ABSTRACT
The oasis of Tadmur is located in the middle of the Syrian Desert which in fact is not a desert, but a zone of transition between the Mediterranean landscape and the Arabian Peninsula. In the midst of the Shamiya, at the foot of the Palmyra Chains, lies the oasis of Tadmur. The Syrian Desert of the Palmyrene is anything but dead: in many places, it is surprisingly green, especially in the spring after the rains. There are two geographic factors which decisively influenced the urban development of ancient Palmyra: first, the traffic-favourable position directly at the crossing point between the Palmyra Chains and the inner-Syrian chalk heights; second, the presence of the oasis, which is fed by the Efqa spring, with its palm gardens. The first evidence of human presence in the Palmyrene goes back to the Middle Palaeolithic. The next indications of human presence in the Palmyrene can only be dated to the end of the Stone Age.
