The recent survey program undertaken in the arid margins of Northern Syria has provided a good insight into the settlements patterns, the subsistence strategies, and the economic specialization developed in this area from the beginning of the Roman period onward, and more particularly during the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Despite the impressive amount of data gathered by surveys, numerous questions arise regarding the detailed features of these settlements since archaeological research in this region involved very few excavations focusing on late antique occupation.
Al-Rawda archaeological site is well known for its Bronze Age urban settlement. However, during the 2009 and 2010 campaign, the excavation has focused on a building area outside the main Bronze Age city wall which turned out to belong to the Byzantine period. The small parts of the buildings that have been brought to light do not allow us to understand their layout during the three phases pointed out by the excavators. However, the excavation data can be compared with the information given by the geophysical map produced for the whole site. And both, along with the few excavations data available for the reporting period in the area and with the settlement patterns based on surveys data, are likely to refine our picture of the byzantine occupation and the mudbrick domestic architecture in the arid margins of Syria.