The world's oldest mural in Syria

Archaeologists from the French National Center for Scientific Research have recently discovered the world's oldest 11,000-year-old mural filled in the ground of Northern Syria.

The lead researcher, Eric Coqueugniot, said the mural had an area of ​​2 square meters found in the Stone Age village of Djade al-Mughara in the Euphrates area, northeast of the city of Aleppo. This site has been excavated since the early 1990s.

The painting shows many rectangular patterns with red, black and white colors, on a wall covered with live bricks of a large house with wooden roofs.

'It's like a contemporary-style picture. Many people believe that it is like the work of Paul Klee (Austrian-Swiss national artist, famous in the movement of German modernist art). By carbon analysis, we determined it dates back to about 9,000 BC, ' Coqueugniot said.

The red color of the textures is painted with hematite stone, while the white is graphite graphite powder, showing black.

'Things shown in the picture look like a public building, but we're not sure. The village was later forgotten and the building was submerged in mud, ' Coqueugniot said, ' We also found another picture nearby, but it was not until the next year it was excavated. '

Excavation of the mural is still ongoing (Photo: Reuters)

Mustafa Ali, a leading Syrian artist, said that in the arts of the Near East and Persia, especially carpets and rugs, there are also many patterns similar to those in the painting at Djade al-Mughara.'We should not forget that this painting is an archaeological relic, but in a way it is also very modern,' he said.

In addition to the above painting, a large number of flint, weapons and human bones are also found at the site. The painting will be transferred to the Aleppo museum next year. Coqueugniot said that Djade al-Mughara residents live on hunting and gathering. They look quite similar to modern people, but do not work in agriculture or livestock.

'The area is one of many Stone Age villages, nowadays Syria and southern Turkey. It seems that they are related to each other and coexist peacefully, ' Coqueugniot said.

Syria used to be a trading center in the ancient world and there are thousands of archaeological sites being excavated. Science magazine said that before the painting was discovered, the mural in Turkey was considered the oldest in the world, but it dates back about 1,500 years later.

The oldest mural in the world, many people think of it as the work of Paul Klee (1879-1940), the Swiss genius artist (Photo: Reuters).