Abstract
The discoveries of the 2004-2008 excavations at Tell Mardikh, ancient Ebla, in north-western Syria, and the following processing of the archaeological record have allowed for a re-examination the site’s trajectory between Early Bronze IVB and Middle Bronze I. Not only it was possible to gain a clearer picture of the site’s trajectory during Early Bronze IVB, the phase following the demise of Ebla’s Early Bronze IVA kingdom, but also to re-investigate how the site transitioned from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age at a deeper chronological scale, which was hampered before by the lack of sufficient stratified data. Moving from these insights, this paper offers a summary of the state of research on Ebla between the Early and the Middle Bronze Ages and proposes some ideas concerning this critical nexus in the site’s development. Moreover, unpublished stratified ceramic data are presented and examined that might allow current synchronisms between Ebla, the Middle Euphrates, and the Syrian Jazirah between the late 3rd and the early 2nd millennium BC to be re-considered, and to shed light on the site’s participation and role in region-wide processes that were taking place between the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC. This way, this crucial connection in the developmental trajectory of Ebla and in the study of ancient Syria will be re-analysed offering insights into archaeology, chronology, and history.
Highlights
The passage from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age in Syria relates to urban regeneration between the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC and the emergence of Amorite identities in the region
The examination of this matter at a deeper chronological scale was hampered by the lack of sufficient stratified data to investigate the period between the end of Ebla’s territorial state, which flourished in the 24th century BC, and the establishment of the ‘Amorite’ city at the onset of the 2nd millennium BC
We summarize the state of research on Ebla’s developments between the Early and the Middle Bronze Ages and present unpublished stratified ceramic data that might allow us to re-examine certain proposals of interregional synchronisms between Ebla, the Middle Euphrates, and the Syrian Jazirah, namely the hypothesis that the Ur III period may be contemporary with the Middle Bronze I (MB I) stratum Mardikh IIIA, rather than with the later part of the Early Bronze IVB (EB IVB) stratum Mardikh IIB2
Summary
The passage from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age in Syria relates to urban regeneration between the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC and the emergence of Amorite identities in the region. From the standpoint of Ebla, the excavations carried out by the Italian team of Sapienza University of Rome in the Lower Town south-east from 2004 to 2007 uncovered, for the first time at this site, a long occupational sequence (Fig. 2) spanning from Early Bronze IVA (EB IVA) to Middle Bronze II (MB II), and, for what concerns this article, a multi-phased Early Bronze IVB occupation, nestled between the remains of the Early Bronze IVA and the Middle Bronze I (MB I) strata, and more stratified evidence of Early Bronze IVB (EB IVB) was found on the Acropolis in 2008 (Fig. 3) (Matthiae 2006a: 470-475; 2007: 493-512; 2009a: 773-777; 2010: 191-208, 390, 395-398; 2020: 95-105; 2021: 143-154, 299-300, 303-306; D’Andrea 2014-2015; 2016a; 2018; 2020a) This discovery has allowed us to piece together the scattered evidence for the EB IVB occupation previously uncovered at the site and to try and re-evaluate it chronologically and historically. We will use the discoveries made at Tell Mardikh from 2004 to 2008 and the results of the ensuing postexcavation study of the archaeological record to discuss how these data may change the way we understand the crucial nexus between the Early and the Middle Bronze Ages at Ebla and may shed light on the site’s participation and role in region-wide processes that were taking place between the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC
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