Chapt. 17 - From wetland to desert: A geomorphological approach to the Eblaite Chora

7. conclusions The preliminary survey of the eblaite chora provided new data on the existence of the Matkh lake at 257 a.s.l. at the beginning of the Mba. The lake has been identified based on both geomorphological and archaeological evidence. The settlement of tell tuqan was built as an artificial island, with a dock protected from the storms by a lunate embankment. The latter was likely built after the storms directly struck the slope of the tell long enough to erode and rectify the slope and to cut into it a wave-cut terrace, still visible on the field. Our hydrological calculations suggest that around 3.9 to 3.8 ky, the precipitation regime was still higher than today, for a total of 566 mm/y. This result contrasts with previous reconstructions, such as the one by Fiorentino et al. (2008), which suggested for the beginning of the Mba a lower precipitation regime than the current one. if confirmed, our results suggest that, at the end of the 4.2 to 3.9 ky crisis, the precipitation regime in this part of the near east was higher than previously thought. Further research is needed to evaluate if this regime was sufficient for dry agriculture, therefore sustaining the recolonization that seems to have taken place at the beginning of the Mba.