Jabal es Saaïdé explained

Jabal es Saaïdé
Native Name:جبل سعيدة
Map Type:Lebanon
Map Alt:1035 Metres
Location:12km (07miles) northeast of Baalbek, Lebanon
Region:Bekaa
Coordinates:34.1554°N 36.2288°W
Part Of:Village
Built:c. 10000 BC
Epochs:Epipaleolithic, Natufian, PPNA, PPNB
Excavations:1966, 1969
Archaeologists:Bruce Schroeder, Jacques Besançon, Francis Hours
Condition:ruins
Public Access:Yes

Jabal es Saaïdé (Arabic: جبل سعيدة), Jabal es Saaide, Jabal as Sa`idah, Jabal as Sa`īdah, Jebal Saaidé, Jebel Saaidé or Jabal Saaidé is a Mountain in Lebanon near the inhabited village of Saaïdé, approximately 12km (07miles) northeast of Baalbek, Lebanon.

Saaidé I & Saaidé II are archaeological sites of note in this area. In the summer of 1966, the Lebanese Army dug a trench at Saaidé I, and recovered many tools and lithics including sickles, grinders, scrapers, chisels, awls and blades suggested to date to the PPNB or PPNA.[1] Jacques Besançon & Francis Hours later discovered a Palaeolithic layer below the Neolithic level, recovering knives, arrowheads, scrapers and retouched blades along with a fragment of a small, flat, cutting axe.[2]

Saaidé II, almost 0.25ha in size, was first excavated in 1969 by Bruce Schroeder from the University of Toronto who found the site badly damaged by modern agriculture. Investigations have recovered a wide range of mortars and pestles, scrapers, chisels, borers, retouched microliths, geometric and non-geometric microliths. One grave was found with some tiny skull fragments from an adult aged 45–50 years. Local fauna consisted of turtles, birds (duck, goose, eagle) and mammals (badger, lynx, deer, ox, gazelle, sheep and goat). Jebal Saaidé is the only pre-agricultural village found in Lebanon to date.[3] Inhabitants seem to have hunted different animals including lynx, red deer, gazelle, and some aquatic and migratory birds.[4]

Literature

Notes and References

  1. http://www.usj.edu.lb/mpl/pdf/1.pdf Besançon, J., Copeland, L., Hours, F., « Tableau de préhistoire libanaise »,. Paléorient 3, 1975-1976-1977, p. 5-46.
  2. Haidar-Boustani. Maya. 2001–2002. Le Néolithique du Liban dans le contexte proche-oriental: Etat des connaissances. Annales d'histoire et d'archéologie. Université Saint-Joseph. 12-13. 1729-6927.
  3. Book: Berytus: archeological studies, Volumes 17-19. The American University of Beirut. 1968.
  4. Book: Schwartz . Glenn M. . Akkermans . Peter M. M. G. . The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (c. 16,000–300 BC) . limited . . 2003 . 33 . 0-521-79666-0 .