Latin-Inscribed Artifacts Found in Afrin Village Site
Archaeologists found ancient artifacts bearing Latin inscriptions in Afrin's Bilbile Sub-district, later transferred to the Aleppo National Museum for preservation.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - A number of ancient artifacts bearing inscriptions and engravings in the Latin language have been discovered in a village in Afrin, in Western Kurdistan (northwestern Syria).
The Afrin Antiquities Office, working alongside security forces, uncovered a number of archaeological artifacts in Bilbile Sub-district. The pieces were found following a careful search and tracking operation.
According to official information, the discovered artifacts consist of grave stones and ancient columns. The presence of inscriptions written in old Latin script increases the significance of these pieces and reveals new facts about the region's history.
After specialized teams documented the artifacts and conducted preliminary studies on them, all the pieces were transferred to the Aleppo National Museum for preservation.
The step is regarded as part of ongoing efforts to protect archaeological sites in the Afrin region and to prevent the looting of its cultural heritage.
Afrin holds some of West Kurdistan’s most significant archaeological sites, spanning millennia of settlement. Among the most notable is Ain Dara, home to a monumental Iron Age temple whose basalt reliefs and colossal footprint carvings made it a site of major archaeological importance before being heavily damaged during the 2018 military operation in Afrin.
The area is also home to smaller heritage sites such as the Nebi Huri shrine, built around a Roman-era tomb later converted into a Muslim shrine, and the nearby village of Brad, which contains church ruins dating back to the 5th century and is linked to the burial place of St. Maron, a founding figure of the Maronite Christian tradition.
While various early Byzantine-era stone churches are documented across Western Kurdistan.
The discovery of the Latin-inscribed artifacts adds to a growing record of archaeological finds in Afrin, underscoring the district's historical depth even as heritage protection efforts continue amid the region's ongoing security challenges.