I am a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée), specializing in the archaeology of the Southern Levant and North Arabia from the Iron Age to the eve of Islam. After taking part in various excavations and surveys in Southern Syria, I wrote my PhD thesis (2013) on the settlement history of Southern Syria from the Iron Age to the Early Roman period. In the Arabian Peninsula, I worked with the Mada’in Salih Archaeological Project between 2008 and 2017, and I have been co-directing excavations on the Pre-Islamic caravan city of Thaj, in North-East Arabia, since 2016 (Thaj Archaeological Project - CNRS/SCTH). In 2019, I co-launched an international excavation and survey project at the site of Dadan, one of the major Iron Age cities in North-West Arabia (Dadan Archaeological project - CNRS/RCU/KSU/Afalula).
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In the vast basaltic region of Southern Syria commonly known as Ḥawrān, the long period spanning the Iron Age to the so-called ‘pre-provincial’ period (12th cent. BC – late 1st cent. AD) remains poorly known, especially compared to the neighboring regions of the Southern Levant. Based on excavations and surveys carried out in the region for nearly forty years, in particular by the French Archaeological Mission in Southern Syria, this study combines an archaeological approach with a critical review of relevant written sources in order to attempt a first comprehensive historical account of these South Syrian "dark ages". Regardless of the conventional division between the Iron Age and the Hellenistic period, it adopts a longue durée approach in order to better characterize the continuities, evolutions and disruptions in the region’s settlement patterns and material culture between the end of the Late Bronze Age and the integration to the Roman Empire. Based on a chronological framework and dating criteria established in Chapter 1, this study provides a catalogue of Iron Age to pre-provincial sites identified in the different areas of Ḥawrān (Chapters 2 to 4), before presenting a first overview of the region’s history, historical geography, settlement cycles and material culture in the Iron Age (Chapter 5) and Hellenistic/pre-provincial periods (Chapter 6).
Pre-print papers
Papers
This paper was originally presented at the 10th ICAANE under the title "A revised chronological framework for Northwest Arabia in the late 1st millennium BC".
Le plus important des sites fondés à cette époque, Thaj, se trouve dans l’actuelle province orientale de l’Arabie Saoudite. Occupé jusqu’à la veille de l’Islam, le site se compose d’une ville fortifiée de 40 ha, de faubourgs et d’une vaste nécropole composée d’environ 1000 tombes.
Depuis 2017, de nouveaux travaux de terrain (fouilles et prospections) ont été entrepris dans la nécropole de Thaj, dans le cadre d’une mission archéologique franco-saoudienne (CNRS/Saudi Heritage Commission). Combinés aux résultats des fouilles précédemment menées par le Département des Antiquités saoudien, ces travaux permettent désormais d’établir une typologie des monuments funéraires, de caractériser leurs techniques de construction et de mieux comprendre leur organisation spatiale au sein de la nécropole. Ils permettent également d’appréhender la diversité des sépultures implantées au sein de ces monuments, tant du point de vue de leur architecture que des traitements funéraires appliqués aux défunts. Enfin, une série de datations au radiocarbone effectuées sur les sépultures fouillées indique que certains monuments funéraires ont été utilisés sur plusieurs siècles, tandis que le matériel associé témoigne de la tenue de rituels funéraires, pratiqués au moment des funérailles et/ou lors de commémorations ultérieures.
by N. Darrous; an archaeological and historical synthesis combined with field researches, made by J. Rohmer in 2001-2002. The results allow a better understanding of the general design of the Roman city and provide new answers to some historical problems related to the site, such as the transition from the village to the city, Philippus Arabs' origins and the degree of development reached by Philippopolis after its foundation.
Book chapters
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In the vast basaltic region of Southern Syria commonly known as Ḥawrān, the long period spanning the Iron Age to the so-called ‘pre-provincial’ period (12th cent. BC – late 1st cent. AD) remains poorly known, especially compared to the neighboring regions of the Southern Levant. Based on excavations and surveys carried out in the region for nearly forty years, in particular by the French Archaeological Mission in Southern Syria, this study combines an archaeological approach with a critical review of relevant written sources in order to attempt a first comprehensive historical account of these South Syrian "dark ages". Regardless of the conventional division between the Iron Age and the Hellenistic period, it adopts a longue durée approach in order to better characterize the continuities, evolutions and disruptions in the region’s settlement patterns and material culture between the end of the Late Bronze Age and the integration to the Roman Empire. Based on a chronological framework and dating criteria established in Chapter 1, this study provides a catalogue of Iron Age to pre-provincial sites identified in the different areas of Ḥawrān (Chapters 2 to 4), before presenting a first overview of the region’s history, historical geography, settlement cycles and material culture in the Iron Age (Chapter 5) and Hellenistic/pre-provincial periods (Chapter 6).
This paper was originally presented at the 10th ICAANE under the title "A revised chronological framework for Northwest Arabia in the late 1st millennium BC".
Le plus important des sites fondés à cette époque, Thaj, se trouve dans l’actuelle province orientale de l’Arabie Saoudite. Occupé jusqu’à la veille de l’Islam, le site se compose d’une ville fortifiée de 40 ha, de faubourgs et d’une vaste nécropole composée d’environ 1000 tombes.
Depuis 2017, de nouveaux travaux de terrain (fouilles et prospections) ont été entrepris dans la nécropole de Thaj, dans le cadre d’une mission archéologique franco-saoudienne (CNRS/Saudi Heritage Commission). Combinés aux résultats des fouilles précédemment menées par le Département des Antiquités saoudien, ces travaux permettent désormais d’établir une typologie des monuments funéraires, de caractériser leurs techniques de construction et de mieux comprendre leur organisation spatiale au sein de la nécropole. Ils permettent également d’appréhender la diversité des sépultures implantées au sein de ces monuments, tant du point de vue de leur architecture que des traitements funéraires appliqués aux défunts. Enfin, une série de datations au radiocarbone effectuées sur les sépultures fouillées indique que certains monuments funéraires ont été utilisés sur plusieurs siècles, tandis que le matériel associé témoigne de la tenue de rituels funéraires, pratiqués au moment des funérailles et/ou lors de commémorations ultérieures.
by N. Darrous; an archaeological and historical synthesis combined with field researches, made by J. Rohmer in 2001-2002. The results allow a better understanding of the general design of the Roman city and provide new answers to some historical problems related to the site, such as the transition from the village to the city, Philippus Arabs' origins and the degree of development reached by Philippopolis after its foundation.