Israel opens tombs from Ancient Rome to the public for the first time: 'wonderful paintings'

After British archaeologists discovered Roman tombs in Ashkelon, Israel, they lay dormant for nearly 100 years. They have now been restored to their original glory.

"This tomb has wonderful paintings that were preserved remarkably well, and that’s surprising considering that the time that has passed and the location next to the sea, the humidity, the sand, the winds, everything affects the plaster and the paintings," said Anat Rasiuk, an archaeologist with the Antiquities Authority to the Associated Press.The murals depict birds, children picking bunches of grapes, nymphs with lotus plants, and figures from Greek mythology that were adopted by the Romans like the head of Medusa and Demeter, the goddess of the harvest.Some of the lime-based plaster paintings were removed from the tombs' walls and taken off-site for restoration, where others were painstakingly cleaned and given touch-ups that look the same as the ancient pigment on-site. Jasmine is a writer at Fox News Digital and a military spouse based in New Orleans. Stories can be sent to jasmine.baehr@fox.com

The new educational park in Ashkelon will feature more archeological discoveries from ancient Roman times from around the city, like wine and olive presses and ancient sarcophaguses. Another tomb discovered in the 1990s has been relocated to the educational park site and preserved, also featuring similar murals.

Ashkelon was not just a Roman city, but also a Philistine one prior to that. Cemeteries discovered in the city date back to the early Iron Age, about 3,000 years ago.