Construction workers at a building site in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip found a Roman-era cemetery, including more than 60 tombs with ornately decorated graves, the Hamas-run Palestinian government in the coastal enclave announced on Monday. The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said in a statement that the cemetery, dating back to the second to fourth centuries CE, was now being excavated. A number of antiquities have been unearthed, including pottery jars and glass vessels, and are being analyzed by local and foreign experts, according to the ministry’s director-general, Jamal Abu Raida.
During the Roman period, the Gaza Strip was part of the province of Judaea, which was established in 6 CE. In 132 CE, Judaea was merged with Galilee into an enlarged province named Syria Palaestina. The Romans ruled the area for nearly 600 years, until the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century CE. Under Roman rule, the Gaza Strip was a prosperous region with a thriving trade economy, and the Romans built a number of impressive buildings and infrastructure projects in the area, including a harbor, aqueducts, and roads.