Late antique and early Islamic Palmyra in perspective: the potential and limits of incomplete datasets

The history and archaeology of Palmyra in Late Antiquity and the early Islamic period have been the subject of limited study. This contrasts with the wealth of publications that characterizes the scholarship dedicated to Palmyra before the Aurelianic reconquest of the city in ad 272 and 273. This difference is partly due to the nature of the archaeological evidence (usually more abundant and monumental for the first–third centuries ad) and partly to the quantity and quality of information that can be retrieved from written sources and the epigraphic record. This contribution aims to briefly summarize the history of the studies dedicated to Palmyra in Late Antiquity and the early Islamic period and discuss what might await future works on this topic. The latter aim will be achieved by exploring the research potential of old and incomplete datasets, namely the documents associated with the excavations of the Sanctuary of Baalshamin by P. Collart and the dataset of the Pal.MA.I.S. Syro-Italian joint archaeological project.