  Shown within Lebanon | |
| Location | Beqaa Valley, Lebanon |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°41′00″N35°55′07″E / 33.683333°N 35.918611°E |
| Part of | Factory |
| History | |
| Periods | Heavy Neolithic, Neolithic |
| Site notes | |
| Archaeologists | Peter Wescombe, J. King |
| Condition | ruins |
| Public access | Yes |
Tell Ain el Meten is a tell in the area of El Meten in the Rashaya District, south-eastern portion of the Bekaa Governorate of the Republic of Lebanon. [1] [2] It is located opposite the village of Sawiri.
In archaeology, a tell, or tel, is an artificial mound formed from the accumulated refuse of generations of people living on the same site for hundreds or thousands of years. A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with sloping sides and can be up to 30 metres high.
Rashaya District is an administrative district in the Beqaa Governorate of the Republic of Lebanon.
Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus is west across the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland facilitated its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity. At just 10,452 km2, it is the smallest recognized sovereign state on the mainland Asian continent.
A Heavy Neolithic archaeological site of the Qaraoun culture was discovered by Peter Wescombe and J. King in 1966 along a track 200 metres (0.12 mi) north of the Ain el Meten spring and about 300 metres (0.2 mi) west of the road. The tell is cone shaped and composed of rubble stones and grey soil. Imported brown worked flint tools were found along with others made from Nummulitic, Eocene flint in the fields on the lower slopes. Another type of brittle and drab-coloured flint found in the area was unsuitable for toolmaking. The material was determined to be of Heavy Neolithic or possibly earlier Paleolithic origins. [3]
Heavy Neolithic is a style of large stone and flint tools associated primarily with the Qaraoun culture in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon, dating to the Epipaleolithic or early Pre-pottery Neolithic at the end of the Stone Age. The type site for the Qaraoun culture is Qaraoun II.
The Qaraoun culture is a culture of the Lebanese Stone Age around Qaraoun in the Beqaa Valley. The Gigantolithic or Heavy Neolithic flint tool industry of this culture was recognized as a particular Neolithic variant of the Lebanese highlands by Henri Fleisch, who collected over one hundred flint tools within two hours on 2 September 1954 from the site. Fleisch discussed the discoveries with Alfred Rust and Dorothy Garrod, who confirmed the culture to have Neolithic elements. Garrod said that the Qaraoun culture "in the absence of all stratigraphical evidence may be regarded as mesolithic or proto-neolithic"..
Peter Wescombe was a British diplomat, amateur archaeologist, historian and founding member of the Bletchley Park Trust.
Pottery was also found suggested to date to the Early Bronze Age and Middle Bronze Age. This was evidenced by sherds with flat bases, grey or cream burnishing. The grey burnished sherds were equated to the Syrian bottle type. Various other sherds were found with finger impressed rims, to which could not be assigned a definite date. A handle from the Cypriot II stage was also found along with traces of occupation in the Late Iron Age and Islamic periods. [3]
Pottery is the process of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired to give them a hard, durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made by a potter is also called a pottery. The definition of pottery used by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), is "all fired ceramic wares that contain clay when formed, except technical, structural, and refractory products." In archaeology, especially of ancient and prehistoric periods, "pottery" often means vessels only, and figures etc. of the same material are called "terracottas". Clay as a part of the materials used is required by some definitions of pottery, but this is dubious.
In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels, as well.
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humankind. It was preceded by the Stone Age and the Bronze Age. The concept has been mostly applied to Europe and the Ancient Near East, and, by analogy, also to other parts of the Old World.
The site was largely intact in 1966 with terracing for fruit trees in the area and a rocky crest of the tell, which had been ploughed. [3]
A plough (UK) or plow is a tool or farm implement used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting to loosen or turn the soil. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by working animals such as oxen and horses, but in modern times are mostly drawn by tractors. A plough may be made of wood, iron, or steel frame with an attached blade or stick used to cut the soil and loosen it. It has been a basic instrument for most of recorded history, although despite archeological evidence for its use written references to the plough do not appear in the English language before c. 1100, after which point it is referenced frequently. The plough represents one of the major agricultural inventions in human history. The earliest ploughs were wheelless, and the Romans used a wheelless plough called the aratrum, but Celtic peoples began using wheeled ploughs during the Roman era.
