinian workers uncovered around 30 Roman-era tombs in Beit Lahia, the site of an Egyptian-funded construction project as part of efforts to rebuild Gaza after the Hamas war. /Israel from May 2021.
In the wake of this discovery, part of the construction work had been interrupted and research had continued on the spot, which favored new discoveries, Fazl al-Atal, the local head of the city, told AFP on Monday. excavation team.
“So far 51 Roman tombs dating from the first century AD have been found“, or twenty more than at the beginning of the year, he added. “We expect to find a total of between 75 and 80 graves“, underlined Fazl al-Atal, welcoming this work on this”first complete Roman cemetery discovered in Gaza“. “We are in the phase of documentation, research and protection of the site. Our goal is to know (…) the cause of deathFazl al-Atal added.
This necropolis was adjacent to the Roman city of Anthedon, on the road to Ascalon, which is today the Israeli city of Ashkelon, located at the exit of the Palestinian enclave under Israeli blockade. The website is “of great importance and is considered an extension of the site of the ancient city of Anthedon, which was a port of Gaza during the Greek and Roman periodssaid the Director General of Antiquities in the Gaza Strip, Jamal Abou Reda.
In Israel and the Palestinian Territories, archeology is a sensitive subject, many discoveries having been used to justify or support the political claims of each of the peoples. However, if Israel has an arsenal of archaeologists which accounts for an impressive number of ancient treasures, this sector remains largely fallow in the Gaza Strip, a poor territory where few specialists are hard at work.
Besides the Roman necropolis, mosaics dating from the 5th to 7th centuries and a stone statuette over 4,500 years old, depicting the face of an ancient goddess, have nevertheless been discovered in the last year in Gaza.
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