Kamid el-Loz

Kamid el-Loz
	Shown within Lebanon
Alternative name	Kamid al lawz
Location	Beqaa Valley, Lebanon
Coordinates	33°37′06″N 35°49′07″E
Type	Tell
Part of	Settlement
History
Periods	Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Byzantine
Cultures	Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Phoenician
Site notes
Condition	ruins
Public access	Yes

Kamed Al Lawz/Kamid el-Loz

كامد اللوز
Kamed Al Lawz/Kamid el-Loz كامد اللوز
City
Country	Lebanon
Governorate	Beqaa Governorate
District	Western Beqaa District
Population
• Total	6,000
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Dialing code	+961

Kamid el-Loz, also spelled Kamid al-Lawz, is located in West Bekaa, Lebanon. The settlement has a population numbering several thousand, mostly Sunni, people^[1] and is also a site of archaeological excavations.

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History

In 1838, Eli Smith noted Kamid el-Lauz as a Sunni Muslim village in the Beqaa Valley.^[2] The ancient name of the site is thought to be Kumidi.^[3]

Archaeology

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 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.^[4]

Cuneiform tablets

Probably the most important finds were documents written in cuneiform script on clay tablets dated to the 14th century BC.^[5] The village of Kamed el-Loz lies on top of settlements built in the Achaemenid, Hellenistic and Roman periods. The site has been determined to be the city of Kumidi in the Amarna letters.^[6]^[7] 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 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 from Iraq who were brought to the Beqaa for this purpose.

The archaeological site of Kamid Loz I is located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north-east of the village of Kamid el-Loz and 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) north-northeast of Joub Jannine. The site showed a direct transition from Paleolithic 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. Heavy Neolithic flints from this culture collected here included scrapers, picks and axes along with a large amount of debris.^[8]^[9]

Map of the region

Ruins of Kamid el-Loz

References

[1]
"The Monthly: issue 91" (PDF). Information International s.a.l. pp. 4, 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
[2]
Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 142
[3]
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 ISSN 1724-1855
[4]
Kipfer, Barbara Ann (2000). Encyclopedic dictionary of archaeology. Springer. pp. 269–. ISBN 978-0-306-46158-3. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
[5]
Leon Gray (1 September 2010). The New Cultural Atlas of Egypt. Marshall Cavendish. pp. 180–. ISBN 978-0-7614-7877-5. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
[6]
Leila Badre (1980). Les figurines anthropomorphes en terre cuite à l'âge du Bronze en Syrie. P. Geuthner. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
[7]
Wayne Thomas Pitard (May 1987). Ancient Damascus: a historical study of the Syrian city-state from earliest times until its fall to the Assyrians in 732 B.C.E.. Eisenbrauns. pp. 62–. ISBN 978-0-931464-29-4. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
[8]
Moore, A.M.T. (1978). The Neolithic of the Levant. Oxford University, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. pp. 444–446.
[9]
L. Copeland; P. Wescombe (1966). Inventory of Stone-Age Sites in Lebanon: North, South and East-Central Lebanon. Impr. Catholique. Retrieved 29 August 2011.

Bibliography

Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.

External links

Kamed El Laouz, Localiban
Kāmid el-Lōz. Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichte und Vorderasiatische Archäologie Informationen zu den Grabungen 1963–1981.
inclut des liens vers les rapports annuels d'excavation de Kamid el-Loz (allemand)

[1] [1]
"The Monthly: issue 91" (PDF). Information International s.a.l. pp. 4, 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2015.

[2] [2]
Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 142

[3] [3]
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 ISSN 1724-1855

[Kipfer-4] [4]
Kipfer, Barbara Ann (2000). Encyclopedic dictionary of archaeology. Springer. pp. 269–. ISBN 978-0-306-46158-3. Retrieved 2 May 2011.

[Gray-5] [5]
Leon Gray (1 September 2010). The New Cultural Atlas of Egypt. Marshall Cavendish. pp. 180–. ISBN 978-0-7614-7877-5. Retrieved 1 May 2011.

[Badre-6] [6]
Leila Badre (1980). Les figurines anthropomorphes en terre cuite à l'âge du Bronze en Syrie. P. Geuthner. Retrieved 1 May 2011.

[Pitard-7] [7]
Wayne Thomas Pitard (May 1987). Ancient Damascus: a historical study of the Syrian city-state from earliest times until its fall to the Assyrians in 732 B.C.E.. Eisenbrauns. pp. 62–. ISBN 978-0-931464-29-4. Retrieved 1 May 2011.

[Moore-8] [8]
Moore, A.M.T. (1978). The Neolithic of the Levant. Oxford University, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. pp. 444–446.

[Copeland-9] [9]
L. Copeland; P. Wescombe (1966). Inventory of Stone-Age Sites in Lebanon: North, South and East-Central Lebanon. Impr. Catholique. Retrieved 29 August 2011.

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