Sin el-Fil
Sin el-Fil ( is a suburb east of 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...

 in the Matn District

Matn District

Matn , sometimes spelled Metn, is a district in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of Lebanon, east of the Lebanon's capital Beirut...

 of the Mount Lebanon Governorate

Mount Lebanon Governorate

Mount Lebanon is one of the Governorates of Lebanon. Its capital is Baabda. The overwhelming majority of its population is Maronites, Greek Orthodox, and Melkite Greek Catholic Christians...

, Lebanon.

Etymology

The name literally translates "tooth" (sin) of "the elephant" (el fil). Being geographically closer to the ancient city of Antioch and far remote from natural elephant habitat, it is believed that the town name may have been a derogation of Saint Theophilus of Antioch.

Geography

With a rich red soil and moderate precipitation (but available ground water irrigation) the agricultural land of Sin el Fil in the early 20th century sprawled into a densely populated suburb. The natural landscape of the late century was dominated by stone pine

Stone Pine

The Stone Pine , is also called Italian Stone Pine, or Umbrella Pine , and Parasol Pine. It is in the pine family Pinaceae and occasionally listed under the invalid name Pinus sativa. The tree is native to the Mediterranean region...

. The Beirut River

Beirut River

Beirut River is a river in Lebanon. The river runs east to west, then curves north, separating the city of Beirut from its eastern suburbs, primarily Bourj Hammoud and Sin el Fil. According to popular legend, St...

 runs west of Sin el Fil and separates the town from the capital, 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...

.

Archaeology

Collections of archaeological material from this limestone "hogsback" were made from the gullies to the south of the main road on the slopes of forested hills. The recovery areas were described as "ravines sinueuses" by Raoul Describes after making a collection in 1921. Other Jesuits who made collections from the area included Godefroy Zumoffen

Godefroy Zumoffen

Reverend Father Godefroy Zumoffen, born 1848 in France and died in 1928 was a French Jesuit archaeologist and geologist notable for his work on prehistory in Lebanon....

 in 1908, Paul Bovier-Lapierre

Paul Bovier-Lapierre

Reverend Father Paul Bovier-Lapierre, born 1873 in France and died in 1950 was a French Jesuit archaeologist notable for his work on prehistory in Egypt and surveys in southern Lebanon.-External links:*...

 and Auguste Bergy

Auguste Bergy

Reverend Father Auguste Bergy, born 1873 in France and died 31 August 1955 was a French Jesuit archaeologist notable for his work on prehistory in Lebanon.He is known particularly for excavations and studies at the Sands of Beirut and at Ras Beirut...

 as well as Mouterde, Gigues, Lorraine Copeland

Lorraine 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. E. Passemard suggested that two of the trihedral pieces collected by Paul Bovier-Lapierre

Paul Bovier-Lapierre

Reverend Father Paul Bovier-Lapierre, born 1873 in France and died in 1950 was a French Jesuit archaeologist notable for his work on prehistory in Egypt and surveys in southern Lebanon.-External links:*...

 were Chalossian

Chalossian

Chalossian is an industry of flint tools from the Stone Age. Paul Bovier-Lapierre discovered it in Egypt....

. Describes published some of the material as Acheulean

Acheulean

Acheulean is the name given to an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture associated with early humans during the Lower Palaeolithic era across Africa and much of West Asia, South Asia and Europe. Acheulean tools are typically found with Homo erectus remains...

 but the bulk of the material was very mixed including lots of indeterminate 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...

 pieces including Trihedral Neolithic

Trihedral Neolithic

Trihedral Neolithic is a name given by archaeologists to a style of striking spheroid and trihedral flint tools from the archaeological site of Joub Jannine II in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon. The style appears to represent a highly specialized Neolithic industry. Little comment has been made of...

 and 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...

 forms. There was also a Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 occupation on the flat fields above the slopes. Some archaeological material from Sin el Fil is in the National Museum of Beirut

National Museum of Beirut

The National Museum of Beirut is the principal museum of archaeology in Lebanon. The collection was begun after World War I, and the museum was officially opened in 1942. The museum has collections totalling about 100,000 objects, most of which are antiquities and medieval finds from excavations...

 and the Museum of Lebanese Prehistory

Museum of Lebanese Prehistory

The Museum of Lebanese Prehistory is a museum of prehistory and archaeology in Beirut, Lebanon.-History:...

.

External links

• Municipality of Sin el Fil (Arabic)