Curious places in Syria
6 articles, each fact-checked and tied to a spot you can stand on.
A 5,000-year-old stone circle visible only from above. Four concentric rings containing 42,000 tons of basalt, with a central burial chamber. Who built it remains unknown. The structure predates any known local culture and required organization rivaling Stonehenge.
Medieval Damascus steel swords could cut through European blades. The technique was lost by 1750. Modern analysis discovered the steel contains carbon nanotubes - structures we thought were a 20th-century invention.
A 3,500-year-old Syrian palace with royal burials containing Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Aegean artifacts. Letters found nearby mention diplomatic marriages. Bronze Age kings exchanged daughters like trade goods.
11,000-year-old round stone towers predating Jericho by a millennium, making these potentially the world's oldest monumental structures. Built by hunter-gatherers who hadn't yet invented pottery. What drove pre-agricultural people to organize such construction remains a mystery.
A 2,000-year-old temple where Roman columns framed a Mesopotamian sanctuary. Architectural fusion from when Palmyra controlled Silk Road trade. ISIS detonated explosives inside the cella in 2015. Only the outer walls and entrance arch survived.
A 5,500-year-old temple filled with thousands of alabaster "eye idols". Their purpose remains mysterious.
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