Ras El Kelb Explained

Ras El Kelb
Map Type:Lebanon
Map Alt:Ras El Kelb
Map Size:240
Relief:yes
Location:80NaN0 from Beirut, Lebanon
Coordinates:33.9186°N 35.5861°W
Part Of:Settlement
Material:Limestone
Built:c. 50,000 BC
Epochs:Paleolithic
Cultures:Mousterian
Excavations:1959
Archaeologists:Dorothy Garrod, G Henri-Martin,
Public Access:Yes

Ras El Kelb is a truncated seaside cave and Paleolithic settlement located on the low-lying (5m (16feet)) coast of Lebanon, 8km (05miles) north of Beirut. It is one of the oldest habitations found in the country.[1]

Rescue excavations were carried out in 1959 by Dorothy Garrod and G. Henri-Martin.[2] They dug 2 trenches named the 'Rail' and 'Tunnel' trenches, from which they recovered over 30,000 flint artefacts of a wide variety for statistical analysis from 22 geological layers.[3] It was concluded that the sea had passed the level of the cave 3 times since its first dated habitation around 50,000 years BCE (52,000 years BP).[4]

They also discovered a tooth suggested to belong to a Neanderthal. It was suggested that the inhabitants were expert at hunting gazelle using the flints recovered.[5]

Notes and References

  1. [Lorraine Copeland|Copeland, Lorraine]
  2. Garrod, D. and Henri-Martin, G., Fouilles a Ras el-Kelb, Liban, 1959. Actes du 16eme Congres Prehistorique de France, Monaco, 1959.
  3. Garrod, D. and Henri-Martin, G., Rapport Preliminaire sur la fouille d'une grotte a Ras el Kelb, Liban, 1959, Bulletin du Musee de Beyrouth, XVI : 61-7, 1961.
  4. Garrod, D., The Middle Paleolithic of the near East and the Problems of Mount-Carmel Man., Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society, 92 : 232–51, 1962.
  5. Copeland, Lorraine., The Middle Paleolithic of Adlun and Ras El Kelb (Lebanon): First results from a study of the flint industries, pp. 33-57, Paléorient, Volume 4, Number 4, 1978.