Labweh

The Neolithic settlements represented at Labweh have been found dating to at least the 7th millennium BC.{{Cite journal |last=Halawi |first=Ayman |last2=Messarra |first2=Nasri |last3=Bou Nader |first3=Raymond |date=2020-06-28 |title=Arabic and Latin keyboard Choice in Lebanese Students’ Discussions on WhatsApp. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.22453/lsj-022.1.127-147 |journal=Lebanese Science Journal |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=127–147 |doi=10.22453/lsj-022.1.127-147 |issn=1561-3410|doi-access=free }} It has been suggested that it was known to the Egyptians as Lab'u, to the Assyrians as Laba'u and as Lebo-hamath to the Hebrews.{{cite journal|last=Mazar (Maisler)|first=B.|title=Topographical Studies V: Lebo-Hamath and the Northern Boundary of Canaan|journal=Bulletin of the Israel Exploration Society|date=1946|volume=12|pages=91–102}} This has been associated with the "entrance of Hamath" mentioned in the Books of Kings{{bibleverse|1|Kings|8:65|NKJV}} and the Book of Ezekiel, noted as the Northern border of King Solomon's territory,{{Cite book|author=Daniel Isaac Block|title=The Book of Ezekiel: chapters 25-48|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uYemhagtCpgC&pg=PA713|access-date=16 March 2011|date=March 1998|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-2536-0|pages=713–}} but subsequently lost to the Syrians. Jeroboam II, king of Israel, is said to have "restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea)".{{bibleverse|2|Kings|14:25|NKJV}}: NKJV translation; cf. NIV translation, which refers to the Dead Sea

Labweh in the original Syriac tongue means "heart" or "center", it also has been suggested to come from the Arabic for "lion" or "lioness". The village has several archaeological sites of interest including three old caves with Roman-Byzantine sarcophagi and the remains of a temple. There are also remains of a Byzantine bastion and a Roman dam suggested to date to the reign of Queen Zenobia. Legend suggests that channels were carved through the rock to send water to her lands in Palmyra, Syria.[http://www.discoverlebanon.com/en/panoramic_views/bekaa/el_hermel/hermel-pyramid.php Ba'albeck - Al-Hermal, Bekaa - Tourist Brochure]

In 1834, Burckhardt Barker noted: "I came to a village called Labweh, after having passed an encampment of Turkomans to the right of the road, at a place called Shaad. Labweh is at the foot of the range of Anti-Libanus on the top of a hillock, near which passes a small stream which

has its source in the adjoining mountains, and after flowing for several hours through the plain, falls into the basin from which springs the Orontes."Burckhardt Barker, 1837, p. [https://archive.org/details/jstor-1797515/page/n5/mode/1up 99]

In 1838, Eli Smith noted Lebweh as a Metawileh village in the Baalbek District.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/145/mode/1up 145]

The village is located on a hill {{convert|26|km|mi}} northeast of Baalbek, which gives its name to the Labweh Springs and Labweh River, one of the sources of the Orontes. The Labweh river flows for approximately {{convert|20|km}} through rocky desert. It then cascades into a lake and wider stream at another village called Er-Ras, considered to be the source of the Orontes. This flows onwards northeast, fed by numerous other streams from Lebanon's mountains.[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=syria-geo Sir. William Smith, LLD, Ed. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854)]{{Cite book|author=Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Great Britain)|title=Penny cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GxwDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA469|access-date=17 March 2011|year=1842|publisher=C. Knight|pages=469–}}

Soundings and analysis of archaeological sites in Labweh were made by Lorraine Copeland and Peter Wescombe in 1966 with later excavations by Diana Kirkbride in 1969.{{Cite book|author=Zeidan Abdel-Kafi Kafafi|title=The Neolithic of Jordan (East Bank)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RIdWAAAAMAAJ|access-date=16 March 2011|year=1982|publisher=Papyrus Druck}} Tell Labweh, Tell Labweh South or Labweh I sits to the south of the village with another site to the north. The surface of Tell Labweh had been damaged by modern agriculture and it had been cut in half by road construction. Several burials were discovered inside the remains of rectangular buildings with white and red plaster floors. The remains of stone walls were found at lower levels and it is thought that the buildings may have used mud bricks at higher levels.

Early Neolithic finds included a large number of fragments of limestone White Ware or "Vaisselle Blanche", along with later pottery called dark faced burnished ware or DFBW. Only one vessel was reconstructed from the initial excavations; a bowl with combed finishing. Other shards included jars and bowls of a black, brown, or red colour, one showed a straw wiped finish normally found in sites further South in the Jordan Valley. Others showed decorations such as chevrons, incised patterns, and corded impressions. Flints were similar to those found at Tell Ramad and included Byblos points, hooks, scrapers, borers and burins. Burials were found within two houses, which were excavated and found to be similar to those in earlier PPNB and PPNA sites. A range of sickle blades were found in the basal deposits and higher levels showing the evolution of denticulated and segmented cutting edges with similarities to those found at the oldest neolithic Byblos. Three initial samples were Radiocarbon dated suggesting a range of dates between 6780 and 6910 BC; a date range covering only c. 130 years.[http://context-database.uni-koeln.de/c14.php?vonsite=666 University of Cologne - Radiocarbon Context Database] The range of finds at the site has however helped to reveal some aspects of the transition through neolithic stages.{{Cite book|last=Moore|first=A.M.T.|title=The Neolithic of the Levant|publisher=Oxford University, Unpublished PhD Thesis|date=1978|pages=192–198|url=http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Labweh.html}}

Tell Labweh North is another large archaeological site, a few hundred meters north on the other side of the village and springs. Finely denticulated sickle blades, arrowheads and trapezoidal, flaked axes and fragments of whiteware along with burnished pottery with patterns and a fragment of obsidian were collected from the surface of the site. Most of the finds indicated settlement around the time of Tell Labweh (South) and Byblos. Fauna would have included forest animals and numerous domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats.{{Cite book|author1=Richard H. Meadow|author2=Melinda A. Zeder|title=Approaches to faunal analysis in the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HVMrAQAAIAAJ|access-date=16 March 2011|year=1978|publisher=Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University|isbn=978-0-87365-951-2}}

There are the ruins of a Roman temple in the village that are included in a group of Temples of the Beqaa Valley.{{cite book|author=George Taylor|title=The Roman temples of Lebanon: a pictorial guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fL6fAAAAMAAJ|access-date=28 October 2012|year=1967|publisher=Dar el-Machreq Publishers}}

It was a prostyle type but only one block of the western wall remained visible. Modern construction built a house inside the temple.{{cite book|author=Othmar Keel|title=The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fy4B1iMg33YC&pg=PA158|accessdate=28 October 2012|year=1997|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn=978-1-57506-014-9|pages=158–}} There are around twenty temples located between Labweh and Ain el-Baid.{{cite book|title=Baal: Bulletin d'archéologie et d'architecture libanaises|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a2x6AAAAMAAJ|accessdate=28 October 2012|year=2001|publisher=Direction Générale des Antiquités}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal | author = Burckhardt Barker, W.| authorlink=William Burckhardt Barker| title = Notes Made on a Journey to the Source of the River Orontes in Syria, in September, 1834| journal = Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London | volume = 7 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/jstor-1797515/page/n1/mode/1up 95]–102 |url = https://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme21pale| year = 1837}}
• Copeland, Lorraine and Westcombe, Peter, Inventory of Stone Age Sites in Lebanon Part 2: North - South - East Central Lebanon Volume 42 (Pages 1–174) Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph (Beirut Lebanon), 1966.
• Kirkbride, Diana, Early Byblos and the Bakaa, Volume 45 (Pages 43–60), Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph (Beirut Lebanon), 1969.
• {{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=3}}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.lebanon.com/tourism/lebwe.htm Lebwe temple on www.lebanon.com]
• [http://www.localiban.org/article4033.html Laboueh], Localiban

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