The Proceedings collect the papers presented at the International Conference held in Lecce from May 15th to 17th 2013. Several Italian and foreign scholars, who worked in Syria until the forced interruption of fieldwork in 2011, participated in the conference. The papers deal with different periods, showing continuity or hiatus in the settlement history, emphasizing geographical and environmental analogies. This volume offers insights for the historical reconstruction of a large region during two thousand years, from the Early Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period. When we have no epigraphic documents, as in Tell Tuqan, the analysis of the material culture provides evidence of exchanges and interaction with nearby areas. A substantial degree of continuity in the human occupation of the Matkh region from the III to I Millennium B.C. was undoubtedly favored by the humid environment of the ancient lake. We can observe a continuity of settlements (sometimes with short interruptions or partial abandonments) directly connected with the economic and political role played by the main regional urban centres. Around the ruins of these ancient sites there are now new villages, large or small, marking the Syrian landscape. Here the people can feel themselves as heirs of their past history. Awareness of that origin creates a connection with the next generation. Its denial causes an irreparable loss of our cultural heritage.