The ancient site of Ugarit is only 14 Km north of the Syrian coastal city of Latakia. The Kingdom of Ugarit, which flourished in the Bronze Age, dates back much further than 3000 BC. Excavations at the base of the ‘tell’ (man-made hill) prove that this area was first settled in the 7th century BC and had links with Mesopotamia. Ugarit, along with Byblos prospered and flourished for a few hundred years, as a centre of trade linking Mesopotamia with the Minoans of Crete and shipping cedar wood to the Egyptian Pharaohs. By the C16th BC Ugarit had greatly developed in prosperity and it was exceptionally diplomatic in balancing its relations between the Egyptians and the Mitannis and the Hittites in Northern Syria. It is believed that Ugarit was destroyed by a tidal wave in the C14th BC, however it was rebuilt and it was restored to its former position of prosperity. Much of what has been found dates back to this period which is considered a golden age for Ugarit, and it was during this period that the Ugarit alphabet was first developed. Using a different system from hieroglyphics and pictograms, it relied on the 'one sign per one sound' principle.