Syria - Ras Ibn Hani

The site

The peninsula of Ibn Hani juts out across 3 kilometres into the Mediterranean at the northern edge of the city of Lattaquie, formerly known as Laodicea. It is formed, to the west, by tertiary limestone which, in the 2nd Millennium before our era, emerged in the form of an island, and to the east, by sand that accumulated over the course of the 1st millennium BC. On the eastern tip of the rocky portion, a set of aristocratic palaces and residencies was built, in the mid-13th century BC, across a surface area of around 3.5 hectares, 0.5 hectare of which has been excavated. The artificial elevation due primarily to the vestiges of the site culminates at 9.40 m above sea level. During the Hellenistic era, the fortifications (3rd century BC) enclosed a 35 ha area, which extended largely across the sandy part; only one portion of the ramparts and a few hundred square metres of the dwellings have been excavated.

Prior to the start of the digs

Until 1975, the Kingdom of Ugarit was known only through the prestigious discoveries made since 1929, on the sites of Ras Shamra and Minet el-Beida, less than 5 km from Ras Ibn Hani. Ras Shamra has laid forth the vestiges of Ugarit, the capital of this kingdom of limited extent but which, lying at the border between the Hittite and Egyptian influence zones, developed, during the Middle Bronze and above all recent (16th-12th centuries) eras, an original and brilliant culture. From the literary standpoint, Ugarit draws upon Mesopotamian sources and created the first commonly-used alphabetic writing system; from the artistic standpoint, it contributed to developing, by drawing inspiration largely from Egypt, modes of expression that would become those of the Phoenician world through the 1st Millennium. The Ras Shamra Texts renewed our approach to the Canaanite environment, in which, and often in opposition to it, the first forms of Judaism. In Minet el-Beida, it was the metropolis’ port district that was unearthed.

The fortuitous discovery, in 1974, of a Ugaritic tomb on Ras Ibn Hani gave reason to hope for the first-ever discovery of a Ugaritic establishment of some importance outside the capital and its port. The many fragments of ceramic from the Iron Age and the Hellenistic and Byzantine eras that were scattered across the site suggest that the site had not been abandoned, or had been reoccupied, after the destruction of Ugarit and was likely to hold knowledge about the said periods, which are very poorly-documented in the Plain of Lattaquié.

As the Cape of Ibn Hani was included in the plan calling for the urbanisation of the outskirts of Lattaquié, the site was under threat, even though the portion with the most obvious archaeological value had been listed.

Excavation history

In 1975, under the impetus of Jean Leclant, ‘Afif Bahnassi and Adnan Bounni, and with the backing of Philippe Guillemin, the first Franco-Syrian Archaeological Mission was founded, a joint endeavour between the Syrian DGAM and the French DGRCST, each country making equal contributions to the funding and the scientific leadership. The Directors, A. Bounni and J. Lagarce, assisted by E. du Puytison-Lagarce and the belated N. Saliby, were put in charge of determining the site’s stages of occupation, their extent and their magnitude, and to report on whether the main remaining vestiges existed outside of the expropriated zone and whether they were jeopardised by the ongoing urban planning projects.

The emergency phase was to last from 1975 to 1981. The digs began on the south side of the archaeological mound, subject to the greatest threat, where the first vestiges of a major structure from the Recent Bronze Age (South Palace) were uncovered. At the top, work began with the dwellings from the Late Roman and Ancient Byzantine Eras were cleared. At the same time, attention was focused on the high walls that appeared much farther east, in what later turned out to be the Eastern tip of the Hellenistic rampart. In 1977, remains from the western Hellenistic rampart were discovered and, near the Ugaritic tomb, the first tablets in Acadian and Ugaritic were uncovered. During the same campaign appeared the “plate” that forms the eastern edge of the South Palace and, on the remains of the latter, small houses from the Iron Age (12th-10th centuries).

Thereafter, the pressure became less urgent and efforts were focused on the North Palace from the Recent Bronze Age.

Extent of site, main monuments discovered

The first significant occupation was found in the Recent Bronze Age. This was, in the sector surveyed by the excavation, an ex nihilo foundation which should probably be ascribed to ‘AmmishtamruII, King of Ugarit in the mid-13th century BC. The vast structures, arranged according to a geometric layout, were official or aristocratic in nature.

The South Palace, spanning more than a half-hectare, was most likely intended for the king. In the main courtyard was a central basin. It was structured as filled in terraces, which rose higher and higher from the South to the North and, from the top of the walls, it was possible to communicate by signal with the western tower of the Palace of Ugarit. This explains the choice of the site, which offered an excellent opportunity to monitor maritime traffic, in fair weather conditions, out beyond the Amanas, to the north, up to the region of Cyprus, to the West and up to Banyas, to the South, to communicate information to the capital.

The North Palace, where exploration has been completed and where restoration is underway, belonged, according to several of the texts found, to the Queen-Mother Akhatmilku, the widow of Niqmepa. Just over 120 in number, these texts form the first significant lot found outside Ugarit. They were kept in two archives, one more personal, with private and official letters, lexicons, rituals, administrative documents, and the other solely administrative. They avail us with a great deal of entirely new information about the Ugaritic civilisation, offer up the names ‘Ammishtamru and Ibiranu, son and future successor to the former. At a time still not determined with any detail, and very probably after the death of Queen Akhatmilku, the North Palace changed function. During the last phase of its use, it lost some of its sheen and workshops were set up, one used as a foundry for copper bars shaped like “ox hides”, another used for chiselling bone and buck antler objects, and a third one for making chalcedony beads, fashioned using corindon. The main tomb, though ransacked during Antiquity, nonetheless offered up a number of Mycenaean, Cypriote, Cretan and local ceramics, an Egyptian alabaster vase, fragments of chiselled ivory and bone, and gold nail heads which probably decorated a box.

The Recent Bronze age establishment fell to violent destruction, like Ugarit, around 1180 BC. On the burned ruins of the major edifices of the Recent Bronze Age, small houses were carefully erected along the streets, which cut through each other at right angles. The occupants used one type of locally-produced Mycenaean ceramic, and a two-tone decorating ceramic that recalls the so-called Philistine ceramic of Palestine. These discoveries confirm the idea that the destruction of Ugarit and Ras Ibn Hani must be connected with the devastation caused, according to the great text of Ramses III in Medinet Habu, by the “Peoples of the Sea”.

Occupied almost uninterruptedly throughout the Iron Age, but perhaps neglected during the 5th century, the Cape of Ibn Hani was once again chosen for the foundation of a new city by Ptolemy III during the Second Syrian War (246 BC). Having taken over the territory of Antioch, the Macedonian Pharaoh probably wanted to ensure that his conquest would be adequately defended from Laodicea, the large city founded in the late 4th century before our era by Seleucos I and which remained Seleucid. An entire series of Ptolemy II and III and Berenice II coins, as well as a stele engraved with a list of mercenaries, attest to Egyptian control. Two powerful north-south walls distant from one another by 900 m, flanked by bastions and towers, protect the city, where one neighbourhood is still being explored in the North Palace site. Following the return to the Seleucids, the city continued to proper in the 2nd century, then seemed to contract. A citadel is set against the eastern wall from the first fortification. The city perhaps still played a part when the inter-roman fighting broke out in the Eastern Mediterranean (silver drachma showing Caesar and a silver tetradrachma showing Anthony and Cleopatra, 37 BC).

During the first three centuries of our era, the clues to human activity on the site are rare (a number of coins, tombs) in the part of the cape where the Mission was able to work. It is likely that the site was not abandoned, but that the main edifices from this period were erected at the western tip of the cape, where visitors from the 19th century and early 20th century have reported finding traces of a temple and am amphitheatre. The region has been completely remodelled since then and the clues have disappeared.

A final rebirth occurred during the Constantinian Era (4th century AD), up to the successors of Justinian. The vestiges are little-known: the large houses paved in white mosaic, enhanced by very understated decoration, streets in mortar or tiling, ceramics and coins all attest to a certain degree of prosperity.