City and hinterland. Villages and estates north of Palmyra. New perspectives
City and hinterland. Villages and estates north of Palmyra. New perspectives

Summary/Abstract: D. Schlumberger’s excavations in the Jebel Chaar area north of Palmyra in the 1930s revealed several villages, which he dated to the first three centuries AD. Most scholars have classified the villages as pastoral holdings or centers of camel herding or horse breeding. A joint Norwegian–Syrian survey (2008–2011) north of Palmyra, combined with studies of satellite images, has shown a very high concentration of villages with water-catching systems also in the mountains north of Palmyra. This implies a much more differentiated economy, including agriculture and horticulture, suggesting that the villages were an integrated part of Palmyra’s food supply. The chronology of the finds shows that an intensive exploitation of the Palmyrene hinterland continued into the Umayyad period.

• Details
• Contents