Partial answers to the question, why these early centers were so brittle, may lie in the effects of sustained drought on overstressed primitive agriculture.

Dr. Glenn Schwartz of Johns Hopkins, who has been doing field archaeology at Umm el-Marra, suggested in 1994 that "they placed extensive demands on their environments, continually intensifying their agriculture to feed more people.

Umm el-Marra Levels IIIa-c: In the MB IIA (c. 1820 BC), the city saw a renaissance while controlled by the Amorites.

Following the military campaigns of Suppiluliuma I, it became part of the Hittite Empire following the Fall of Carchemish and the death of Tushratta of Mitanni around 1345 BC.

Excavation of Umm el-Marra began in the late 1970s and early 1980s with soundings by a Belgian team led by Roland Tefnin.

2300 BCE, uncovered by Dr. Schwartz's team in 2000 at the site, made science press headlines, for it contained five richly-adorned adults and three babies, some of whom were ornamented head-to-toe in gold and silver.

Dr. Schwartz noted of peculiar aspects in the burial that they 'may hint at ritual characteristics, rather than a tomb simply reserved for royalty or elite individuals.'

The interment, which was above ground in ancient times, included three layers of skeletons in wooden coffins lined with textiles.

[13][14] Incisions on four clay cylinders dated to c. 2400 BC have been hypothesized to be Early Alphabetic Semitic writing, which would make them the oldest such examples.