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Tony WILKINSON, on the Margin of the Euphrates. Settlement and Land Use at Tell Es‑Sweyhat and in the Upper Tabqa Area, Syria Syria Archéologie, art et histoire 86 | 2009 Dossier : Interaction entre Assyriens et Araméens Tony WILKINSON, On the Margin of the Euphrates. Settlement and Land Use at Tell es‑Sweyhat and in the Upper Tabqa Area, Syria. Jean-Louis Huot Édition électronique URL : http://journals.openedition.org/syria/560 DOI : 10.4000/syria.560 ISSN : 2076-8435 Éditeur IFPO - Institut français du Proche-Orient Édition imprimée Date de publication : 1 novembre 2009 Pagination : 349-352 ISBN : 9782351591512 ISSN : 0039-7946 Référence électronique Jean-Louis Huot, « Tony WILKINSON, On the Margin of the Euphrates. Settlement and Land Use at Tell es‑ Sweyhat and in the Upper Tabqa Area, Syria. », Syria [En ligne], 86 | 2009, mis en ligne le 01 juillet 2016, consulté le 24 septembre 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/syria/560 ; DOI : https://doi.org/ 10.4000/syria.560 © Presses IFPO Syria 86 (2009) RECENSIONS 349 Tony WILKINSON, On the Margin of the Euphrates. Settlement and Land Use at Tell es-Sweyhat and in the Upper Tabqa Area, Syria, Oriental Institute Publications 124, The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2004, 35 cm, broché, 276 p., 16 pl. en noir, 87 fig. Prix : 60,00 £. ISBN : 1-88592-329-5. On sait combien la Syrie d’aujourd’hui, au sein exemple de ces écueils, des succès et des difficultés de d’une zone de plus en plus instable et troublée, recherches menées avec opiniâtreté dans ce contexte demeure un petit paradis pour les archéologues. Ceux délicat. Par-delà un titre passe-partout, le sous-titre est qui la fréquentaient à la fin des années soixante virent plus explicite : Occupation et utilisation du territoire avec intérêt, puis passion, l’intensité des recherches à Tell es-Sweyhat et dans la région supérieure du sur le terrain exploser à partir de la pose de la première lac Assad, Syrie. Cet ouvrage constitue le volume pierre du barrage el-Assad sur le moyen Euphrate, 1 de la publication des fouilles de Tell es-Sweyhat. en 1968. Il y eut bien là, pour employer un terme Elles avaient été entreprises dès les premières galvaudé, une véritable révolution de la recherche, années des opérations de sauvetage entraînées par analogue à celle qui avait secoué l’Iraq voisin dès la création du barrage sur l’Euphrate, le plus grand les années trente, et qui dura jusqu’à la catastrophe édifice hydraulique créé en Syrie à Tabqa, entre de 1990. En Syrie, la passion archéologique se donne Raqqa et Meskené, à 150 km d’Alep. Dès 1972, les encore libre cours et l’on ne saurait trop souligner, archéologues français, belges, suisses, allemands, dans le climat d’intolérance du monde d’aujourd’hui, américains, japonais, s’activaient, à côté de nombreux combien la coopération archéologique internationale collègues syriens. Les Britanniques, pour leur part, est toujours à l’ordre du jour dans ce pays, malgré sous la direction de Thomas A. Holland, s’étaient les aléas et les fluctuations de relations politiques installés à Tell es-Sweyhat. Trois campagnes y furent internationales parfois tendues. conduites de 1973 à 1975 (voir Levant 1976 et 1977, Dans la vallée du moyen Euphrate, le colloque Iraq 1975 et J. Margueron éd., Le moyen Euphrate, de Strasbourg de mars 1977 sur Le moyen Euphrate, zone de contacts et d’échanges, Strasbourg, 1980, zone de contacts et d’échanges, édité ensuite par p. 127-157). Après une interruption de… quatorze J. Margueron, laissait présumer ce bouillonnement. ans, les fouilles reprirent en 1989, en liaison avec Trois décennies plus tard, il n’est heureusement pas les universités de Chicago et de Pennsylvanie retombé. Ce phénomène entraîne des conséquences (Th. Holland et R. Zettler, AJA 95, 1991, p. 717-719). diverses. D’une part, les recherches de terrain, De ces opérations de fouille, le volume 2, dans la innombrables, rendent de plus en plus difficile la même série prestigieuse (Th. Holland, OIP 125, maîtrise d’une information foisonnante. Les colloques Chicago, 2006), vient de rendre compte. thématiques se succèdent (par exemple, il y a peu, Parallèlement à cette publication de type celui d’Udine en 2004, voir D. Morandi-Bonacossi traditionnel, le volume 1 s’intéresse non pas au (éd.), Urban and natural Landscape of an Ancient site proprement dit, mais à son insertion dans son Syrian Capital, Settlement and Environnement at arrière-pays proche. Il s’agit d’une autre entreprise, Tell Mishrifeh/Qatna and in Central-Western Syria, plus “à la mode”, mais non moins lente dans son Udine, 2007), les rapports préliminaires et les notes exécution. Le coordinateur principal et éditeur, Tony sur la toile se multiplient. D’autre part, les entreprises J. Wilkinson, est bien connu, et depuis longtemps, archéologiques continuent à se déployer avec la pour son intérêt pour ce qu’il appelle une “archéologie sage lenteur qui caractérise la discipline, qui n’aime du paysage”, une approche qu’il a longuement mûrie pas les impatients. On voit paraître des publications tout au long d’entreprises variées, conduites aussi qui s’efforcent de proposer la synthèse d’entreprises bien en Iran que dans la péninsule Arabique, en Syrie, menées par à-coups et s’étirant sur plusieurs décennies. Iraq ou Turquie, mais aussi au Maroc, en Grèce et Ce n’est pas sans inconvénient. Les problèmes jusqu’au Canada. Son abondante bibliographie en soulevés évoluent, les méthodes employées se témoigne depuis quelque trois décennies (région transforment, la comparaison des données recueillies de Kurban Hüyük en Turquie, de Tell Beydar ou de à des dates diverses par des équipes différentes selon Sabi Abyad en Syrie, de Djezireh du Nord en Iraq). des protocoles changeants, n’en est pas facilitée. Mais Autour de Sweyhat, le projet s’est déroulé lentement. l’important n’est-il pas de recueillir le plus de données En Syrie, les “prospections”, comme on dit, n’ont primaires, s’agissant de pays où la transformation pas manqué (on en trouvera la liste dans ce volume, économique contemporaine entraîne de plus en plus p. 2-3). À Sweyhat, les ramassages commencèrent dès de destructions, volontaires ou non ? 1974, mais ne furent repris que dix-huit ans plus tard Le livre édité par Tony J. Wilkinson est un bon (1991-1992) de manière « plus systématique », nous 350 RECENSIONS Syria 86 (2009) dit-on. Ces travaux fournissent l’ossature du présent de l’occupation à l’Obeid conduit à la remarquable volume. augmentation du nombre et de l’importance des sites Le but de l’ouvrage, tel que présenté en p. 1, ne à l’Uruk moyen et récent (Habuba Kebira ou Djebel manque pas de souffle. Il consiste à « examiner le Aruda). Tell es Sweyhat (et Tell Hadidi) naissent au développement des villes, des agglomérations rurales début du IIIe millénaire et les sites de l’âge du Bronze et des paysages, tout au long des derniers dix mille ancien sont nombreux (outre les deux premiers cités, ans ». Il devient plus modeste dès la p. 3, où il s’agit il s’agit de Mumbaqa, Habuba Kebira, Halawa, seulement d’analyser « les relations éventuelles entre Selenkahiye, etc.). À l’entrée de la région dans les modifications de l’occupation du sol et l’emploi l’histoire, Sweyhat est apparemment dans l’orbite des terroirs à travers le temps ». Dans cette zone d’Ebla, mais survit à la destruction du Palais G de « climatiquement marginale » (une notion fort peu ce site. Durant la première moitié du IIe millénaire, définie, au demeurant), comment expliquer la présence comme beaucoup d’autres sites contemporains, d’un « site majeur » (notion tout aussi peu précisée) ? Sweyhat souffre d’un déclin marqué. Toute la région C’est la question de la colonisation d’une terre tombe ensuite sous l’influence de l’administration « climatiquement marginale ». Les débats fleurissent en hittite centrée à Carchémish. Au milieu du IXe siècle, effet sur ce thème depuis près de trente ans. Existe-t-il elle est désormais connue sous le nom de Bit Adini, un rapport entre les fluctuations de l’occupation du bientôt annexée par Salmanasar III. Durant les IXe sol et d’éventuels « changements climatiques » ? La et VIIIe siècles elle semble à la frontière de l’empire zone d’étude retenue est volontairement petite, une néo-assyrien, mais les sites sont rares. La période plaine d’environ 10 km du nord au sud et 7 km d’est achéménide est mal connue et, par-delà l’époque en ouest, entre le plateau de la Djezireh syrienne qui séleucide, l’extension de la présence administrative la limite au nord, à l’est et au sud, et le cours actuel de romaine semble graduelle. Entre le Ier siècle avant l’Euphrate, à l’ouest. Sur ce petit territoire, quelque et la fin du IIIe siècle apr. J.-C., l’occupation semble 28 sites (occupés du début du IIIe millénaire jusqu’au dense, pour atteindre un optimum de peuplement XIXe siècle apr. J.-C.) sont l’objet de l’analyse. De durant les Ve et VIe siècles. Avec la conquête islamique, nombreux voyageurs l’ont parcouru durant les deux la région redevient une zone-frontière et la population derniers siècles, depuis Burckhardt (publié en 1822) se concentre dans quelques agglomérations. Après et G. Bell (1909), ou encore A. Musil (1915) l’invasion mongole, les terres à l’ouest de l’Euphrate jusqu’aux archéologues contemporains. On a noté tombent sous administration mamelouk (milieu du XIIIe depuis longtemps la faiblesse administrative de la siècle) et les éleveurs nomades occupent les lieux. région aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles et son retour rapide C’est au sein de ce schéma général bien connu au nomadisme, et la reprise en main récente par les qu’il faut replacer la contribution des analyses de autorités successives, qui voit par exemple Raqqa, T.
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