Kamid el-Loz, also spelled Kamid al-Lawz, is located in West
Bekaa, Lebanon
The Beqaa Valley ( ar, links=no, وادي البقاع, ', Lebanese ), also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ, and Becaa and known in classical antiquity as Coele-Syria, is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. It is Lebanon's most important ...
. The settlement has a population numbering several thousand, mostly
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
, people and is also a site of archaeological excavations.
History
In 1838,
Eli Smith
Eli Smith (born September 13, 1801, in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (Whitney) Smith, and died January 11, 1857, in Beirut, Lebanon) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from Andov ...
noted ''Kamid el-Lauz'' as a
Sunni Muslim
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...
village in the
Beqaa Valley
The Beqaa Valley ( ar, links=no, وادي البقاع, ', Lebanese ), also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ, and Becaa and known in classical antiquity as Coele-Syria, is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. It is Lebanon's most important ...
.
The ancient name of the site is thought to be Kumidi.
[Jens Kamlah]
The Significance of the Bronze Age Temples at Kamid el-Loz (Lebanon) for the Research on Phoenician Temple Cult
Rivista di studi fenici XL, 2, 2012
Archaeology
Tell Kamid el-Loz was the site of major German archaeological excavations between 1963 and 1981. One of the most important sites in Lebanon where archaeologists found and recorded many spectacular buildings, which are very important to the history of the region.
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
material was found alongside
Heavy Neolithic on through to the late
Neolithic period, becoming a human settlement during the
Bronze Age and continuing until the
Byzantine era, a German team from the
University of Freiburg has conducted more recent excavations and studies.
Numerous urban structures such as defense systems, temples, palaces, private dwellings, workshops and cemeteries were uncovered. Archaeologists also found everyday objects such as pottery, as well as jewelry and other luxury items.
Cuneiform tablets
Probably the most important finds were documents written in
cuneiform script
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...
on clay tablets dated to the 14th century BC.
The village of Kamed el-Loz lies on top of settlements built in the
Achaemenid,
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
and
Roman periods. The site has been determined to be the city of Kumidi in the
Amarna letters
The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between t ...
.
It was used as a residence to
Egyptian officials to oversee the southern
Levantine kings for the
pharaoh.
South of the village we find a
necropolis
A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead".
The term usually im ...
or burial place that also dates to this era. Just outside Kamed El-Loz is a large
Umayyad quarry visible from the road. Rock-cut tombs can be seen here, as well as
Aramaic inscriptions. The quarry provided stones for the eighth-century city of
Anjar and was worked by
Eastern Christians
Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, the Fertile Crescent and ...
from Iraq who were brought to the Beqaa for this purpose.
The archaeological site of Kamid Loz I is located north-east of the village of Kamid el-Loz and north-northeast of
Joub Jannine. The site showed a direct transition from
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
material which was mixed with
flints from an aceramic, vigorous culture, little recorded in the
archaeological record called the
Qaraoun culture inhabiting the area at the start of the
Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution, or the (First) Agricultural Revolution, was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, making an incre ...
.
Heavy Neolithic flints from this culture collected here included scrapers, picks and
axes along with a large amount of debris.
See also
*
List of cities of the ancient Near East
References
Bibliography
*
Further reading
* Penner, Silvia, Kāmid el-Lōz 19. Die Keramik der Spätbronzezeit: Tempelanlagen T3 bis T1, Palastanlagen P5 bis P1/2, Königsgrab ("Schatzhaus") und "Königliche Werkstatt", Saarbrücker Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 63, Bonn: R. Habelt, 2006. , , 2006.
* Huehnergard, John, “A Byblos Letter, Probably from Kamid el-Loz”, ZA 86, pp. 97–113, 1996.
* Lilyquist, Christine, “Objects Attributable to Kāmid el-Lōz and Comments on the Date of Objects in the ‘Schatzhaus’”, in Adler, W. (ed.), Kāmid el-Lōz 11 – Das ‘Schatzhaus’ im Palastbereich: Die Befunde des Königsgrabes, Saarbrücker Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 47, Bonn: Habelt, pp. 207–220, 1994.
* Lilyquist, Christine, “Stone Vessels at Kāmid el-Lōz, Lebanon: Egyptian, Egyptianizing or Non-Egyptian? A Question at Sites from the Sudan to Iraq to the Greek Mainland”, in Hachmann, R. (ed.), Kāmid el-Lōz 16 – ‘Schatzhaus’-Studien, Saarbrücker Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 59, Bonn: Habelt, pp. 133–73, 1996.
*
Maurer, Alfred Werner., “Reise in den Orient zur Grabung Kamid el-Loz, Lebanon 1973”, Philologus Verlag Basel(ch)2006.
*
Hachmann, Rolf., “Kāmid el-Lōz und die Amarna-Zeit oder vom Sinn und Unsinn der Kulturgeschichte und ihrer Erforschung” Saarbrücken 1972.
* Hachmann, Rolf, “Der Palast eines syrischen Kleinkönigs der späten Bronzezeit in Kāmid el-Lōz” in: D. Papenfuss u. V. M. Strocka (Hrsg.): Palast und Hütte. Beiträge zum Bauen und Wohnen im Altertum von Archäologen, Vor- und Frühgeschichtlern. Mainz: pp. 21–41, 1982.
* Hachmann, Rolf (Hrsg.), “Frühe Phöniker im Libanon – 20 Jahre Ausgrabung in Kāmid el-Lōz” Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichte und Vorderasiatische Archäologie der Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken 1983, u. (Museumsausgabe).
External links
Kamed El Laouz Localiban
Informationen zu den Grabungen 1963–1981.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamid Al Lawz
Populated places in Western Beqaa District
Sunni Muslim communities in Lebanon
Beqaa Valley
Great Rift Valley
Archaeological sites in Lebanon
Amarna letters locations
Phoenician cities