Gaza

Archaeologists working on a 2,000-year-old Roman cemetery, which was discovered last year in Gaza, unearthed at least 125 tombs most of which comprise still largely intact skeletons, said the Palestinian Ministry of Antiquities, on Monday (July 24). The archaeologists also found two rare lead sarcophaguses, said the Palestinian officials. 

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What was found?

“It is the first time in Palestine we have discovered a cemetery that has 125 tombs, and it is the first time in Gaza we have discovered two sarcophaguses made of lead,” Fadel Al-A’utul, an expert at the French School of Biblical and Archeological Research present at the site, told Reuters. 

While both the rare sarcophaguses were made of lead, they were decorated with different patterns. A’utul said one of the two was decorated with images of grapevine leaves and the other with dolphins. The first, one with the grapevine leaves, had already been excavated and displayed at the Pasha Palace Museum in Turkey. 

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The archaeologists on the site, which was found last year in February, also found clay jars inside some of the graves. 

Archaeological site and funding issues

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At least 25 engineers and technicians were working on the site, on Sunday, amid soaring temperatures and were seen digging, clearing the dirt, and preserving the skeletons, reported Reuters. 

It was also reported that the local archaeologists had previously reburied findings due to lack of funding, however, the French organisations agreed to help excavate this site which the Egyptian-funded housing project crew had stumbled upon, back in 2022.

“We need funds to preserve this archeological site so that history does not get washed away,” Al-A’utul told Reuters, whose organisation, with help from French aid agency Premiere Urgence Internationale, is supervising the work. 

‘Unprecedented’ find and Gaza’s history

The now economically battered Palestinian territory was once a trading post for civilisations dating back thousands of years including the ancient Egyptians and the Philistines depicted in the Bible. 

ALSO READ | ‘Truly extraordinary’: Remains of Roman aristocrat found in lead coffin buried in 1,600-year-old cemetery

Meanwhile, as of today, Gaza has been under an Israel-Egyptian economic blockade since 2007 after the Islamist militant group Hamas took control. 

Jamal Abu Reida, General-Director of Gaza’s Antiquities Ministry, in an interview with Reuters, called the discovery “unprecedented”. He added, “It deepens Palestinian roots on this land and shows they date back thousands of years.” 

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