The Syrian Arab Republic (Syria), situated on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, is a small country about half the size of Japan. Syria was governed by several different powers until it gained independence from France in 1946. Its people, however, have considered the whole of the eastern Mediterranean region known as Cham (the area that covers present day Syria, Lebanon and Jordan) as Syrian territory. Situated in the center of the development of civilization, a unique culture was born in Syria, influenced by Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome. Artifacts buried in Syria attract the attention of researchers from around the world, and various projects, including ours in Palmyra, are being carried out thanks to the generosity of the Syrian Government.
Palmyra is located in the center of the Syrian desert. It was a city-state that flourished from the first century B.C. to the third century A.D. Balancing the powers of Rome in the west and Parthia in the east, Palmyra was the most prosperous of the cities along the Silk Road. Palmyra’s wealth came to an end in 274, with the failure of Queen Zenobia’s ambitious territorial expansion. The remains of Palmyra measure six kilometers from east to west, and eight kilometers from north to south. The city is composed of various buildings, centered on the Temple of Bel, the god who ruled the universe. Like ancient remains found in Greece and Rome, the city of Palmyra is surrounded by graveyards (necropolises). Inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1982, Palmyra is an outstanding tourist site where visitors can walk freely around the area and experience the history of the city as it was at the height of the east-west caravan trade.

Our excavation project on the remains of Palmyra originated in 1988, during the Nara Silk Road Exposition hosted by Nara Prefecture, when some exhibit artifacts were borrowed from Syria. A relationship grew out of that correspondence, and in 1990, Nara Pref. sent a research team on a mission to Palmyra, made up of members from Nara University, Kyoto University, Kyushu University, the Ancient Orient Museum Tokyo, and other institutions. The team continued to work with Syria for 11 years, until 2000, carrying out excavation work on three tombs in the southeast necropolis of Palmyra: a house tomb (Tomb A), and two underground tombs (Tomb C and Tomb F). In the course of the project, restoration and reconstruction was performed on the tomb of the brothers BWLH and BWRP (Tomb F), which had been constructed in 128. The project was based on the principle of anastylosis, in which the reconstruction work is clearly distinguishable from the original remains.
A follow-up excavation, restoration and reconstruction project entitled “A Study on Funerary Practices and Social Backgrounds in Palmyra” was carried out in the southeast necropolis from 2001 to 2005. The project was led by the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara in Nara, with the participation of other institutions such as the University of Shiga Prefecture, Kyushu University, the Ancient Orient Museum of Tokyo, the National Museum of Nature and Science of Tokyo, and Accord Co., and was funded by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research. Excavation work was carried out in three tombs: the oldest existing tomb in Palmyra (Tomb G), an underground tomb (Tomb E), and an underground tomb (Tomb H) constructed in 117 by TYBL. Further restoration and reconstruction work was conducted at Tomb H, inside which magnificent statues can be found in their original positions. Funding for this project was granted by the Sumitomo Foundation, and emphasis was placed on recreating the immediacy of the atmosphere at the time of excavation.