Damascus, (SANA)- the Syrian-French archeological mission working at Mount Bala'as site in the central governorate of Hama, (Salamiyeh) had recently unearthed circle-shaped small-size houses built on natural rocks in front of caves used for habitation and dating back to the 10th Millennium BC.

The General Directorate of Ruins and Museums said the first and most important discovery in Bialdul Cham (historically Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine) is the sculpture of bird's head engraved on the natural rocks, adding that the finding could be the imitation of an eagle's head etched on natural rocks.

The mission also discovered in the same site a small-size housing structure near the statue along with a small basin engraved also in the rocks and designed to pour into another stone basin built beside the house.

The sculpture and the structure represent a symbolic concept for the man in that period, and believed to be used in certain rituals.

The new finding sheds light on this very important period of the history of eastern Mediterranean, taken into consideration that the findings which date back to the 10th Millennium BC discovered in the Middle Euphrates and Palmyra areas indicate economic, social and religious developments in Biladul Cham and considered the most ancient findings in the world.

Ahmad Fathi ZAHRA