ArcheoSciences Revue d'archéométrie

33 (suppl.) | 2009 Mémoire du sol, espace des hommes

Magnetic survey on the tell of Qinnasrin ()

Yves Bière, Marie-Odile Rousset and Christophe Benech

Electronic version URL: https://journals.openedition.org/archeosciences/1591 DOI: 10.4000/archeosciences.1591 ISBN: 978-2-7535-1599-4 ISSN: 2104-3728

Publisher Presses universitaires de Rennes

Printed version Date of publication: 30 October 2009 Number of pages: 205-207 ISBN: 978-2-7535-0943-6 ISSN: 1960-1360

Electronic reference Yves Bière, Marie-Odile Rousset and Christophe Benech, “Magnetic survey on the tell of Qinnasrin (Syria)”, ArcheoSciences [Online], 33 (suppl.) | 2009, Online since 30 October 2011, connection on 21 September 2021. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/archeosciences/1591 ; DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.4000/archeosciences.1591

Article L.111-1 du Code de la propriété intellectuelle. Magnetic survey on the tell of Qinnasrin (Syria)

Yves Bière *, Marie-Odile Rousset ** and Christophe Benech ***

Key words: Magnetic survey, City planning, Byzantine period, Islamic period, Syria.

Th e program of research on the site of Qinnasrin (Syria) has damian plan (Monceaux and Brossé, 1925, Fourdrin and been managed since 2003 in collaboration with the direction Feissel, 1994). of Syrian Antiquities and Museums and the Archeological During the byzantine period, the city reached its maxi- Museum of . Qinnasrin is generally recognized as the mal extent, with a fortress on the tell, domestic dwellings classical city of Calchis, near the modern village of al-‘Iss, at the bottom of the tell surrounded by fortifi cations and 25 km to south-west from Aleppo (Mouterde an Poidebard, suburbs outside dedicated to the artisanal and commercial 1945). Th e project scope is the study of one of the first of activities. Th e fortifi cations of the byzantine city are still Islamic cities from Northern Syria which has been the capi- visible and an inscription on the door attests to a restora- tal of the regional province From VIIth until Xth Century tion in 550 AD. BC. Th e study takes into account the most ancient elements During the omeyyad period (middle of VIIth – middle which conditioned the formation of the city and follows its VIIIth Century), the occupation of the city reduced to the evolution until its abandonment. tell and to its immediate neighborhood inside the ancient Th e site is located on the piedmont (foothills) of the byzantine city wall. Th e fortifi cation of the mountain could south-east extremity of the calcareous massif from Northern have been made during this period. Syria (Fig. 1 and 2). Th e top of the mountain is a remarkable With the Abbasid period (IXth-Xth Century), we observe point of observation between ploughed areas and steppish a new extension of the occupation in the northern sector land: a fortifi cation was built here between the VIth and IXth and on the mountain which certainly had been a refuge Century AD was controlled the entire region. Th e fi rst cam- during the military campaigns between Byzantines and paign in 2008 allowed us to determine the extension of the Muslims. We also know that Qinnasrin was, in the fi rst domestic dwellings for the diff erent periods and to identify half of the Xth Century, a rich agricultural region and a the main elements, between the fortifi cation on the moun- prosperous city. tain and the city itself (fortifi cations, tell/acropolis/citadel, In the XIth Century, Qinnasrin was reduced to a village residential quarters, necropolis, quarries, artisanal areas…). installed on the tell where some remains of this last occupa- Following the tradition, the city of Calchis should have tion are still visible. been founded by Seleukos 1st at the beginning of the IIIrd Century BC. An occupation from the Hellenistic period (IInd c. B.C.) has been identifi ed with traces of a hippo-

* Université de Bourgogne. ** Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, UMR 5189 Hisoma. *** Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, UMR 5133 Archéorient.

ArcheoSciences, revue d’archéométrie, suppl. 33, 2009, p. 205-207 206 Yves BIÈRE, Marie-Odile ROUSSET, Christophe BENECH

Figure 1: Aerial view (goo- gle) of the site.

MAGNETIC SURVEY orientations and streets. Th e organization on the tell is domi- nated by two major orientations: the fi rst one (14,3° to the east) A magnetic survey, with a Cesium gradiometer G858 concerns all the eastern part of the tell and also a big section of (Geometrics), has been carried out on the top of the tell the north-western part along the fortifi cation. Th is orientation which represents a surface of around 8ha (Fig. 3). In spite looks to be imposed by the shape of the northern limit of the of multiple occupations of the tell, we obtained a magnetic tell. Th e second orientation (14,5° to the west) is more limited map with rather clear results: many streets and buildings and to the south-western quarter of the tell and all along the western also a part of the fortifi cations are visible and give a good fortifi cation, following the western limit of the tell. idea of the spatial organization of the tell. As we could expect the organization is therefore infl uen- We can fi rst observe that this organization is the result ced by the shape of the tell and both orientations allow the of a long evolution: the organization we can observe here optimization of the use of the space inside the fortifi cations. doesn’t correspond to a specifi c plan but seems have rather Consequently, they don’t necessarily correspond to diff erent freely evolved following the destructions and reconstructions periods but can be contemporaneous and have been planned of the buildings. together. A more detailed analysis of the connection between We have nevertheless some elements which reveal a more the buildings belonging to each orientation will certainly planned organization, particularly if we consider buildings give us more information.

ArcheoSciences, revue d’archéométrie, suppl. 33, 2009, p. 205-207 Magnetic survey on the tell of Qinnasrin (Syria) 207

Figure 2 : View from the tell of the Byzantine town. Figure 3 : Magnetic survey on the tell.

We easily recognize on the magnetic map street segments References belonging to both orientations but this network doesn’t look continuous and seems to have been deeply modifi ed, even FOURDRIN, J.-P. and FEISSEL, D., 1994. Une porte urbaine if the main streets were probably still connected with the construite à de Syrie par Isidore de Milet Le Jeune doors of the fortifi cation. Nevertheless, the circulation on (550–551), Travaux et Mémoires, 12 : 299-307. the tell is not obvious to understand and many streets look MONCEAUX, P., BROSSÉ, L., 1925. Chalcis ad Belum. Notes sur to have evolved to dead ends. Another signifi cant element l’histoire et les ruines de la ville, Syria, 6: 339–350. of the organization is non-built areas which there are seve- MOUTERDE, R., POIDEBARD, A., 1945. Le limes de Chalcis : orga- ral. Th ey could correspond to some parts which have been nisation de la steppe en haute Syrie romaine, Bibliothèque destroyed and not reconstructed but all these places seem to Archéologique et Historique; 38. have an important role in the distribution of the circulation. Th e understanding of the connection of all these diff erent elements will probably give a better idea of the logic of occu- pation on the tell and its evolution.

ArcheoSciences, revue d’archéométrie, suppl. 33, 2009, p. 205-207