Cinq campagnes à Mari : nouvelles perspectives sur l’histoire de la métropole du Moyen Euphrate

Archaeological and Geomagnetic Implications of New Archaeomagnetic Intensity Data from the Early Bronze High Terrace ‘Massif Rouge’ at Mari (Tell Hariri, Syria)

“…Recent excavations by Pascal Butterlin's team (D. Beyer, J. Chanteau and B. Couturaud) provided new information on the evolution of the Massif Rouge both at the time of ville II and ville III, between c .2550 bce and c .1760 bce (Butterlin , ). It now appears that this evolution was punctuated by successive phases, most probably three during the existence of ville II (phase 1, construction; phases 2 and 3, enlargements) and two during ville III (phase 4, major restoration with the encasing of the preserved red core in a massive mantle of adobe bricks; phase 5, modifications as yet poorly documented).…”

“…Phase 4, at the beginning of ville III, is presently the best documented. Most probably made necessary after the destruction of ville II by the Akkadian troops in c .2350–2250 bce , this major restoration was attributed to the Shakkanakku King Apil Kin, around 2100 bce , thanks to the discovery of an inscribed bronze tablet mentioning the construction of a so‐called ‘ sahuru ’ (Butterlin ), making a further clear reference to the ziggurats. Note that the reign of this king of Mari was contemporaneous with that of the Sumerian King Ur‐Nammu, of the Third Dynasty of Ur, who ordered the construction of several ziggurats in southern Mesopotamia.…”

“…(c)). An important point to note is that no ramp or stairway allowing direct access to the upper level of the Massif Rouge has been discovered up to the present time (Butterlin , ). We collected 10 fragments from different bricks of this path (archaeomagnetic site SY111), and thus contemporaneous with phase 1 of the Massif Rouge.…”

“… (a) An east–west stratigraphic section, showing the implantations of the Massif Rouge, the temple ‘Tour’ and the baked brick pathway recently discovered along the north‐western side of the Massif Rouge (archaeomagnetic site SY111; see text for details). The numbers 1 to 4 refer to the different phases recognized in the evolution of the Massif Rouge (Butterlin ) (© Mission Archéologique de Mari). (b, c) Views of the pathway (b, © Yves Gallet; c, © Mission Archéologique de Mari).…”

“…Considered as an archaic ziggurat by André Parrot, Margueron () interpreted the Massif Rouge as a high terrace used for sacrifices at the time of the second urban phase of Mari (referred to as ville II—city II), and replaced during the third and last urban phase of the city (ville III—city III) by another high terrace associated with the Temple of the Lions. Because of its implantation in the earliest levels of ville II dated to the Early Dynastic IIIa period, around 2550 bce (Table ; Margueron ; see also Brisch for details of the chronological framework), the Massif Rouge is one of the oldest stepped platforms of the ancient Near East, contemporaneous with other archaic terraces in Iraq (Tell Obeid), Iran (Tepe Sialk) or Syria (Tell Mozan/Urkesh), which Butterlin () interpreted as a prototype of the ziggurats built later in Mesopotamia.…”