event · evt_emar_destruction
Targeted Destruction and Abandonment of Emar
Monumental and religious buildings at Emar burned while many domestic buildings were emptied and left intact, suggesting selective destruction.
What is the evidence?
observed evidence
- Burned monumental and religious structures
- Domestic areas largely unburned and emptied
- Abandonment
proposed causes
- warfare
- political takeover
- targeted destruction
consequences
The selective pattern and broad date are supported; perpetrator and mechanism remain inferential.
Inspect the sources →Review and provenance
Specialist reviewer: not recorded. Review date: not recorded.
Dataset workflow: reviewed for v0.1. This is separate from specialist review.
Recorded dataset maintenance date: 2026-08-11.
Confidence describes the stated assessment; it does not certify expert approval. How review works.
Chronology
Dating intervals may describe uncertainty or phases; their width alone does not establish event duration.
1187 BCE–1175 BCE
Precision: historical range
moderatetablet chronology and stratigraphy
- informs · establishes
Destruction at the End of the Late Bronze Age in Syria: A Reassessment — Jesse Michael Millek (2019)
Locator: Emar section - informs · provides date
Severe Multi-Year Drought Coincident with Hittite Collapse around 1198–1196 BC — Sturt W. Manning, Cindy Kocik, Brita Lorentzen, Jed P. Sparks (2023)
Locator: Methods, Emar synchronism
Event context
Properties and assignments
A label’s definition and the evidence for assigning it here are separate.
Destruction Horizon
A stratigraphic horizon showing burning, collapse, damage, or other destruction-related evidence; it does not by itself identify an attacker or cause.
Why does this record have this property?
Targeted Destruction and Abandonment of Emar is represented as a destruction-related archaeological event; cause and synchronism are modeled separately.
- Destruction at the End of the Late Bronze Age in Syria: A Reassessment
supports assignment - Severe Multi-Year Drought Coincident with Hittite Collapse around 1198–1196 BC
supports assignment
Cause Unknown
The observed event is established more securely than its cause.
Why does this record have this property?
The event is better established than a single definitive cause or attacker identity.
- Destruction at the End of the Late Bronze Age in Syria: A Reassessment
supports assignment - Severe Multi-Year Drought Coincident with Hittite Collapse around 1198–1196 BC
supports assignment
Violent Destruction
A destruction episode for which assault, warfare, or deliberate human violence is judged more likely than accidental burning or gradual abandonment.
Why does this record have this property?
The archaeological and contextual evidence makes deliberate human violence a serious interpretation, while specific attackers remain uncertain.
- Destruction at the End of the Late Bronze Age in Syria: A Reassessment
supports assignment - Severe Multi-Year Drought Coincident with Hittite Collapse around 1198–1196 BC
supports assignment
Evidence and sources
- informs · establishes
Destruction at the End of the Late Bronze Age in Syria: A Reassessment — Jesse Michael Millek (2019)Source relationship recorded for Targeted Destruction and Abandonment of Emar.
Locator: Emar section - informs · provides date
Severe Multi-Year Drought Coincident with Hittite Collapse around 1198–1196 BC — Sturt W. Manning, Cindy Kocik, Brita Lorentzen, Jed P. Sparks (2023)Source relationship recorded for Targeted Destruction and Abandonment of Emar.
Locator: Methods, Emar synchronism
Referenced records
- Emar · entity