After 25 years of excavation, French archaeologist Jean-Claude Margueron has identified Mari, an ancient city in present-day Syria, as one of history's earliest purpose-built urban centers. His book "Mari, the Metropolis of the Euphrates" argues the city was founded around 2,900 BC with a single goal: manufacturing copper arms and tools.
Mari was unusual for its era. While most ancient cities grew from villages or trading posts, Mari was built in a single planned phase, in a desert with no local copper deposits and too little rainfall for reliable farming.
The site was first excavated in 1933 by André Parrot, whose teams uncovered a temple of Ishtar, a royal statue, and a palace complex. Margueron took over in 1979 and spent decades on structural details and waterways that earlier digs had largely set aside.
Three canals explain how the city functioned. A 120-kilometer channel along the Euphrates carried copper and timber from the Taurus mountains of modern Türkiye; a second irrigated local farmland; a third controlled flooding and admitted large vessels, with an earthen bank and double ramparts completing the defenses. Margueron concluded that Mari's founders positioned it as a commercial bridge between southern Mesopotamia and Mediterranean trade.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in March 2005, in its own words.