Paleogeneticists discovered in the vicinity of Tell Qarassa mound in southern Syria, an ancient Muslim grave with the remains of members of the Arabian Peninsula during the Damascus Caliphate. It was announced on Friday by the press service of the Swedish Research Council (SRC).
Syria and other regions of the Middle East became part of the Arab Caliphate during the reign of the first caliphs - associates of the Prophet Muhammad. In the middle of VII century, they became the center of Damascus caliphate, the first major Muslim state in the history of mankind. Its emergence is associated with the formation of the foundations of Islamic culture, law-making, finance and other key elements of civilization.
Researchers discovered the burials by accident while studying the remains of ancient people found in the vicinity of the Tell Qarassa mound in southern Syria. As explained by archaeologists, on the territory of this cultural monument is one of the most ancient sites belonging to the Natufian culture (XIII-X millennium BC.). The culture attracts scientific attention due to the fact that its representatives have not yet fully converted to agriculture, but were sedentary and were able to work and cultivate crops.
About ten years ago, researchers discovered a mass grave on one of the slopes of the Tell Qarassa mound. The bodies of 14 adult men and women were buried there. To study the origin of the people, paleogeneticists extracted fragments of DNA from the bones of all the ancient inhabitants of Syria and measured their age using radiocarbon dating.
The result was that the bones from the Tell Qarassa mound were much younger than scientists had assumed. They were buried at the end of the seventh or early eighth century, the time of the formation of the Caliphate of Damascus. Moreover, analysis of the genomes of the two individuals, whose DNA has been reasonably well preserved, indicated that they were not locals or members of the Natufian culture, but natives of the Arabian Peninsula.
"Initially we thought we were studying the remains of the first farmers of the Middle East. When we extracted and studied the DNA from the bones of two dead ancient people, we suddenly discovered that these graves belonged to a much later historical era - the time of the first caliphs of the Umayyad dynasty," said researcher Cristina Valdiosera of the University of Burgos (Spain), cited by the SRC press service.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg/Creative Commons 4.0
Based on materials from TASS