Resilience and vulnerability in the Syrian Desert in the first millennium CE: The case of the oasis city Tadmor (Palmyra)

Abstract

Urban resilience in past societies is challenging to measure given the nature of our data, which, for the most part, gives insight into past processes only through their archaeological and historical outcomes. We, therefore, suggest approaching the issue in conjunction with vulnerability, which was only too familiar to ancient societies, and outcomes, which represent suitable proxies of whether societies were capable of dealing with their vulnerabilities, i.e. if they were resilient. The city of Tadmor (Palmyra), situated in a marginal desert landscape on the border between large empires, constitutes a pertinent test case with a clear set of vulnerabilities and a record of historical and archaeological outcomes spanning the best part of a millennium. Using urban development as our measure of urban resilience, we discuss the case of Palmyra in relation to its geopolitical situation, climate change and subsistence, funerary tradition and long-distance trade, arguing that resilience and vulnerability play out on different scales and on various levels.