Kamid el-Loz, also spelled Kamid al-Lawz, is located in West
Bekaa, Lebanon. 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
Heavy Neolithic (alternatively, Gigantolithic) is a style of large stone and flint tools (or industry) associated primarily with the Qaraoun culture in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon, dating to the Epipaleolithic or early Pre-Pottery Neolithic at the ...
on through to the late
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 ...
period, becoming a human settlement during the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
and continuing until the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
era, a German team from the
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...
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
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...
,
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
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
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
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
officials to oversee the southern
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
ine kings for the
pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...
.
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
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
quarry visible from the road. Rock-cut tombs can be seen here, as well as
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
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
Joub Jannine ( / ALA-LC: ''Jub Jannīn'') is located in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon.
Joub Jannine is the capital of West Beqaa. It is a town and the center of the Western Beqaa District, hosting the Grand Serail, Serail, which is a main governme ...
. 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
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 ...
s from an aceramic, vigorous culture, little recorded in the
archaeological record
The archaeological record is the body of physical (not written) evidence about the past. It is one of the core concepts in archaeology, the academic discipline concerned with documenting and interpreting the archaeological record. Archaeological th ...
called the
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 a particular Neolithic variant of the Lebanese highlands b ...
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
Heavy Neolithic (alternatively, Gigantolithic) is a style of large stone and flint tools (or industry) associated primarily with the Qaraoun culture in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon, dating to the Epipaleolithic or early Pre-Pottery Neolithic at the ...
flints from this culture collected here included scrapers, picks and
axe
An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) 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. The axe has ma ...
s along with a large amount of debris.
See also
*
List of cities of the ancient Near East
The earliest cities in history were in the ancient Near East, an area covering roughly that of the modern Middle East: its history began in the 4th millennium BC and ended, depending on the interpretation of the term, either with the conquest by ...
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