Mari

Three cities highlight the Bronze Age in Syria: Ebla, Mari, and Ugarit. It is quite possible that future excavations will unearth more.

Mari is located on the southwest bank of the Euphrates River, near modern Abū Kamāl. It was accidentally discovered in August 1933 when a group of nomads, in the process of performing a burial, found a headless statue bearing cuneiform inscriptions. The next step was to delegate an expedition led by the French archaeologist André Parrot in December of the same year. Further campaigns at Tell al-Ḥarīrī would eventually identify the ancient city of Mari and sketch an outline of its history. 

The city was founded near the end of the fourth millennium BC. It was one of the most flourishing towns in the Pre-Sargonic Era, occupying a strategic location between Babylonia and the Mediterranean Sea. Though Semitic, it was a tributary of the Sumerian culture. Mari was destroyed for the first time in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC and subsequently rebuilt until it was finally razed by Ḥamūrābī of Babylon, who had its inhabitants killed or sold into captivity. 

The above statue is of a worshiper from Ninnizaza's Temple, third millennium BC. It is 54 cm high and made of alabaster. It currently is a collection of the National Museum of Damascus. 

Gérard Degeorge. Syrie. Art, histoire, architecture. Hermann, éditeurs des sciences et des arts 1983.