Direction
Jean-Baptiste Yon (CNRS-HiSoMa/IFPO)
How Eveha Participates
Topography
Location
Lebanon
2019 Excavation and Survey Campaign in Tyre
A new campaign of excavations and architectural surveys took place between September 30 and October 26, 2019, at the site of Tyre. This marked the 12th year of Éveha International’s participation in this project, reflecting a fruitful long-term collaboration. Within this framework, Xavier Husson oversaw the topographic and photogrammetric work.
This year, several sectors were surveyed and excavated:
- The area opened in 2018 within the canonical enclosure was subject to detailed excavation (Sector 1, Sounding 3). This work provided initial insights into the evolution of the sector during the Islamic and Frankish periods. Three construction phases were identified. One of these architectural units consists of several rooms, one of which contained a Proto-Byzantine mosaic. Topographic and photogrammetric surveys completed the overall recording of the area.
- On the opposite side of the site, in Sector 7, the excavation of the small baths, which began in 2018, continued and the cleared area was extended. This extension led to the discovery of latrines and the beginning of a stylobate. These new findings change the scale of analysis, suggesting that the site was not merely a small neighborhood bathhouse, but rather a significant new thermal complex.
- Surveys were undertaken as part of the geoarchaeological study of the peninsula. This study aims to understand water supply systems and the evolution of the coastline. To this end, it was necessary to link the elevations of the Tyre-City site with the El-Bass site, located further to the east, which contains a long segment of the Roman aqueduct. A second operation involved various shoreline surveys to document sea-level variations. This work was conducted under the direction of Jean-Philippe Goiran (Archéorient, UMR 5133).
- This campaign was marked by the first use of a drone, which allowed for the capture of unprecedented aerial photographs.
Due to the political situation, the field mission was cut short. The final week was dedicated to post-excavation work at the Ifpo premises in Beirut. This allowed for significant progress in finalizing and standardizing the graphic documentation. The entire dataset has been integrated into the GIS (Geographic Information System), which will soon be further enriched by a new database.
