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Ras Shamra, Minet El-Beida and Ras Ibn Hani: the Material Sources

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Ras Shamra, Minet El-Beida and Ras Ibn Hani: the Material Sources CHAPTER TWO RAS SHAMRA, MINET EL-BEIDA AND RAS IBN HANI: THE MATERIAL SOURCES A H.W. C 1I Seventy years have elapsed since a chance discovery was made close to the coast of Syria which was to spark off a series of archaeologi- cal investigations which have continued right up to the present. Not only have the excavations revealed an important commercial centre— the ancient city of Ugarit—which flourished in the second millen- nium , thereby shedding light on the history and culture of the area and of the wider ancient Near Eastern world. They have also yielded a hitherto unknown language or dialect—Ugaritic—which has made an important contribution to the study of the north-west Semitic languages in addition to giving access to the life and thought of the people of the city. The facts, firstly that the newly discovered language was seen to be akin to Hebrew, secondly that the texts, once deciphered, were found to contain references to deities men- tioned in the Hebrew Bible, in particular the god Baal, and thirdly that the site was geographically rather closer to the land occupied by the Israelites than the other great centres of ancient Near Eastern civilization (though the considerable distance has sometimes been minimised) all doubtless contributed to the early claims that a site of major significance had been discovered. This had its pluses and its minuses. It brought the discoveries to earlier prominence and to a wider audience than might otherwise have been the case. But the issue of the relevance of the discoveries at Ugarit for the study of the Hebrew Bible, exacerbated by the tendency to assume that Ugarit was a Canaanite city, has often been unduly dominant, at the expense of an appreciation of Ugarit and its texts in their own right. The excavation of other ancient cites in Syria, notably Ebla and Emar, has helped to redress the balance somewhat and enabled Ugarit to be seen in its rather more immediate geographical milieu. 6 2D E E The chance discovery alluded to above took place in the spring of 1928 some 10 km to the north of Latakia, close to a small bay, the white rocks at whose entrance had given it the name Minet el-Beida (formerly known as Leukos Limen, both names meaning ‘white har- bour’). A local farmer was halted in the task of ploughing his land when his ploughshare struck a large piece of stone which, on closer examination, turned out to be one of a number of stone slabs which formed the roof of a vaulted tomb. It appears that a number of antiquities had alread been found in the vicinity, so the discovery was brought to the attention of the Service des Antiquités en Syrie et au Liban. Its director at the time was Charles Virolleaud, who was sub- sequently to play a major role in the decipherment of Ugaritic and the early publication of the Ugaritic texts. He sent a member of his staff, Léon Albanèse, to visit the site and it was identified as a necro- polis. Some pieces of ceramic were found which appeared to be of Mycenean or Cypriot origin and to date from approximately the thirteenth century . However the site was not, at that stage, thought to be particularly interesting. Fortunately a plan of the tomb and some pottery samples were sent to the Louvre in Paris for further examination. There they came to the notice of René Dussaud, who was at the time Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, and who noted that the tomb appeared to be reminiscent of Cretan funerary vaults. He suggested that what had been discovered might be the necropolis of a significant city. Albanèse had already noticed that there was a mound nearby whose shape suggested that it might be a tell. This hill was known as Ras Shamra, the name (which means ‘fennel head[land]’) being derived from the plants which grew on its surface. So it was decided that excavations should be carried out on the site, under the aus- pices of the French Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, under the direction of Claude F.A. Schaeffer. It was in the Spring of 1929 that the first team of archaeologists (accompanied by a detachment of soldiers to safeguard them) arrived on the site, their equipment having been transported on the backs of camels because the roads in the vicinity could not be used by motor vehicles. The initial work undertaken involved a survey of the vicinity, and traces of occupation stretching from the Neolithic period to the time of the Romans were discovered. It was on April 2nd.
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