Qatna and its Hinterland during the Bronze and Iron Ages. A Preliminary Reconstruction of Urbanism and Settlement in the Mishrifeh Region

Archaeological excavations and surveys conducted at the site of Mishrifeh and its hinterland between 1924 and 2006 have furnished a large amount of archaeological data; it is now possible to sketch a preliminary reconstruction of the site’s urban development and the patterns of settlement and land-use in the surrounding countryside. In this paper attention is focused on a preliminary reconstruction of the town’s layout and functional organization from the EBA IV to its abandonment during the IA III, in order to explore the different phases of urban growth and crisis over a period of approximately two millennia. The first emergence of a middle-sized urban centre at Mishrifeh during the mid to late third millennium BC was followed by a phase of dramatic urban growth and radical change in the town’s layout during the MBA and then a period of urban revival during the MBA/LBA transition. During this epoch Qatna’s royal dynasty initiated a centralized programme of public and institutional building, which appears to have involved both the upper and lower cities, thus launching a further important phase of urban and functional reorganization of the town. The apparent abandonment of the site during the LBA/IA transition, which seems to have lasted until the late IA I, was followed by a new phase of urban development within a new historical and socio-economic context. In addition, the analysis of the excavation and survey record combined with the results of palaeoenvironmental research show that the formation of an urban site at Mishrifeh from the EBA IV onwards also led to a profound change in the occupation patterns of the surrounding region. The processes of urban and demographic development taking place in Mishrifeh and its hinterland during the EBA IV and the MBA determined a striking modification of the region’s natural environment and the emergence of a new man-shaped rural landscape; there is clear evidence indicating the beginning of a process of dramatic environmental deterioration, which continued during the LBA, IA and Classical period.