The excavation campaigns
(by years)
Direction
Nadine Panayot-Haroun, director of the Department of Archaeology and Museology (DAM), University of Balamand, Lebanon.
Dominique Parayre, Professor Emeritus, UMR 7041 ArScAn, VEPMO team (Du village à l’état au Proch et au Moyen-Orient), Maison de l’Archéologie et de l’Ethnologie (MAE), Nanterre, France.
How Eveha Participates
Topography
The 2015 season saw the continuation of work begun in previous years. Two excavation trenches were opened, and the fill layers of two cisterns partly excavated.
In the trenches, well conserved archaeological remains were observed, such as floor levels, wall sections and various other installations. The associated artefacts can be dated to the 13th century, which corresponds with the last major phase of occupation on the site, just before the demolition of the fortress in 1289.
In the cisterns, one of which had been transformed for salt production, the fill layers also belong predominantly to the High Medieval period. A small amount of Byzantine material was found at the bottom of one of them.
Finally, additional field survey revealed new remains which appear to be Bronze Age in date. As no archaeological context from this period has yet been identified on the promontory, it is possible that this material was brought on to the site as part of the fill layers used to level the area during the 12-13th centuries.
A large part of this season’s activity involved the detailed mapping of the remains. The discoveries in each of the trenches were surveyed, as were all of the remains on the promontory of Enfeh and the surrounding area. The aim is to create a comprehensive and highly accurate archaeological map of a little-known region of the Lebanese coast.
