Lecture Summaries:  9 October, 2002

Back to PEF Main Pages

Current Archaeological Research in Syria
by
Jonathan Tubb
Curator of Syria-Palestine in the Department of the Ancient Near East, British Museum

      Research into the pre-classical archaeology of Syria is still in something of its infancy.  Without the monumental free-standing architectural remains that characterize both Egypt and Mesopotamia, and lacking too the direct biblical associations of Palestine, Syria was, for many years, a neglected area, and the processes that led to the definition of a Canaanite cultural construct in the southern Levant failed to be applied further north.  Only now, and building on the pioneering work of the Oriental Institute’s survey and excavations in the Plain of Antioch, and the Danish Carlsberg expedition’s work at Hama, are archaeologists beginning to recognize and develop a real cultural identity for central inland Syria - one based on its indigenous Amorite population.
     In this lecture, Jonathan Tubb examines recent contributions to this process, beginning with the continuing excavations at Ebla, the site which, perhaps more than any other, helped to establish a Syrian identity in the 1970's.  The results obtained there have inspired a revival of interest in central Syria which has led not only to a re-examination of work undertaken in the 1920's and 30's, but has, in recent years, encouraged the excavation of other large and highly significant sites such as Qatna and Tell Asharineh, possibly to be identified as ancient Tunip.