Prospection géophysique à al-Rawda et urbanisme en Syrie au Bronze ancien

Abstract

The site of al-Rawda, which has been excavated since 2002 by a franco-syrian team, is situated in the Shamiyeh, on the very edge of Early Bronze Age settlements in the steppe lands. The presence of well-preserved archaeological levels of the latter part of the Early Bronze Age just beneath the mound's present surface has led us to carry out a geophysical survey on the tell of al-Rawda during autumn 2003 in order to understand urbanism at this site. This survey reveals a regular, dense settlement plan, organised around a concentric road network, which is the result of careful planning and certainly of a political will. The domestic and monumental buildings (which include at least two temples in antis) respect the general organisation of the town. One of the temples has been discovered as a result of the geophysical survey without any excavation. The organisation of the buildings and the road network reveals an elaborate urban plan which was not subjected to any later disturbance ; we can probably speak of a new town, even if it was built over earlier structures for which we have some evidence, but whose nature and extent remain to be defined. These survey results combined with information obtained through excavation allow us to consider the site of al-Rawda a proper town with the multiple functions of a town (defensive, residential, economic, religious), at least in the last phases of occupation or the end of Early Bronze IV. This settlement may even be considered an urban center which is necessarily the work of a sedentary population. Comparison with other sites occupied during the same period seems to show that an urban pattern existed which is characteristic of the steppe and of the marginal agricultural lands in Syria during the Early Bronze Age. Like al-Rawda, these towns are circular, fortified and organised around a concentric road network.