The designed cityscape: the urban and topographic context of the royal palace of Qatna

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The project referring to the excavations and investigations at Qatna will be continued and brought to and end within the final three-year phase of the long-term project. The final aim of this phase is the full publication of the excavation and study results in the frame of the monographic series Qatna Studien. It is planned to study all architectural and stratigraphic features, all small finds and all relevant pottery collections in a complete way and to finalize the publishable manuscripts on the results. No further excavations or field studies are planned due to the current situation in Syria. As excavations have been halted after 2010 due to the political situation, a large part of the study of the materials could already be carried out in the last four years. On this basis it can realistically be expected that the studies can be finalized until the end of the fourth term of the project. The excavation project which started in 1999 will, thus, be ended in 2018 with the full publication of all results. These results will form a new basis for our knowledge on the architecture, chronology, pottery, glyptics, art and the cultural and historical development of Western Syria during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. With reference to the specific research question of the project, which aims at investigating the designed cityscape of Qatna, substantial insights have been gained during the past project term. They will be further deepened during the coming project term. This refers to the investigation of the structural and ideological transformation of the area by the construction of the royal palace (main aim A) and the study of the visual, symbolic and functional design of the surroundings of the palace (main aim B). The excavation activities until 2010 were directed towards these issues, particularly in the foundations and substructures of the palace. They produced relevant data which needs further study in order to reach final conclusions and a synthesis for the main research questions until the end of the project in 2018.