Peter Pfälzner - Jochen Schmid, Der Königspalast von Qaṭna. Teil I: Chronologie, Grundriss, Baugeschichte, Bautechniken, mit Beiträgen von Heike Dohmann-Pfälzner, Eva Geith, Tulip Abd-el Hay, Tina Köster, Simone Riehl, Katleen Deckers, Judit Zöldföldi, Fa

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The aim of the series „Qatna Studien“ is to publish all results of the German-Syrian excavations at Qatna and to present the complete materials found there. Volume 5 is the first of five volumes dealing with the architecture and stratigraphy of the Royal Palace. It contains summarising and concluding observations of the chronology, the architectural layout, the building history and the building techniques of this edifice and therefore forms the base of the following volumes which will be dealing with single parts of this public building. Hence volume 5 has a central position within the publication program of the Qatna excavation project. The content of this volume comprises an overall view of the Royal Palace at Qatna, the history of its scientific research and the explanation of the specific concept of publication. The latter is planned as a combined presentation of the architecture and stratigraphy, of the associated finds and ceramics and of the methodology of research as well as the synthesis of all investigations concerning the natural environment.Subsequently the summarised results of the stratigraphy and chronology will be presented. In this part the time of the construction and utilization of the Royal Palace will be determined in detail using every existing chronological evidence. Then the results concerning the urban integration of the Royal Palace are presented. These questions were important aspects of the long term investigations at Qatna which were funded by the DFG. Here, the semiotic facets of the layout of the outer walls of the palace and the political messages of the palace building are accentuated. The core of the volume is formed by the description of the ground plan of the palace and the explanation of its functional organisation. An intensive discussion is dedicated to its building concepts. These concepts are integrated within the history of development of Middle Bronze Age palace buildings in Mesopotamia and Syria. Therewith the Royal Palace of Qatna is placed within the architectural history of this region. The importance of the original architectural layout of the palace at Qatna for the architectural history of palace buildings is assessed separately. This original floor plan of the Royal Palace of Qatna is compared to the predecessor ground plan of the Royal Palace at Mari. By this comparison Qatna and Maris are even closer connected to each other. A chapter dealing with the building techniques of the Qatna palace forms a further key aspect, because of the profound presentation of its particular and sometimes singular building techniques. This is complemented by scientific investigations of single parts of the building and by the explanation of the ways of conservation and restoration of the building. All together, the volume presents the final overall analysis of the architecture of the Royal Palace of Qatna. It presents the fundamental results of the twelve year lasting researches.