A few years ago, researchers began to study the ruins of the former kingdom of Qatna (in present-day Syria) again. The royal palace was built at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC and covers an area of 18,000 square meters. At that time Qatna was an important commercial metropolis. It controlled the long-distance trade routes from Mesopotamia towards the Mediterranean and from Anatolia down to the pharaohs in Egypt.
Today's desert areas around Qatna were then covered by green cedar forests. Cedar wood from the forests of Lebanon and Syria supplied the entire Orient. The proximity to Cyprus, where an important raw material, copper, was mined, was of central importance and helped the rulers gain power.
It is therefore not surprising that deep under the foundations of the palace, in the royal tomb, almost 2000 valuable individual finds of gold, alabaster, lapis lazuli, bronze, ivory, clay and stone were uncovered and recovered by the excavation team. Interesting for us is an object made of Baltic amber; the lion's head, about 6 cm long. This sensational find confirms that 3300 years ago there were trade connections to the beaches of Northern Europe.
Lion head vessel made of amber (front view), 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC, National Museum Damascus
© Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart; Photo: Hendrik Zwietasch/ Peter Frankenstein, Stuttgart
Lion's head made of Baltic amber, (Photo: K. Wita).
Literature:
Gisela Graichen / Alexander Hesse, Die Bernsteinstrasse, Verborgene Handelswege zwischen Ostsee und Nil, Seiten 89 - 93
https://kultur-online.net/inhalt/(die-entdeckung-des-königreichs-qatna, 5.03.2010