In the battered Syrian town of Maarat al-Numan, where families are only just beginning to rebuild after more than a decade of war, a contractor’s shovel struck something unexpected: an underground tomb untouched for over 1,500 years.
The find came during reconstruction work in Idlib province, where the ruins of two ancient burial chambers were revealed beneath the remains of a residential neighborhood. Inside were a dozen stone tombs, their age betrayed by pottery fragments, glass shards, and a carved Christian cross.
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“Based on the presence of the cross and the pottery and glass pieces that were found, this tomb dates back to the Byzantine era,” said Hassan al-Ismail, director of antiquities in Idlib.
Once a crossroads between Aleppo and Damascus, Maarat al-Numan was a flashpoint during Syria’s civil war. Government forces retook the town in 2020 after years of rebel control. Much of the city was left in ruins, roofs blown off and streets lined with broken cinder block.
Now, as residents return and reconstruction inches forward, ancient history is surfacing—quite literally. Idlib, long overshadowed by conflict, is one of Syria’s most archaeologically rich regions. “Idlib has a third of the monuments of Syria, containing 800 archaeological sites in addition to an ancient city,” al-Ismail said.
The tomb adds to the legacy of Syria’s northwest, already home to the so-called Dead Cities—forgotten Byzantine settlements scattered across the rocky hills, still whispering stories through their crumbling stones.