- Collection: The Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project (DMEAP)
98 Items
Trench to the east of the 1938 church, recorded as Intervention 7 after twelfth day of excavation
A progress shot of the trench.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Excavation, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Trench to the east of the 1938 church, recorded as Intervention 7 before excavation
Intervention 7 was the reference given to the first trench opened to the east of the 1938 church. This site was chosen because of the belief that the church had contracted in size over time, with local informants claiming that a range of interlocking 'beehive' mud brick chambers had made up the earlier shrine on the site, itself built on the remains of a still earlier church. These images show the site of the trench before excavation commenced looking east from the roof of the church.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Excavation, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Trench to the east of the 1938 church, recorded as Intervention 7 on the final day of the 2002 season
These images show the trench on the last day of the 2002 season and include the final shots of the excavation before the trench was back-filled.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Excavation, Qaryatayn, Syria
View east over the site of the church
This view shows the sarcophagus in the foreground and looks east to a plastered iconostasis and steps up to the sanctuary. Beyond that is the chamber where the sick are believed to have stayed for three days and three nights and prayed for a cure.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Qaryatayn, Sarcophagus, Syria, Syrian Civil War
View north and north west over the excavations in and around the church
These images show the area around the former church at the end of the 2004 excavation season.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
View north west over the former church site
This picture shows the footprint of the 1938 church, with the sarcophagus protected by wooden boards to the left of the picture.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Qaryatayn, Sarcophagus, Syria, Syrian Civil War
View of Int 12 with plaster stripped to reveal the state of the wall beneath
This was an attempt to explore how much of the 1938 church incorporated earlier elements of the mud brick shrine that had preceded in on the site. This was done by stripping back the plaster (called locally 'tineh arabiyeh') to see the formation of the bricks below. This possible because the walls were soon to be re-rendered and so local artisans needed to strip off the old plaster before applying the new layer.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Excavation, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
View of over the site of the former 1938 church
This is a view looking north west over the site of the 1938 church after it was dismantled due to structural instability.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
View of the 1938 Church of Mar Elian
This church was built in 1938 over the Byzantine sarcophagus of Mar Elian on the site of the earlier shrine. In 2002 it was discovered that the cement cladding enclosed a mud brick structure. When the church was surveyed and the cement was stripped back to alleviate a damp problem, it became clear that the church had become fundamentally unstable. It was dismantled in 2004 and the salvaged materials were used in the rebuilding of a new church on the model of the 1938 structure to the west of the shrine. The new building was made of stone and a traditional mud brick chapel was constructed over the sarcophagus, which remained in situ.
Type: Architecture
Tags: 1938, Architecture, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Sarcophagus, Shrine, Syria, Syrian Civil War
View of the east wall of the chapel after the dismantling of the 1938 church
These pictures show the stone wall that was beneath the east end of the 1938 church and elements of the stone and mud brick chambers that abutted it.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War