Among the first areas of ancient Syria to be archaeologically investigated by the pioneering expeditions of R. Du Mesnil du Buisson at Mishrifeh and other sites, M. Pézard at Tell Nebi Mend and the Danish Mission at Hama, Central Syria (the provinces of Hama and Homs) has been strongly neglected by scholarly research in the period after the 1920's and 1930's.
As a matter of fact, the construction of the great hydraulic works at the Tabqa, Tishrin, and Khabur dams determined a massive exodus of field archaeologists to the Syrian Jezireh. As a consequence of this, little was known on the archaeology and ancient environment of Central Syria. Only from the 1990's onwards, after the accomplishment of the Euphrates and Khabur dams, the region has become again a main focus of scholarly research.

However, notwithstanding the resumption of archaeological exploration by new field projects, the settlement landscapes and the ancient environment of this region and its evolution during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene as a consequence of natural changes and human activity are still rather obscure.

The conference and its objectives

The international conference will address these and other issues first of all within the framework of a selected region of Central Inner Syria, that of Tell Mishrifeh, ancient Qatna, where an interdisciplinary joint Syrian-Italian-German project is active, and, in a second stage, in the wider regional context of Central-Western Syria.
The aim of the conference is that of gathering around the same table all the scholars -archaeologists and environmental scientists- cooperating with the international project at the reconstruction of the ancient settlement (urban and rural) and natural environments of Mishrifeh and its region and the colleagues working in adjacent areas.

The contributors are invited to present their data (archaeological, geo-archaeological, palynological, archaeobotanical, archaeozoological, anthropological etc.) with the goal of sketching a first general reconstruction of the settlement and natural environments of Mishrifeh and its region from the Late Pleistocene to the Late Holocene.
Discussed topics will encompass the archaeological and environmental setting of Mishrifeh (vegetation, fauna, hydrology, water and other resources) and its interaction with human activities and subsistence strategies as mirrored by settlement systems, urbanisation, land use and water management.

In order to place the data from Mishrifeh within the wider context of Central Syria, colleagues working on the same topics in adjacent regions are also invited to offer their contribution on the coastal area, the Orontes valley and the steppe, with the aim of developing a general reconstruction of settlement and environment in the broader region included between the Mediterranean coast and the semi-arid steppe of the Shamiyah.

Finally, also the textual evidence will be considered. A reconstruction of the environment of this vast region and its shaping by human settlement and subsistence activities on the grounds of the cuneiform evidence - especially from the Mari archives - will be crucial.