Urbanistic of pre-roman Palmyra

History and culture of Palmyra, caravan city in the Syrian desert, are well known for the Roman Empire (1 st to 3rd century AD) by literary and archaeological sources. Whereas the pre-roman/`hellenistic` settlement of Palmyra was known till now by literary evidence only. Thus, an international cooperation project has the aim to localize pre- roman Palmyra and to inquire the urbanistic structures of this early town. By geophysical prospection the settlement of early Palmyra, nowadays hidden under the sand, was localized south of the wadi outside the later roman town within an area, which was not overbuilt in late antique or even in more recent times. Within this area - since 1999 - test trenches were carried out in order to explore parts of the urbanistic structures of this settlement exemplarily. Furthermore it was the aim to gain criterias for the relative and absolute chronology of the corresponding building structures by stratigraphical investigation, and thus to receive - for the first time - archaeological evidence for the Hellenistic settlement of Palmyra. Due to the sequence of pottery examined already, several different phases of construction can be proved, which can be dated from the 3rd century BC until the 3rd century AD. With this, for the first time not only for Palmyra but for the whole Near East, we get a secure sequence not only of pottery but also of settlement from the hellenistic up to the roman period. In the course of this project, the work in the field has to be completed and finished, the architectural structures discovered as well as the many small findings - especially pottery, glass and metal ware, but also a huge amount of stucco fragments and wall paintings - have to be analysed and published. By doing this, we get first basic information about the sequence of local building techniques and about the urban development of the hellenistic settlement of Palmyra in relation to the later roman town. On the other hand, the small findings provide us with a first knowledge of hellenistic local production techniques and through a complete new flash-light on the economic and social history of early Palmyra. Thus, the archaeological evidence from the `hellenistic hill` of Palmyra opens the unique possibility for the Near East, to answer questions of transition and continuity from the hellenistic to the roman period.

By geophysical prospection, the settlement of pre-roman Palmyra was localized south of the wadi outside the later roman town. By test trenches it was proofed that building activities in this area can be dated from the 3rd century BC up to the 3rd century AD. This throws a completely new light on the historical development of the urbanism of Palmyra. In the very centre of this area, a large courtyard like building was excavated and studied. Many rooms of this building were decorated with wall paintings and stucco decorations of stunning high quality. The luxurious wall decorations as well as the rich other finds, especially the pottery, the glass and metal finds, but also animal bones and botanic material allow an interpretation of the structure as a caravan building (`Khan`) or residence of a caravan leader. Imports from as far as from Spain, North Africa, Italy, the Greek Islands, Cyprus, Egypt and Mesopotamia prove the enormous wealth by world wide global trade connections and throw a new light on the economic and social history of the caravan city. The construction of the building about the middle of the 1st century BC and its destruction or abundance at the end of the 3rd century AD might be understood with the creation of the Roman province Syria (in 64 BC) on the one hand and with the capture of Palmyra by the Roman emperor Aurelian (in 272/3 AD) on the other hand.