190 Items
Lithics
A selection of lithics found in and around Dayr Mar Elian, including a tool discovered in the bed of the wadi to the west of the monastery.
Type: Archaeological Find
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeological Finds, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Lithics, Syria, Syrian Civil War
A fragment of glazed ceramic
This fragment was the only evidence of high-status highly decorated ceramic found at Dayr Mar Elian - which was a contrast from the high-status ceramics that were found at Mar Musa - there was not enough evidence to discern whether the fragment was a decorative motif or formed part of an elaborate inscription.
Type: Archaeological Find
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeological Finds, Ceramic, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Ostracon
Apart from the pilgrim graffiti on the sarcophagus of Mar Elian, the only evidence of Syriac epigraphy found on the site was this fragment inscribed on a ceramic sherd.
Type: Archaeological Find
Tags: Archaeological Finds, Ceramic, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Ostracon, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syriac, Syriac Inscription, Syrian Civil War
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
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
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
Dayr Mar Elian
These images show the cloister of Dayr Mar Elian esh-Sharqi after the Syrian team from the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) finished their work at the site. A strategy for preserving the site has been indefinitely delayed by the start of the Syrian civil war.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Dayr Mar Elian: A Monastery of the al-Qalamun, Syria. Historical Background and Project Summary, Les Annales Archéologiques Arabes Syriennes, vol. 45-46 (2002-2003), pp. 419-424
This is the final draft of a paper published in Les Annales Archéologiques Arabes Syriennes.
Type: Text
Tags: Archaeology, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Excavation, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Monastic Archaeology in Syria (2): the 2004 season at Dayr Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Qaryatayn, Syria
This is the report (unpublished) of the final season of the Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project (DMEAP). It was submitted for publication to Levant but the manuscript was overlooked when the publication changed editorial staff and material was lost in the move.
Type: Text
Tags: Archaeology, Dayr Mar Elian, Excavation, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Reliquary, Syria, Syrian Civil War