Assembling the evidence. Excavated sites dating from the Early Bronze Age in and around the chora of Ebla

The chora of Ebla has been defined as a large area spanning 3,000 km2 and encompassing different neighboring ecozones, defined as the surroundings of Ebla and including, from west to east, most of the plain stretching east of the Jebel Zawiyeh, the Matkh depression, the steppe, the Jebel el-Hass, and the Jebel Shbeyt. Furthermore, the area outside the Eblaite chora, but immediately surrounding it, deserves attention since it shows a close cultural affinity with the chora during the mid and late third millennium B.C. This region encompasses areas located at the “periphery” of the chora: the Ghab plain and the Ruj basin to the southwest, between the Ebla and the Hama regions, and the area south and east of Aleppo to the northeast, up to the Jabbul plain included. In this article we present a brief review of the main discoveries at archaeological sites included within the Eblaite chora in order to define the status quo of stratified data for the third millennium B.C., particularly in terms of material culture, so that they can be integrated with the data from the regional surveys. We then propose a synthetic presentation of the main features of the excavated sites in the area encircling the chora of Ebla, andf inally put forward some considerations on the geographical extension of the cultural and ceramic horizons and their relation with the polities.