BEIRUT, July 8 (KUNA) -- Lebanese archeologists have uncovered six carved stone coffins in the ancient city of Byblos dating back to the Roman Byzantine era.
Tania Zaven, an archeologist at Lebanon's General Directorate of Antiquities, said in a press release, that these coffins were buried under an old house.
Many more of these coffins are believed to be buried under the floors of other buildings in the location and differ in shape, size and digging methods, depending on the individual's traditions, habits and social status, archaeologist Ahmad Al-Maghrabi noted.
The coffins, actually holes in rock, are family graves - used for multiple burials of family members over successive times.
The families' property was buried alongside their remains, in the belief that the family would be reunited in an afterlife.
Lebanon is rich in undiscovered historical treasures and monuments, dating back to the iron and bronze ages and each of the Hellenistic, Roman Byzantine and Mamluk empires. (end) mah.ba KUNA 081621 Jul 12NNNN