The ancient site of Ugarit is only 14Km north of Latakia. Called Ras Shamra for a while it was re-given its ancient name when the excavations were found in about 1929. Excavations by French archaeologists have been continuous since then, except for a pause during the Second World War.

Ugarit, the kingdom that flourished in the Bronze Ages, dates back much further than 3000 BC. Evidence of settlement were excavated at the bottom of the tell, that prove that this area was first settled in the 7th century BC, and had links with Mesopotamia. 

In the 2nd Millennium BC, Ugarit was occupied by the Canaanites who were known as the Phoenicians. Ugarit prospered and flourished for a few hundred years, as a center of trade linking Mesopotamia with the Minoans of Crete and shipping (along with Byblos) trees to the Egyptian Pharaohs. Ugarit at this point was in control of a small but very fertile area stretching between the present Turkish border and Jableh. It was at this time that Ugarit became specialized in the working of Bronze.

By the 16th century BC Ugarit had greatly developed in prosperity and it was exceptionally diplomatic in balancing between the Egyptians and the Mitannis and the Hittites in Northern Syria. It is believed that Ugarit was heavily destroyed by a tidal wave in the 14th century BC, however it was rebuilt and it redeveloped to renew its prosperity. Much of what has been found dates back to this period, which is, considered a Golden Age for Ugarit, and this is when the Alphabet was first developed. Using a different system from the Hieroglyphics and pictograms it relied on the 'one sign per one sound' principle. Although correspondence with Egypt and the Hittites remained in the Babylonian syllabic cuneiform alphabet. 

In the 13th century BC, it strengthened ties and trading links with the Aegean and passed the first alphabet, as we know it, to the Greeks. Around 1200 BC Ugarit was taken over and destroyed by the 'Sea Peoples', its centrally regulated economy was destroyed and it only recovered slightly and could not enjoy its former wealth. The Iron Age had approached and their Bronze works was no longer needed.