From e.d.wardini@easteur-orient.uio.no Wed Sep 6 19:00:11 1995 Date: Wed, 30 Aug 1995 10:08:41 +0200 From: Elie Wardini To: ANE@mithra-orinst.uchicago.edu Subject: Re: Beirut News Well I am back from Beirut. And am working on my report to inform about what I have concluded after speeking to most of the archeologists on the ground. Let me make here just a few remarks. > >About 150 archeologists from the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, >Britain, Poland and Lebanon are excavating a dozen sites totalling >48,000 square yards in the city center wrecked by civil war that is >being rebuilt by SOLIDERE, Lebanon's biggest company. I have tried many times whith different archeologists on the ground to count how many archeologists are actually digging. The highest number we achieved (counting those who come ang go and are not there simultaneuosly) is ca. 80. This includes many non-professional archeologists. etc. etc. >"We located the Bronze Age city. We discovered two city walls from that >period, one of which is really monumental and beautiful as it has a gate >and stairway that lead to the higher level of the city, totally >destroyed by the later Ottoman infrastructure," said Badr, who directed >one of the digs. Let not what I say reflect on Dr. Leila Badre. The wall Dr. Badre, The Tubingen team working with Dr. Sader and Dr. Sayegh have uncovered, showing the whole range of the old Phoenician city is wonderful. The disaster though is that the city within the wall has been damaged By the crusader fort that was build into the Phoenician wall and worst by the buildings erected this century and by the latest excavations by buldozer. From the walls that were uncovered to the earlier sea front are over a hundred meters (I have not measured them excatly). Some rests of the city remain (as far as I can tell) yet most of the site is "removed" (within the last two years). Archeologists in Lebanon are disturbed by the fact that mostly negative news are being reported from Beirut. They would like to world to hear the "good" news. There is a lot of work being done. And archeologists must get their share of the glory. But does this mean that the picture is as rosy as this news report seems to imply? I am afraid that my answer will be no. The archeologists themselves have a heavy burden in sharing the blame. The authorities are in a position of conflict of interests e.g. the minister of Culture and Higher Education, who is ultimatly responsible for the archeology in Lebanon, is a large shareholder in Solidere and is one the main lawyers of many of Hariri's (the Prime minister) companies, note that Hariri is one of the largest shareholders in Solidere. The government in Lebanon does not have the funds to spend on archeology, Solidere is footing the bill. This implies that archeologists depend on funding from Solidere. This puts the archeologists in a difficult situation. Prof. P. Arnaud put it this way: Solidere should fund the digs (since it is responsible for the rebuilding of the sites), YET it is NOT Solidere who should direct the digs. He sees the persent situation as "heaven" compared to the near future when archeologists will have to deal with hunderds of developers who want to make gains on their investments. Solidere is now trying to sell the land-plots (rather than develope them itself. THis means that its is especially vulnerable to issues as archeology, which may reduce the value of the plots since the developer is then responsible for for the archeological remains on their plot of land. Archeologists are now being asked by developers to evaluate the plot "archeologically" before developers buy. Archeologists in Lebanon have ended up in a very difficult situation. Actually they have the law on their side, but have the authorities, Solidere and the argument of "recontrcuting Beirut" hauting them. >"Souk al-Tawili Street, famous as the commercial center of pre-war >Beirut, turned out to be built on the commercial street of the >Byzantine, Roman, Hellenistic and earlier Phoenician days," Boustani >said. What happened to the ancient souks is a sad story. Dr. Seden whith the British team she is working with is doing a job of real rescue. The whole of the ancient souks, which as the news report says starting from the Byzantine period, have been removed. Happily some 20-30% of the site has been correctly recorded by the British team. It is not sure what will happen to the mosaics that have been recovered from the site. Dr. Seden would like to keep at least the entry of the Byzantine souk in situ. I hope that she will manage to convince Solidere. Yet the disaster is that everything from the Byzantine period to the present is removed, whether recored or not, only later reports will reveal! The actual souks that were part of 18th cnt. Beirut were brutally removed. Some argue that they reflected the mideaval plan of the souks. Well we can see them on maps from now on. Why remove the site and not renovate and reveal diffent period in situ, something that would attract even more buyers to the renovated souk? The answer is: a gigantic car-park is to be built under the "modern souk"!!! And now the ancient souk is a big hole in the ground. The Phoenician plot that Dr. Sayigh is digging falls at the entrance of the car park. What will happen to it? The imporance of this plot is to indicate the extent of the expansion of the phoenician city to the west. What will happen to it? It became a subject of controversy when the site was (over night) covered up with sand, and some claimed that parts were buldozed (I left before I could confirm this). >Some archeologists believe the Phoenicians, a seafaring people who lived >in what is now Lebanon, took their name from the Phoenica, a Canaanite >tribe that handled the sea trade. > >The Phoenica identified themselves by their tribal name when traveling >abroad and the Greeks later applied the name Phoenicians to the general >Canaanite population. Has anyone out there heared of this tribe Phoenicia? Elie Wardini Department for East-European and Oriental Studies Semitic languages P.O. Box 1030 Blindern N-0315 Oslo Norway tel. off.: +47 - 22 85 71 21 * NEW* home: +47 - 22 18 03 49 fax: +47 - 22 85 41 40 e-mail: e.d.wardini@easteur-orient.uio.no