Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T22:11:22.563Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Qatna lion: scientific confirmation of Baltic amber in late Bronze Age Syria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Anna J. Mukherjee ,
Elisa Roßberger ,
Matthew A. James ,
Peter Pfälzner ,
Catherine L. Higgitt ,
Raymond White ,
David A. Peggie ,
Dany Azar  and
Richard P. Evershed
Anna J. Mukherjee
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Elisa Roßberger
Affiliation:
Altorientalisches Seminar, Schloß Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
Matthew A. James
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Peter Pfälzner
Affiliation:
Altorientalisches Seminar, Schloß Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
Catherine L. Higgitt
Affiliation:
Scientific Department, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN, UK
Raymond White
Affiliation:
Scientific Department, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN, UK
David A. Peggie
Affiliation:
Scientific Department, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN, UK
Dany Azar
Affiliation:
Faculty of Science II, Natural Sciences Department, Lebanese University, Fanar, PO Box 26110217, Fanar-Matn, Lebanon Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire d'Entomologie, 45 Rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
Richard P. Evershed*
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Using pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, the authors show that amber was imported into Late Bronze Age Syria and used for making the prestige artefacts found in a Royal tomb of c. 1340 BC. The objects included beads and a unique vessel in the form of a lion, likely fashioned in Syria from raw amber imported from the Baltic via the Aegean.

Keywords

SyriaBalticQatnaLate Bronze Ageamberlion
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 82 , Issue 315 , March 2008 , pp. 49 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†Current address: Institut für Vorderasiatische Archäologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany

‡Current address: Department of Scientific Research, The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG, UK

References

Al-Maqdissi, M., Luciani, M., Morandi Bonacossi, D., Novák, M. & Pfälzner, P.. 2002. Excavating Qatna Voume 1 (Preliminary Report on the 1999 and 2000 Campaigns of the Joint Syrian-Italian-German Archaeological Research Project at Tell Mishrifeh) (Documents d'archéologie syrienne 4). Damascus: Direction Générale des Antiquités et des Musées de Syrie; Udine: University of Udine; Tübingen: University of Tübingen.Google Scholar
Al-Maqdissi, M., Dohmann-Pfälzner, H., Pfälzner, P. & Suleiman, A.. 2003. Das königliche Hypogäum von Qatna. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 135: 189–218.Google Scholar
Anderson, K.B. & Winans, R.E.. 1991. Nature and fate of natural resins in the geosphere 1. Evaluation of pyrolysis-gas chromatography mass-spectrometry for the analysis of natural resins and resinites. Analytical Chemistry 63: 2901–8.Google Scholar
Anderson, K.B., Winans, R.E. & Botto, R.E.. 1992. The nature and fate of natural resins in the geosphere 2. Identification, classification and nomenclature of resinites. Organic Geochemistry 18: 829–41.Google Scholar
Beck, C.W. 1979. Analysis of an ‘Assyrian’ amber statuette, in Muscarella, O. (ed.) Unexcavated Objects and Ancient Near Eastern Art: Addenda (Monographic Journals of the Near East, Occasional Papers 1.1): 15–19. Malibu: IIMAS.Google Scholar
Beck, C.W. 1986. Spectroscopic investigations of amber. Applied Spectroscopy Reviews 22: 57–110.Google Scholar
Beck, C.W., Wilbur, E. & Meret, S.. 1964. Infra-red spectra and the origin of amber. Nature 201: 256–7.Google Scholar
Bouzek, J. 1993. The shifts of the amber route, in Beck, C.W. & Bouzek, J. (ed.) Amber in Archaeology (Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Amber in Archaeology, Liblice 1990, Institute of Archaeology): 141–6. Prague: Czech Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Burleigh, R. & Whalley, P.. 1983. On the relative geological ages of amber and copal. Journal of Natural History 17: 919–21.Google Scholar
Caubet, A. 1998. The international style: a point of view from the Levant and Syria, in Cline, E.H. & Harris-Cline, D. (ed.) The Aegean and the Orient in the second millennium (Aegaeum 18): 105–11. Liège: Service d'histoire de l'art et d'archéologie de la Grèce antique & Austin (TX): University of Texas.Google Scholar
Deller, K. 1985. SAG.DU UR.MAH, ‘Löwenkopfsitula, Löwenkopfbecher’. Baghdader Mitteilungen 16: 327–46.Google Scholar
Du Mesnil du Buisson, R. 1935. Le site archéologique de Mishrifé-Qatna. Paris: de Boccard.Google Scholar
Feldman, M.H. 2006. Diplomacy by design: luxury arts and ‘international style’ in the Ancient Near East, 1400–1200 BCE. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Grimaldi, D.A. 1996. Amber: window to the past. New York: Abrams.Google Scholar
Gough, L.J. & Mills, J.S.. 1972. The composition of succinite (Baltic amber). Nature 239: 527–8.Google Scholar
Harding, A.F. 1984. The Mycenaeans and Europe. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Harding, A.F. & Hughes, H.-Brock. 1974. Amber in the Mycenaean world. Annual of the British School at Athens 69: 145–72.Google Scholar
Hood, S. 1993. Amber in Egypt, in Beck, C.W. & Bouzek, J. (ed.) Amber in Archaeology (Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Amber in Archaeology, Liblice 1990, Institute of Archaeology): 230–35. Prague: Czech Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Hughes-Brock, H. 1993. Amber in the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age: some problems and perspectives, in Beck, C.W. & Bouzek, J. (ed.) Amber in Archaeology. (Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Amber in Archaeology, Liblice 1990, Institute of Archaeology): 219–29. Prague: Czech Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Jean-Marie, M. 1999. Tombes et nécropoles de Mari. Beirut: Institut Français d'Archéologie du Proche Orient.Google Scholar
Kantor, H. 1947. The Aegean and the Orient in the second Millennium BC. American Journal of Archaeology 51: 1–103.Google Scholar
Karo, G. 1930. Die Schachtgräber von Mykenai. Munich: F. Bruckmann.Google Scholar
Karo, G. 1959. Greifen am Thron. Erinnerungen an Knossos. Baden-Baden: Grimm.Google Scholar
Langenheim, J.H. 1969. Amber – a botanical inquiry. Science 163: 1157–69.Google Scholar
Mills, J.S. & White, R.. 1994. The organic chemistry of museum objects: 95–128. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.Google Scholar
Mills, J.S., White, R. & Gough, L.J.. 1984. The chemical composition of Baltic amber. Chemical Geology 47: 15–39.Google Scholar
Moorey, P.S.R. 1994. Ancient Mesopotamian materials and industries: the archaeological evidence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mosini, V., Forcellese, M.L. & Nicoletti, R.. 1980. Presence and origin of volatile terpenes in succinite. Phytochemistry 19: 679–80.Google Scholar
Muscarella, O. 2000. The Lie Became Great: the Forgery of Near Eastern Cultures (Studies in the Art and Archaeology of Antiquity I). Groningen: Styx Publications.Google Scholar
Nissenbaum, A. 1975. Lower cretaceous amber from Israel. Naturwissenschaften 62: 341–2.Google Scholar
Otten, H. 1989. Tiergefäße im Kult der späten Hethitischen Großreichszeit, in Emre, K., Hrouda, B., Mellink, M. & Özgüç, N. (ed.) Anatolia and the Ancient Near East: Studies in honour of Tahsin Özgüç: 365–8. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basmevi.Google Scholar
Pfälzner, P. 2004. The world of the living and the world of the dead. German Research 26: 16–20.Google Scholar
Pfälzner, P. 2006. Syria's royal tombs uncovered. Current World Archaeology 15: 12–22.Google Scholar
Pulak, C. 2005. Who were the Mycenaeans aboard the Uluburun Ship?, in Laffineur, R. & Greco, E. (ed.) Emporia, Aegeans in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean (Aegaeum 25): 295–312. Liège: Liège University.Google Scholar
Schaeffer, C.F.A. 1937. Les fouilles de Ras Shamra-Ugarit: huitième campagne (printemps 1936): rapport sommaire. Syria 18: 125–54.Google Scholar
Schaeffer, C.F.A. 1938. Les fouilles de Ras Shamra-Ugarit: neuvième campagne (printemps 1937): rapport sommaire. Syria 19: 193–255.Google Scholar
Schaeffer, C.F.A. 1939. Ugaritica I.Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner.Google Scholar
Todd, J.M. 1985. Baltic amber in the ancient Near East: a preliminary investigation. Journal of Baltic Studies 16: 292–301.Google Scholar
Todd, J.M. 1993. The continuity of amber artifacts in ancient Palestine from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine, in Beck, C.W. & Bouzek, J. (ed.) Amber in Archaeology. (Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Amber in Archaeology, Liblice 1990, Institute of Archaeology): 236–48. Prague: Czech Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
van den Berg, K.J., Boon, J.J., Pastorova, I. & Spetter, L.F.M.. 2000. Mass spectrometric methodology for the analysis of highly oxidized diterpenoid acids in Old Master paintings. Journal of Mass Spectrometry 35: 512–33.Google Scholar
Wachsmann, S. 1987. Aegeans in the Theban Tombs (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 20). Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
Woolley, L. 1955. Alalakh. An account of the excavations at Tell Achana in the Hatay, 1937–1949 (Society of Antiquaries of London Research Reports 18). London: Society of Antiquaries of London.Google Scholar
Yon, M. 1997. La Cité d'Ougarit sur le Tell de Ras Shamra. Paris: Recherche sur les Civilisations.Google Scholar
Zuckerman, S. Forthcoming. Fit for a (not-quite-so-great) king: a faience lion-head cup from Hazor.Google Scholar