Ricerc@Sapienza

From 2007–2010, a team from Sapienza University of Rome, working at Tell Mardikh, ancient Ebla, excavated one of the longest and better-preserved Early Bronze IVB (c. 2300–2000 BC) stratigraphic and architectural sequences known, thus far, in Western Inland Syria. This provided a unique chance to revise ceramic chronology and phasing of Early Bronze IVB at the site, and to elaborate a four-phase relative periodization (EB IVB1–4). Furthermore, a group of ceramic samples selected from different phases within this sequence recently underwent chemical and petrographic analyses within the Ebla Chora Project.

In this article, we report on the preliminary results of the chrono-typological study, present a summary of the petrographic and technological examination, and put forward some considerations on pottery production at Ebla during the last quarter of the 3rd millennium BC. Building on these insights, we will try to frame Ebla's EB IVB typological and petrographic dataset into a micro- (the Ebla region) and macro-regional (Western Inland Syria) picture by means of parallels with other Syrian sites that have yielded EB IVB assemblages and/or petrographic data. This will allow us to deal with issues of inter-regional comparison and synchronization that might challenge current interpretations of EB IVB regional periodization and ceramic regionalism in Western Inland Syria.