Qatna Studien 10: Gold of kings and gods. On the importance of gold objects for the Syrian/ Northern Levantine kingdoms of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages based on the finds from the tombs of Qatna

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Peter Pfälzner
• Subject Area: Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: from 2019 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 433048772

With this application, a printing cost subsidy for the publication of volume 10 of the series QaṭnaStudien will be requested. The aim of the series is to present the final publications of the German-Syrian archaeological excavations at Qaṭna. The tenth volume contains a synthesis of the goldobjects from Qaṭna. With a number of approximately 1700 pieces, the gold objects are one of themost extensive and important groups of finds that came to light during the excavations at Qaṭna.The gold objects come almost without exception from the two royal tombs, the Royal Hypogeumand Tomb VII. These extraordinary find contexts provided the two largest gold inventories known todate from Syria and the Levant. Also with regard to the typological composition and the functionaland formal spectrum, the gold inventories from Qaṭna are without parallels in the archaeology ofthe area mentioned. Another important aspect of the material presented here is that with the lateBronze Age Royal Hypogeum and the Middle Bronze Age Tomb VII we have two find contexts ofgold objects which differ chronologically. Thus, for the first time, it is possible to take a close look atthe diachronic development of the Syrian gold craft during the second millennium BC.In view of this scientific significance of the material, the volume presented here pursues adouble objective: on the one hand, all 349 gold objects of Tomb VII are published here for the firsttime scientifically, whereby they are compared with the slightly younger gold finds from the RoyalHypogeum; on the other hand, this material is comprehensively evaluated and interpreted bymeans of a profound, supra-regional, comparative analysis. The analysis also includes questionsabout the function and significance of the gold objects. Consequently, the author has compiled allavailable information from archaeological and philological sources in order to trace the significanceand role of the gold objects in Qaṭna and in the other Syrian kingdoms of the Middle and LateBronze Ages.The manuscript presented is the revised version of Ivana Puljiz's dissertation, submitted inDecember 2016 and defended in May 2017. It was awarded the title "summa cum laude" by threereviewers and unanimously highlighted as an outstanding achievement in the reviews. Anappendix by Roland Schwab and Ernst Pernicka presenting the results of the archaeometricanalyses of the gold objects from Qaṭna rounds off the volume. In summary, this volume containsnot only the final evaluation and interpretation of the gold objects from Qaṭna, but can alsojustifiably claim to be a new standard work on gold in the Ancient Orient.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants