ABSTRACT
Pottery studies on the field were carried out by analyzing pottery from each room of Building P4 only after having completely excavated it, and of course by considering together only sherds from single stratigraphic units. Building P4 shows technical solutions unparalleled in the palace, such as the inner distribution passage within double walls, the irregular shape of the rooms, and the 'concentric' layout. Within the pottery assemblage, besides the ubiquitous water jars with grooved rim, one should note three medium-sized Preservation Ware jars with narrow necks, metallic pastes, and simple potter's marks. Precise functional interpretation of pottery shapes is not an easy task, especially in the case of a seemingly not highly specialized assemblage, as is the case with the Ebla EB IVA one, save for a few shapes. The differences in the masonry and the layout of Building P4 with respect to even the peripheral sectors of Royal Palace G exclude a direct architectural relation between the two compounds.
