Definition: The archaeological site of Al-Rawda is an outlier of the northern Mesopotamian civilization located in the dry steppe zone of interior Syria southeast of Aleppo. The site consists of a low, circular tell of about 15 hectares in area. The tell is bounded by four lines of defense, consisting of two mud-brick ramparts and two ditches.
Occupied between 2400 and 2100 BC, Al-Rawda was a fortified settlement with houses and temples and other buildings associated with Northern Mesopotamia of the day, including sites such as Mari, Ebla and Tell Beydar. Al-Rawda was sited in an atypical location for a Mesopotamian site of the era, in that while it is located in a favorable agricultural region, it is only made that way by the addition of irrigation techniques.
Thus, Al-Rawda is a site which likely represents the leading edge of an emerging territorial state which spread into the arid regions from central sites such as Ebla and Mari. Documentary evidence from these two cities indicates this occurred about 2400 BC.
Occupied between 2400 and 2100 BC, Al-Rawda was a fortified settlement with houses and temples and other buildings associated with Northern Mesopotamia of the day, including sites such as Mari, Ebla and Tell Beydar. Al-Rawda was sited in an atypical location for a Mesopotamian site of the era, in that while it is located in a favorable agricultural region, it is only made that way by the addition of irrigation techniques.
Thus, Al-Rawda is a site which likely represents the leading edge of an emerging territorial state which spread into the arid regions from central sites such as Ebla and Mari. Documentary evidence from these two cities indicates this occurred about 2400 BC.
Source
Castel, Corinne and Edgar Peltenberg. 2007. Urbanism on the margins: Third millennium BC Al-Rawda in the arid zone of Syria. Antiquity 81:601-616.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
