|
The Tell Fadous (Kfarabida-Lebanon) Archaeological
Project.
An Archaeological Documentation of a Partly Bulldozed Tell.
1- Location and Description
Tell Fadous is located in North Lebanon on the shore of Kfarabida,
2 km south of Batroun (Fig. 1). It measures ca 150 m north-south
and ca 200 m east-west and rises some 23 m above sea level. North
of the site is a wadi, and to the east, runs the modern railway.
 |
 |
| Fig. 1: Tell Fadous. View from
the East |
Fig. 2: Wadi west of the Tell |
The Tell is heavily disturbed because it was occupied for several
years by the Syrian army whose tanks deeply destroyed the archaeological
layers. Its western slope was bulldozed two years ago and the bulldozed
area has a U-shape exposing a northern, southern, and western section
(Figs. 3-5).
 |
 |
 |
| Fig. 3 North section |
Fig. 4 South section |
Fig. 5 West section |
2- Fieldwork preparation and organization
Fieldwork started on September 10 and lasted until September 25,
2004, based on the agreement (Ministry of Culture, No 2619, dated
20/7/2004) signed by the Lebanese Department of Antiquities and
the American University of Beirut represented by Helen Sader, the
project director.
The purpose of the archaeological operation on Tell Fadous was to
draw maximum information from the existing vertical stratigraphy
in order to reconstruct the site's settlement, geological, and environmental
history. The south section was chosen for this purpose. It is 8m
high and 20 m long, and scaffolding had to be built in order to
allow workers and students to respectively clean and document it.
(Fig.6).
  
Fig. 6 Scaffolding in front of south section
Fieldwork was supervised by Professor Hermann Genz assisted by
Kamal Badreshany who developed special forms to describe and to
document archaeological contexts, small finds, pottery, as well
as soil and faunal samples. Four students participated in the fieldwork.
3- Preliminary results
After cleaning the section, 59 different archaeological contexts
were identified. They consist in architectural remains and occupational
debris. Several floors were clearly visible. Decayed or burnt timber
and remnants of a mud roof were also identified (Fig. 7-9).
Fig. 7 Limestone walls showing in the section
 |
 |
| Fig. 8 Decayed timber (context
29) |
Fig. 9 Lime plaster floors |
2916 pottery sherds were collected from surface cleaning and survey,
as well as from stratified contexts. 250 are diagnostic sherds were
identified. A first screening of the pottery clearly indicates that
it belongs to the Early Bronze Age (Fig 10). At the end of the third
millennium BC, Tell Fadous was definitively abandoned and never
re-settled.
   
Fig. 10 EBA Pottery from Tell Fadous
The final report on the results of this archaeological operation
will be published in BAAL.
Tell Fadous presents a unique and rare opportunity for archaeologists
to study a long and uninterrupted sequence of EBA occupation using
modern methods and techniques. Bulldozing and other modern disruptions
have destroyed almost one third of the site but enough intact archaeological
layers remain for a thorough investigation of this EBA city.
A large-scale excavation to complete the information gained from
the previous documentation is planned in the near future by the
Department of History and Archaeology of the American University
of Beirut.
|
