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Archaeologist solves mystery of ancient Mesopotamian city

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Loki:
The mystery of an ancient Mesopotamian city has finally been lifted after 25 years of meticulous work by a French archaeologist.

Jean-Claude Margueron has revealed the city was one of the first "modern cities", purpose-built in the desert for the manufacture of copper arms and tools.

In a new book entitled Mari, the Metropolis of the Euphrates, Mr Margueron says the third millennium BC city, in modern day Syria, is "one of the first modern cities of humanity".

"Created from scratch in one phase of construction with the specific goal of becoming this (metallurgical) centre."

This is an astounding concept for the period when cities developed from villages or trading posts and showed that the Mesopotamians were way ahead of their time in terms of urban design and development.

Mr Margueron, 70, repeated the question which haunted him during the decades of excavations of Mari, discovered in 1933 by his predecessor Andre Parrot.

"How could a city develop in the third millennium BC in the middle of the desert, in a region devoid of copper and in a valley devastated by the floods of the Euphrates making any agriculture very risky?"

In 1935, the temple of Ishtar, the statue of King Lamgi Mari, then the Grand Palace of the second millennium, and other temples and fabulous sculptures were discovered, followed by the living areas and a part of the third millennium palace.

When Mr Margueron took over as director of excavations in 1979, most of the spectacular pieces had already been discovered.

But the question remained: Why had they built Mari?

To rediscover the city, Mr Margueron spent thousands of hours examining the basements, the terraces, the living quarters, traces of streets, and the surrounding areas - the former river bed of the Euphrates and other waterways.

"So they were discoveries, not always spectacular, rarely immediately important, but very significant for the overall understanding of the site and its integration in the geographical, historical and economic context," he said.

A major navigable canal was discovered which followed the Euphrates river for 120 kilometres and allowed the transport of copper and wood from the Tauras mountains of modern Turkey to support the metallurgical activities of Mari.

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