Valérie MATOÏAN | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique / French National Centre for Scientific Research (original) (raw)
Valérie MATOÏAN
e-mail : valerie.matoian@college-de-france.fr
Near Eastern archaeology and iconography
Since 2017 : CNRS research scientist UMR 7192 (CNRS – Collège de France, Paris)
2003-2017 : CNRS research scientist UMR 5133 Archéorient (CNRS – Lyon 2 University)
Since 2009 : French head of the "Mission archéologique syro-française de Ras Shamra - Ougarit"
Since 2009 : Editor of the serie "Ras Shamra – Ougarit"
Since 2009 : Editor of the Website of the "Mission archéologique syro-française de Ras Shamra - Ougarit" (www.ras-shamra.ougarit.mom.fr).
Since 2009 : Manager of the archives of the "Mission française de Ras Shamra - Ougarit" (1978-2017) and of the project of digitalization.
Since 1988 : Member of the "Mission archéologique syro-française de Ras Shamra - Ougarit"
Since 2015 : Member of the "Commission consultative des recherches archéologiques à l’étranger", Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France
2016-2017 : Co-manager of the project “Répertoire des archives de fouilles françaises en Syrie, SyrHumaNum” (Ministery of Culture / Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France).
Since 2017 : Member of audiovisual committee of the "Maison Archéologie & Ethnologie, René-Ginouvès, Nanterre".
Since 1986 : Lecturer at the "École du Louvre", Paris.
2016 : Scientific commissioner of the exhibition entitled “Ougarit, entre Orient et Occident” (25-23 sept. 2016), Collège de France, Paris.
2016 : Commissioner of the exhibition entitled “La mission d’Ougarit et son heritage”, within the event “L’archéologue du future”, Ministery of Foreign Affairs, France (30 novembre 2016, Paris).
2008 : Commissioner of the exhibition entitled “« L’Orient des palais », le Palais royal d’Ougarit au Bronze recent”, National Museum of Damascus, within the framework of the event “Damascus, Arab Capital of the Culture 2008”.
2006 : Commissioner of the exhibition entitled “Ougarit Blues ou les matières bleues de l’antique Ougarit”, National Museum of Damascus.
2005 : Commissioner of the exhibition entitled “Ougarit Blues ou les matières bleues de l’antique Ougarit”, "Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée", Lyon, and the "Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France", Paris.
1998-1999 : Scientific commissioner of the exhibition entitled “Liban, l’autre rive”, "Institut du Monde Arabe" (Paris).
1997 : Commissioner of the exhibition entitled “Naissance de l’écrit”, within the framework of the event Deuxièmes Rencontres de l’écrit et de l’estampe de Bayeux, Baron Gérard Museum (Bayeux, Calvados).
1995-1996 : Assistant of the exhibition entitled “Exposition d’archéologie syro-européenne, miroir d’un partenariat”, National Museum of Damascus.
1994 : Commissioner of the exhibition entitled “L’Égypte dans les collections municipales de Bayeux”, Baron Gérard Museum (Bayeux, Calvados).
EDUCATION, GRANTS - FELLOWSHIPS
2017 Inscribed on the list of qualifications for university professors (CNU, section 21, France).
2016-2017 Grantees of The Shelby White and Leon Levy Programm for Archaeological Publications (Semitic Museum, Harvard University) for Material Culture and identities in Late Bronze Age Ugarit (Syria), Geo-urban sociology of a cosmopolitan Mediterranean capital. The Study of three areas : “South City”, “South-Acropolis”, “Aegean district”.
2014 Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches, Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University – Title: “Ugarit, l’Égypte et les ‘Phéniciens’ ”.
2007 Prize “Jeunes chercheurs”, "Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée", Lyon.
2000 Laureate of the "11èmes Rencontres Régionales de la Recherche de la région Rhône-Alpes".
2000 Ph. D. in Archaeology (University of Paris I - Sorbonne, France)
Title: “Ras Shamra – Ougarit (Syrie) et la production des matières vitreuses au Proche-Orient au IIe millénaire avant Jésus-Christ”. Advisor: Prof. Jean-Louis Huot
1998 Prize "Jacques de Morgan - Pierre Vachon-France", Académie des Sciences, Lettres et Arts de Marseille.
1993/1996 Doctorate fellowship from the French Institute of Near-east (IFPO, Damascus)
1986 M.A., École du Louvre
1985 Graduate, École du Louvre
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Related Authors
CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Spanish National Research Council)
CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Spanish National Research Council)
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Papers by Valérie MATOÏAN
The scientific exploitation of the archives of the Mission of Ras Shamra is an opportunity to go ... more The scientific exploitation of the archives of the Mission of Ras Shamra is an opportunity to go back in time by addressing the history of archaeological research. Two silver prints kept in the C. Schaeffer’s documentation (the archives of the College de France) showing the archaeologist Sheffik Iman at work can evoke one of the important discoveries made on the tell of Ras Shamra in the middle of the twentieth century —namely the tablets of the Royal Palace - to underline the special attention given to the release of these precious documents with the intervention of specialists, the successful collaboration with archaeologists, curators and restorers of the General Direction of Antiquities and Museums, as well as the valuation of discoveries.
In the field of research on Ugaritian civilisation, our knowledge of magico-religious practices i... more In the field of research on Ugaritian civilisation, our knowledge of magico-religious practices is based principally on making full use of the textual documentation. The study of the realia of magic, through an analysis of the material culture, is still a somewhat under-developed approach. Of course, professional specialists in magic referred to texts, the recitation of which could form one facet of a ritual. But in practice, gestures and the manipulation of objects, plants, minerals or substances of various kinds were also cus- tomary. A subtle combination of the power of the written word, the power of spoken words, the symbolic meaning of materials (stone, metal, clay, etc.) and of colours as well as the power of images was undoubtedly a guarantee of unfailing efficacy.
In the perspective of preparing an overall summary, taking into account the various sources documenting religious and magical practices in Ugarit, over the course of the last few years we have been interested in several categories of objects that seem to have a connection with materia magica.
An ongoing study, carried out within the framework of the research programmes of the Syro-French ... more An ongoing study, carried out within the framework of the research programmes of the Syro-French Ras Shamra–Ugarit archaeological mission, concerns the representations of boats in Ugarit. Until now, this documentation has been insufficiently evaluated in discussions of navigation in ancient periods in the Mediterranean area. The results of this research allow a rebalancing with other sources, in particular textual ones, and highlight some remarkable documents, some of which are unpublished. This first article addresses the questions raised by the re-examination of the archival documentation associated with RS 19.199, the only document whose iconography has been used for half a century in analyses dealing with representations of boats in the Eastern Mediter- ranean during the Late Bronze Age.
This note concerns a discovery made in 1930 on the site of Minet el- Beida: a bronze lamp, a rare... more This note concerns a discovery made in 1930 on the site of Minet el- Beida: a bronze lamp, a rare example in Ugarit of a metallic version of the pinched beak lamp, known in the ceramic repertoire from the Levant since the Early Bronze Age. This artefact now expands the repertoire of metal luxury products that are found on various sites in the Eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age.
The exhibition Ougarit, une cité méditerranéenne, organized by the in collaboration with the M... more The exhibition Ougarit, une cité méditerranéenne, organized by the in collaboration with the Mission archéologique syro-française de Ras Shamra–Ougarit, was one of the events scheduled for 2019 on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the start of excavations on the Ugarit site in Syria. This event benefited from the partnership between the Musée du Louvre and the Collège de France, support from the Ministry of Culture and the renovation operation of the Hall Colbert, a key reception point for the exhibition rooms of Oriental Antiquities. in the Louvre museum. The exhibition on Ugarit, which was the first event of the Louvre’s program in this renovated museum space, evoked the excavations on the sites of Ras Shamra and Minet el-Beida, based on the collections of the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities and on current research programs, in particular the use of the archives of ancient excavations.
Blue was undoubtedly a very popular colour for the inhabitants of Ugarit, as both the textual sou... more Blue was undoubtedly a very popular colour for the inhabitants of Ugarit, as both the textual sources and the frequency of its use in the set of about 20,000 objects in vitreous materials discovered during the excavations at Minet el-Beida and Ras-Shamra and, to a lesser extent, at Ras Ibn Hani attest. The colour palette is rich, from very light blue to blue-black, through infinite shades of turquoise or blue-grey, this blue colour was obtained in various ways. This article focuses on one of the known blue colorants –cobalt–whose use is well documented in the archaeological documentation of Ugarit during the Late Bronze Age. We propose a synthesis of the different chemical, mineralogical and structural analysis programmes carried out at the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France. These studies have revealed the presence of cobalt in a significant number of manufactured objects from Ugarit, especially faiences and some glasses, belonging to the Late Bronze Age. This colouring element was also detected in a block of raw material (glass). More unexpected was its recent identification in blue inlays on an alabaster vase.
Several “types” of cobalt seem to coexist in the studied corpus.
In the vast majority of cases, the source of this cobalt is Egypt (alums from the oases of the Egyptian Western Desert, Kharga and Dakhla) and most of the objects that contain it are considered to be Egyptian imports. The faience mostly illustrates a specific, well-represented category called “monochrome blue-grey faience”, which is characterised by a glaze and a body of the same colour. This Ugaritic repertoire, which is very varied, is by far the most important outside Egypt. The presence of high concentrations of manganese, particularly in a series of rosette-decorated beads with a dark blue-grey glaze, may indicate a specific colouring mixture for the production of this shade, which is not common and raises the question of possible local production.
This oasis cobalt has also been identified in three manufactured glass objects. While the hypothesis of an Egyptian import is advanced for two pieces (a vase and a bead), the third object, a bird-shaped bead, could be a Mycenaean import (made from blue glass imported from Egypt). Finally, the same cobalt was found in a block of raw glass, confirming the import of raw material from Egypt to Ugarit.
A second type of cobalt, whose origin remains unknown, was identified in a specific group of faiences, which present a “white” siliceous body covered with a blue-grey glaze. The characteristics of this cobalt seem to correspond to those of the so-called “R low Mn” cobalt, highlighted by Japanese researchers (Y. Abe et al. 2012) in faience and glass of the Ramesside period.
These results complement the work of A. Kaczmarczyk who identified a third type of cobalt, of Iranian origin, in some Near Eastern faience discovered at Ugarit.
This research is also likely to shed light on the know-how of other civilisations and to re-launch investigations into materials or technologies that have so far gone unnoticed: witness the fragments of the alabaster vase whose engraved decoration is highlighted by a cobalt pigment (cobalt spinel) that was previously known only on the paintings of certain Egyptian ceramic vases from the New Kingdom.
Nous présentons ici un tableau, complétant et actualisant les données publiées par Gabriel Saadé ... more Nous présentons ici un tableau, complétant et actualisant les données publiées par Gabriel Saadé (1979, 2011), qui rassemble les informations relatives aux opérations (fouilles, sondages, prospections, topographie, études architecturales, études de matériel, valorisation patrimoniale, etc.) réalisées en Syrie (sites de Minet el-Beida et de Ras Shamra principalement, musées syriens de Damas, Alep, Lattaquié, Tartous et maison de fouille) par les membres et collaborateurs de la mission archéologique de Ras Shamra-Ougarit de 1929 à 2020.
Les principales opérations de valorisation développées depuis 2008 dans le cadre des activités de... more Les principales opérations de valorisation développées depuis 2008 dans le cadre des activités de la Mission archéologique syro-française de Ras Shamra-Ougarit ont concerné l'organisation de rencontres scientifiques et d'expositions, la présence de la mission sur La Toile (site web de la mission, volet consacré à Ougarit de la série Patrimoine du Proche-Orient du ministère de la Culture), la réalisation de vidéos et des interventions dans le secondaire. Ces actions se sont appuyées sur des collaborations en France et à l'étranger et la mission a bénéficié de cadres prestigieux : Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres,
Ce texte offre une courte synthèse sur les publications éditées par la Mission archéologique syro... more Ce texte offre une courte synthèse sur les publications éditées par la Mission archéologique syro-française de Ras Shamra-Ougarit au cours de la période 2008-2020. Douze volumes de la série Ras Shamra-Ougarit ont été publiés depuis 2008 (RSO XVII à XXVIII, ce dernier paru au printemps 2021) : quatre monographies et huit ouvrages collectifs. Ces ouvrages livrent à la communauté scientifique de nombreuses données inédites qui éclairent majoritairement la période du Bronze récent. Un premier volet porte sur la documentation issue des opérations de terrain (fouilles, sondages, études architecturales, études géo-archéologiques) récentes. Un second volet porte sur les résultats de l'exploration ancienne des sites de Ras Shamra et de Minet el-Beida, conduite pendant plusieurs décennies par le premier fouilleur, Claude Schaeffer. La recherche repose sur l'exploitation scientifique des archives de fouille, qui est l'une des étapes-clé en vue de l'editio princeps de la documentation archéologique restée inédite. À cette production, qui s'accompagne d'une riche illustration et livre à la communauté scientifique des centaines d'inédits, viennent s'ajouter d'autres publications collectives dont certaines ont été initiées par la mission (rapports préliminaires, actes de colloque, catalogues d'expositions).
Ongoing research on the stelae discovered at Ras Shamra aims to publish all the archival document... more Ongoing research on the stelae discovered at Ras Shamra aims to publish all the archival documentation associated with these works, to locate the discoveries that were not yet located, to specify the contexts of discovery, to develop a technical approach, to pay particular attention to the iconography and to re-evaluate the whole corpus that includes twenty-two monuments.
In 2019, a first article published in the volume RSO XXVI was devoted to the study of two stelae with figurative decoration preserved in the Louvre Museum (RS 3.487, Louvre AO 14919; RS 9.226, Louvre AO 20382). The present study deals with the inscribed stelae and the undecorated stelae from Ugarit. On the one hand, we present the results of the technical study of a third work from the Louvre Museum, one of the two inscribed stelae from the Ugaritic repertoire (RS 6.021, Louvre AO 19931). On the other hand, for
the two stelae without decoration (RS 23.219 and RS 29.[300]), we present the technical and contextual data from the scientific exploitation of the excavation archives. In particular, the investigation has enabled us to identify and contextualise stele RS 29.[300]. Presented until now as an unlocated chance discovery, this small monument was in fact discovered in 1966 in the sector known as the “Residential Quarter”.
La richesse du matériel métallique mis au jour sur les sites de Ras Shamra et de Minet el-Beida, ... more La richesse du matériel métallique mis au jour sur les sites de Ras Shamra et de Minet el-Beida, ainsi que de Ras Ibn Hani, a été maintes fois soulignée. Le bronze, alliage de cuivre et d'étain, est de loin le métal le plus attesté, utilisé pour une grande diversité d'objets (outillage, armement, parures, figurines, vases…). La découverte de lingots de métal a été signalée dès les premières campagnes de fouille. À ce jour, seuls des lingots de cuivre, d'argent et de plomb ont été répertoriés, ces derniers étant très majoritaires ; aucun lingot d'étain n'est mentionné dans les archives de fouille ou les publications. La documentation textuelle fournit quant à elle de nombreuses mentions de métaux et fait référence aux techniques métallurgiques ainsi qu'aux artisans travaillant le métal et aux personnes en lien avec la gestion des métaux et des productions métalliques. Les textes semblent montrer que l'administration à Ugarit avait affaire pour les métaux à des quantités standardisées avec deux unités, de 4,7 kg et de 5,6 kg. La confrontation des données textuelles et archéologiques pourrait indiquer l'usage d'un système d'échange fondé, pour le cuivre, sur le sicle ougaritique. 1 This article is one result of the research project "Bureaucracy and Administrative Procedures in the Syrian Kingdom of Ugarit (14th to 12th centuries B.C.)" (FFI2015-67357-P) (MINECO/FEDER, UE), funded by the Spanish Ministry for Economic Affairs and Competitiveness within the National Plan for Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation (I+D+I). It also forms part of the current programme of research by the Mission archéologique syro-française de Ras Shamra-Ougarit (studies of the unpublished archives of excavations), funded by the Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères.
Ras Shamra/Ugarit contributes top textual and archaeological data to the study of the manufacture... more Ras Shamra/Ugarit contributes top textual and archaeological data to the study of the manufacture and use of textiles in the Levant in the Late Bronze Age. Texts provide information on various industrial and artisan crafts regarding textile industry whereas the exploitation of archaeological data remains still at an early stage. It is nowadays essential for investigation work to combine both perspectives: textual and material and to contrast the analysis of archaeological and iconographic documentation with written sources. The workshop held in Copenhagen gave the opportunity to investigate the documentation related to textiles in ritual and cultic practices. V. Matoïan, in collaboration with J.-P. Vita, studied the ritual texts (less than ten) which mention—with greater or lesser certainty—textile offerings to divinities as well as two administrative texts which complement and extend the information provided by ritual texts regarding garments for the statues of gods. Then, they investigated iconographical evidence, specially the figures of veiled women (priestess, queen, goddess ?).
We are particularly grateful to the organizers of the workshop, Maud Devolder, Igor Kreimerman an... more We are particularly grateful to the organizers of the workshop, Maud Devolder, Igor Kreimerman and Jan Driessen, for their invitation to collaborate in the very fruitful and stimulating meeting, and for the translation into English of our contribution. 2 On the use of cut stone in the architecture of other sites on the Syrian coast, see notably:
The scientific exploitation of the archives of the Mission of Ras Shamra is an opportunity to go ... more The scientific exploitation of the archives of the Mission of Ras Shamra is an opportunity to go back in time by addressing the history of archaeological research. Two silver prints kept in the C. Schaeffer’s documentation (the archives of the College de France) showing the archaeologist Sheffik Iman at work can evoke one of the important discoveries made on the tell of Ras Shamra in the middle of the twentieth century —namely the tablets of the Royal Palace - to underline the special attention given to the release of these precious documents with the intervention of specialists, the successful collaboration with archaeologists, curators and restorers of the General Direction of Antiquities and Museums, as well as the valuation of discoveries.
In the field of research on Ugaritian civilisation, our knowledge of magico-religious practices i... more In the field of research on Ugaritian civilisation, our knowledge of magico-religious practices is based principally on making full use of the textual documentation. The study of the realia of magic, through an analysis of the material culture, is still a somewhat under-developed approach. Of course, professional specialists in magic referred to texts, the recitation of which could form one facet of a ritual. But in practice, gestures and the manipulation of objects, plants, minerals or substances of various kinds were also cus- tomary. A subtle combination of the power of the written word, the power of spoken words, the symbolic meaning of materials (stone, metal, clay, etc.) and of colours as well as the power of images was undoubtedly a guarantee of unfailing efficacy.
In the perspective of preparing an overall summary, taking into account the various sources documenting religious and magical practices in Ugarit, over the course of the last few years we have been interested in several categories of objects that seem to have a connection with materia magica.
An ongoing study, carried out within the framework of the research programmes of the Syro-French ... more An ongoing study, carried out within the framework of the research programmes of the Syro-French Ras Shamra–Ugarit archaeological mission, concerns the representations of boats in Ugarit. Until now, this documentation has been insufficiently evaluated in discussions of navigation in ancient periods in the Mediterranean area. The results of this research allow a rebalancing with other sources, in particular textual ones, and highlight some remarkable documents, some of which are unpublished. This first article addresses the questions raised by the re-examination of the archival documentation associated with RS 19.199, the only document whose iconography has been used for half a century in analyses dealing with representations of boats in the Eastern Mediter- ranean during the Late Bronze Age.
This note concerns a discovery made in 1930 on the site of Minet el- Beida: a bronze lamp, a rare... more This note concerns a discovery made in 1930 on the site of Minet el- Beida: a bronze lamp, a rare example in Ugarit of a metallic version of the pinched beak lamp, known in the ceramic repertoire from the Levant since the Early Bronze Age. This artefact now expands the repertoire of metal luxury products that are found on various sites in the Eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age.
The exhibition Ougarit, une cité méditerranéenne, organized by the in collaboration with the M... more The exhibition Ougarit, une cité méditerranéenne, organized by the in collaboration with the Mission archéologique syro-française de Ras Shamra–Ougarit, was one of the events scheduled for 2019 on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the start of excavations on the Ugarit site in Syria. This event benefited from the partnership between the Musée du Louvre and the Collège de France, support from the Ministry of Culture and the renovation operation of the Hall Colbert, a key reception point for the exhibition rooms of Oriental Antiquities. in the Louvre museum. The exhibition on Ugarit, which was the first event of the Louvre’s program in this renovated museum space, evoked the excavations on the sites of Ras Shamra and Minet el-Beida, based on the collections of the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities and on current research programs, in particular the use of the archives of ancient excavations.
Blue was undoubtedly a very popular colour for the inhabitants of Ugarit, as both the textual sou... more Blue was undoubtedly a very popular colour for the inhabitants of Ugarit, as both the textual sources and the frequency of its use in the set of about 20,000 objects in vitreous materials discovered during the excavations at Minet el-Beida and Ras-Shamra and, to a lesser extent, at Ras Ibn Hani attest. The colour palette is rich, from very light blue to blue-black, through infinite shades of turquoise or blue-grey, this blue colour was obtained in various ways. This article focuses on one of the known blue colorants –cobalt–whose use is well documented in the archaeological documentation of Ugarit during the Late Bronze Age. We propose a synthesis of the different chemical, mineralogical and structural analysis programmes carried out at the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France. These studies have revealed the presence of cobalt in a significant number of manufactured objects from Ugarit, especially faiences and some glasses, belonging to the Late Bronze Age. This colouring element was also detected in a block of raw material (glass). More unexpected was its recent identification in blue inlays on an alabaster vase.
Several “types” of cobalt seem to coexist in the studied corpus.
In the vast majority of cases, the source of this cobalt is Egypt (alums from the oases of the Egyptian Western Desert, Kharga and Dakhla) and most of the objects that contain it are considered to be Egyptian imports. The faience mostly illustrates a specific, well-represented category called “monochrome blue-grey faience”, which is characterised by a glaze and a body of the same colour. This Ugaritic repertoire, which is very varied, is by far the most important outside Egypt. The presence of high concentrations of manganese, particularly in a series of rosette-decorated beads with a dark blue-grey glaze, may indicate a specific colouring mixture for the production of this shade, which is not common and raises the question of possible local production.
This oasis cobalt has also been identified in three manufactured glass objects. While the hypothesis of an Egyptian import is advanced for two pieces (a vase and a bead), the third object, a bird-shaped bead, could be a Mycenaean import (made from blue glass imported from Egypt). Finally, the same cobalt was found in a block of raw glass, confirming the import of raw material from Egypt to Ugarit.
A second type of cobalt, whose origin remains unknown, was identified in a specific group of faiences, which present a “white” siliceous body covered with a blue-grey glaze. The characteristics of this cobalt seem to correspond to those of the so-called “R low Mn” cobalt, highlighted by Japanese researchers (Y. Abe et al. 2012) in faience and glass of the Ramesside period.
These results complement the work of A. Kaczmarczyk who identified a third type of cobalt, of Iranian origin, in some Near Eastern faience discovered at Ugarit.
This research is also likely to shed light on the know-how of other civilisations and to re-launch investigations into materials or technologies that have so far gone unnoticed: witness the fragments of the alabaster vase whose engraved decoration is highlighted by a cobalt pigment (cobalt spinel) that was previously known only on the paintings of certain Egyptian ceramic vases from the New Kingdom.
Nous présentons ici un tableau, complétant et actualisant les données publiées par Gabriel Saadé ... more Nous présentons ici un tableau, complétant et actualisant les données publiées par Gabriel Saadé (1979, 2011), qui rassemble les informations relatives aux opérations (fouilles, sondages, prospections, topographie, études architecturales, études de matériel, valorisation patrimoniale, etc.) réalisées en Syrie (sites de Minet el-Beida et de Ras Shamra principalement, musées syriens de Damas, Alep, Lattaquié, Tartous et maison de fouille) par les membres et collaborateurs de la mission archéologique de Ras Shamra-Ougarit de 1929 à 2020.
Les principales opérations de valorisation développées depuis 2008 dans le cadre des activités de... more Les principales opérations de valorisation développées depuis 2008 dans le cadre des activités de la Mission archéologique syro-française de Ras Shamra-Ougarit ont concerné l'organisation de rencontres scientifiques et d'expositions, la présence de la mission sur La Toile (site web de la mission, volet consacré à Ougarit de la série Patrimoine du Proche-Orient du ministère de la Culture), la réalisation de vidéos et des interventions dans le secondaire. Ces actions se sont appuyées sur des collaborations en France et à l'étranger et la mission a bénéficié de cadres prestigieux : Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres,
Ce texte offre une courte synthèse sur les publications éditées par la Mission archéologique syro... more Ce texte offre une courte synthèse sur les publications éditées par la Mission archéologique syro-française de Ras Shamra-Ougarit au cours de la période 2008-2020. Douze volumes de la série Ras Shamra-Ougarit ont été publiés depuis 2008 (RSO XVII à XXVIII, ce dernier paru au printemps 2021) : quatre monographies et huit ouvrages collectifs. Ces ouvrages livrent à la communauté scientifique de nombreuses données inédites qui éclairent majoritairement la période du Bronze récent. Un premier volet porte sur la documentation issue des opérations de terrain (fouilles, sondages, études architecturales, études géo-archéologiques) récentes. Un second volet porte sur les résultats de l'exploration ancienne des sites de Ras Shamra et de Minet el-Beida, conduite pendant plusieurs décennies par le premier fouilleur, Claude Schaeffer. La recherche repose sur l'exploitation scientifique des archives de fouille, qui est l'une des étapes-clé en vue de l'editio princeps de la documentation archéologique restée inédite. À cette production, qui s'accompagne d'une riche illustration et livre à la communauté scientifique des centaines d'inédits, viennent s'ajouter d'autres publications collectives dont certaines ont été initiées par la mission (rapports préliminaires, actes de colloque, catalogues d'expositions).
Ongoing research on the stelae discovered at Ras Shamra aims to publish all the archival document... more Ongoing research on the stelae discovered at Ras Shamra aims to publish all the archival documentation associated with these works, to locate the discoveries that were not yet located, to specify the contexts of discovery, to develop a technical approach, to pay particular attention to the iconography and to re-evaluate the whole corpus that includes twenty-two monuments.
In 2019, a first article published in the volume RSO XXVI was devoted to the study of two stelae with figurative decoration preserved in the Louvre Museum (RS 3.487, Louvre AO 14919; RS 9.226, Louvre AO 20382). The present study deals with the inscribed stelae and the undecorated stelae from Ugarit. On the one hand, we present the results of the technical study of a third work from the Louvre Museum, one of the two inscribed stelae from the Ugaritic repertoire (RS 6.021, Louvre AO 19931). On the other hand, for
the two stelae without decoration (RS 23.219 and RS 29.[300]), we present the technical and contextual data from the scientific exploitation of the excavation archives. In particular, the investigation has enabled us to identify and contextualise stele RS 29.[300]. Presented until now as an unlocated chance discovery, this small monument was in fact discovered in 1966 in the sector known as the “Residential Quarter”.
La richesse du matériel métallique mis au jour sur les sites de Ras Shamra et de Minet el-Beida, ... more La richesse du matériel métallique mis au jour sur les sites de Ras Shamra et de Minet el-Beida, ainsi que de Ras Ibn Hani, a été maintes fois soulignée. Le bronze, alliage de cuivre et d'étain, est de loin le métal le plus attesté, utilisé pour une grande diversité d'objets (outillage, armement, parures, figurines, vases…). La découverte de lingots de métal a été signalée dès les premières campagnes de fouille. À ce jour, seuls des lingots de cuivre, d'argent et de plomb ont été répertoriés, ces derniers étant très majoritaires ; aucun lingot d'étain n'est mentionné dans les archives de fouille ou les publications. La documentation textuelle fournit quant à elle de nombreuses mentions de métaux et fait référence aux techniques métallurgiques ainsi qu'aux artisans travaillant le métal et aux personnes en lien avec la gestion des métaux et des productions métalliques. Les textes semblent montrer que l'administration à Ugarit avait affaire pour les métaux à des quantités standardisées avec deux unités, de 4,7 kg et de 5,6 kg. La confrontation des données textuelles et archéologiques pourrait indiquer l'usage d'un système d'échange fondé, pour le cuivre, sur le sicle ougaritique. 1 This article is one result of the research project "Bureaucracy and Administrative Procedures in the Syrian Kingdom of Ugarit (14th to 12th centuries B.C.)" (FFI2015-67357-P) (MINECO/FEDER, UE), funded by the Spanish Ministry for Economic Affairs and Competitiveness within the National Plan for Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation (I+D+I). It also forms part of the current programme of research by the Mission archéologique syro-française de Ras Shamra-Ougarit (studies of the unpublished archives of excavations), funded by the Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères.
Ras Shamra/Ugarit contributes top textual and archaeological data to the study of the manufacture... more Ras Shamra/Ugarit contributes top textual and archaeological data to the study of the manufacture and use of textiles in the Levant in the Late Bronze Age. Texts provide information on various industrial and artisan crafts regarding textile industry whereas the exploitation of archaeological data remains still at an early stage. It is nowadays essential for investigation work to combine both perspectives: textual and material and to contrast the analysis of archaeological and iconographic documentation with written sources. The workshop held in Copenhagen gave the opportunity to investigate the documentation related to textiles in ritual and cultic practices. V. Matoïan, in collaboration with J.-P. Vita, studied the ritual texts (less than ten) which mention—with greater or lesser certainty—textile offerings to divinities as well as two administrative texts which complement and extend the information provided by ritual texts regarding garments for the statues of gods. Then, they investigated iconographical evidence, specially the figures of veiled women (priestess, queen, goddess ?).
We are particularly grateful to the organizers of the workshop, Maud Devolder, Igor Kreimerman an... more We are particularly grateful to the organizers of the workshop, Maud Devolder, Igor Kreimerman and Jan Driessen, for their invitation to collaborate in the very fruitful and stimulating meeting, and for the translation into English of our contribution. 2 On the use of cut stone in the architecture of other sites on the Syrian coast, see notably: