Neba'a Faour
{{Infobox ancient site
|name = Neba'a Faour
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|map_alt = 850 metres
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|location =Beqaa Valley, Lebanon
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|type = Tell
|part_of = Settlement
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|material = Limestone, Soil, Pebbles
|built = c. 8200-6200 BC
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|excavations = 1965
|archaeologists = Lorraine Copeland, P.J. Wescombe
|condition = ruins
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Neba'a Faour, Tell Neba'a Faour, Mashna'et el Faour, Neba Faour or Nebaa Faour is a large, low-lying archaeological tell mound in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon inhabited in the late 7th and early 6th millennium BC. It was initially discovered by Lorraine Copeland and Peter J. Wescombe in 1965 near the road from Beirut to Damascus, 5 miles from the border with Syria.{{cite book|author1=Lorraine Copeland|author2=P. Wescombe|title=Inventory of Stone-Age sites in Lebanon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6YsRRwAACAAJ|access-date=15 March 2011|year=1965|publisher=Imprimerie Catholique}} The site was mainly composed of soil and pebbles on limestone bedrock, the site showed heavy erosion since it was abandoned and recent damage from modern construction in the area. It has been suggested as an example of an aceramic stage following the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) that is called the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C (PPNC); sites of comparable culture are Tell Ramad, Labwe and others in the Byblos region.[https://books.google.com/books?id=dDskHAAACAAJ&q=neolithic+village+sites+copeland Copeland, Lorraine, "Neolithic Village Sites in the South Beqaa Lebanon", Melanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph (Beirut Lebanon) Volume 45, (Pages 83-114), 1969.] It is generally dated between the second half of the 7th millennium and the beginning of the 6th millennium BC.[https://books.google.com/books?id=Jm3iAAAAMAAJ&q=neba Gopher, A., Sixth-fifth millennia B.C. settlements in the Coastal Plain, Israel., pp.55-63, Paleorient, Volume 19, 1993.]
Materials recovered
Most of the material recovered from this open cast site came from surface finds along with a {{convert|7|ft|m}} to {{convert|8|ft|m}} core of Neolithic deposits.{{cite book|last=Moore|first=A.M.T.|title=The Neolithic of the Levant|publisher=Oxford University, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis|year=1978|pages=192–198|url=http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/74.html}} Neolithic levels revealed evidence of stone-wall footings and a series of distinctive cream, lime-plaster floors. Black, beige or brown flint was knapped at the site, and tools recovered included numerous scrapers, cores for blades, Byblos- and Amouq-point arrowheads, javelins, sickle blade elements, burins and borers.[https://books.google.com/books?id=HXKBAAAAMAAJ&q=neba+faour Mellart, James, The Neolithic of the Near East, p. 64, Scribner, 1975.][https://books.google.com/books?id=JDxtAAAAMAAJ&q=neba Dornermann, Rudolph Henry, A Neolithic village at Tell el Kowm in the Syrian Desert, p. 58, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1986.] Lebanese sites of this date usually reveal heavy tools, but only two hand axes were recovered at this site.[http://www.usj.edu.lb/mpl/pdf/1.pdf Haïdar-Boustani, Maya. "Le Néolithique du Liban dans le contexte Proche-Oriental", Annales d'hitoire et d'archéologie p. 22, (Université Saint-Joseph, Beirut) Vol. 12-13, 2001-2002, ISSN 1729-6927] A stone bowl with a fine bead rim was also found.
The site is notable for finds of a type of precursor to clay pottery called "White Ware", or "Vaisselle Blanche". This was made with a type of lime plaster mixed with grey ashes, which when fired it turned into a hardened, white material that resembles limestone. Vessels were formed by coiling the plaster around baskets. Fragments of large vessels were found that are thought to have been used like "portable silos".[https://independent.academia.edu/MerrynDineley/Papers/136841/1999_Barley_Malt_and_Ale_in_the_Neolithic Dineley, Merryn., Barley Malt and Ale in the Neolithic, M. Phil Thesis submitted to University of Manchester, Department of Art History and Archaeology, 1999.][https://books.google.com/books?id=gShmAAAAMAAJ&q=hours+chronologies+neba Evin, Jacques & Hours, Francis, Chronologies du Proche Orient, Parts 1-2, pp. 405 & 424, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France), B.A.R., 1987.]
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Archaeological sites in Lebanon}}
{{Portal|Lebanon|History|Asia}}
Category:Populated places established in the 7th millennium BC
Category:Populated places disestablished in the 6th millennium BC
Category:1965 archaeological discoveries
Category:Neolithic settlements