The "Outer Town" of Ebla during the Old Syrian Period : a Preliminary Analysis of the Off-Site Survey 2010

The importance of handicraft and industrial activities in the embedded economy of Ebla is well known from epigraphic data of the State Archives (24th cent. BC). However, the archaeological evidence is quite elusive for that period, while the pattern of spatial distribution of crafts indicators during the Old Syrian period (c. 2000-1600 BC) allows to shed light on labor allocation inside private and public buildings of the town. The paper focuses on the identification of workplaces and their relations with the urban structure of the town. New data gathered from surface collection of materials immediately outside the eastern rampart are presented in detail, showing that an ‘outer town’, which includes also industrial quarters, was settled at the beginning of the II Mill. BC.