9 000-year-old cemetery found in Syria

amascus - A Syrian-Japanese archaeological team uncovered recently a
9 000-year-old cemetery in north-east Syria, Syrian state-controlled
newspaper al-Thawra reported on Tuesday.

The cemetery, found at Ein al-Karkh site in Idlib province, 330km
north of the capital Damascus, represents "ancient Syrian society and
the stage of transformation from big agricultural villages to the
building of the first city", said Jamal Haider, the head of the
Syrian side of the archaeological team.

About 20 adult skeletons were found in the cemetery, with clay tools
and stone bowls found near them.

Excavation works, which started at the site ten years ago, led to the
discovery of many agricultural villages and settlements that date
back to the modern Stone Age (8000-5000 BC). - Sapa-dpa

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