Labweh
Encyclopedia
Labweh Laboue, Labwe or Al-Labweh is a village at an altitude of 950 metres (3,116.8 ft) on a foothill of the Anti-Lebanon mountains in the Baalbek District
of Lebanon
.
settlements represented at Labweh have been found dating to at least the 7th millennium BC. It has been suggested that it was known to the Egyptians
as Lab'u, to the Assyrians as Laba'u and as Lebo-hamath to the Hebrews
. This has been associated with the Hamath mentioned in the Book of Kings
and the Book of Ezekiel
noted as the Northern border of King Solomon's territory. Labweh in the original Syraic tongue means "heart" or "center", it also has been suggested to come from the Arabic for "lion" or "lioness". The village has several archaeological sites of interest including three old caves with Roman
-Byzantine
sarcophagi and the remains of a temple. There are also remains of a Byzantine bastion and a Roman dam suggested to date to the reign of Queen Zenobia. Legend suggests that channels were carved through the rock to send water to her lands in Palmyra
, Syria.
, which gives its name to the Labweh Springs and Labweh River, one of the sources of the Orontes. The Labweh river flows for approximately 12 miles (19.3 km) through rocky desert. It then cascades into a lake and wider stream at another village called Er-Ras, considered to be the source of the Orontes. This flows onwards northeast, fed by numerous other streams from Lebanon's mountains.
and Peter Wescombe in 1966 with later excavations by Diana Kirkbride
in 1969. Tell Labweh, Tell Labweh South or Labweh I sits to the South of the village with another site to the North. The surface of Tell Labweh had been damaged by modern agriculture and it had been cut in half by road construction. Several burials were discovered inside the remains of rectangular buildings with white and red plaster floors. The remains of stone walls were found at lower levels and it is thought that the buildings may have used mud bricks at higher levels.
Early neolithic
finds included a large number of fragments of limestone
White Ware
or "Vassille Blanche", along with later pottery
called dark faced burnished ware
or DFBW. Only one vessel was reconstructed from the initial excavations; a bowl with combed finishing. Other shards included jars and bowls of a black, brown or red colour, one showed a straw
wiped finish normally found in sites further South in the Jordan Valley
. Others showed decorations such as chevrons, incised patterns and corded impressions. Flints were similar to those found at Tell Ramad
and included Byblos
points, hooks, scrapers, borers and burins. Burials were found within two houses, which were excavated and found to be similar to those in earlier PPNB and PPNA sites. A range of sickle
blades were found in the basal deposits and higher levels showing the evolution of denticulated and segmented cutting edges with similarities to those found at the oldest neolithic Byblos. Three initial samples were Radiocarbon dated
suggesting a range of dates between 6780 to 6910 BC; a date range covering only c. 130 years. The range of finds at the site has however helped to reveal some aspects of the transition through neolithic stages.
Tell Labweh North is another large archaeological site, a few hundred metres north on the other side of the village and springs. Finely denticulated sickle blades, arrowheads and trapezoidal, flaked axe
s and fragments of white ware along with burnished pottery with patterns and a fragment of obsidian
were collected from the surface of the site. Most of the finds indicated settlement around the time of Tell Labweh (South) and Byblos. Fauna
would have included forest animals and numerous domesticated cattle, sheep and goats.
Baalbek District
Baalbek District is an administrative district in the Beqaa Governorate of the Republic of Lebanon, having Baalbek as its capital. It is by far the largest district in the country comprising a total of 2319 km2....
of Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
.
History
The NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
settlements represented at Labweh have been found dating to at least the 7th millennium BC. It has been suggested that it was known to the Egyptians
Egyptians
Egyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
as Lab'u, to the Assyrians as Laba'u and as Lebo-hamath to the Hebrews
Hebrews
Hebrews is an ethnonym used in the Hebrew Bible...
. This has been associated with the Hamath mentioned in the Book of Kings
Books of Kings
The Book of Kings presents a narrative history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of his successor Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, a period of some 400 years...
and the Book of Ezekiel
Book of Ezekiel
The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah and preceding the Book of the Twelve....
noted as the Northern border of King Solomon's territory. Labweh in the original Syraic tongue means "heart" or "center", it also has been suggested to come from the Arabic for "lion" or "lioness". The village has several archaeological sites of interest including three old caves with Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
-Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
sarcophagi and the remains of a temple. There are also remains of a Byzantine bastion and a Roman dam suggested to date to the reign of Queen Zenobia. Legend suggests that channels were carved through the rock to send water to her lands in Palmyra
Palmyra
Palmyra was an ancient city in Syria. In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert...
, Syria.
Labweh Springs and Labweh River
The village is located on a hill 26 kilometres (16.2 mi) northeast of BaalbekBaalbek
Baalbek is a town in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, altitude , situated east of the Litani River. It is famous for its exquisitely detailed yet monumentally scaled temple ruins of the Roman period, when Baalbek, then known as Heliopolis, was one of the largest sanctuaries in the Empire...
, which gives its name to the Labweh Springs and Labweh River, one of the sources of the Orontes. The Labweh river flows for approximately 12 miles (19.3 km) through rocky desert. It then cascades into a lake and wider stream at another village called Er-Ras, considered to be the source of the Orontes. This flows onwards northeast, fed by numerous other streams from Lebanon's mountains.
Archaeological sites
Soundings and analysis of archaeological sites in Labweh were made by Lorraine CopelandLorraine Copeland
Lorraine Copeland is an archaeologist specialising in the Palaeolithic period of the Near East. Her husband was Miles Axe Copeland Jr, and they had four children, all of whom have gone on to have notable careers: Miles Copeland III, Ian, Lorraine and Stewart Copeland.Lorraine Copeland was born in...
and Peter Wescombe in 1966 with later excavations by Diana Kirkbride
Diana Kirkbride
Diana Victoria Warcup Kirkbride-Halbaek was a British archaeologist who specialised in the prehistory of the Near East.-Biography:...
in 1969. Tell Labweh, Tell Labweh South or Labweh I sits to the South of the village with another site to the North. The surface of Tell Labweh had been damaged by modern agriculture and it had been cut in half by road construction. Several burials were discovered inside the remains of rectangular buildings with white and red plaster floors. The remains of stone walls were found at lower levels and it is thought that the buildings may have used mud bricks at higher levels.
Early neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
finds included a large number of fragments of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
White Ware
White Ware
White Ware or "Vaisselle Blanche" is the first precursor to clay pottery developed in the Levant that appeared in the 9th millennium BC, during the pre-pottery neolithic period....
or "Vassille Blanche", along with later pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
called dark faced burnished ware
Dark faced burnished ware
Dark Faced Burnished Ware or DFBW is the earliest form of pottery developed in the western world.It was produced after the earliest examples from the indepenent phenomenon of the Jomon culture in Japan and is predominantly found at archaeological sites in Lebanon, Israel and southwest Syria...
or DFBW. Only one vessel was reconstructed from the initial excavations; a bowl with combed finishing. Other shards included jars and bowls of a black, brown or red colour, one showed a straw
Straw
Straw is an agricultural by-product, the dry stalks of cereal plants, after the grain and chaff have been removed. Straw makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has many uses, including fuel, livestock bedding and fodder, thatching and...
wiped finish normally found in sites further South in the Jordan Valley
Jordan Valley (Middle East)
The Jordan Valley forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. It is 120 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide, where it runs from Lake Tiberias in the north to northern Dead Sea in the south. It runs for an additional 155 kilometer south of the Dead Sea to Aqaba, an area also known as Wadi...
. Others showed decorations such as chevrons, incised patterns and corded impressions. Flints were similar to those found at Tell Ramad
Tell Ramad
Tell Ramad is a prehistoric, Neolithic tell at the foot of Mount Hermon, about southwest of Damascus in Syria. The tell was the site of a small village of , which was first settled in the late eighth millennium....
and included Byblos
Byblos
Byblos is the Greek name of the Phoenician city Gebal . It is a Mediterranean city in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of present-day Lebanon under the current Arabic name of Jubayl and was also referred to as Gibelet during the Crusades...
points, hooks, scrapers, borers and burins. Burials were found within two houses, which were excavated and found to be similar to those in earlier PPNB and PPNA sites. A range of sickle
Sickle
A sickle is a hand-held agricultural tool with a variously curved blade typically used for harvesting grain crops or cutting succulent forage chiefly for feeding livestock . Sickles have also been used as weapons, either in their original form or in various derivations.The diversity of sickles that...
blades were found in the basal deposits and higher levels showing the evolution of denticulated and segmented cutting edges with similarities to those found at the oldest neolithic Byblos. Three initial samples were Radiocarbon dated
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
suggesting a range of dates between 6780 to 6910 BC; a date range covering only c. 130 years. The range of finds at the site has however helped to reveal some aspects of the transition through neolithic stages.
Tell Labweh North is another large archaeological site, a few hundred metres north on the other side of the village and springs. Finely denticulated sickle blades, arrowheads and trapezoidal, flaked axe
Axe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...
s and fragments of white ware along with burnished pottery with patterns and a fragment of obsidian
Obsidian
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth...
were collected from the surface of the site. Most of the finds indicated settlement around the time of Tell Labweh (South) and Byblos. Fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
would have included forest animals and numerous domesticated cattle, sheep and goats.
Literature
- Kirkbride, Diana., Early Byblos and the Bakaa, Volume 45 (Pages 43-60), Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph (Beirut Lebanon), 1969.
- Copeland, Lorraine and Westcombe, Peter., Inventory of Stone Age Sites in Lebanon Part 2: North - South - East Central Lebanon Volume 42 (Pages 1-174) Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph (Beirut Lebanon), 1966.