Tarek Teba - Domestic and City life of Ugarit

Tarek Teba
Domestic and City life of Ugarit

The City of Ugarit is a Bronze Age archaeological site, located in northwest Syria; It is the capital of the important Bronze Age Ugaritic civilization, well known for its innovation and implementation of the first alphabet. The site has unique architectural and urban principles that were synthesized and informed by the civilization’s diverse in-land and oversea relationships and people’s cultural, social and religious values. The presentation explores the City of Ugarit from architectural and urban perspectives and investigates how demotic and cultural practices of Ugaritic People has shaped the city and its architectural and spatial settings. It touches on Domestic Architecture and its associated social, industrial and ritual aspects with the unique physical representation of the Ugaritic cult of ancestors. Religious architecture will be explored in relation to people's rituals, religious practices and beliefs. Architectural analysis and interpretations are supported by reading and analysis of archaeological and textual data.

Tarek is a senior lecturer at the University of Portsmouth and the Chair of ICOMOS UK Digital Technology National Committee. Tarek’s research concerns the conservation of tangible and intangible heritage through creating the balance between contemporary values via community engagement and historic, aesthetic and cultural explorations. Tarek has explored this interdisciplinary nexus and investigated methodological approaches to preserve the cultural and contemporary social values embedded in heritage assets and cities using analysis of archaeological excavations, community engagement and/or cultural mapping as an informing tool and a virtual modelling approach as a vehicle to deliver preservation, adaptation and development strategies.