À la découverte du royaume d'Ougarit (Syrie du IIe millénaire)

This monograph presents the archaeological material that was found during the first years of the excavations in Ras Shamra-Ugarit led by C. F. A. Schaeffer. The catalogue is the result of a multidisciplinary collective research project in which numerous specialists from a wide range of disciplines participated, many of them being members of the Syrian-French archaeological mission in Ras Shamra-Ugarit. Over the years, up until the armed conflict broke out in 2011, a huge number of finds were uncovered, those presented here representing only a small part thereof. The aim of the publication is to make available a selection of types which Schaeffer considered representative of the culture, his own research having made a significant contribution to deciphering it. With regard to the collections held by the National Archaeological Museum of France in St.-Germain-en-Laye, the finds from the harbour town of Minet el-Beida, which became a military zone after 1961 and was therefore no longer accessible, are worthy of particular attention. Adding to the series of publications on Ras Shamra-Ugarit that have come out since 1978, the aim of this volume is to contribute to knowledge of the archaeological site, which is one of the most important Bronze Age sites in the eastern Mediterranean region.