Amioun village houses a unique series of Roman-era tombs, used at a later stage as shelters.
Toponym
Al Sheer refers to a steep cliff, thus the name given to the location.
Cavities
Topped by a 19th century church dedicated to St John the Baptist, the sheer features 28 carvings with square openings are in fact windows to interconnected and individual rooms carved into rock.
Inscriptions, drawings, and color symbols were recently discovered on the walls of the cavities, with some similar to the primitive drawings of prehistoric people. Some carvings represent human heads adopting two different styles similar to the artistic pharaonic style and the Mesopotamian style. Unfortunately, modern writings with chalk and charcoal damaged extensively these ancient artwork. A recent study discovered an emergence of huge carvings depicting human and avian figures, some of which reach more than eight meters in height. The art forms vary in schools, such as Pharaonic, tributary, or even Greek style. In depth and continuous studies may confirm if the nature of these carvings.
Unfortunately, the cavities are not accessible to the public.
Karim Sokhn
Tour Operator & Tour Guide
References:
https://visitamioun.weebly.com/saint-john-church-detailed.html
