The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra.

AuthorTatlock, Jason

The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra. By MARGUERITE YON. Winona Lake, Indiana: EISENBRAUNS, 2006. Pp. viii + 179, illus. $34.50.

This much-anticipated volume is an updated version of Yon's La cite d 'Ougarit sur le tell de Ras Shamra (Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1997). Revisions, translated by B. Schmidt and G. Walker, to the earlier edition are provided throughout the book in the form of parenthetical statements that are reserved primarily for the end of chapter segments. In this fashion, Yon apprises the reader of bibliographic additions and recent discoveries through 2005.

Following a brief introduction to the history of archaeological research conducted at or near the tell by the French Mission de Ras Shamra. The City of Ugarit is divided into three chapters: "Geography and History" (pp. 9-26), "Description of the Tell" (pp. 27-122), and "Artifacts Illustrating Official and Everyday Life" (pp. 123-72). As is readily apparent, chapter two constitutes the bulk of the volume and it is here that Yon's intimacy with the tell and expert knowledge, derived from her tenure as excavation director from 1978 to 1998, shine forth most brilliantly. The chapter is a descriptive tour of the architectural remains unearthed by successive excavations taking place over an approximately eighty-year period, a daunting task no doubt, given the many archaeological strata, the current state of decay affecting some of the structures, missing Mission archives (a result of World War II), and the limited information contained in certain early reports that have survived (p. 27). In spite of these difficulties, Yon presents a cogent and straightforward reconstruction of the city, particularly as it existed in the Late Bronze Age. The interested English reader would benefit from consulting Schloen's complementary examination of Ugarit's urban makeup (The House of the Father as Fact and Symbol [Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2001], 317-47).

Two aspects of Yon's reconstruction of the urban landscape are of principal importance: 1) she corrects previous misinterpretations of the archaeological data, and 2) she situates several of the most significant artifactual discoveries in their original contexts. The latter is especially advantageous for understanding the provenance of Ugarit's vast literary corpus and for ascertaining the ways in which epigraphic, as well as anepigraphic, finds have influenced interpretations of building complexes (cf. "The...

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