Qaraoun
Encyclopedia
Qaraoun is a Lebanese
village, 85 km from Beirut
, known for its Lake Qaraoun
in the Beqaa Valley
formed by the El Wauroun Dam built in 1959. It is an ecologically fragile zone in the Rashaya District
south of the Beqaa Governorate
. The village lies about 2600 feet above sea level. The dam is located nearby on the Litani River
.
on the east, Aitanite
on the west, Baaloul
on the north and Sohmor
on the south. The ecoregion of the village has now a land area of 1460 ha, with 1100 ha of it under agriculture including 400 ha under irrigation and the balance agricultural area is rainfed. When the El Qauroun Dam was built on the Litani River (the longest river in Lebanon) in 1959, Qaraoun village, lying on its left bank transferred an area of 740 ha for the development of the project. The ecoregions habitat composition is a delicate interface of dry lands with the riverine and lacustrine
zones.
The development activity near the village, consequent to land area the Qaraoun village transferred for building of the El Qaraoun Dam in the middle reaches of the Litani River, which created an artificial lake (33°34′11.63"N 35°41′51.18"E) with water spread area of 1190 ha (the largest body of freshwater in Lebanon). The dam, which created the artificial lake or reservoir, is the largest dam built in Lebanon for multipurpose uses of hydropower generation (190 MW), irrigation (28,500 ha) and drinking water supply. It is a concrete-faced rockfill dam (CFRD) of 61 m height built with crest level at EL 801 m with a dam length of 1090 m, over karstic limestone formations. The reservoir has a storage capacity of 220 million cubic metres at maximum pond elevation of 858 m.
The lake environment includes woodland, orchards and low-growing scrubs; it attracts about 20,000 migratory birds such as Bird of prey
, storks, pelicans and wintering fowl. Ferruginous duck
(Aythya nyroca), Pallid Harrier
(Circus macrourus), Greater Spotted Eagle
(Aquila clanga), Eastern Imperial Eagle
(Aquila heliaca) and Lapwing
(Vanellus gregarius) are some of the birds which are of conservation concern according to the 2008 IUCN Red List
.
Qaraoun culture
of the Beqaa Valley
notable for the Heavy Neolithic
flint
industry
. There are two archaeological sites in the area.
s with an abundance of waste blades, flakes and Levallois
cores amongst others.
of the Neolithic Qaraoun culture in the Beqaa valley. It is located on top of a gorge on the right of the river. A large area of the site is now completely destroyed but a large collection of flints was collected by workers and examined by Jacques Cauvin
and Marie-Claire Cauvin. The collection includes a full range of Heavy Neolithic material with oval, almond shaped and rectangular axes, trapezoidal and rectangular chisels, thick discoid, side and end scrapers on large blades, picks and burins and a full range of cores. The Cauvins suggested the material had similarities to the Neolithic moyen assemblage from Byblos and Andrew Moore
theorized that Heavy Neolithic stations such as this were used during earlier and later periods. James Mellaart
suggested the Heavy Neolithic
industry of the culture dated to a period before the Pottery Neolithic at Byblos
(10600 to 6900 BCE according to the ASPRO chronology
).
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...
village, 85 km from Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, known for its Lake Qaraoun
Lake Qaraoun
Lake Qaraoun is an artificial lake or reservoir located in the southern region of the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon. It was created in 1959 by building a 61 m high concrete-faced rockfill dam in the middle reaches of the Litani River , near Qaraoun village...
in the Beqaa Valley
Beqaa Valley
The Beqaa Valley is a fertile valley in east Lebanon. For the Romans, the Beqaa Valley was a major agricultural source, and today it remains Lebanon’s most important farming region...
formed by the El Wauroun Dam built in 1959. It is an ecologically fragile zone in the Rashaya District
Rashaya District
Rashaya District is an administrative district in the Beqaa Governorate of the Republic of Lebanon.Most of Rachaya's population are Christians with a large Druze minority. Many people of Rachaya have left for larger cities in Lebanon such as Beirut...
south of the Beqaa Governorate
Beqaa Governorate
Beqaa is a governorate in Lebanon with a population of 750,000 inhabitants.-Geography:The Beqaa governorate covers an area of 4,429 km². Béqaa is the primary center of Lebanon's agriculture. The Beqaa governorate forms the main geographical extension of Lebanon and it lies between the Western...
. The village lies about 2600 feet above sea level. The dam is located nearby on the Litani River
Litani River
The Litani River is an important water resource in southern Lebanon. The river rises in the fertile Beqaa Valley valley, west of Baalbek, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea north of Tyre. Exceeding 140 km in length, the Litani River is the longest river in Lebanon and provides an average...
.
Geography
The village is delimited by Majdel BalhisMajdel Balhis
Majdel Balhis is a village and municipality located in the Rashaya District and south of the Beqaa Governorate.of the Republic of Lebanon. Majdel Balhis is 95 km away from Beirut. Its altitude is 1100 meters above sea level. The area of Majdel Balhis covers 2004 hectares....
on the east, Aitanite
Aitanite
Aitanite/ Aitaneet is a village in Lebanon, in the West Beqaa region.Aitanit counted 880 residents . In the last municipal Lebanese elections of 2004, its accounted 3263 resgitered voters of which 1784 actual voters. However, if the total number of Aitanite citizens who have emigrated were to be...
on the west, Baaloul
Baaloul
Baaloul or Ba'lul is a village in the Beka'a Valley of Lebanon, situated in the Rashaya District and south of the Beqaa Governorate. It lies north of Qaraoun....
on the north and Sohmor
Sohmor
Sohmor is a small town in the Beka'a Valley of Lebanon, situated in the Western Beqaa District and south of the Beqaa Governorate. It lies south of Lake Qaraoun on the Litani River.It lies southwest of Machgara, northeast of Ain Et Tine, north of Yohmor, west of Mazret Al Chmis and northwest of...
on the south. The ecoregion of the village has now a land area of 1460 ha, with 1100 ha of it under agriculture including 400 ha under irrigation and the balance agricultural area is rainfed. When the El Qauroun Dam was built on the Litani River (the longest river in Lebanon) in 1959, Qaraoun village, lying on its left bank transferred an area of 740 ha for the development of the project. The ecoregions habitat composition is a delicate interface of dry lands with the riverine and lacustrine
Lacustrine
Lacustrine means "of a lake" or "relating to a lake".Specifically, it may refer to:*Lacustrine plain*Lacustrine delta-Fish:*Lacustrine goby , a type of small fish found in Philippine waters belonging to the Gobiidae family, known in Tagalog as dulong-See also:*Fluvial - of or relating a...
zones.
Demographics, economy and development
The population of the village is around 7,000.The development activity near the village, consequent to land area the Qaraoun village transferred for building of the El Qaraoun Dam in the middle reaches of the Litani River, which created an artificial lake (33°34′11.63"N 35°41′51.18"E) with water spread area of 1190 ha (the largest body of freshwater in Lebanon). The dam, which created the artificial lake or reservoir, is the largest dam built in Lebanon for multipurpose uses of hydropower generation (190 MW), irrigation (28,500 ha) and drinking water supply. It is a concrete-faced rockfill dam (CFRD) of 61 m height built with crest level at EL 801 m with a dam length of 1090 m, over karstic limestone formations. The reservoir has a storage capacity of 220 million cubic metres at maximum pond elevation of 858 m.
The lake environment includes woodland, orchards and low-growing scrubs; it attracts about 20,000 migratory birds such as Bird of prey
Bird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
, storks, pelicans and wintering fowl. Ferruginous duck
Ferruginous Duck
The Ferruginous Duck is a medium-sized diving duck from Eurasia. The species is known colloquially by birders as "Fudge Duck"....
(Aythya nyroca), Pallid Harrier
Pallid Harrier
The Pale or Pallid Harrier is a migratory bird of prey of the harrier family. It breeds in southern parts of eastern Europe and central Asia and winters mainly in India and southeast Asia...
(Circus macrourus), Greater Spotted Eagle
Greater Spotted Eagle
The Greater Spotted Eagle , occasionally just called the spotted eagle, is a large bird of prey. Like all typical eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae...
(Aquila clanga), Eastern Imperial Eagle
Eastern Imperial Eagle
The Eastern Imperial Eagle is a large species of bird of prey that breeds from southeastern Europe to central Asia. Most populations are migratory and winter in northeastern Africa, and southern and eastern Asia. The Spanish Imperial Eagle, found in Spain and Portugal, was formerly lumped with...
(Aquila heliaca) and Lapwing
Lapwing
Vanellinae are any of various crested plovers, family Charadriidae, noted for its slow, irregular wingbeat in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. Its length is 10-16 inches. They are a subfamily of medium-sized wading birds which also includes the plovers and dotterels. The Vanellinae are...
(Vanellus gregarius) are some of the birds which are of conservation concern according to the 2008 IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
.
Archaeology
The town gives its name to 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...
Qaraoun culture
Qaraoun culture
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 Neolithic by Henri Fleisch and confirmed by A. Rust and Dorothy Garrod....
of the Beqaa Valley
Beqaa Valley
The Beqaa Valley is a fertile valley in east Lebanon. For the Romans, the Beqaa Valley was a major agricultural source, and today it remains Lebanon’s most important farming region...
notable for the Heavy Neolithic
Heavy Neolithic
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...
flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
industry
Archaeological industry
An archaeological industry, normally just "industry", is the name given in the study of prehistory to a consistent range of assemblages connected with a single product, such as the Langdale axe industry...
. There are two archaeological sites in the area.
Qaraoun I
Qaraoun I is a Heavy Neolithic archaeological site located on the left side of the Litani river, a little downstream from the Qaraoun Dam. It is an open site on the top of a cliff overlooking the river. Flint tools found include picks, scrapers and axeAxe
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 with an abundance of waste blades, flakes and Levallois
Levallois
Levallois may refer to:*Levallois-Perret, a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France.*Levallois technique *Nicolas-Eugène Levallois*Levallois SC, a current French football club...
cores amongst others.
Qaraoun II
Qaraoun II is the type siteType site
In archaeology a type site is a site that is considered the model of a particular archaeological culture...
of the Neolithic Qaraoun culture in the Beqaa valley. It is located on top of a gorge on the right of the river. A large area of the site is now completely destroyed but a large collection of flints was collected by workers and examined by Jacques Cauvin
Jacques Cauvin
Professor Jacques Cauvin was a French archaeologist who specialised in the prehistory of the Levant and Near East.-Biography:...
and Marie-Claire Cauvin. The collection includes a full range of Heavy Neolithic material with oval, almond shaped and rectangular axes, trapezoidal and rectangular chisels, thick discoid, side and end scrapers on large blades, picks and burins and a full range of cores. The Cauvins suggested the material had similarities to the Neolithic moyen assemblage from Byblos and Andrew Moore
Andrew Moore
Andrew Moore was an American lawyer and politician from Lexington, Virginia. He rose to the rank of captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, seeing action at Saratoga. After the war he was eventually commissioned a major general in the Virginia militia...
theorized that Heavy Neolithic stations such as this were used during earlier and later periods. James Mellaart
James Mellaart
James Mellaart is a British archaeologist and author who is noted for his discovery of the Neolithic settlement of Çatalhöyük in Turkey. He was also expelled from Turkey suspected of involvement with the antiquities black market and was involved with the so-called Mother goddess controversy in...
suggested the Heavy Neolithic
Heavy Neolithic
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...
industry of the culture dated to a period before the Pottery Neolithic at 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...
(10600 to 6900 BCE according to the ASPRO chronology
ASPRO chronology
The ASPRO chronology is a nine period dating system of the ancient Near East used by the Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée for archaeological sites aged between 14000 and 5700 BP....
).