The Elephants of the Orontes

Abstract

Abstract – The article investigates the occurrence of elephants in the environment of the Orontes River System during the Bronze Age. The discovery of large elephant bones in the Royal Palace of Qaṭna dating to the Late Bronze Age I-IIA period is discussed in relation to osteological material of elephants from Tell Acana / Alalakh, Kamid el-Loz, Ugarit and other sites in the environment of the Orontes System. Special attention is given to the find contexts and its relevance for reconstructing the organisational frame of elephant hunts. This leads to the conclusion that there existed ideal natural habitats for elephants in the Ghab Basin, the Beqaʿa Plain, as well as in the Amuq and Karasu Plains. The former natural conditions of the Ghab Basin in the central Orontes Valley are studied in detail in order to demonstrate the quality of this region as a particularly favourable elephant habitat. It is argued that the elephants were indigenous to this region deriving from Pleistocene populations and that the theory of an import of elephants in the 2nd mill. bc for an “elephants reserve” in Syria is to be ruled out.