A royal statue allows the identification of the ancient city of Ebla

The basalt statue of King Ibbit-Lim is the key clue that allowed the identification of the site of Ebla. Dated to the 20th century BC, it comes from the renewal of the city during the Paleo-Syrian period. In the absence of sufficient epigraphic sources for this era, this major archaeological discovery brought the city out of oblivion.