Civil Administration recovers dozens of looted artifacts from West Bank site - Anna Barsky

 

​ by Anna Barsky

A targeted operation at "Burj Lasana," in Area B, near Wadi Haramiya, recovered Crusader- and Byzantine-era items from a villa built inside the site.

 

The Civil Administration seizes dozens of archaeological artifacts from the Burj Lasana site north of Ramallah in the West Bank, December 4, 2025.

(photo credit: COGAT, MAARIV)

 

The Civil Administration’s Staff Officer for Archaeology recovered dozens of archaeological artifacts at the Burj Lasana site in the West Bank on Thursday.

The operation, carried out in Area B near Wadi Haramiya, followed the construction of a Palestinian villa inside the declared site that damaged ancient remains, the Civil Administration said.

According to the Civil Administration, inspectors from its enforcement unit, acting under the guidance of the Staff Officer for Archaeology, seized rare antiquities that had been looted from the adjacent Crusader fortress.

The items included coins, ancient stones, capitals, and Byzantine-period stone columns that had been displayed as decorative pieces inside the villa. A metal detector found on the premises was also confiscated.

The recovered artifacts were transferred to the Good Samaritan Museum for research and display, which is managed by the Civil Administration’s archaeology unit.

Coin recovered from archaeological site, December 4, 2025. (credit: COGAT, MAARIV)

Officials said the action is part of an ongoing effort to protect heritage sites, prevent the theft of antiquities, and preserve archaeological assets across the region.

Site spans Iron Age to medieval period

The Burj Lasana site, which sits atop a hill overlooking Wadi Haramiya, is regarded as one of the area’s significant archaeological sites.

Excavations and surveys have shown continuous habitation from the Iron Age through the Middle Ages, with remains that include a Crusader-era fortress, Byzantine church architectural fragments, burial caves, a ritual bath, and early Roman agricultural installations, the Civil Administration noted.

Tight monitoring after political directive

Following a directive at the political level, the archaeology unit increased monitoring of looting at the site and identified those responsible for the damage, officials said. They added that the unauthorized construction inside the site caused direct harm to the remains and disrupted the site’s historical stratigraphy.

A., head of Enforcement, Investigations and Intelligence in the Civil Administration’s archaeology unit, said: “Protecting antiquities sites is central to our work and to safeguarding the region’s history. Damage to an ancient site harms not only the artifact itself but also our ability to understand and document the historical story it reflects. We will continue to act tirelessly, using all available tools, to eradicate antiquities theft and protect national heritage assets and the region’s history.”

Anna Barsky

Source: https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-879418

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