Once again, the Gaza Strip is making headlines when it comes to archaeology.
Thanks to the construction of a major housing program, a contemporary Roman necropolis was discovered less than a kilometer from the maritime site of Anthédon Blakhiyeh excavated by the École Biblique between 1995 and 2012.
At least 130 tombs, dated between the end of the 2nd century BC. J-C. and the second century AD. BC, have already been brought to light by the team of archaeologists from Première Urgence Internationale under the direction of René Elter, associate researcher at the École Biblique and scientific coordinator of the Intiqal programme.
This financial operation by the British Council is part of a larger training program, of about thirty young girls and boys graduating from the University of Gaza, in funerary anthropology, in the archeology of salvage, in the photogrammetry. The archaeological site will continue until next November, then will give way to the study of the furniture and the excavation data, which are already proving to be promising.
One of the two lead sarcophagi has taken one day, Sunday June 25, the way of the museum of Gaza which develops in the splendid building of Qasr al-Basha located in the old city of Gaza. The sarcophagus is richly decorated with vines, leaves and raisins. It will be one of the centerpieces of the Museum’s collection.