The programme "Marges arides de Syrie du nord" (Arid margins in North Syria) aims at understanding the settlement modalities in an area located on the fringe of the steppe and the desert constituting the inner limit of the "fertile crescent". The programme is based on a prospecting carried out in a large area situated in the region of Salamiyah, Southeast of Aleppo. At the end of this programme, we hope to have explained the fluctuations between the nomad and sedentary settlement in this region often neglected by researchers. Although this area seems away from the great traditional roads, i.e. the Euphrates valley and the Palmyra road, it is nevertheless of importance for the life of the region and the subsistence of the great centres located at the occidental limit, notably in the Bronze Age (3rd-2nd mill. BC), such as Ebla, Hama or Qatna. The remains of fortified sites dating from the end of the Early Bronze Age and from the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age evidence a much greater density of settlements than was supposed.

The remains are mainly dated thanks to the ceramic material found. The reference sites are relatively scarce and the results of the excavations in the great towns mentioned above have often partly remained unpublished, which makes even clearer the interest of studying the ceramic material found. Although the settlements were most intense at the end of the Early Bronze Age, the sites dating from the Middle Bronze Age are still numerous, notably in the western part of the studied region. Those are villages of sedentary or semi-sedentary populations and some fortified sites.

The variety of the material found, even it is exclusively constituted of ceramic sherds, makes it possible to suggest a typology and a reference classification in order to make comparisons with materials from neighbouring regions (Syrian Mediterranean coast, Palestine, Euphrates valley, etc.).