Qatna is located in present-day Syria, between Damascus and Aleppo, and was an important city during the Bronze Age. It was one of the major political and commercial centers of the region between 2000 and 1600 B.C., with the earliest settlements dating back to around 3200 B.C.
It is believed that only 5–10% of the site has been explored so far, despite its great historical significance.
The economy was based on agriculture, especially wheat, grapes, and olives. An interesting historical aspect may lie in the cultivation of olive trees, which seem to have played an important role in cultural development, from the Sumerians to Egypt, then Syria, and later to the Greeks and Romans. Let us remember that the Greeks attributed the gift of the olive tree to the goddess Athena, which, according to myth, was the reason she was chosen as the patron deity of the city in her “contest” with Poseidon.
Qatna is a place where in recent years the German-Syrian team led by Michel al-Maqdissi, of the Directorate General of Antiquities, and Peter Pfälzner of the University of Tübingen has been uncovering very important discoveries in terms of archaeology and history.