27th October, 2020
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said on Tuesday that its archaeologists have discovered a 1,700-year-old boundary stone with Greek inscriptions.
The rare stone was uncovered during an archaeological excavation led by the IAA near the northeastern Nafah army base in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
It is inscribed with the name “Nafah village” in ancient Greek. In modern times, Nafah was the name of a Syrian village close to the Israeli army base, which ceased to exist after 1967.
According to the IAA archaeologists, under the reign of the Roman Empire Diocletian, such stones were placed to mark the boundaries of villages, for the purpose of collecting taxes.
They noted that “it is exciting and amazing that the name of the place has been preserved for so many years, even when no signs of settlement continuity were found in the area between the Byzantine period about 1,500 years ago and modern times”.
Xinhua/NAN