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French-Syrian mission to Halabiya - Zenobia |
Photo Gallery |
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Research project on Halabiya site
Borings and consolidations
Introduction : Halabiya, a fortified town on the Euphrates,
from Zenobia to Justinien
The Zenobia Halabiya site is located along the Euphrates river at the issue of gorges in which the river course becomes narrower and cross a gypsum plateau having basaltic bottom. This belt of Khanouqa was naturally propitious to establishing a control on the river crossing. The tradition attributes to the famous Zenobia of Palmyra the foundation of two twin towns Halabiya and Zalabiya on both sides of the Euphrates, at the end of the 3rd century A.D. |
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Very few vestiges of this latter remain, the river having destroyed the cliff where it was established; in return, the Zenobia site is relatively preserved, even if the Euphrates comes regularly to invade the rampart which is bordering it.
The site shows as a few shaped triangle which base is parallel to the Euphrates and the top, on a hill, is occupied by a fortress which looks down upon the town.
The vestiges which are now visible, go back to the 6th century A.D. and most of them go back precisely to the reign of emperor Justinien (527-565), to which a text of Procope de Csare allows to attribute a campaign of huge works of reconstruction of the ramparts, redefining the planning of town urbanism and development.
A- presentation of the mission
The joint mission of the University Paul Valry (Montpellier III) and the Syrian General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums, is contemplating, on one hand, to get a better knowledge of the site history and, on the other hand, to contribute to preserving its vestiges . It received the support of Osmane Mounif AIDI Foundation for Culture, Communication and Development , the French Institute of Archaeology in the Near East, and of private French patrons (CMA-CGM, Altrad-MEFRAN).
The Syrian-French mission of the University Paul Valry (Montpellier III) and the Syrian General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums, carried out a first exploration campaign in July 2006. It is in keeping with the continuation of the researches of the French Jean Lauffray in 1944/45, published only in 1983 and 1991 *.
The mission, within some weeks of presence on site, could draw a topographical layout of the site, study the rampart and the military constructions as well as the two churches, the thermae and a number of civilian buildings.
* J. Lauffray, Halabiyya-Znobia, Place forte du limes oriental et la haute Msopotamie au VI sicle, T.I, Les duchs frontaliers de Msopotamie et les fortifications de Znobia Paris, Geuthner, 1983, T.II, Larchitecture publique, prive et funraire, Paris, Geuthner, 1991
B- presentation of the site
The fortified town of Zenobia-Halabiya occupies some fifteen hectares and is completely girded with ramparts preserved totally all over their length (approx. 1400 m.), which are more than 10 meters high. According to Procope de Csare (De Aedificiis, livre II, VIII, 15-IX, 1), Justinien (527-565), around the year 545, during a truce concluded with the Persians who were threatening the defense lines (limes), has displaced the northern defensive wall in order to enlarge the town, and has included within the ramparts the western hill by endowing it with a fortress; He protected the eastern wall, parallel to the Euphrates, by constructing a dam which doubles it and protects it from floods. The town had then 38 bastions protruding outside the rampart, and six gates out of which two are monumental, the one to the north, the second to the south, being placed at the outlet of the main axis.
On the slope of the rampart, Justinien has constructed a large praetorium (or barracks) of more than 600 sq.m on the ground, on three levels, whose ceilings lay on wide pillars and on vaults made of bricks.
Apart from these defensive constructions, Procope attributes to the emperor a complete reorganization of the town namely its urbanism. The mark of these works is visible thanks to the change of direction of the main axis, the cardo north/south of the town, as compared with its anterior axis; it is also felt through the different orientations of the two churches of the site, the one to the south-east presumed being anterior to the reign of Justinien. The other, to the north-west is in return aligned on the new main ways as well as on the habitation blocks which one may namely distinguish in aerial photography.
These two churches are perhaps the sign of co-existence of monophysite and chalcedonian rituals; the south-east church is remarkable by its cruciform baptistery and its architectural decoration the greatest part of it having been lost because of the rushed departure of Jean Lauffray. It has also a bema, which was constructed during a stage subsequent to the initial construction. No doubt it was of higher importance than the second church, which is more modest, but with one of the sacristies having also a baptismal vat.
This second church which is orientated according to the layout dated of the Justinien reign, is adjacent to a large open air space called forum by Jean Lauffray, is accessible through a porch giving to the decumanus, and onto which a block of great houses is looking.
Amongst the constructions of Justinien one should also mention a very complete thermae (palestra, apodyterium, toilets, frigidarium, tepidarium and caldarium in three rooms on hypocausts) which is fed with water through a noria.
Also according to Procope, two architects from Bezantium would have supervised the works, Jean de Byzance and Isidore de Milet junior, nephew of the architect of Saint Sophia and foreman of the second dome of this basilica. This choice demonstrates, if necessary, the importance which Justinien gave to the reconstruction of the town.
Outside the site, two necropolises are developing to the north and to the south, which are composed of tombs in grave, hypogees, funerary towers, funerary paddock and one chapel. These 120 tombs have given, in addition to the funerary material, decoration elements which are paints or stucco worked, graffiti and inscribings, and textiles remains.
C- Scientific objects of the mission
The work which has been accomplished by Jean Lauffray in a two years mission (1944-1945) and during a verification sojourn in 1987, is quite considerable. However his concern was essentially to pick up or identify some architectural complexes. He has not sticked much to define for them a chronology based on precised data criteria : The ones he proposes are the result of styles comparison or historical deductions.
Besides, he mostly sticked to the study of vestiges that are visible in elevation or very close to surface. Hence this choice was fully justified, with regard to the work to accomplish in priority on the site.
The objects of the Syrian-French mission, University Paul Valry and General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums, consist first of all in clarifying the relative and absolute stratigraphy by means of borings. The aim of these borings is to reach the most ancient levels of occupation. Particularly to improve our knowledge of the town during the Zenobia era, the only rare evidences of which are in our hands, and to determine whether these levels correspond in fact to the foundation of the town.
Three prospection zones :
1) If it is true that Justinien has razed to the ground the northern rampart (in order to rebuild it farther), we have as yet no one indication on the precise layout of this latter, nor on the trenches which preceded it, even less on the dates to which these defensive constructions go back, Jean Lauffray having, by deduction, dated them to the reign of Anastase (491-518). The stratigraphical borings which were set up during the surveying mission in July 2006 were then located at the presumed location of these ancient ramparts, straight to the tower 25 and the habitations which, according to Procope, encumbered this district. They havent reached, up to now, but late levels, which go back to the last stages of occupation of the town (VIIth XIIth centuries), but these old ramparts were perhaps built at the location of the town of Zenobia. These borings will be resumed in August 2007 .
2) The French-Syrian mission while continuing to reinforce the north-western church, will seek on one hand, in 2007, to better define the nature of its ties with the space called forum. In fact the eastern faade of the apse shows traces of erosion which lead to think that some rooms were laying upon and were looking on to the forum. This is what seems to indicate also some alignments of blocks which are visible on the ground surface. No doubt these are late constructions, but the coming researches will have to prove same : in any case their presence constitutes a unique case for a Byzantine site, hence the importance of studying them. These constructions may have been destroyed by a fire.
Prospection in this sector will explore the most complete stratigraphy of the site, and aims at proving the extreme early age of its occupation. It would not be strange that the most ancient levels may go back to as far as the IIIrd millennium B.C. The French-Syrian mission meet here with the concerns of the Spanish-Syrian mission which is supported by the Osmane Mounif AIDI Foundation for Culture, Communication and Development and is prospecting the area around Halabiya in order to fix the northern borderlines of the Mari Kingdom.
3) One of the habitation blocks that are visible in aerial photography will also be the subject of excavations in 2007. In fact one has in Halabiya-Zenobia the benefit of a site which is inhabited since the end of Antiquity, and this specificity should enable to carry out a study of the domestic housing. Generally speaking, this type of housing in an urban environment is but very seldom explored and the opportunity which is present in Zenobia will enable a progress of knowledge of the international scientific community on this subject.
D- A threatened heritage
The whole rampart, its bastions and the praetorium remain fragile and dangerous for the visitors.
Most of the constructions of Halabiya-Zenobia are made of gypsum block stones of medium size which are cut from quarries that were located as having been below the ramparts, and brought up. The late constructions are, in turn, made of basalt blocks of different sizes which were easily accessible in the close environment of the site.
Gypsum is a material that is very sensitive to erosion which is provoked by temperatures variations proper to the desert climate; the thermal chocks are also amplified in case of rain. At the joints between blocks, there often remain only a powdery material, a matter which has fragilized the edifices during earthquakes that are rather frequent in the area. Most of the arch stones of the bastions or in the praetorium have moved, the voussoirs have slipped and the walls have collapsed.
Thus the whole buildings in elevation are in danger of destruction. Therefore, the Syrian-French mission aims at preserving them and has presented in March 2007 to the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums a restoration planning; experts team of architects and restorators will come in August 2007 which will be composed of seven persons on the terrain and two international experts from the University of Valencia (Spain) who are specialists in the pathology of historical monuments and their consolidation.
The Syrian-French mission carried out in 2006 series of consolidation tests of the north-western church walls, by initiating the filling in between the blocks on their whole thickness, according to the processes already in use since the late antiquity, yet garanteeing a minimum visual impact. Within the same spirit, the mission has consolidated a wall which showed a marked incline and was in danger of collapsing. In 2007 other walls are expected to receive a similar treatment for consolidation. The team will animate a yard school for the engineers of the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums of Deir ez Zor, so that the consolidation work may be continued in harmony with the experts work, during the following year, even in the absence of Syrian-French team.
One of the most important concerns of the Syrian-French mission is to implement the partnerships for contributing to the stabilization of these prestigious vestiges and valorizing them. The mission prepared the project of bilingual information boards in order to present the vestiges to the public. These boards bear the logos of the different partners and patrons.
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