History and Chronology

Archaeological and Geomagnetic Implications of New Archaeomagnetic Intensity Data from the Early Bronze High Terrace ‘Massif Rouge’ at Mari (Tell Hariri, Syria)

“…Considered as an archaic ziggurat by André Parrot, Margueron () interpreted the Massif Rouge as a high terrace used for sacrifices at the time of the second urban phase of Mari (referred to as ville II—city II), and replaced during the third and last urban phase of the city (ville III—city III) by another high terrace associated with the Temple of the Lions. Because of its implantation in the earliest levels of ville II dated to the Early Dynastic IIIa period, around 2550 bce (Table ; Margueron ; see also Brisch for details of the chronological framework), the Massif Rouge is one of the oldest stepped platforms of the ancient Near East, contemporaneous with other archaic terraces in Iraq (Tell Obeid), Iran (Tepe Sialk) or Syria (Tell Mozan/Urkesh), which Butterlin () interpreted as a prototype of the ziggurats built later in Mesopotamia.…”