Missione Archeologica: Progetto PalmiraIl quartiere sud-ovest della citta': processi di sviluppo e trasformazione urbana

The new research project, started at Palmyra in 2007 by the Italian-Syrian joint mission Pal.M.A.I.S. (http://users.unimi.it/progettopalmira/) is focused on the study of a never systematically investigated area, the South-West Quarter, whose halfway position, between the Hellenistic city to the South and the Roman quarter to the North, seems crucial to understand the Palmyra's urban development during the different historical periods. . The South-West Quarter is a central quarter of the ancient city, measuring
c.
547 x 281 m and
c.
114.000 m² wide, delimited by the Agorà, the Diocletian’s Walls, the Damascus Transverse Street and the Great Colonnade Street.



After the survey carried out in 2007, which led to the first topographic plan of the quarter by identifying all the structural remains
in situ
, in 2008 a new stratigraphic excavation began in the most monumental structure of the area, the so called Peristyle Building, located near the southern tract of the Diocletian’s Wall.

In 2010 was carried out the third year of excavations. Some



rooms have been discovered in the northern and western sides of the building. The Peristyle Building is

dated between the
Severian Age
( 2nd-3rd century AD) and the late Byzantine and early Islamic period (VIth - VIIIth century A.D.).