Mysterious 10,000-year-old ruins found in Syrian desert

[Will E Worm]

Mysterious 10,000-year-old ruins found in Syrian desert

A mystery city lies in Syria’s deserts, one older than the pyramids -- but the war-torn area is preventing archaeologists from decoding its riddles.

Fragments of stone tools, stone circles and lines on the ground, and even evidence of tombs appear to lie in the desert near the ancient monastery of Deir Mar Musa, 50 miles north of Damascus, archaeologist Robert Mason of the Royal Ontario Museum said. He likened the formations to “Syria’s Stonehenge.”

What it looked like was a landscape for the dead and not for the living,” Mason said Wednesday during a presentation at Harvard University’s Semitic Museum, according to the University publication the Harvard Gazette.

He made the find during a 2009 trip and is eager to return and further explore the site. But he says regional conflicts make such a return trip nearly impossible.

“It’s something that needs more work and I don’t know if that’s ever going to happen.”

The monastery itself, also called the Monastery of Saint Moses the Abyssinian, was built in the late 4th or early 5th century, he said, and contains several frescoes from the 11th and 12th century depicting Christian saints and Judgment Day. He told the audience at Harvard that he believes it was originally a Roman watchtower, partially destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt.

But the desert puzzle is much older.

Bits of tools Mason found nearby suggest the mystery he discovered in the desert is much older than the monastery. It may date to the Neolithic Period or early Bronze Age, 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, the Gazette said.

Egypt’s oldest pyramid, the Great Pyramid of Giza, was built about 4,500 years ago.

Mason also saw corral-like stone formations called “desert kites,” which would have been used to trap gazelles and other animals. The desert around the monastery is hardly a verdant pasture -- “very scenic, if you like rocks,” Mason reportedly said -- but was probably greener a few millennia ago, the archaeologist explained.

Like Indiana Jones exploring Italy’s museums in “The Last Crusade,” Mason hopes to return to the monastery to excavate under the church’s main altar -- he believes he’ll find an entrance to underground tombs there.

He also hopes to return to strange stone formations he found in the desert, which he dubbed “Syria’s Stonehenge.”

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[STDiva]

That shit ain't mysterious. I have pictures of me and my boys Tebowing there.

 

[alexpnz]

Looks like the Hollywood Hills to me.

 

[jod0565]

George Noory has yet to reply to this.

 

[Lost999.]

I'm sure the Syrian military is shelling the shit out of that place right now.

 

[Red Spyder]

I'm sure the Syrian military is shelling the shit out of that place right now.

Actually, you may have a point there and that is worrisome. Remember the Taliban blowing up the Buddah statues back in 2001 before the invasion? That area had been a buddhist religious site until the muslim invasion of those lands. So if those ruins were to have remnants of some kind of ancient religion, I'm pretty sure the site would be in danger of being destroyed by the same kind of intolerant people that destroyed the buddah statues. But hopefully the conflict in Syria will not damage the site so that later on it can be explored.

 

[Neutron66]

I thought the Bible says the world is only 5000 years old.

 

[BlueBalls]

I thought the Bible says the world is only 5000 years old.

6000, get it right!
These ruins were most likely placed there by the devil to test our faith.

That Devil, eh? Ain't he a rascal.

 

[Will E Worm]

I thought the Bible says the world is only 5000 years old.

Just because some people say that does not mean it is. (6,000)

No one knows.

 

[grower_boy]

You can believe in certain parts of a religion and not believe in others. It's totally possible to believe in God but not believe that the world is less than 10,000 years old.

As for the ruins, they look pretty interesting. I'm curious as to what they look like inside.

 

[DR. B]

this might be older

http://gobeklitepe.info/

for some odd reason, the builders of this temple covered it with sand.

 

[DR. B]

other old ruins:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagar_Qim

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumapunku

also theres some ruins in south Africa thats suppose to be 75,000 yrs old. Yep, thats right "75,000 yrs old" Thats older than the cave paintings.