Unknown Qatna Amazing Ruins & Royal Tomb Discoveries

Part I

www.ancient-cultures.info Introduction modern town like it was the case in Bosra. Also You possibly have not heard of this intrigu- different to Bosra when excavations begun all ing archeological site. Reason being that modern buildings erected on the archeological Qatna lies in war torn Syria. Most of you site were removed and its inhabitants resettled. might have read about famous Palmyra and Bosra or seen a report of it on TV. Few It really was an archeological sensation when might even have had the chance to visit in 2002 and again in 2009 two untouched those impressive ruins before the war in royal tombs with rich funeral furnishings Syria started like I was fortunate to do so. were discovered during excavations by Ger- man archeologists beneath the main pal- Unfortunately, Qatna was never open for visits ace building. Now let’s look a bit in more and was not listed in any tourist information. detail at this fascinating prehistoric site. Despite various excavation campaigns no re- constructions were undertaken at all. Never- Qatna History theless, it is one of the most interesting un- About 4,000 years ago Qatna was established known treasures in the Near East to explore as trade center between Halab/Aleppo in the for times to come. Qa- north and port city of tna really is different from Ugarit in the south. legendary Palmyra and From the start an Bosra in many aspects. Amurrite dynasty ruled Qatna for five First its square layout with centuries. They arose massive mud walls has re- from independent ally no comparison in pre- nomadic tribes called historic Syria. Secondly it in historic sources was very much destroyed amurru or apiru. Ex- and over time the mod- perts established ern town of Al Mushrefa that Qatna was an expanded more and more important city state into the archeological site. and not a kingdom with large territories. Unfortunately, it was also used to source building The modern Tell el- materials for the growing Mischrife or Al Mush-

2 arefa village is situated sive earth wall with outer about 18 kms northeast moat and reached an ex- of Homs. The ancient city tension of over hundred was built at the confluence hectares. This was rather of two rivers. New land of huge at the time and is 25 ha for agricultural pro- described in more detail duction was created to further on in this article. sustain its urban devel- opment. This was man- First Phase aged by a well-organized Around 2700 BC in the production process with Early Bronze Age a settle- sizable over production ment existed at the site of allowing a growing trade the later upper city. It had to flourish with exports. a round layout of an aston- ishing 30 ha at the time. Around Qatna 17 satellite The houses on the pla- towns on two hierarchy teau were rather large with levels focused on well-or- various rooms and outside ganized agricultural pro- shaft silos for food storage. duction. Various springs secured permanent water In total over 100 storage supply as main basis for pits found, plus two grain the growing city and agri- storage rooms. Around culture expansion. Annual 2500 BC warehouses and rain fall reached only 500 silos were erected on millimeters on average. destroyed and flattened houses on the plateau. The first use of the name These silos were used Qatna or QTN as no vo- for long time storage of cals existed in old alpha- agricultural products in- bets was based on a dam cluding barley, wheat, built close to the city. We grapes, olives and pulses. know that at some stage the following ancient cit- Second Phase ies belonged to Qatna: About 2000 BC a mayor Qadesh, Homs, Palmyra, settlement extension was Dur Ischchi-Addu, Nazala/ done by Amurritic tribes Qaryalein and Arattum. who moved in from the mid So far only ten percent of Qatna could be excavated.

City Developments Let us now look at the first developments from a small regional town to an important regional trading center with long distance trade connections. Qatna had a common city layout with citadel enforced by a stone wall at its foot. All vital buildings lay within the citadel. The lower city area consisted of living quarters. The city was protected by a mas-

3 port on the Mediterranean coast and Alalakh the Murk- ish capital on the Orontes river west of Halab/Aleppo.

This temple of goddess NIN.É.GAL or belet-ekallim housed an important invento- ry of cuneiform platelets with hundreds of text lines listing cult objects, their sponsors and even Qatna rulers allowing to record a full chronol- ogy of rulers. The so-called gods of lands temple plus a temple with separate cult Euphrates region. Qatna re- surrounding official rooms, buildings and rectangular ceived a square layout includ- plus a smaller yard with small- cella formed the holy area. ing an upper and lower city. It’s er private rooms. A temple with building layout was similar to a holy cella, columned ante The lower city consisted of the Mesopotamian city of Mari portico and a basin in front several residential areas with and Ebla in the Fertile Crescent. was also erected during that varying architecture and some time. A necropolis with 50 sim- residences included work- And Qatna was now enforced ple burials in pits or large pot- shops. All crucial buildings by most impressive and solid tery vessels with rich funerary were than located in the upper city walls. The earth wall was gifts was established as well. city and residential areas at the 20 meters high with a base of lower city area. West of Loth 70 meters, plus a five meters Third Phase Hill a rich living area was estab- high brick wall on top. This During this phase a large resi- lished with complex houses. structure was unique in the re- dential area was added. This During that period important gion and various attacks were included the small South Pal- pottery mass production took successfully fought off by it. ace as part of a group of pub- place imitating the beautiful lic buildings and other small ceramic ware from Mycenae. Four city gates east, west, palaces in the upper city. south and north were guard- Qatna’s First Attack ed by 500 soldiers delegat- A long rectangular temple The establishment of long- ed from various towns. The was also erected similar to distance trade resulted in city gates were similar to the that in Ugarit a Phoenician wealth and various city states typical Syrian city gates with three bottlenecks and two chambers to control access.

The new city wall changed the shape of the lake, now run- ning along three sides of the wall with a small pond inside the wall. The enormous earth wall structure proved very ef- fective against various forms of ancient attacks with ar- chers, ramming devices, mo- bile towers and tunnel digging.

The first palace in Qatna was built in the period around 1800 BC with a central courtyard and

4 and kingdoms to grow. So Fourth Phase Qatna was growing again to an wars about resources and Aramaic tribes repopulated extension of 70 ha. But it was gained treasures were be- Qatna around 900 BC. They only a regional production coming a common thread. built a new palace in the center in the Hamath Empire west upper city surrounded with 20 rural villages around No surprise Qatna was at- again by various complex- forming part of the desig- tacked, plundered and de- es, residential area, artisan nated Qatna manufacturing stroyed first time by Hittite area, walls and the West Gate unit. The lower town area was King Suppilulima in 1350 BC was rebuilt in a new layout. growing including the size of and inhabitants were deported houses with various rooms to Anatolia. Hittites were able This palace was similar to around a court yard includ- to win the battle, because they the Hama royal palace, with ing a cult room with shrine. had developed iron swords a rectangular long court- which were stronger than yard with representation Final Attack & Demise the bronze weapons every- and store rooms around it. 720 BC Qatna was again de- body else used in the area. Qatna was now part of the stroyed by Neo-Assyrian King regional Hamath Empire, Sargon II. who conquered Thereafter Qatna was re- a Luwic Aramaic dynasty. also the Hamath Empire. built again. It was report- Thereafter only reduced ac- ed that Egyptian Pharaoh This rebuilding included tivities took place in Qatna. Tuthmosis III. visited Qa- buildings used for residen- tna, but did not conquer it. tial and production pur- Until 550 BC only a small settle- Later Amenhotep II. tried to poses such as: seals, jew- ment existed on the acropolis attack Qatna, but was not elry, metal works, weaving with limited agriculture, weav- able to conquer it either, due including coloring, pottery ing and pottery production. to its huge and very effec- and agricultural production. Around 330 BC Qatna was tive defensive wall structure. finally deserted with no fur- A large building for com- ther residential activities. But later around 1200 BC Qat- mercial wine production was na was destroyed again in var- also erected, assumed to Qatna’s Important Buildings ious attacks and finally given serve for export purposes. Now let us look a bit closer up. There is a lack of archae- Over 100 silos and under- at the important palace build- ological evidence of settle- ground storage pits were ings in Qatna. They are re- ment for 300 years thereafter. built during this period. ally extraordinary in many

5 aspects regarding their enor- ceremonial halls. The layout Two floor high walls with six mous size, elaborate structure with hall A to C is of Meso- meters are still in situ today. and skillful wall paintings. But potamian origin, same as in The palace facade shows from an archeological point of the Zimri-lim palace in Mari, regular niches and the outer view the most incredible dis- the palace in Eshnunna and walls were painted white. covery were two untouched the palace of King Nuradad royal tombs found during ex- in Larsa or the palace in Tell The cedar wood roof beams cavations of the main place. Bi’a. This layout type could with a length of 12 meters also be called Amurritic and came from the Lebanese This was a real sensation when was used already from 2300 mountains 50 kms away. the news spread of the first roy- BC onwards in the Dijala area. And the basalt column bas- al tomb in 2002 and then again es were transported from its in 2009 for another surprise The Qatna palace had no space quarry over 30 kms to Qatna. discovery of the second royal for administration activities, these were housed in separate Huge Palace Halls Main Palace buildings. It was built on an How come that in Qatna ev- Qatna had the largest palace in eight meters high plateau with erything was built bigger Syria and Palestine with over 100 five meters high foundations than in other important cit- rooms measuring 150 x 120 me- resulting in the palace floor ies in Mesopotamia? Was ters with a total space of 18,000 being fourteen meters above it a demonstration of over- square meters. This enormous the surrounding city level. This whelming trading wealth? size made it larger than the fa- gave it an impressive sight. mous Mari palace. It is suggest- Certainly it was not a dem- ed to have been built from 1800 Its builders must have had ad- onstration of political or BC onwards during the rule of vanced architectural knowl- military power. Because Ischchi-Addu and Amut-pi’el. edge because they installed Qatna was not a kingdom a complex drainage system and never started any mili- But another opinion dates to prevent any water damage. tary campaign to conquer the palace at 1650 BC based They also had the ability to build and plunder other cities. on pottery shreds excavated wide unsupported flat roofs. in its foundation fillings. Two The audience hall measured building phases closely fol- The four arched doorways 36 meters square and was lowed each other. And it took in line were the only one’s the biggest covered hall less than 50 years to built, found so far in Syria. The pal- in the region. It was larger which was fast at the time. ace building had three floors than the main hall at the with a total height of eight famous Hittite capital Hat- The architectural focus was meters which made it again tusa, which had 25 col- on large representation and unique in the whole of Syria. umns to support its roof.

6 Coloring and motives of bend palm trunks suggest the paint work was done by Aegean art- ists similar to frescos in the Greek islands of Akrotiri, Thera and Routsi. The wall socket was done in black with white spots and dark red bands.

The wall underground color was white. Stucco work was done in six layers and up to 20 centimeters thick and show proof of regular repair and over painting. These painted walls had a short life span. Because mud brick walls con- tracted and extended with regular temperature changes.

Aegean motives with Syr- ian stucco and drafting tech- niques were used. It is assumed that technology Another interesting feature ing features are the richly transfer took place and not im- was a central basalt pool or fire painted walls. They were port of Aegean artisans, which place in the floor. In a corner painted with Minion mo- was done 200 years earlier. As a shrine was erected for the tives by artisans from Crete. a result we see here a unique most important Ninegal god- mix of Syrian tradition with dess adorned with a beautiful Over 3,000 fragments of the wonderful Aegean motives. marble sphinx for worshipping. elaborate wall paintings found in the well during excavations. Lower City Palace The rectangular throne hall with Aegean painted wall frag- This was built in the period six meters wide door way was ments only found in one room from 1600 BC on an eight nearly as large measuring 45 x next to well in northwest sec- meter high terrace for cer- 16 meters. It was three times tion of palace. They show an emonial and representation bigger than the Mari throne hall. underwater landscape with use with two entrances, more turtles, fish, crab, dolphin on than 65 rooms, three large The ceremonial hall was simi- red gray underground color. court yards, throne hall, stor- lar in size and used for ban- As well as mini landscape with age rooms, various kitchens, quets as well as cult rituals. A blue palm trees and rocks. beverage store, bathrooms huge well with circular basalt with sanitary installations, stairs two meters wide and some walls were covered with five flights in the northwest basalt, others were painted. corner of the palace was the biggest well in the region mea- Here 50 stands for ceramic suring ten meters square with drink containers were found, a depth of 20 meters. A door plus many ivory in-lay pieces lead from the audience hall via from wooden furniture and a long corridor and stair case many painted pottery items to the first untouched royal from Mycenae, east Mediter- tomb 14 meters below ground ranean area, Mesopotamia, with four burial chambers. Cyprus and Mittani Nuzi ware.

Painted Walls A remarkable piece found here One of the most amaz- as well is a beautiful human

7 main palace. In total around 20 royal burials were counted including females and children most deceased aged 20 to 60.

Interesting door concept from mythical story of goddess Ishtar to pass seven doors to the underworld. Here two identical fine and un- damaged king statues made of basalt with inlaid eyes were discovered. They are seated on a small stool both wearing the typical royal coat and cap and depicted with full partly shaved beard. These statues were guarding the royal tomb entrance door on each side. They show many similarities with royal tombs at Byblos.

The central chamber with over ten burials had four wooden columns with stone bases similar to the audience hall. The monolith ba- mask made of ivory with crystal in-laid eyes dated 1500 BC. salt sarcophagus without lid In the archives over 50 cuneiform platelets were discovered housed the remains of three evidencing grain and beer deliveries and listing animal counts. individuals and contained also an ivory scepter as well East Palace as various ceramic vessels. Was built in the Late Bronze Age period 1800 to 1550 BC. Its mud brick walls were three meters thick and nearly 20 me- On a stone bench many big ters long. This palace was built over various terraces with and medium sized ceramic foundations done in stone. A large west court yard with 15 storage vessels were placed rooms around it including a kitchen, stores and metal work- for food and drink, as well shops. Here clay tokens with seal imprints of King Yarim- as bottles, plates and bro- Lim of Jamchad and Sumu-Epuh were found. The palace ken seals. The bench had had some stucco walls with white and black painted decor. an interesting inscription of Egyptian queen Ahmes Nefer- South Palace tari mother of Amenhotep I. This was a small palace south of the main palace built during third phase. It was part of a group of public build- Four wooden stretchers with ings in the upper city area where further small palac- rests of human bones were es were erected. The smaller palaces might have been also placed in the chamber. Ar- the residences of important and wealthy trading clans. cheologists found various jewelry, gold platelets with relief First Royal Tombs depictions possibly attached It was a sensation when the first untouched royal tomb to clothing, bronze arrow was found in 2002. This was an archeologist dream heads, seals and other objects. come true for any archeologist. The remarkable fact was that the tomb was untouched and not plundered. The south chamber was not used for burials. It is the big- This tomb has four chambers. A central chamber with three side gest of the three side cham- chambers all fully carved out of bed rock deep underneath the bers, similar to the throne hall

8 with a wide entrance flanked by wooden columns and seen as the underworld palace of the deceased ruler. This chamber contained rests of an elaborate wooden bed with gold foil coverage including golden double duck heads assumed to be the handle of a cosmetic container lid. And along the wall a row of stone vessels was placed including one with an inscription of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III.

The east chamber was used for about seven royal burials. Here the bones of previously deceased royals were collected. The floor was covered with a huge amount of human bones and interestingly they were mixed with animal bones of sheep, goat, cattle, gazelle and fish. This might have been the place for secondary burials to make space for new burials. The animal bones might result from burial gifts or being the rests of annual ceremonial meals.

The west chamber contained three royal burials. In the basalt sarcophagus bones of two individuals were found with the only scull found in this tomb. It is assumed that the deceased were beheaded after death and sculls removed.

As burial furnishings many pieces of high value clothing were discovered here, including a unique jewelry hip chain with three strings of over 100 gold pearls and precious stones as well as solid gold and silver bowls.

Here banquets with ancestors in the tomb chambers took place. The ceramic plates with rests of meals are proof thereof. The 60 plus stone vessels found here are the biggest find of stone vessels in the region. Most were made of calcite or calcite alabaster.

Others made of serpentinite, carnelian, porphyria, gabbo-anorthosite and grano- diorite. In total there are about 20 different forms including so-called alabas- tona, jugs, bowls, tazza and amphorae.

Second Royal Tomb The first royal tomb find was already a sensation, but when the second royal tomb was found only seven years later in 2009 the involved archeologists flipped out. The second tomb was found under the northwest wing of the palace. als were counted. Also shaft tombs with mul- tiple burials existed. It was common practice Two royal stone statues again guarded the en- that older burials were removed to make trance. The door led to an ossarium for second- space for new burials. So older bones were ary burials with more than 50 skulls and bones stacked up in the corner like secondary buri-

9 als in an ossarium. It is assumed on top. Another practice were that the deceased with time food sacrifices or kispum reg- lost their identity and became ular monthly meals with de- part of the ancestral family. ceased or gods at new moon.

An area in this necropolis had Different to Egypt it was not graves for common people with necessary for religious be- simple single rectangular or liefs in Qatna to conserve the semi-circular pits. Graves were body, as the ghost of the de- always outlined in east west ceased or etemmu were im- direction. The deceased were portant in the ancestor cult. buried on their back, arms up, No sculls were found in burial legs to the right, heads west chambers. It is possible that with their faces south looking. deceased were beheaded af- Above their heads an eating ter death and their sculls got plate, a flat and deep bowl and special treatment for example small bottles were placed. There were covered with clay and was no difference between painted and kept in the house men and women regarding which was an ancient Neolith- burial furnishings. Only babies ic ritual found in the region. were buried in ceramic pots. Summery An Italian archeologic team re- Qatna is a very special place searched 50 skeletons with in- not only because two unplun- teresting results. Live expectan- dered royal tombs have been cy was low with 35 to 45 years. discovered in the last twenty Child mortality was high in the years. But it is also special first three years. But there was for its successful survival as no proof of epidemics and no important trading center be- traces of hard labor, but traces tween various powerful em- of repetitive artisan work. The pires and still being able to deceased were well feed with make enormous profits from proteins and carbon hydrates, trading activities with them. but showed differences between royals and common people. And still the question remains what was Qatna if it was not a Burial Rituals kingdom? Was it so success- Studying burial rituals a lot ful because it was only a trad- can be established about re- ing center run by trading clans ligious beliefs and culture. with no object to gain territo- People from Qatna used sim- ries via military campaigns? ple embalming with oil and resin paste rubs. Thereafter In history we have another good corps were heated for an hour example close by the Nabatae- at 200 degrees Celsius to dry ans. They were so successful out and get rid of body fluids. because they only focussed This also minimized bad smells on trading and were very ac- and enable them to perform tive long distance traders. rituals in the burial chambers. But there is no proof that Picture Credits We thank the Landesmuseum Wuert- These rituals included lying in Qatna traders were travel- temberg Stuttgart and Nationalmu- state, crying and praying cer- ing themselves to source seums Damascus & Homs for using emonies. Burial were done in their good from far away. It their pictures wooden coffins or on wooden seems they had chosen an beds covered in valuable textiles easier way to success. Tehy and jewelry with a floral branch produced everything locally.