Abstract

Doliche has been a city in the hinterland of Roman North Syria. Situated on the junction of important roads linking Asia Minor with Mesopotamia and Syria with Armenia, the city must be regarded as a central hub in the urban network of the ancient Near East.

So far, Doliche is best known for its main sanctuary, which is located on a mountain top outside the city. Between 2001 and 2015 excavations have been conducted at the site of the sanctuary. They yielded important information and considerably improved our understanding of the material culture and the religious history of the region from the Iron Age to the late medieval period.

In 2015, however, a new research project has been started. The focus has shifted to the urban area of Doliche. Thanks to the generous funding by the German Research Foundation and Turkish sponsors intensive surveys as well as excavations of key areas of the city will be conducted in the next years. In my talk I will introduce the layout of the project and its infrastructure. In this context, it will also be necessary to address challenges and difficulties, which range from security issues due to the Syrian civil war to the pitfalls of Turkish politics and the regulations imposed on foreign missions to Turkey. Most of all, however, I would like to discuss the key research questions of the Doliche project and the ways in which the project may contribute to UrbNet.