Dekwaneh ( ar, دكوانة

translit. Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...

Dikwene) (also Dekweneh) is a suburb north of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

in the Matn District of the

Mount Lebanon Governorate french: Gouvernorat du Mont-Liban , native_name_lang = , image_map = Administrative divisions of Lebanon 2017-08 (Numbered).png , map_caption = The governorates of Lebanon, including Mount Lebanon (in pink, label ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. The population is predominantly Maronite Christian. Tel al-Zaatar, an

UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians displaced by the 1948 P ...

administered Palestinian refugee camp housing approximately 50,000-60,000 refugees, and the site of the Tel al-Zaatar massacre were located on the outskirts of the town.

Archaeology

Dekwaneh I is about northwest of Mar Roucos monastery, in the gullies of (now deforested) pinewood slopes on the west side of a ridge. Material was found by

Raoul Describes Reverend Father Raoul Desribes (born in 1856, died in 1940) was a French Jesuit archaeologist notable for his work on prehistory in Lebanon, particularly the archaeological site of Minet Dalieh at Ras Beirut. He found two paleolithic bone harpoon ...

, who mentioned rock-shelters in the area that were destroyed by quarrying for

quicklime Calcium oxide (CaO), commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline, crystalline solid at room temperature. The broadly used term "''lime''" connotes calcium-containing inorganic ma ...

.Describes, Raoul., Quelques ateliers paléolithiques des environs de Beyrouth, Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph: Volume VII, 1921. Further collections were found by

Auguste Bergy Reverend Father Auguste Bergy (12 May 1873 – 31 August 1955) was a French Jesuit archaeologist known for his work on prehistory in Lebanon. He is known particularly for excavations and studies at the Sands of Beirut and at Ras Beirut. In 193 ...

and

Peter Wescombe Peter Wescombe (4 January 1932 – 25 November 2014) was a British diplomat, amateur archaeologist, historian and founding member of the Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buck ...

. Some of the

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

tools recovered were determined to be Acheulean as well as a large amount of waste and bifaces from the

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleoli ...

that suggested it was a factory site at that time. Dekwaneh II material comes from various locations around the area, most notably the ravine below the monastery. Flint tools were also found here by Bergy and Describes which included the Qaraoun culture's Heavy Neolithic forms such as massive axes, picks, scrapers and

rabot Rabot may refer to: Geography * Rabot, Tajikistan, a city in Tajikistan *Rabot Island, island near Antarctica * Rabot Glacier, glacier in Antarctica * Rabot Point, a high rocky point in James Ross Island, Antarctica People with the surname *Charl ...

s. Other early

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

tools were found along with some Middle Paleolithic material including an Emireh point and tortoise cores. Along with material from Dekwaneh I, finds from the locations are stored in the Museum of Lebanese Prehistory.

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

Dekwaneh gained notoriety in the press and social media when, on Monday 22 April 2013, the mayor,

Antoine Chakhtoura Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guiana ...

, ordered

Lebanese security forces The Internal Security Forces Directorate ( ar, المديرية العامة لقوى الأمن الداخلي, al-Mudiriyya al-'aamma li-Qiwa al-Amn al-Dakhili; french: Forces de Sécurité Intérieure; abbreviated ISF) is the national police ...

to raid and shut down a gay-friendly nightclub called Ghost. A number of Syrian gay men and a Lebanese

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

woman were arrested during the raid and taken to municipal headquarters where it is reported that they were harassed and forced to undress. According to reports, the transgender woman was also photographed naked.

Image gallery

File:General Wessin Street, Dekwaneh, Lebanon.jpg, General Elias Wessin (Wazen) Street in Dekwaneh, Lebanon. File:Dekouané chapelle Saint-Joseph 01.jpg,

St. Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...

chapel File:Dekouané chapelle Saint-Joseph 02.jpg, Statue of the Immaculate Conception

Airfield

Remains of a former airfield can be found in Tal El Zaatar. Only a small section of runway exist with Northern section along Mar Roukoz has been reused for commercial warehouses.

References

External links

Dekwaneh - Deir Mar Roukoz - Dahr El Hossein
Localiban {{Archaeological sites in Lebanon Populated places in the Matn District Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon Archaeological sites in Lebanon Paleolithic Heavy Neolithic sites