Ras El Kelb
Encyclopedia
Ras El Kelb is a truncated, seaside cave and Paleolithic
settlement located on the low lying (5 m) coast of Lebanon
, 5 miles North of Beirut
. It is one of the oldest inhabitations found in the country.
Rescue excavations were carried out in 1959 by Dorothy Garrod
and G. Henri-Martin. They dug 2 trenches named the 'Rail' and 'Tunnel' trenches, from which they recovered over 30,000 flint
artefacts of a wide variety for statistical analysis from 22 geological layers. It was concluded that the sea had passed the level of the cave 3 times since its first dated inhabitation around 50,000 BC (52,000 B.P.).
They also discovered a tooth suggested to belong to a Neanderthal
. It was suggested that the inhabitants were expert at hunting gazelle
using the flints recovered.
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
settlement located on the low lying (5 m) coast of Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, 5 miles North of Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
. It is one of the oldest inhabitations found in the country.
Rescue excavations were carried out in 1959 by Dorothy Garrod
Dorothy Garrod
Dorothy Annie Elizabeth Garrod CBE was a British archaeologist who was the first woman to hold an Oxbridge chair, partly through her pioneering work on the Palaeolithic period. Her father was Sir Archibald Garrod, the physician.-Life:Born in Oxford, she attended Newnham College, Cambridge...
and G. Henri-Martin. They dug 2 trenches named the 'Rail' and 'Tunnel' trenches, from which they recovered over 30,000 flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
artefacts of a wide variety for statistical analysis from 22 geological layers. It was concluded that the sea had passed the level of the cave 3 times since its first dated inhabitation around 50,000 BC (52,000 B.P.).
They also discovered a tooth suggested to belong to a Neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
. It was suggested that the inhabitants were expert at hunting gazelle
Gazelle
A gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella, or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera...
using the flints recovered.