Qalaat Al-Mudiq, Citadel of Apamea: Past and Present

Mathilde Gelin (1, 2, 3) , Shaker Al-Shbib

1 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
2 ArScAn - Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité
3 APOHR - Archéologie du Proche-Orient Hellénistique et Romain

The Syrian-European mission of Qalaat Al-Mudiq/Citadel of Apamea focussed in 2004 and 2005 on emergency consolidation and restoration on the medieval fortifications built on top of the hill, following the collapse of the medieval glacis and part of the slope. A coring was done to verify the stability of the ground and this showed not only that the entire hill is unstable but also that it is an archaeological tell, approximately 20 m thick. Preliminary archaeological soundings were thus done at the bases of the zones to be consolidated, and these yielded ancient fortifications belonging to the Bronze Age and Hellenistic periods. Consolidation and restorations were done at three particularly endangered areas, including a medieval tower. Since then, the monuments have suffered further damage, which all seemed to be repairable, but the entire site is now endangered by the same threat that brought down the medieval glacis.

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Archéologie et Préhistoire; Histoire; Héritage culturel et muséologie

Mathilde Gelin, Shaker Al-Shbib. Qalaat Al-Mudiq, Citadel of Apamea: Past and Present. Jeanine Abdul Massih, Shinichi Nishiyama, Hanan Charaf, Ahmad Deb. Archaeological explorations in Syria 2000-2011-Proceedings of ISCACH Beirut 2015, Archaeopress Archaeology, pp.221-227, 2018, 978-1-78491-947-4. ⟨hal-03032899⟩