Pfälzner, Peter

Propylaeum-DOK

Qatna, Syria
Syria’s Royal Tombs uncovered
In 2002 the most fabulous royal tombs were discovered, concealed below the Bronze Age palace at 
Qatna, in Syria. These were remarkable not so much for their gold and jewellery - though there were 
many splendid objects - but because the tombs had been completely untouched since the day of their 
abandonment following the destruction of the palace - probably by the Hittites - in 1340 BC. As a result, 
a complete burial ritual can be worked out, and it is possible to see how the living celebrated the lives of 
their kings and commemorated their deaths. Peter Pfalzner, of the University of Tiibingen writes:
I
n the Middle Bronze Age, Qatna was one of 
the most important centres on the coast- 
lands of the east Mediterranean. It lay on a 
tributary to the river Orontes, 90km from 
the Mediterranean, and thus on an important 
crossroads: east to west from Mesopotamia to 
the Mediterranean, and south to north - from 
Egypt, into Palestine and up to Anatolia 
(modern Turkey) home of the Hittites. It reached 
its height in the middle Bronze Age, in the 18th 
to 17th centuries BC, when Qatna, together with 
Aleppo, were the two most important kingdoms 
in Western Syria. From the 16th -14th centuries 
it was a vassal of the Mitanni Empire, and it was
destroyed - most probably - by the Hittites in 
1340. There was also an extensive later Iron Age 
occupation on top. Today, it lies 20 km NE of the 
modern town of Homs, and is being excavated 
by three teams, a Syrian team from Damascus 
led by Michel Maqdissi, an Italian team from 
Udine led by Daniele Morandi Bonacossi, and a 
German team from Tiibingen led by Peter 
Pfalzner.
The burials lay within the palace at Qatna, 
and the palace formed part of the large Bronze 
Age town of Qatna. The town, unlike many 
ancient settlements of this part of the world, was 
not covered by substantial later settlements, and
Abov< The vast area of 
the ancient city of 
Qatna surrounded by 
high ramparts. In the 
centre is the terrace 
with the Royal Palace 
excavation.
I------ ■■■ urrentiwqrld iJilB archaeology
Originalveröffentlichung in: Current world archaeology 15, 2006, S. 12-22
current-i world i ■■■------ 1archaeology ■H]
Qatna, Syria
PLAN OF THE ROYAL TOMB
r l stone sarcophagus 
■I stone bench 
dl stone slab on floor 
mm wooden bench 
• stone base
asesleees8564! 6684
Plan of the tonbs.
is surrounded by ramparts still surviving 15-20m 
high that enclose some 100 hectares. At the 
centre is a palace that stands on a plateau that is 
mostly natural, though the top 5m are artificial. 
The palace was partially hacked out in 1924- 
1929 by the French explorer the Comte du 
Mesnil du Buisson. The excavators therefore 
began by re-excavating the old excavations. 
They could hardly have expected better luck: the 
spoil of the earlier excavators covered the very 
area where the tombs were found. This meant 
the real boon of the site had been saved for us, 
the current archaeologists. Here, we tell the 
story of their discovery.
The palace
The palace dominates the surface of the site, 
measuring some 120m from east to west. It was 
entered from the west, from whence one went 
into the largest room: the Audience Hall. This 
then led through into two halls, the first of 
which was the Throne Room where the King 
held his receptions, while the second was 
devoted to cult and ceremonial. However, there 
was one very anomalous feature, a long corridor 
which led north from the ceremonial hall right 
through the centre of the palace towards the 
northern walls. It led down a series of mud-brick 
steps that had been covered by wooden beams. 
At the bottom of the steps, half way along the
passage was a secure doorway with a double 
framework anchored firmly into the wall; so the 
corridor could be firmly blocked off.
On the floor of the passage, we made the first 
big discovery: the floor above had collapsed, and 73 
cuneiform tablets had fallen through from above 
(see box feature on page 20). The fairly narrow 
corridor (at 2m wide) sloped downwards: it had 
begun at a depth of 4m, but had now increased to 
7m. We wondered where this would lead.
Following the discovery of the tablets, we 
asked for an extension of the campaign to 
explore the rest of the corridor. A second door 
was discovered, with the traces of the wooden 
framework still preserved, and then the outline 
of a third door. The passage was continuously 
sloping down and had cut through the earlier 
mud-brick layers into the natural terrace below. 
Would, we wondered, the passage lead to the 
outer wall and provide a secret entrance into the 
city, or possibly a way out for the royal family if 
the palace was attacked? In fact, the passage 
stopped at the outer terrace wall of the palace so 
it was not an exit, but led to something inside 
the palace: could it be the entrance to a tomb? 
Very soon, it became clear that it was. As a result, 
the German-Syrian team had to extend the 
campaign for a further period. Excavations were 
continued until December 22nd 2002. At the 
end of the 40m long passage, we discovered a
r——■■h currenti world -ti™—archaeology
Excavation of the 
corridor leading to the 
Royal Tomb, October 
2002.
way off to the right, which opened into a deep 
shaft, 5 metres down: there was no sign of any 
staircase leading down into it, so it must have 
been entered by a ladder. It was very fortunate 
for us that it lay 12m under the surface, and had 
been preserved from earlier excavators under the 
deep dump of their spoil.
Exploring the underground shaft
To one side of the shaft was a wall cut into the 
bedrock with a blocked entrance in the middle 
of it. On either side of the door were two 
identical statues, both in their original 
positions: one to the right and one to the left.
topage 18
curremt world tarchaeojogy
The find of 
one’s life!
Left One of the specially 
trained Syrian 
excavators unearthing 
the first of the two 
ancestor statues found 
in the antechamber of 
the Royal Tomb.
Below The antechamber 
of the tombs with the 
two royal statues in 
situ.
Right The two ancestor 
statues from the 
antechamber of the 
Royal Tomb after 
cleaning and 
restoration. They are 
perfectly intact. On one 
of them even the inlaid 
eyes are preserved.

Qatna, Syria
They were both made of basalt and though the 
head of one was broken, both were in otherwise 
excellent condition. They were seated statues in 
the old Syrian style of the Middle Bronze Age, 
the heads carefully carved, the eyes inlaid with 
limestone. There was a binding round the hair so 
that the hair appeared as two braids, one below, 
one above the binding, a very typical headdress 
for the period of the 18 th or the 17th centuries - 
compare the similar headdress of the so-called 
head of Yarim-Lim, found at Tell Atchana/ 
Alalakh.
There were no inscriptions on them, so they 
were presumably ideal representations of 
kingship. Moreover, they were probably 
ancestral statues, for this was clearly an ancestral 
cult room. There were offering bowls beside the 
statues, plus animal bones; we think that the 
king would have stood here to address the 
ancestors and supply them with the preliminary 
food offerings.
Between the statues, we discovered the 
entrance to the grave. It had not been formally
blocked, but was filled with debris. Nevertheless, 
it was possible to peer inside. But was it safe to 
enter? Remembering the problems encountered 
with Tutankhamen's tomb, we first did a fungi 
analysis of the air. This showed that there was no 
high fungi count, but nevertheless, before we 
entered we called in the local fire brigade to 
pump out the air to encourage air circulation. 
What would we find within? The suspense was 
immense.
When the time eventually came for us to 
enter the tomb, we found it to be unlooted, just 
as it had been left when the palace was finally 
captured and abandoned. We set to work investi- 
gating the forgotten tomb as a joint Syrian- 
German team, directed by Michel Maqdissi and 
myself. We had to work extremely carefully: 
since many of the objects, including fragile 
bones, were scattered on the floor, work was 
done from wooden planks. Over 2000 objects 
were eventually recovered, and nothing was 
removed until everything was drawn.
Working in the Royal 
Tombs: all objects were 
kept in situ within the 
chambers until every- 
thing was drawn and 
documented.
current-i world iarchaeology
How the tomb worked
The main form of the tomb was one familiar to 
students of the British Neolithic - which took 
place some 2,000 years earlier - namely, that of 
a chambered tomb with a central chamber and 
three side chambers. Here, however, it was 
possible to work out the differing function of 
each of the chambers. The main chamber was 
the most important: this is where most of the 
burials were made, and this is where the main 
ceremonies were performed, and where above 
all, the feasting took place. To one side was a 
basalt sarcophagus with no lid. It contained 
the remains of three individuals, none of them 
complete, whose bones had all been taken 
from a primary resting place and redeposited 
here. Four other burials, perhaps the most 
recent, were represented by traces of four 
wooden biers. The wood had all rotted away 
but they were still outlined on the floor. Bones 
still remained on the biers but they were 
partially disarticulated. The bodies had clearly 
been put in fully dressed, for there were 
hundreds of gold and glass beads. We also 
found spear heads, a golden hand, and a lion 
head made of resin that had presumably served 
as a toilet box.
But the main function of the room was 
feasting. Around the south and western walls 
there were stone benches. Under and on these 
were numerous pots, both storage jars and 
bowls: the food was presumably brought down 
into the chamber to be stored in the jars, and 
then eaten from the bowls. Other benches were 
free from objects and may have been used specif- 
ically as seats. Beneath these benches were 
animal bones, as if the feasters, having enjoyed
The south-eastern 
corner of the Central 
Chamber with the 
basalt sarcophagus 
without lid.
A golden hand, 
probably from a libation 
arm, found in the central 
chamber of the tomb.
currenti world tarchaeology
Qatna, Syria
their feast, then stuffed the bones under the seat. 
Were these the remains of the common meals of 
the living and the dead? Such memorial feasts, 
called kispum, are known from literature. There 
were also some Egyptian objects including a 
calcite vessel with an inscription of the 18th 
dynasty (1550 -1295).
The chambers to each side of the main 
chamber performed different functions. The 
largest chamber was the southern one, lying 
directly opposite the entrance. It had a 
wooden floor and a wooden bench on the far 
side - it had collapsed long ago but is visible as 
a darker coloured trace upon the ground. 
Within this chamber no human bones were 
found, suggesting that it was not a burial 
room. But there were offering bowls at the 
foot of the bench and symbolic food offerings 
- probably meant to be presented to the dead 
king. We think this chamber may well have 
been regarded as the banqueting room of the 
dead king. It contained two serpentine vessels 
made in Egypt in the 12th dynasty, at around 
1900-1800 BC, which were thus clearly 
heirlooms, 500 years old at the time of burial. 
Had they perhaps been carried forward from 
the time of the first use of the tombs or were 
they brought to Qatna at a much later date ?
The primary burials were made in the
Box feature: The Cuneiform tablets
One of the most remarkable finds from Qatna has been an 
accumulation of 73 cuneiform tablets which had fallen from the 
room above onto the floor of the passage. These are all 
perfectly preserved, because not only did they have the primary 
firing necessary to preserve them but they had also undergone a 
secondary firing in the destruction, making them even harder. 
They had been archived in flat bowls, and can be subdivided into 
four different categories. The letters are the most interesting 
one.
All the letters mention Idanda, the second-last king of Qatna, 
and concerned the military situation in Syria. The king of the 
Hittites is mentioned and the fall of the Mitanni Empire is 
announced. The tablets must be from the time of Shuppiluliuma 
the First, the founder of the Hittite Empire who probably 
destroyed Qatna in 1340 BC. They are of considerable 
importance for the chronology of the destruction.
The second group of tablets are administrative records, the 
most remarkable of which was an order for 18,600 bronze 
swords. There were also inventories: one of 200 knives with lapis
lazuli handles and 200 knives of gold; another of a textile 
workshop where 140 people were employed. Clearly the palace 
workshops were able to call on very substantial resources. Finally 
there were legal documents induding one recording a trial in a 
city of Mount Lebanon. Among the debris of the destruction, 
were a number of wooden beams from which samples have been 
taken for dendrochronology.
curremi world -iarchaeology
Lion
head made of resin and 
probably used as a 
toilet box.
bov< The north- 
western corner of the 
central chamber replete 
with pottery vessels 
used during feasts held 
in the grave.
western chamber, which proved to be the most 
astonishing of the side rooms. To the right was a 
stone bench with a skeleton in anatomically 
correct form laid out on it, the only complete 
skeleton in the whole tomb: this was 
presumably the most recent burial, the only one 
that had not been moved.
However, what is most remarkable - although 
not yet definitely proven - is that the bodies had 
probably been heated to around 200 degrees. Was 
this done for preservation, for sterilisation, or for 
smell reduction? The body had subsequently 
been fully clothed or covered by textiles which 
remained, though very fragile. A stereo micro- 
scope was brought into the tomb so that the 
remains could be examined in situ before they 
powdered away. It could be seen that there were 
several different cloths in different layers which 
had been dyed in different colours. The body had 
been placed in a wooden box which had all 
decayed away apart from the bronze clamps at 
the corners. Round the waist of the body was a
well preserved gold belt where the gold thread on 
which the beads were strung had still survived 
unbroken, so that we could see how the beads of 
gold, carnelian, amethyst and glass had been 
arranged. There was also a second sarcophagus 
which, as with the first one, was without a lid. It 
contained remains of two bodies, numerous 
pottery vessels and a gold bowl.
The eastern chamber was left to last. This was 
clearly the ossuary, for it contained a thick layer 
of animal and human bones marking a long 
period of deposition and the final resting place 
of the bodies; when they were cleared out of all 
the other chambers they were deposited here. 
We were surprised to see numerous offering 
bowls even here, indicating that the older bodies 
also had food offerings with them.
Thus the full procedure can now be worked 
out. When a king died, his body - according to 
our preliminary analysis - was first heated. 
Presumably this took place outside - perhaps as a 
public ritual. Some may also have died away
.niiworld i rnnnm-----□
Qatna, Syria
A pair of golden duck heads found on the 
wooden bench in the southem side chamber.
from home and were heated to protect the body 
for the journey back to Qatna. The body was 
then brought into the tomb, and deposited in its 
primary resting place, for example in the 
western chamber. In the secondary burial the 
decayed bodies were transferred to the 
sarcophagi, where they too could enjoy the 
offerings and the funeral feasts. Finally, in the 
tertiary burial, the oldest burials were removed 
into the ossuary and offerings were presented to 
them continuously. Many generations were thus 
brought together in tombs, dining together, 
with the living sitting on their benches, and the 
dead lying on their biers and in their sarcophagi.
Digging the Royal graves has been an extraor- 
dinary experience. While it may be tempting for 
us to think that throughout history, the 'norm' 
has been to bury the body, and that was that, in 
fact, far more elaborate burial rites were also 
used. Sometimes they were even spread out over
A view into 
the sarcophagus of the 
western side chamber. 
Human bones, pottery 
vessels, a calcite 
amphora and a golden 
bowl were among the 
grave goods.
low The central 
chamber of the Royal 
Tombs of Qatna as seen 
from the doorway 
leading to the western 
side chamber. In the 
background is the door 
into the southern side 
chamber.
a generation or more - as is, for example, 
suggested for the burials which took place in 
the British Neolithic some five millennia 
ago. As we have described, in the case of 
Qatna, our very careful excavations of the 
exceptionally elaborate and well-preserved 
3000 year-old elite tomb has revealed a long 
sequence in which the dead and the living 
feasted together for a long time. Then, 
finally, the dead were laid to rest in an 
ossuary; and there they stayed until our 
surprising discovery.
Peter Pfalzner is professor for Near Eastern 
Archaeology at the University of Tiibingen 
(Germany). His main research interests are 
household studies, pottery analysis, urbanism 
and early urban societies, and studies on 
interreginal exchange and cultural complexity. He 
has been conducting archaeological field work in 
Syria since 1980, including own projects atTell 
Bderi, Tell Chuera, Tell Mozan / ancient Urkesh, 
and since 1999 atTell Mishrife/ ancient Qatna.
Michel Maqdissi, director of the Syrian 
Archaeological Mission at Tell Mishrife/ Qatna 
since 1994 and co-director of the Syrian-German 
excavation of the Royal Tomb at Qatna is 
teaching Near Eastern Archaeology at the 
Universities of Damascus and Beirut and is 
Director of the Section for Archaeological 
Excavations at the General Directorate of 
Antiquities and Musums of Syria at Damacus.
Photos: All K.Wita except p12 G Mirsch.
Copyright Qatna-Project of the Altorientalisches 
Seminar of Tiibingen University.
22B arcffaeology


Syria’s Royal Tombs uncovered

http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/3377/1/Pfaelzner_Syrias_Royal_Tombs_2006.pdf

Syria’s Royal Tombs uncovered

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