The syro-German Austrian archaeological mission at palmyra in 2007

Abstract EN

History and culture of the pre-Roman/‘Hellenistic’ settlement of Palmyra was known till now by literary evidence only.

A cooperation project of the DGAM, the DAI and the University of Vienna has the aim to localize pre-Roman Palmyra and to inquire the urbanistic structures of this early town.

Architectural structures nowadays hidden under the sand were discovered outside the later Roman town by geophysical prospection.

Two test trenches (I and II) have the aim to gain criterias for the relative and absolute chronology of the corresponding building structures by stratigraphical investigation, and thus to receive archaeological evidence for the ‘Hellenistic’ settlement of Palmyra.

Due to the evidence of the sequence of pottery, the architectural structures excavated until now can be dated from the 3rd century BC until the 3rd century AD.

With this – for the first time in Palmyra – we get a secure sequence of pottery and of settlement from the Hellenistic up to the Roman period.

Moreover, the analysis and interpretation of many small findings, especially pottery, glass and metal ware, through new light on the economic and social history of early Palmyra.