Meggie Macdonald

There has been a good deal of archaeological work done at Bosra in Syria in the last months.  Initially, it was determined that foundations unearthed during excavations of a church revealed the private bath house from Trajan’s Palace (see Global Arab Network article from 19 October 2009).  More importantly, these excavations identified that the building originally thought to date from the second century CE and the reign of the Emperor Trajan was in fact of Byzantine origin and therefore likely the headquarters of the Archbishop of Syria.

Since then, tombs – also dating from the Byzantine period – have been uncovered in Bosra and Daraa city, Southern Syria.  These tombs contained bracelets and pot sherds that, coupled with the discovery of monks’ quarters and oil presses, suggest that the area dates from 500-700 CE.

These discoveries represent yet another example of how, despite civil unrest throughout the Middle East, archaeologists are still able to piece together the great puzzle of our collected cultural history.