Making images of humans and animals: the clay figurines from the Royal Palace G at Tell Mardikh-Ebla, Syria (EB IVA, c. 2400-2300 BC)

More than one hundred clay figurines were found during the excavations of the Royal Palace G at Ebla. They come from undisturbed layers related to the destruction of the building or over the sealed floors. This secure context and its unequivocal chronology (fixed by historical events and by absolute radiocarbon dates) make the group of figurines very important for the definition of the choroplastic in Inner Syria during the so-called Mature Early Syrian Period (Early Bronze IVA, ca. 2400-2300 BC). A preliminary typology of the main classes of human and animal figurines and model vehicles is presented and compared with the materials from Hama J and with the production of the eastern regions (Euphrates valley, Jezirah). The evolution of the Eblaic EB IVA clay figurines during the Late Early Syrian period (EB IVB, ca. 2300-2000 BC) can be singled out, thanks to new data from stratified contexts in Areas T, P and HH of the Lower Town. The first results of chemical and physical analyses carried out on clay samples are also illustrated, trying to single out possible imports from figurines made with local clay sources.