Tower of Elahbel

The Tower of Elahbel was a four-storey sandstone tower tomb built outside the city walls of Palmyra in the Valley of the Tombs. It dates to the 1st century AD. The tower is significant in textile history: fragments of very early Chinese silk yarns were discovered in its tombs, representing some of the oldest known silk found outside China. The tower was destroyed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant using explosives in August 2015.