Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T02:47:07.738Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Urbanism on the margins: third millennium BC Al-Rawda in the arid zone of Syria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Corinne Castel  and
Edgar Peltenburg
Corinne Castel
Affiliation:
CNRS, Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, ‘Archéorient; Environnements et Sociétés de l'Orient ancien’, Université Lyon II, Lyon, France (Email: Corinne.Castel@mom.fr)
Edgar Peltenburg
Affiliation:
Archaeology, School of Arts, Culture and the Environment, University of Edinburgh, Old High School, Edinburgh EH1 1LT, Scotland, UK (Email: e.peltenburg@ed.ac.uk)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The Fertile Crescent of the Ancient Near East is well known for its early cities in irrigated farming regions. Here the authors describe the recent discovery and investigation of a planned, circular, mid/late–third millennium BC city beyond the limit of rain-fed cultivation in the arid zone of inner Syria. Founded on the initiative of an unknown power and served by pastoralists and cultivators, the research at Al-Rawda demonstrates how environmental constraints were overcome in order to establish and sustain new centres in demanding regions at a time of maximum urbanisation.

Keywords

Early Bronze AgeSyriaarid zonepastoralismtemplesurbanism
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 81 , Issue 313 , 1 September 2007 , pp. 601 - 616
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, R. 1981. Heartland of cities: surveys of ancient settlement and land use on the central floodplain of the Euphrates. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Akkermans, P. & Schwartz, G.. 2003. The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (ca. 16,000- 300 BC). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Algaze, G. 2005. The Sumerian Takeoff. Structure and Dynamics: eJournal of Anthropological and Related Sciences 1/1 Article 2. http://repositories.cdlib.org/ imbs/socdyn/sdeas/vol1/iss1/art2 Google Scholar
Archi, A. 1992. The City of Ebla and the Organization of its Rural Territory. Altorientalische Forschungen 19: 24–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Archi, A. & Biga, M. G.. 2003. A victory over Mari and the fall of Ebla. Journal of CuneiformStudies 55: 1–44.Google Scholar
Barge, O. forthcoming. The development of the Syrian steppe during the Early Bronze Age, in Kühne, H., Czichon, H. R. & Kreppner, F. (ed.) Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Besançon, J. & Geyer, B.. 2006. Contraintes écogéographiques et modes d'occupation du sol, in Jaubert, R. & Geyer, B. (ed.) Les marges arides du croissant fertile; Peuplements, exploitation et contrôle des ressources en Syrie du Nord (Travaux de la Maison de l'Orient 43): 11–53. Lyon: Maison de l'Orient.Google Scholar
Bonechi, M. 1993. I nomi geografici dei testi di Ebla (Répertoire géographique des textes cunéiformes 12.1). Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert.Google Scholar
Bonechi, M. 2001. The Dynastic Past of the Rulers of Ebla. Ugarit Forschungen 33: 53–64.Google Scholar
Boudier, T. forthcoming. La poterie d'Al-Rawda (Syrie intérieure) dans son contexte régional à la fin du Bronze ancien, in al-Maqdissi, M., Matoïan, V. et Nicolle, C. (ed.) Céramique de l'âge du Bronze en Syrie. II (Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique). Beirut: Institut français du Proche-Orient.Google Scholar
Braemer, F., Echallier, J.-C. & Taraqji, A.. 2004. Khirbet Al Umbashi. Villages et campements de pasteurs dans le 'désert noir' (Syrie) à l'âge du Bronze (Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 171). 2004. Beirut: Institut Français du Proche-Orient.Google Scholar
Castel, C. 2006. Al-Rawda, Syrie; Des urbanistes à la conquête de la steppe. Le monde de la Bible 172, juillet-août 2006: 40–2.Google Scholar
Castel, C. forthcoming a. Stratégies de subsistance et modes d'occupation de l'espace dans la micro-région d'Al-Rawda au Bronze ancien final (Shamiyeh), in Morandi-Bonacossi, D. (ed.) Actes du colloque: Urban and Natural Landscapes of an Ancient Syrian Capital; The Environment of Tell Mishrifeh/Qatna and its Region, Udine (Italie), 9-11 décembre 2004. Udine: Forum.Google Scholar
Castel, C. forthcoming b. Al-Rawda; A Town in the Steppe (Central Syria, Early Bronze Age IV), in Kühne, H., Czichon, R. & Kreppner, F. (ed.) Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Castel, C., Awad, N., Barge, O., Boudier, T., Cuny, A., Delattre, L., Joannès, F., Moulin, B. & Sanz, S.. 2004. Rapport préliminaire sur les activités de la première mission archéologique franco-syrienne dans la micro-région d'al-Rawda (Syrie intérieure): la campagne de 2002. Akkadica 125/1: 27–77.Google Scholar
Castel, C., Archambault, D., Barge, O., Boudier, T., Courbon, P., Cuny, A., Gondet, S., Herveux, L., Isnard, F., Martin, L., Monchambert, J.-Y., Moulin, B. & Sanz, S.. 2005. Rapport préliminaire sur les activités de la mission archéologique franco-syrienne dans la micro-région d'Al-Rawda (Shamiyeh): deuxième et troisième campagnes (2003 et 2004). Akkadica 126: 51–96.Google Scholar
Danti, M. D. 1997. Regional surveys and excavations, in Zettler, R. L. (ed.) Subsistence and settlement in a marginal environment: Tell es-Sweyhat, 1989-1995 preliminary report (MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology 14): 85–94. Philadelphia: Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Echallier, J. C. & Braemer, F.. 1995. Nature et fonctions des “Desert Kites”: données et hypothèses nouvelles. Paléorient 21/1: 35–63.Google Scholar
Fronzaroli, P. 2003. Testi di cancelleria: I rapporti con le città (Archivio L. 2769). Archivi Reali di Ebla. Testi 13. Rome: Università ‘La Sapienza’.Google Scholar
Geyer, B. & Calvet, Y.. 2001. Les steppes arides de la Syrie du Nord au Bronze ancien ou “la première conquête de l'est”, in Geyer, B. (ed.) Conquête de la steppe et appropriation des terres sur les marges arides du Croissant fertile (Travaux de la Maison de l'Orient Méditerranéen 36): 55–67. Lyon: Maison de l'Orient.Google Scholar
Geyer, B. & Rousset, M.-O.. 2001. Les steppes arides de la Syrie du Nord à l'époque byzantine ou la ruée vers l'Est, in Geyer, B. (ed.) Conquête de la steppe et appropriation des terres sur les marges arides du Croissant fertile (Travaux de la Maison de l'Orient Méditerranéen 36): 111–21. Lyon: Maison de l'Orient.Google Scholar
Gondet, S. & Castel, C.. 2004. Prospection géophysique sur le site d'al-Rawda et urbanisme en Syrie du nord au Bronze ancien. Paléorient 30/2: 95–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helms, S. 1981. Jawa, Lost City of the Black Desert. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Hempelmann, R. in press. Die Ausgrabungen im Bereich K, in Meyer, J.-Waalke (ed.) Ausgrabungen in Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien I. Vorbericht über die Grabungskampagnen 1998 bis 2005. Saarbrücken: Saarbrücker Druckerei & Verlag.Google Scholar
Herveux, L. 2004. Étude archéobotanique préliminaire de Tell al-Rawda, site de la fin du Bronze ancien en Syrie intérieure. Akkadica 125/1: 79–91.Google Scholar
Kouchoukos, N. 1998. Landscape and Social Change in Late Prehistoric Mesopotamia. Unpublished PhD thesis, Yale University.Google Scholar
Lawler, A. 2006. North Versus South Mesopotamian Style. Science 312: 1458–63.Google Scholar
Lyonnet, B. 1997. Le peuplement de la Djéziré occidentale au début du 3èmillénaire, villes circulaires et pastoralisme: questions et hypothèses, in Lebeau, M. (ed.) About Subartu: Studies Devoted to Upper Mesopotamia (Subartu IV/1): 179–93. Turnhout: Brepols.Google Scholar
Margueron, J.-Cl. 2004. Mari. Métropole de l'Euphrate au III ème et au II èmemillénaire av. J.-C. Paris: Picard/ERC.Google Scholar
Meijer, D. J. W. 1999. Ecology and archaeology: perceptions and questions, in Milano, L., Martino, S. de, Fales, F. & Lanfranchi, G. (ed.) Landscapes, Territories, Frontiers and Horizons in the Ancient Near East. II. Papers presented to the XLIV Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Venezia, 7-11 July 1997: 203–12. Padova: Sargon.Google Scholar
Métral, F. 2006. Transformations de l'élevage nomade et économie bédouine dans la première moitié du vingtième siècle, in Jaubert, R. & Geyer, B. (ed.) Les marges arides du croissant fertile: Peuplements, exploitation et contrôle des ressources en Syrie du Nord (Travaux de la Maison de l'Orient 43): 81–101. Lyon: Maison de l'Orient.Google Scholar
Moulin, B. & Barge, O.. 2005. Hydrological Modelling and Management of Water Resources in the Syrian Steppe during the Early Bronze Age, the Case of the Fortified City of Al-Rawda. Actes du colloque Archaeology and Computer, Vienne, 3-5 novembre 2004.Google Scholar
Morandi-Bonacossi, D. forthcoming. Tell Misrhrifeh and its region during the EBA IV and the EBA-MBA transition. A first assessment, in Parr, P. (ed.) The Levant in Transition; the Intermediate Early Bronze Age (Annual of the Palestine Exploration Fund). Leeds: Maney.Google Scholar
Quenet, P. 2005. The diffusion of the cuneiform writing system in northern Mesopotamia: The earliest archaeological evidence. Iraq 67/2: 31–40.Google Scholar
Rogers, J., Ulambayer, E. & Gallon, M.. 2005. Urban centres and the emergence of empires in Eastern Inner Asia. Antiquity 79: 801–18.Google Scholar
Rosen, S. 1987. Demographic trends in the Negev Highlands: Preliminary results from the emergency survey. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 266: 45–58.Google Scholar
Vila, E. & El Besso, M. 2006. Résultats préliminaires de l'étude de la faune d'Al-Rawda (Campagnes 2002 à 2004). Akkadica 126/2: 111–9.Google Scholar
Van de Mieroop, M. 1997. The Ancient Mesopotamian City. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Wachholtz, R. 1996. Socio-economics of Bedouin farming systems in dry areas of Northern Syria. Stuttgart-Hohenheim: Wissenschafts Verlag Vauk.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, T. 2000. Settlement and Land Use in the Zone of Uncertainty in Upper Mesopotamia, in Jas, R. M. (ed.) Rainfall and Agriculture in Northern Mesopotamia: 3–35. Leiden: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul.Google Scholar
Wright, R. 2002. The origin of cities, in Ember, M. & Ember, C. (ed.) Encyclopedia of urban Cultures. Cities and Cultures around the World I: 2–11. Danbury (CT): Grolier.Google Scholar