A heavy black basalt stele decorated with a carved eagle and Greek inscription has been unearthed in Manbij, a town east of Aleppo, Syria. It features an eagle with open wings clutching a wreath in its talons. Archaeologists believe it is about 2,000 years old and is either a funerary stele from a Roman-era grave.

The stone was first spotted by a local resident behind the Cardamom wholesale market. He reported it to the Directorate of Museums and Antiquities who sent a team to excavate the stele and recover it.

The civil war has taken an enormous toll on Syria’s cultural patrimony. According to the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums, approximately one million ancient artifacts have been looted been 2011 and 2019, and more than 700 archaeological sites have taken heavy damage.

Manbij became a hotbed of antiquities smuggling during the war. Digging for treasure was a controlled cronyism system under the Assad regime, and when the Free Syrian Army (FSA) took control of the city in 2012, the lack of oversight led to a proliferation of crude, disorganized looting operations. ISIS instituted a licensing system when it took control in 2014, allowing anybody to dig for antiquities on their land as long as they got a permit first. Anything they discovered that was made of precious metals or ceramic finders had to pay a portion of their value to the ISIS government. Any artifacts they found with figural depictions had to be handed over to ISIS for destruction.

When the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) ousted ISIS in 2016, its leadership became involved directly or by proxy in excavations, they enacted informal protection rackets where locals were provided security in exchange for antiquities and they allowed people with connections to the leadership to excavate inside the city, claiming a 60% cut of its value or seizing the discoveries until a financial arrangement was made.

It was during the SDF rule that Manbij became something of an open market for antiquities smuggling. Stolen artifacts from bespoiled Palmyra, Raqqa and Hasakah were transported to Manbij where they would be prepared for illegal export to bordering countries and from there to the rest of the world.

The stele has been transferred to the old bathhouse site in the city where it will be kept secure until it is transferred to Aleppo for further study.

The tomb of young Bronze Age woman buried with opulent grave goods including a cosmetics box decorated with snakes and scorpions has been unearthed at the Tepe Chalow archaeological site in northeast Iran. It is one of the richest graves from the Great Khorasan Civilization ever discovered.

The Tepe Chalow site, which at the time of the burial was part of the Greater Khorasan Civilization, was first excavated in 2011. Since that time, 48 graves under low burial mounds have been uncovered. Most of the graves date to the Greater Khorasan era, but a handful of them pre-date it, going back to the earliest days of the settlement in the 4th millennium B.C.

The young woman’s grave was discovered in 2013, but has only now been published. Osteological examination found that she was about 18 years old when she died. She buried in a crouched position on her right side facing the southeast. This was the typical position found in the Tepe Charlow burials, but the contents of her grave were entirely atypical. Hers was the only one of the burials at the site to be furnished with lavish grave goods.

A total of 34 objects were buried with her. Twelve of them were characteristic Greater Khorasan Civilization pottery vases. Seven were stone objects made of chlorite, lapis lazuli, serpentine and limestone. There were 13 metal objects, including one gold finger ring, two gold earrings, a pair of bronze bracelets, a bronze mirror, copper/bronze pins and copper/bronze stamp seals. In addition to the metal pins were two ivory ones. Pottery vessels were placed above the head and below the feet of the deceased. Two pins were found near her shoulders, the two bracelets on her arms, and a number of stone and metal artifacts near her face. At her feet was a large vessel that contained a small bronze jar.

The artifacts are exquisitely crafted. One of the pins of them shaped like a hand holding a 10-petaled rosette between the thumb and forefinger. One of the stamp seals was engraved with a depiction of human feet. The most exceptional piece was a small rectangular box made of a polished black chlorite. The long sides of the box were engraved with snakes, mouths wide open showing their threatening fangs and forked tongues. One of the short sides features a scorpion

The stamp seals were used as signatures for transactions, so they are indicators of ownership and active participation in trade. The presence of ivory and lapis lazuli, imported from Afghanistan and the Indus Valley, are evidence of her wealth.

The woman buried in Grave 12 was an important person but was too young when she died to have achieved such status herself, Vahdati said. Instead, it’s likely she inherited her social status and wealth from her family, either by birth or through marriage.

“The presence of such wealth in the grave of an adolescent remains unique within the Greater Khorasan Civilization archaeological record,” Vahdati said. “At this stage we can only speak of elite status passed down through lineage, which is consistent with the hierarchical nature of GKC society.”