103 Items
Fragment of garshuni manuscript
This fragment of a C19th garshuni manuscript was donated to DMEAP by a local resident whose family were guardians of a cache of Syrian Orthodox manuscripts dating back to the C17th - these manuscripts have since been presented to the Syrian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Homs.
Type: Manuscript
Tags: Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Garshuni, Manuscript, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Syrian Orthodox
Photographs of ceramic finds at the end of the 2002 excavation season
These photographs were taken as a sample of the most diagnostic ceramic finds from the first season. In the second and third season the DGAM sent a ceramic specialist to catalogue and, where appropriate, to restore the finds.
Type: Archaeological Find
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeological Finds, Ceramic, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Sherds, Syria
Dayr Mar Elian panorama
This is a panorama of the old cloister looking west, with the new church and graveyard to the rear of the picture. The image was taken by a Lebanese visitor to the site in 2009 after the excavations had been completed.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria
Qaryatayn Tell
The tell in Qaryatayn was the centre of a middle bronze age kingdom, with the site being settled due to the presence of an oasis. The significance of the town declined over time although a garrison was permanently stationed in Qaryatayn in the Ottoman period in order to protect travellers from raids by the Bedouin as they travelled between Damascus and Palmyra. These pictures of the tell were taken by a local resident in May 2012 after the tell was bulldozed by unknown looters. Quickly taken on a telephone, the photographer returned the next morning with a camera but found the artefacts shown in these low resolution pictures had already been destroyed.
Type: Sculpture
Tags: Archaeology, Destruction, Looting, Qaryatayn, Sculpture, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Tell
Dayr Mar Elian in the snow
These images show Dayr Mar Elian in the winter of 2008 when there was a heavy fall of snow, which is naturally relatively rare in the Syrian desert. The pictures were taken by Brother Daniel, a novice at the monastery of Mar Musa and show the old and new cloisters, old and new churches, olive and other fruit trees and a new building built in the traditional 'beehive' style.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria
View of the site on the completion the Syrian-led excavations at Dayr Mar Elian
A Syrian team from the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) continued excavations at Dayr Mar Elian after the end of the British project. These images were taken on a site visit with the superior of the Monastery of Mar Musa al-Habashi, Fr. Paolo Dall'Oglio and Fr. Jacques Mourad, a monk at Mar Musa and parish priest and prior of Mar Elian.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria
Sarcophagus of Mar Elian 
The Byzantine sarcophagus believed to hold the remains of Mar Elian (St. Julian) and is covered with pilgrimage graffiti believed to date back to at least the C9th. The form of the sarcophagus is late antique and dates from the C5th-C8th. These images show the tomb before it was cleaned by excavators and damage to the grave, reputedly caused by villagers in the 1920s, is clearly visible. It also shows the sarcophagus before its coverings were removed with the votive offerings placed at the shrine by the faithful and the green satin covering given by local Muslims denoting the tomb of a holy man in their tradition.
Type: Sculpture
Tags: Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Sarcophagus, Shrine, Syria, Syriac, Syriac Inscription, Tomb
View over Qaryatayn looking east from the neighbouring hills
This view eastwards over Qaryatayn shows the wadi (seasonal watercourse) in the foreground with Dayr Mar Elian in the middle and the modern settlement in the background. The pictures face eastwards in the direction of Palmyra.
Type: Landscape
Tags: Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Desert, Landscape, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria
New Church at Dayr Mar Elian
Images of the new church built at Dayr Mar Elian once it was established that the church built in 1938 was unstable and needed to be demolished. A traditionally-built small chapel was built over the sarcophagus and this larger, more modern church was built to the west of the cloister.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Icon, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Byzantine Reliquaries
The damaged remains of two Byzantine reliquaries were found during the excavations at Dayr Mar Elian. The lid of one replicates a Roman sarcophagus and the other piece is a base of a different size decorated with a motif of ringed circles.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Reliquary, Sculpture, Syria, Syrian Civil War