Lebanon - Tell Yanouh

Name of the expedition director: Jean-Yves Monchambert

Research topic: The Byblos hinterland in the Bronze and Iron Ages: population development, land use and lifestyles in a mountainous environment in the early Near East.

Overview

Byblos, which was an extremely busy port for almost 3,000 years during the Bronze and Iron Ages, could not have prospered without the support, from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, of its mountainous hinterland in particular for its wood and cedar resources. However, unlike the Phoenician coast, this mountainous area is still largely unknown.

The purpose of this archaeological programme is to define the relationship that the port of Byblos maintained over three millennia with its mountainous hinterland and reconstruct how population and land use developed in the Lebanese mountains prior to the Roman period. The programme is based on the excavation of Tell de Yanouh, located at an altitude of 1,100metres, around 20km as the crow flies from the Mediterranean Sea.

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