Editing History of Lebanon (section)

==Prehistory==
[[Ksar Akil]], {{convert|10|km}} northeast of [[Beirut]], is a large rock shelter below a steep [[limestone]] cliff where excavations have shown occupational deposits reaching down to a depth of {{convert|23.6|m}} with one of the longest sequences of [[Paleolithic]] [[flint]] [[archaeological]] industry is a very well tained Upper [[Levalloiso-Mousterian]] remains with long and triangular [[lithic flake]]s. The level above this showed industries accounting for all six stages of the [[Upper Paleolithic]]. An [[Emireh point]] was found at the first stage of this level (XXIV), at around {{convert|15.2|m}} below datum with a complete [[skeleton]] of an eight-year-old modern human (called Egbert, now in the [[National Museum of Beirut]] after being studied in [[United States|America]]) was discovered at {{convert|11.6|m}}, cemented into [[breccia]]. A fragment of a [[Neanderthal]] [[maxilla]] was also discovered in material from level XXVI or XXV, at around {{convert|15|m}}. Studies by Hooijer showed [[Capra (genus)|wild goat]] and [[fallow deer]] were dominant in the [[fauna]] along with the extinct [[narrow-nosed rhinoceros]] in later Levalloiso-Mousterian levels.<ref name="CopelandWescombe1965">{{cite book| author1=Lorraine Copeland| author2=P. Wescombe| title=Inventory of Stone-Age sites in Lebanon, p. 73-75 and see fig. XVII on p. 163 for drawing by Peter. J. Wescombe of the javelin found at Beirut VI| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6YsRRwAACAAJ| archive-url=https://archive.today/20111224033744/http://books.google.com/books?id=6YsRRwAACAAJ| url-status=dead| archive-date=December 24, 2011| access-date=21 July 2011| year=1965| publisher=Imprimerie Catholique}}</ref>

It is believed to be one of the earliest known sites containing [[Upper Paleolithic]] technologies. Artifacts recovered from the site include [[Ksar Akil flake]]s, the main type of tool found at the site, along with shells with holes and chipped edge modifications that are suggested to have been used as pendants or beads. These indicate that the inhabitants were among the first in Western Eurasia to use personal ornaments. Results from radiocarbon dating indicate that the early humans may have lived at the site approximately 45,000 years ago or earlier. The presence of personal ornaments at Ksar Akil is suggestive of [[Behavioral modernity|modern human behavior]]. The findings of ornaments at the site are contemporaneous with ornaments found at [[Later Stone Age|Late Stone Age]] sites such as [[Enkapune Ya Muto]].<ref>{{cite journal |title= Ornaments of the earliest Upper Paleolithic: New insights from the Levant|year=2001|doi=10.1073/pnas.121590798|last1=Kuhn|first1=Steven |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=98 |pages=7641–6 |pmid=11390976 |last2=Stiner |first2=MC |last3=Reese |first3=DS |last4=Güleç |first4=E |issue=13 |pmc=34721|bibcode=2001PNAS...98.7641K|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://oxford.academia.edu/KaterinaDouka/Papers/372932/Douka_K._2011._An_Upper_Palaeolithic_shell_scraper_from_Ksar_Akil_Lebanon_._Journal_of_Archaeological_Science_38_2_429-437| title = Douka, K. 2011. An Upper Palaeolithic shell scraper from Ksar Akil (Lebanon). Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (2):429-437| last1 = Douka| first1 = Katerina| access-date = 2017-12-03| archive-date = 2012-03-14| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120314004323/http://oxford.academia.edu/KaterinaDouka/Papers/372932/Douka_K._2011._An_Upper_Palaeolithic_shell_scraper_from_Ksar_Akil_Lebanon_._Journal_of_Archaeological_Science_38_2_429-437| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.pnas.org/content/98/13/7641.full| title = Kuhn, Steven L., Stiner, Mary C., Reese, David S., Güleç, Erksin., Ornaments of the earliest Upper Paleolithic: New insights from the Levant, Edited by Henry C. Harpending, PNAS, June 5th 2001| access-date = 2013-03-17| archive-date = 2019-10-15| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191015120804/https://www.pnas.org/content/98/13/7641.full| url-status = dead}}</ref>