Qatna Studien 12: Heike Dohmann – Sarah Lange-Weber – Peter Pfälzner –Susanne Degenhardt, Tomb VII at Qaṭna – Features, contexts, chronology

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The series Qaṭna Studien aims to make the final publications of the German-Syrian excavations in Qaṭna available to experts. The twelfth volume contains the findings of Tomb VII, an un-looted chamber tomb under the Royal Palace of Qaṭna. With the bone remains of minimally 133 human individuals and 1067 small finds, it contained an extraordinarily large inventory. Following the concept of the series, this volume presents and interprets the features and find assemblages, while the comparative-typological evaluation of the individual finds is reserved for other volumes.The volume consists of a text volume of 952 pages and a plate volume, which presents all the features per area and per site both in a plan drawing and in an overview photograph. In the text volume, the overall findings of the burial chamber are presented in a combined archaeological and anthropological study. The anthropological study of the bone finds is by Susanne Degenhardt, the archaeological presentation of the features and find associations is by Heike Dohmann, Sarah Lange-Weber and Giulia Baccelli. Further contributions come from Peter Pfälzner, who describes in detail the location, spatial arrangement and chronology of Tomb VII. Other authors contribute additional scientific research on various materials from Tomb VII. This includes animal bones, plant remains and charcoal, textile remains and other microarchaeological analyses. Additionally, it presents the results of further investigations on the human bone material, such as the detection of diseases as well as isotope examinations and the analysis of human DNA. The synthesis written by Peter Pfälzner and Sarah Lange-Weber focuses on the interpretation of this unusual context.The authors describe the modes of secondary burial practices - especially in the form of reburials - detectable in Tomb VII. They explain how these reburials took place, what kind of containers were used for the transfer of bones and grave goods, and according to which principles the bone boxes were filled with a large number of bones of different individuals. These relocated secondary burials are contrasted with the stationary secondary burials, which derive from an earlier period of use of Tomb VII. The practices related to grave goods are analysed for both types of secondary burials. In this way, various funerary practices of ancient Syria, which have not been documented in this form before, become visible. This makes the volume an essential contribution to the funerary archaeology of the Ancient Near East.