AL-RĀFIDĀN Vol.XXX 2009 135
In February of2007,theSyria-Japan ArchaeologicalJointResearch in theBishriRegion started thefield worksin theregion ofAr-Raqqa.Sincethen,seven timesofthejointworksin thefield werecarried outuntilDecemberof2008 asfollows:
The1stseason offield works:February 15 to March 3,2007 The2ndseason offield works:May 6 to 30,2007
The3rdseason offield works:August1 to 29,2007
The4thseason offield works:November8 to December12,2007 The5thseason offield works:March 3 to April5,2008
The6thseason offield works:April25 to June6,2008
The7thseason offield works:October10 to December2,2008
Composed of18 research teamslisted below,specialized in naturaland culturalsciences,thismulti- diciplinary jointresearch aimsto clarify,through harmonized cooperativefield worksin theBishri region south ofAr-Raqqa,changesofnaturalenvironment,patternsofsettlement,subsistencepatterns, architecturalstyles,artisticstylesand socialrelationship,thereby clarifying how ancientpastoral nomadictribescontributed to theformation ofagriculture-based urban societiesalong theMiddle Euphrates,North-EastSyria.
1)Supervising Team “Archaeological Research in West Asia based on Integrated Research Methods（Di” rector:Katsuhiko Ohnuma）
2)Research Team “Relationship between the Behavioral Evolution and the Process of Sedentalisation during thePalaeolithicPeriod in WestAsia”(Director:HiroyukiSato) 3)Research Team “Expansion Process of Food Production Economy and Formation of
Community in theArid AreaofWestAsia”(Director:Yoshihiro Nishiaki)
4)Research Team “A ComparativeStudy on theBurialPatternsofthePastoralNomadicTribes” (Director:Sumio Fujii)
5)Research Team “A Study oftheProcessofUrbanization in WestAsia”(Director:AkiraTsuneki) 6)Research Team “Integrated Research on theAssyrian Civilization in Northern Mesopotamia”
(Director:HirotoshiNumoto)
7)Research Team “Establishment and Development of the Civilization of Sumerian Writing System”(Director:KazuyaMaekawa)
8)Research Team “DevelopmentofCity-Statesand theTribesin WestAsia”(Director:Akio Tsukimoto)
PRELI MI NARY REPORTS OF THE SYRI A- JAPAN ARCHAEOLOGI CAL JOI NT RESEARCH I N THE REGI ON OF AR- RAQQA, SYRI A, 2008
I NTRODUCTI ON
MichelAL-MAQDISSI* Katsuhiko OHNUMA**
* DirectorofArchaeologicalExcavationsand Research,theDirectorateGeneralofAntiquitiesand Musems,Damascus, SYRIA
** Professor,Kokushikan University,Tokyo,JAPAN
136 MichelAl-MAQDISSIand Katsuhiko OHNUMA
9)Research Team “Environmental History of the Middle Euphrates based on Environmental Geology,EnvironmentalChemistry and C14 Dating”(Director:Mitsuo Hoshino)
10)Research Team “BiologicalFeaturesoftheAncientInhabitantsoftheMiddleEuphratesand itsPeripheralRegion”(Director:HidemiIshida)
11)Research Team “Zoologicaland BotanicalArchaeology in thePrehistoricto theCity-State SocietiesofWestAsia”(Director:HitomiHongo)
12)Research Team “A Study on theStylesand theGenealogy ofMasonry Techniquesin Ancient WestAsian Architecture”(Director:YasuyoshiOkada)
13)Research Team “BasicStructureand Re-arrangementoftheBishriMountainsTribalCulture in theAncientOasisCity,Palmyra”(Director:Saeko Miyashita)
14)Research Team “Developing Data-baseofArchaeologicalSitesofWestAsia:An Investigation through theAnalysisofSatelliteImages”(Director:Ken Matsumoto)
15)Research Team “An ArchaeologicalStudy on theNomadicTribalCommunitiesin Northern Eurasia:A ComparativeStudy”(Director:Shu Takahama)
16)Research Team “A Study oftheProcessofUrbanization in theSteppicalBorderofSyriain theThird and Second MillenniaB.C.”(Director:MichelAl-Maqdissi)
17)Research Team “A Study of the Bronze Age Pottery Obtained by the Syria-Japan ArchaeologicalJointResearch in theRegion ofAr-Raqqa”(Director:MichelAl-Maqdissi) 18)Research Team “New PerspectivesofAnthropology and History towardsArab TribalSystems”
(Director:MasayukiAkahori)
Thememberswho participated in theseven timesofthejointworksareasbelow:
Syrian Party: Michel Al-Maqdissi (Superviser), Anas Al-Khabour (director), Shaker Al-Shbib (director), Ahmed Sultan (Director), Ayham Al-Fahry, Mahmmod Al-Hassan, Ibrahim Musa, Mohamad AliJajan,Mohamad Ibrahim and Aed Issa.
JapaneseParty:Katsuhiko Ohnuma(Superviserand Director),HiroyukiSato,Masanobu Tachibana, Yoshihiro Nishiaki,Tomoyasu Kiuchi,Sumio Fujii,Takuro Adachi,KaeSuzuki,AkiraTsuneki, AtsunoriHasegawa,HirotoshiNumoto,Shogo Kume,IzumiYoda,HarumiHorioka,HaiderUrebi, Mitsuo Hoshino,TsuyoshiTanaka,Toshio Nakamura,Hidekazu Yoshida,TakeshiSaito,Kazuhiro Tsukada,YusukeKatsurada,Ken-ichiTanno,LubnaOmar,ChieAkashi,YasuyoshiOkada,Naoko Fukami,RyuichiYoshitake,Yo Negishi,PanagiotisTokmakidis,Shouko Ueda,Natsuko Fujikawa, Saeko Miyashita,HitoshiHasegawa,TomoyaGoto,Shu Takahama,Toshio Hayashi,RyujiMatsubara, ToshikiYagyu,Kenichiro Takao and Yoshihiko Nakano.
In the1stseason offield works,weundertook surveysofarchaeologicalsitesand birsin theresearch region,and confirmed thatthereisabiasin thedatesofthesitesdistribued on theEuphratesplateau between thetownsofMansuraand Ghanem al-Ali.Wealso confirmed thatmostofthesitesin the western partoftheresearch region aredated to theRoman,Byzantineand Islamicperiods,while in theeastern partonly afew sitesaredistributed,severalofwhich aredated to theEarly Bronze Age.
On thebasisofthesearchaeologicalsurveys,wechoseTellGhanem al-Aliand TellHammadin in the2ndseason ascandidatesforfutureexcavations.
And in the3rdseason,trench excavationswerestarted atthesiteofTellGhanem al-Ali,and they werecontinued in the4thand 7thseasons.Survey ofcairnsalong thenorthern edgeoftheMount Bishriwasalso started in the3rdseason.
In the5thseason,wecarried outintensivesurveysofarchaeologicalsitesin theresearch region to clarify theEBA land-usepatternsaround TellGhanem al-Ali,in orderto gain furtherrecordsof population history in thisregion sinceearliertimes.Wealso carried outsondageatRujum Hedaja
PRELIMINARY REPORTS OF THE SYRIA-JAPAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOINT RESEARCH 137 IN THE REGION OF AR-RAQQA,SYRIA,2008:INTRODUCTION
nearBirRahub in the5thto 7thseasons,with aview to exploring thepastoralbackground ofthe EBA society in themiddleEuphratesriverbasin.
In the5thto 7thseasons,wealso carried outsurveysattheEarly BronzeAgehilltop tombsaround thevillageofGhanem al-Ali,in orderto shed lighton thefunerary aspectoftheEBA settlement ofTellGhanem al-Ali.
During thesurveysabove,ourgeolo-geographicalteam confirmed thatthesiteofTellGhanem al-Aliissituated on the1striverterraceoftheEuphratesamong the1stto 4thterracesin theresearch region.
Featuresoftheobjects,obtained during theseriesoffield worksand related surveys,demonstrate thatthesiteofTellGhanem al-Ali,thetombsnearTellGhanem al-Ali,and thecairn gravesatRujum Hedajaarealtogetherdated within theEarly BronzeAge(EB IIIto EB Iva)periods,leading usto expectthattheresearch to continuewillclarify how ancientpastoralnomadictribescontributed to theformation ofagriculture-based urban societiesalong theMiddleEuphrates,North-EastSyria.
Thepaperspresented herearethethreeworking reportsofthe5thto 7thfield worksin theforms oftheirsubmission to theSyrian DirectorateGeneralofAntiquitiesand Musems(seeAl-Maqdissi, Ohnuma,Al-Khabour,etal.(2008)fortheworking reportsofthe1stto 4thfield works).
Dr.Bassam Jamous,DirectorGeneraloftheSyrian DirectorateGeneralofAntiquitiesand Musems kindly understood thisjointresearch and havebeen constantly cooperating towardsitssuccess,and weexpressoursincerestgatitudeto him forhisheart-warming cooperation.
31/December/2008
