Archaeology of Lebanon

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Archaeology of Lebanon includes thousands of years of history ranging from

Lower Palaeolithic, Phoenician, Roman, Arab, Ottoman, and Crusades
periods.

Overview of Baalbek in the late 19th century
Archaeological site in Beirut
Byzantine necropolis, Tyre
Saint Joseph University, Beirut
, Lebanon.

Notable findings and sites

See also:
Paleontological sites of Lebanon
Ahiram in the National Museum of Beirut

Lebanon features several important Paleolithic sites associated with

libraries dating back to the period of Classical antiquity.[2]

Industry names

Radio-carbon dating exists for Ksar Akil and Ras El Kelb.[3] Various other industries have been judged to be typologically similar to these along with one described by Henri Fleisch in 1962 particular to "mountain sites" for which the Mayroubian culture has been defined after its type site, Mayrouba.[4]

R. Neuville and

Kebaran, of which there are many varieties of assemblage based on locality.[3]

Several early

arrowheads and more grinding tools and sickle blades.[3]

Various other Neolithic industries have been found in Lebanon such as

Epipaleolithic or Pre-Pottery Neolithic as it is evidently not Paleolithic, Mesolithic or even Pottery Neolithic.[8][9]

One particularly vigorous culture identified at over forty sites by

Qaraoun II, located close to the El Wauroun Dam, Mount Hermon and Aaiha.[7]

The

Akkar Plain which have Early Bronze Age or earlier deposits including one under the Grand Court in front of the Temple of Jupiter in Baalbek.[10]

Surveys and dating of prehistoric sites

Descriptions of some of the tells in the Beqaa Valley were published by A. Jirku in 1933, L. Burkhalter in 1948 and A. Kuschke in 1954, along with a map of the

Beqaa valley by Bernard Geze in 1956 that marked 50 tells.[11][12][13][14] Another major survey of Lebanese tells was carried out between 1965 and 1966 with 88 tells recorded along with numerous surface sites by Lorraine Copeland and Peter Wescombe. Materials collected were presented for comment and identification to a 'panel of experts' that included Diana Kirkbride, Jacques Cauvin, Henri de Contenson, Maurice Dunand, Francis Hours, Henri Fleisch, Robert John Braidwood, Ralph Solecki, W.J. van Liere, G.L. Harding, H. Balfet, Olga Tufnell, Brian Gregor and Ziyad Beydoun.[15]

Temples of Lebanon

Lebanon contains a diverse range of ruins and remains of

Bacchus. It is thought that local villages attempted to create similar temples to a diverse range of Gods, leaving ancient shrines and vestiges to be found all around the country-side. This has led to the country itself being described an "open-air museum".[16] George F. Taylor divided the temples of Lebanon into three groups, one group referred to the Temples of the Lebanese coastal plain to Mount Lebanon, another group as Temples of the Beqaa Valley and another area with a particularly heavy concentration was defined as the Temples of Mount Hermon.[17]

Damage to archaeological sites

During the

2006 Lebanon war, a number of archaeological sites, including World Heritage Sites, were damaged as a result of Israeli aerial bombardments in Lebanon.[18]
A survey of the damage to sites in Lebanon was launched by UNESCO after the international archaeological community, including the director of the
Jiyeh power plant had stained the stones at the base of the port's two Medieval towers, among other archaeological remains on the seashore.[18][19] Mounir Bouchenaki, Director-General of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) estimated that it would take twenty-five people eight to ten weeks to manually hand-clean the affected areas, placing the cost of the operation at some 100,000 USD.[18]

Temple of Bacchus

The mission also found that the main features of the World Heritage Site of Tyre, such as the

souk and some old houses in the Old City of Baalbek that were not part of the property inscribed on the World Heritage List.[18]

At a press conference revealing the results of the survey, Françoise Rivière, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Culture, reported on UNESCO's efforts during and after the fighting to draw the attention of both parties to their obligations to spare cultural heritage, as protected by the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, to which both Lebanon and Israel are States Parties.[18]

The recent increase in pace of

Association for the Protection of Lebanese Heritage have organized public demonstrations and co-operate with cultural activist groups such as Save Beirut Heritage to increase awareness of heritage conservation in the country.[20]

As well as emphasizing the value of collaboration and a multidisciplinary approach for cultural heritage conservation, we should place a high priority on the return of illegally trafficked Lebanese artifacts.[21]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Kipfer, 2000, pp. 623, 632, 637, 647, 655.
  2. ^ a b Wedgeworth, 1993, p. 453.
  3. ^ a b c Lorraine Copeland; P. Wescombe (1965). Inventory of Stone-Age sites in Lebanon, pp. 40-43. Imprimerie Catholique. Retrieved 21 July 2011.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ Fleisch, Henri., Les stations préhistoriques de montagne au Liban, VI' Congrès de l'UlSPP (Rome, 1962)
  5. ^ Howell, F., Upper Pleistocene Stratigraphy and Early Man in the Levant, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 103, 1959.
  6. ^ Garrod, D., The Natufian Culture ; the life and economy of a Mesolithic People of the Near East. Proceedings of the British Academy, vol 43, 1957.
  7. ^ a b Mellaart, James., Earliest Civilizations in the Near East, Thames and Hudson, London, 1965.
  8. ^ L. Copeland; P. Wescombe (1966). Inventory of Stone-Age Sites in Lebanon: North, South and East-Central Lebanon, p. 50. Impr. Catholique. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  9. ^ Fleisch, Henri., Notes de Préhistoire Libanaise : 1) Ard es Saoude. 2) La Bekaa Nord. 3) Un polissoir en plein air. BSPF, vol. 63.
  10. ^ Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth, Volume 18, 1965.
  11. ^ Jirku, A., Neue Forschungen in Syrien und Palästina. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischer Gesellschaft, vol. 86, pp. 170, 1933.
  12. ^ Burkhalter, L., Bibliographie Préhistorique - Inventaire, Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth, vol. 8, 1948.
  13. ^ Burkhalter, L., Bibliographie Préhistorique - Cartes et bibliographie, Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth, vol. 9, 1949.
  14. ^ Kuschke, A., Beiträge zur Siedlungsgeschichte der Bika'. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Palastina-Vereins, vol. 70, pp. 104-129, 1954 (continued in vol. 71, pp. 97-110, 1955-56).
  15. ^ L. Copeland; P. Wescombe (1966). Inventory of Stone-Age Sites in Lebanon: North, South and East-Central Lebanon, pp. 16 & 17. Impr. Catholique. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  16. ISBN 978-1-84162-370-2
    . Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  17. ^ George Taylor (1971). The Roman temples of Lebanon: a pictorial guide. Les temples romains au Liban; guide illustré. Dar el-Machreq Publishers. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g "Mission reports on war damage to cultural heritage in Lebanon". UNESCO. September 18, 2006. Archived from the original on 20 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
  19. ^ a b Rob Sharp (2006-09-17). "Bombs shatter Lebanon's Roman legacy". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
  20. ^ ""Behind the destruction of Beirut's heritage" Shane Farrell, Now Lebanon, 4 July 2012". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  21. ^ 2. Lina G. Tahan, “Trafficked Lebanese Antiquities: Can They Be Repatriated from European Museums?,” Penn State University Press, Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies, 5, no. 1 (February 1, 2017): 27–35, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jeasmedarcherstu.5.1.0027.

Bibliography

External links
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