c. surface investigations Orontes-Survey

The Orontes survey: archaeological surface investigations in the area between ar-Rastan and Qal‛at Shayzar

Location

Fig. 1 Orontes survey - The Orontes river valley east of ar-Rastan, in the background the settlement mound of Tall an-Na'ura/No. 69

The area under study, the centre of which is the provincial capital Hama, is in western Syria. It encompasses the Orontes River valley between the locality ar-Rastan and the Shayzar castle, including an area of 15 km to the west of the river. Because of its favourable ecological conditions, the region of the middle Orontes (arab. Nahr al-'Asi) is one of the major agricultural areas in western Syria. The landscape is marked by numerous settlement mounds, which probably denote the same prosperity in previous periods (Fig. 1). Thus far, archaeological investigations were limited to two projects: excavations by Danish researchers in the provincial capital of Hama in the 1930s and a Syrian and French survey in the 1970s, which focused on a Palaeolithic site. However, systematic documentation of all archaeological monuments has not been undertaken yet, which in view of the rapid changes in the landscape is a desideratum. Since 2003, therefore, a Syrian-German cooperative project for the prospection of the region has been conducted (directed by K. Bartl and M. al-Maqdissi).

History

The area of the middle Orontes River is attested in many inscriptions. The central site of Hama finds early mention with the name Amatu in the Elbla texts of the 3rd millennium BC. Information about political events, however, is first found in texts of the 2nd millennium BC. From them it can be concluded that between the 16th and 13th centuries BC this region - just as the entire northern part of the Levant - fell under the influence of the Mitanni and later Hatti empires. During this time the small realms in the northern Levant, among these the Kingdom of Amurru, in the middle Orontes, the area under study, stood in subjugation to distant rulers. After the collapse of the Late Bronze empires around 1200 BC, a new independent realm, the Aramaean kingdom Hamath, arose in the region, whose centre was the synonymous city, today the provincial capital Hama. Annexation to Assyria in 720 BC meant the end of independence for the entire west Syrian territory. There are only few written sources pertaining to the following centuries, until 330 BC, during which this region was subject to Assyrian, Late Babylonian and Achaeminid rule. In the Hellenistic period the centre of the northern Levant shifted to Apamea, founded by the Seleucids, which remained the capital of the province Syria Coele or Syria Secunda in Roman and Late Roman / Early Byzantine times. With the Islamic conquest Hama became an administrative centre again and flourished exceedingly under Ayyubid rule.  

Objectives

The aim of the archaeological investigations that commenced in the fall of 2003 as a Syrian-German joint project is the documentation of all remaining monuments from all periods since the beginning of permanent settlement around 10,000 BC, and to determine the settlement structure during the individual periods of time. The work is conducted in association with the research program of the Orient Department of the German Archaeological Institute "Settlement areas in the Levant and its hinterland", a project that intends to define and interpret settlement patterns within different ecological environments. Furthermore, special attention is directed toward Neolithic sites. Investigations on these complexes proceed from the generally accepted theory that this region, as part of the so-called 'Levantine corridor' including the Jordan valley, the Beqa'a plain and the Orontes valley, represents the northern continuation of the East African Rift Valley; further, that it played a principal role in the process of Neolithisation, that is, the transition from a subsistence of erratic foraging to an economy of planned production; and that its significance is reflected in the existence of permanently used settlements there since at least the Early Neolithic (10,000-7,000 calBC), possibly even since the Epipalaeolithic (12,000-10,000 calBC). Knowledge in research at present does not permit any statement about this complex, as the oldest find complexes known thus far in Hama and Apamea do not indicate a date earlier than the Late Neolithic (7,000-6,000 calBC).  

Methods

	Findspots mapped from 2003 to 2004

Various sets of maps on a scale of 1:50,000 as well as Corona satellite imagery form the basis of the prospections. Sites were localised with GPS, the coordinates attained were entered in digital map worksheets. Tell settlements were recorded with a reflectorless tachymeter, so that isohypse plans are available for them, on which the area of gathering surface finds can be plotted.  

Results

	Fig. 3 Orontes survey - Palaeolithic handaxe, surface find
	Fig. 4 Orontes survey - Tall an-Nasriya/No. OS 28-29
	Fig. 5 Orontes survey - Tall Sikkin Sarut/No. OS 50

During five expeditions (2003-2005) thus far a total of 175 sites in an area of c. 600 km could be determined. The material found represents the entire archaeological spectrum from the Old Palaeolithic period to Ottoman times (Fig. 2).
Palaeolithic periods are present in relatively numerous sites that are concentrated especially on river terraces of the Nahr Sarut, the most important tributary of the Orontes (Fig. 3). In the area under study more than 20 sites, unknown until now, could be mapped for Neolithic period. Most are characterize by agglomerations of lithics, whereas only few can be designated settlement sites.
In contrast to the relatively large number of Neolithic sites, traces of Chalcolithic settlement (6,000-3,500 BC) were found at only eight places so far. As a decline in settlement is unlikely, it can be presumed that sites dating to this time period are mostly in the area of the large tell settlements and were reshaped in later times, that is, as of the Early Bronze Age. Only after the second half of the 4th millennium BC can an increase in the number and size of settlements be observed in the Orontes region, as in many areas in the Near East. This activity reaches its first recognisable peak in settlement history in Early Bronze Age IV (2400-2000 BC) and the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500 BC), with 32 and 36 settlements respectively. Among the most important sites in this period are Tall an-Nasriya and Tall Sikkin Sarut (Figs. 4-5). Together with Hama, Ebla and Qatna can be drawn as comparative sites for these periods. Results attained from these discoveries match with historical dates: During the first half of the 2nd millennium BC the middle Orontes area was the expanded hinterland of the Kingdom of Qatna, whose central function in the long-distance trade network between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean must have stimulated the development of settlements there. As far as the number and distribution are concerned, the picture of settlement during the Late Bronze Age (1500-1200 BC) displays a direct continuation of the Middle Bronze Age development; nearly all places settled in the Middle Bronze Age were inhabited further. Whether or not a change in settlement structure occurred during the following Iron Age I (1200-1000 BC) in the Orontes region as it did in wide parts of the Levant (use of other areas for settlement, changes in settlement size, etc.) cannot be determined: It has not been possible to make a conclusive assignment of any ceramic surface finds to this period as of yet. By contrast, Iron Age II (1000-550 BC) with 29 sites corresponds with the settlement density of Late Bronze Age. The area under study here belonged to the Aramaean Kingdom of Hamath until the end of the 8th century BC and was the immediate hinterland of the synonymous capital of the Empire's nucleus, a situation that surely had a positive influence upon the development in the region.

Settlement history during Late Antiquity reached its peak between the Late Hellenistic and Roman periods, amounting to 80 sites in the area under study. During this time, during which the political centre of the region lay some 50 km north of Hama in Apamea, a distinct change in settlement structure can be observed. Other than in earlier periods, now the large settlement mounds clearly display fewer traces of use. Oppositely, numerous small new settlements were established in areas west of the Orontes that had not been settled. These new foundings concern concentrations of farms and single structures, which evidently were constructed in the midst of lands used for agriculture. This corresponds with the development observed in other areas of the Levant and their hinterland, which is characterised by intensified crop cultivation and an increase in small settlements.
Corresponding settlement structures are characteristic for the Islamic period as well, whereby the Islamic medieval period (c. 1100-1400 AD) is represented foremost in the archaeological surface material, while the early Islamic period (7th-10th century AD) is not clearly identifiable.  

Cooperation

Direction Générale des Antiquités et des Musées de la Syrie (DGAMS)

Scientific collaboration
M. Badawi, DGA de Jablah
Dr. F. Bloch, German Archaeological Institute Damascus
Prof. Dr. N. Conard, University Tübingen, Institut für Urgeschichte und Quartärökologie
H. Dietl M.A, University Tübingen, Institut für Urgeschichte und Quartärökologie
Dr. H.-G. Gebel, Freie Universität Berlin, Seminar für Vorderasiatische Altertumskunde, ex Oriente e.V.
Dr. Ch. Römer-Strehl, Lindlar
Dr. U. Sievertsen, St. Gallen
Dr. Thomas Urban, Berlin
Dr. B. Vest, Mainz
I. Wagner, Orient-Abteilug, DAI, Berlin 

Contact

PD Dr. phil. Karin Bartl

Vorderasiatische Altertumskunde
Telefon: +963/11/374 9812-0 +963/11/3749813-0
Telefax: +963/11/374 9812-9 +963/11/3749813-9
Email: sekretariat@damaskus.dainst.org

Further Contact Partners

Dr. Michel al-Maqdissi
Direction Générale des Antiquités et des Musées de la Syrie (DGAMS)
Damascus, Syria

Bibliography

K. Bartl, M. al-Maqdissi, Orontes-Survey - Archäologische Oberflächenuntersuchugen im Gebiet zwischen ar-Rastan und Qal´at Sayzar. In: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Orient-Abteilung, Außenstelle Damaskus (Hrsg.), Orte und Zeiten, 25 Jahre archäologische Forschung in Syrien. 1980-2005, 136-141, Damaskus 2005.
K. Bartl, M. al-Maqdissi, Ancient Settlements in the Middle Orontes Region Between ar-Rastan and Qal´at Shayzar. First Results of Archaeological Surface Investigations 2003-2004. In: D. Morandi Bonacossi (ed.), Settlement and Environment at Tell Mishrifeh/Qatna and in Central-Western Syria. Proceedings of the International Conference held in Udine, 9-11 December 2004, Studi Archeologici su Qatna 1, 227-236, Udine 2007.
K. Bartl, M. al-Maqdissi, Archaeological Prospections on the Middle Orontes.
Survey Work Between ar-Rastan and Qal´at Shayzar In: K. Bartl, M. al-Maqdissi (eds.), New Archaeological Prospections in Western Syria (in print).
K. Bartl, M. al-Maqdissi, The Survey of the Syrian-German Mission in the Middle Orontes Region. Archaeological Prospections in the Hama Region and Excavations at the Neolithic Site of Shir. In: M. al-Maqdissi (ed.), Apamée, Hama et l´Oronte, nouvelles recherches archéologiques. Colloque archéologique international, Hama 19-20 Avril 2007(in print).