By Laila Asaad, Alaa Al- Bash
and Marwa Al-Halah

Mari (modern Tell Hariri, Syria) was an ancient Sumerian and Amorite city, located 11 kilometers north-west of the modern town of Al-Bukamal on the western bank of Euphrates river, some 120 km southeast of Deir ez-Zor, Syria. It is thought to have been inhabited since the 5th millennium BC, although it flourished from 2900 BC until 1759 BC, when it was sacked by   Hammurabi.
In1933 a Bedouin tribe was digging for gravestone through a mound on the western bank of Euphrates river when they came across a headless statue .
After the news reached the French authorities which controlled Syria, the report was investigated and digging on the site was started on December 14, 1933 by an archaeological mission from the Louver in Paris headed by Mr. Andre Parrot to explore the site .
Discoveries came quickly, with the temple of Ishtar in the following month and over 25,000 clay tablets in Akkadian language written in cuneiform not too long after the beginning of excavations .

The royal state of Mari flourished for more than a millennium. Starting in 2900 BC, trading in tin (which would be manufactured into bronze) was complemented with an extensive irrigation system to strengthen its agriculture. Mari was considered an important trading point with strong ties with Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean.

		Photogallery of Mari
Click to magnify image