Emar…Ancient Near East Portal (2)

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The earliest findings up to this point were unearthed beneath the temple of Ba’al and the courtyard east of it. In three building levels following close one upon the other, Early Bronze Age dwelling-houses are more or less well preserved. The two later levels are disturbed by the foundations of the temple, which reach that far down. So far, the earliest level has yielded a small room (ca. 2 x 2.5 m). Its walls are made of pise’ mixed with pebbles and covered with a thin layer of mud and lime. It contained a large and varied inventory that was crushed in situ on the floor. The inventory comprises clay vessels as well as (the upper parts of) terracotta figurines and jewelry made of mother-of-pearl and of bone.

Middle Bronze Age, the next younger period, was ascertained in the southwest, at the highest elevation of the town, as well as in the so-called Upper Town. It shows in a piece of the town wall with bastions and, right to the east of it, under the temple of Ashtarte, in a courtyard with fireplace, tannurs and post-holes for a roof.

Three solid floors on top of one another stand for three usage levels, but it remains uncertain whether the courtyard was part of a dwelling-place or of a defensive installation – easy to imagine in view of the situation, so exposed and bordered by the town-wall with a width of two and a half meters.

The dwelling-houses that were excavated in the Upper Town belong to the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. A house, dating to around 1400 BC is particularly noteworthy. Its ground-plan is a combination of two Middle Bronze Age standard ground plans dividing the house into a western and an eastern group of rooms. The finds suggest that in the western rooms, bones were worked while the eastern rooms served to process grain. In the west, several animal horns and two jawbones of elephants were found, while the assumed function of the eastern rooms is supported not only by appropriate tools but also by a clay tablet listing rations of grain.

From the debris above the house, there emerged a silver stamp-seal, very well preserved. It bears an inscription in Luwian hieroglyphs giving the name of its owner as Kuku. The seal is certainly later than the house; it may have come to Emar around the 13th century BC, at the time of Hittite hegemony. Other Late Bronze Age finds from the Upper Town include terracotta figurines (animals, naked women holding their breasts, a musician) and a clay object of unknown function, moulded in the negative and showing motifs from the Mesopotamian, Anatolian and Syro- Palestinian repertoires. As to the Late Bronze Age, we concentrated on the temple area, as had the French archeologists before us.

The temple area in the very west of the hill that is the Emar of today, consists of the sanctuaries of Ba’al and, possibly, of Ashtarte as well as of courtyards and a cult terrace; it is enclosed by a strong wall.

The temple of Ba’al is an antae temple situated on a terrace which may be gained from the lower courtyard by a flight of stairs. Two building-phases can be differentiated: A smaller installation (7.5 x 14.5 m) was supersaturated by a larger one (11.5 x 20 m). The temple of Ashtarte has two phases as well. But here it seems as if the earlier installation was larger, while ground-plan and dimensions of the later one resemble the earlier temple of Ba’al. Again, a flight of stairs must have led up to the terrace.

The earlier sanctuaries were destroyed by fire. There is a broad road running between the two temples, which, at several instances, has been coated with a covering of mud and lime. The road may have led processions up from the lower courtyard to the so-called cult terrace in the extreme west. Originally, the way up from the lower courtyard via the flight of stairs to the temple of Ba’al was decorated with two lion sculptures. The torso of one lion was still lying in the courtyard; the carving at the front and on only one side showed that the lion was incorporated at a place where only one side was visible. This particular lion had lost its head, only, whereas its counterpart and a pair of smaller lions were stolen en bloc and offered on the art market.

Other finds come from tombs that were brought down here in Late Roman times. More than thirty were laid bare, almost all of them had been looted. The grave-gifts that were – luckily – overlooked include a bronze fibula and a small facetted glass bottle that could be completely restored. Barbalissos – The restoration According to archeological as well as to written material, the history of the ancient town of Emar came to an end in the first third of the 12th century BC.

Many centuries passed before life stirred again in the ruins of Emar, presumably in Achemenian times. Apart from a Corinthian capital that came down to us as spoil we know about the Achemenian town of Bala or about the later Hellenistic and Roman towns only from texts. A change comes in Byzantine times. Justinian II let the eastern boundaries of his empire be secured by fortresses and the town that was now called Barbalissos be surrounded by strong walls. In the west, where the land rises and is most open to possible attacks, two mighty corner towers were added, spacious enough to house the guards and, at 25 meters, high enough to allow a far view into the Euphrates valley.

Due to its elevated position, this western part of the town-wall has survived to this day. The ruins of the southwestern corner tower and of the so-called praetorian in the north are still an impressive landmark that is visible from afar.

But with the winter storms, the lake continued to erode the banks and seriously threatened the existence of this cultural monument.

In this precarious situation, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs came to the rescue and granted means with which the southwest tower was secured in 2000, already. In the first place, an access had to be prepared; for about half of its length, it is a dam newly piled up along the southern bank. The tower itself got a new foundation consisting of 90 m3 of cement; the facade was covered with original tiles gathered in the ruin.

The next object to be salvaged was the praetorium two walls of which – ruined but still 20 meters high – form the northwestern corner. Here, too, the further existence of the ruin was endangered by a deep gap in the corner. In the summer of 2001, the debris sloping in front of the wall was removed so that it was easier to estimate the extent of the damage. It became obvious that the western wall with its embrasures was almost completely intact.

In the summer of 2002 and again with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the northern bank was strengthened, the dangerous gap at the corner of the praetorium was filled and the facade covered with tiles baked in the traditional way. At the same time, the documentation of the ruin, financed by

the University of T¸bingen, was completed: an object of cultural heritage has been preserved, in reality and in scientific documentation.

Haifaa Mafalani