Ugarit… The Early Beginnings: From the Alphabet to Art and Agriculture By Dr. Ghassan Al-Qaim
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Ugarit: A Prehistoric Civilization
The civilizational legacy of Ugarit marks the dawn of construction, agriculture, and animal domestication.
Ugarit—a city whose history I have long praised, written about, and proudly embraced—is rightfully deserving of such recognition. This city, which has fascinated and amazed me, was the heart of my life for over thirty years. I worked there as a director, supervisor, and researcher, overseeing some of its most significant archaeological discoveries and contributing to the excavation and restoration of its walls and stones.
Despite the extensive, meticulous studies conducted on Ugarit’s ruins, and the wealth of international research and translations that have emerged over the past ninety-five years since its discovery, I firmly believe that this great archaeological city still awaits a deeper revelation—one that would grant it its rightful place in world history. Walking through its royal palaces, homes, temples, and numerous streets—once bustling with life—one cannot help but engage in a silent dialogue with its stones. It is in such moments that one truly begins to understand the vibrant life, economic activity, and agricultural achievements of ancient Ugarit.
Ugarit: The First Agricultural Hub
Often forgotten is that the name “Ugarit” was only assigned to the city in the second millennium BCE. Long before that, it had existed as the oldest agricultural village, established by settlers who migrated from the Euphrates basin and the Syrian steppe to the Mediterranean coast. These early inhabitants mastered construction, farming, and animal domestication, spearheading what can rightfully be called the agricultural revolution as early as the 8th millennium BCE—a date confirmed by archaeological stratigraphy conducted at the site of Ras Shamra during the 1960s.
These early settlers built large and small houses using mudbrick and stone, equipped them with windows and doors, and surrounded them with courtyards and streets, forming a unique urban fabric. As early as that period, they cultivated wheat, barley, and corn, and planted grapevines, fig trees, and olive trees. They also domesticated cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs.
The First Syrian Home: Ugarit as a Model
On a spiritual level, the people of this village practiced various forms of art and religious beliefs, including the worship of ancestors—a tradition that endured throughout the ancient Near East during the 6th and 5th millennia BCE, particularly in the Halaf and Ubaid periods. The village of Ras Shamra continued to evolve across all domains, producing some of the most beautiful and intricate pottery, decorated with diverse artistic themes. This pottery became a significant trade commodity, spreading from the far east of the region to its distant west.
Throughout the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE—during the Uruk period and the three phases of the Bronze Age—Ras Shamra saw continuous development across social, economic, cultural, and spiritual fields, including architecture, art, rituals, and more. It laid the foundational structures upon which the great kingdom of Ugarit was eventually built. Ugarit would come to encompass a rich fusion of cultural and religious influences from across the eastern Mediterranean, Asia, and even Egypt. This openness allowed Ugarit to become a hub for the exchange of ideas, resulting in a uniquely creative civilization—one whose strength and endurance solidified its prominent place in history.
We affirm: if Ugarit gave the world its first alphabet, then the pre-Ugaritic village of Ras Shamra also gave the world its first agricultural revolution.
The story of Ugarit is far from over. Expanding archaeological efforts and continued study of the site’s artifacts will undoubtedly enhance our understanding. What is clear already is that Ugarit’s contributions extend far beyond the era of the kingdom itself—they reach back to the prehistoric society whose economic, technical, and social advances laid the groundwork for one of the ancient world’s most remarkable civilizations.
— Dr. Ghassan Al-Qaim
