An Archaeological study on the Development of Civilization in Syria

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We have been executing archaeological researches of the Rouj Basin from 1990 to 1992. The purpose of this project is to shed some light on the process from early farming villages to the formation of city states. We have been continuing three operations, i. e. intensive general survey, soundings for establishing chronology, and natural scientific studies for the reconstruction of the paleo-environment.The general survey within the basin was almost completed, and we found 33 tells in the Basin. The archaeological map in each period indicated the dynamic settlement patterns of the Basin. Five sounding excavations were carried out at Tell Aray 1, 2, Tell Abd el-Aziz and Tell el-Kerkh 2. There sounding excavations established the chronology from pre-pottery Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in the Basin. We could get a lot of new archaeological evidences through these sounding excavations.Geologic study clarified some new information on the ancient lake at the central part of the basin. The ancient lake was formed as s salt lake at first, and after that it turned into a fresh-water lake. This fresh-water lake has expanded and contracted repeatedly. The fluctuation of the lake extent was connected with the rise and fall of archaeological sites. We also got much information between human activities and their environment.