Handicraft production, secondary food transformation and storage in the public building P4 at Eb IVA Ebla

Essay on the building P4 Ebla

Part of a new public building dating to the Early Bronze IVA was excavated at Ebla, including nine rooms with sealed destruction levels. The good state of preservation makes it possible to identify its diversified economic functions. The largest locus was devoted to the transformation of horticultural products as demonstrated by working installations and by the ceramic assemblage, which exhibits a typological differentiation indicative of a multi-functional economic unit. The other rooms have numerous installations for secondary food production. A pair of rooms with a fireplace, where elements of gold foil, stone and shell inlay and parts of two identical animal statuettes have been found, was probably a goldsmith's workshop. Some exceptional finds testify to the economic role of this unit and links with the central administration of Royal Palace G. A possible connection between Building P4 and a hitherto unidentified temple may be surmised, as the topographical position under the Middle Bronze Age monumental sacred area of Ishtar suggests.