Editing Beirut (section)

===Prehistory===
[[File:Canaanean Blade.jpg|thumb|left|[[Canaanean Blade]]. Suggested to be part of a [[javelin]]. Fresh grey [[flint]], both sides showing [[pressure flaking]]. Somewhat narrower at the base, suggesting a [[Haft (sword)|haft]]. Polished at the extreme point. Found on land of the Lebanese Evangelical School for Girls in the [[Patriarchate]] area of Beirut.]]Beirut was settled over 5,000 years ago,<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/23/world/under-beirut-s-rubble-remnants-of-5000-years-of-civilization.html Under Beirut's Rubble, Remnants of 5,000 Years of Civilization] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206194528/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9404E2D9103EF930A15751C0A961958260 |date=6 December 2008 }}– NYTimes 23 February 1997</ref> and there is evidence that the surrounding area had already been inhabited for tens of thousands of years prior to this. Several [[prehistoric]] archaeological sites have been discovered within the urban area of Beirut, revealing [[flint]] tools from sequential periods dating from the [[Middle Paleolithic|Middle Palaeolithic]] and [[Upper Paleolithic]] through the [[Neolithic]] to the [[Bronze Age]].

Beirut{{nbsp}}I (''Minet el-Hosn'') was listed as "the town of Beirut" ({{langx|fr|Beyrouth ville}}) by [[Louis Burkhalter]] and said to be on the beach near the Orient and Bassoul hotels on the [[Avenue des Français]] in central Beirut.<ref>Burkhalter, L., Bibliographie préhistorique (à suivre) (List of prehistoric sites, continuation and end), Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth. Tome VIII, 1946–1948, Beyrouth, in-4° br., 173 pages.</ref><ref>Burkhalter L., Bibliographie préhistorique (suite et fin) (List of prehistoric sites, continuation and end), Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth. Tome IX, 1949–1950, Beyrouth, in-4° br., 117 pages.</ref> The site was discovered by Lortet in 1894 and discussed by [[Godefroy Zumoffen]] in 1900.<ref name="Zumoffen1900">{{cite book |author=Godefroy Zumoffen |title=La Phénicie avant les phéniciens: l'âge de la pierre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0noLAQAAIAAJ |year=1900 |publisher=Impr. catholique}}</ref> The [[flint]] [[archaeological industry|industry]] from the site was described as [[Mousterian]] and is held by the [[Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon]].<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 |archive-date=24 December 2011 |year=1965 |publisher=Imprimerie Catholique}}</ref>

Beirut{{nbsp}}II (''Umm el-Khatib'') was suggested by Burkhalter to have been south of Tarik el Jedideh, where P.E. Gigues discovered a [[Copper Age]] flint industry at around {{convert|100|m|ft|0|abbr=off}} [[Above mean sea level|above sea level]]. The site had been built on and destroyed by 1948.<ref name="CopelandWescombe1965"/>

Beirut{{nbsp}}III (''Furn esh-Shebbak''), listed as {{lang|fr|Plateau Tabet}}, was suggested to have been located on the left bank of the [[Beirut River]]. Burkhalter suggested that it was west of the Damascus road, although this determination has been criticized by [[Lorraine Copeland]].<ref name="CopelandWescombe1965"/> P. E. Gigues discovered a series of [[Neolithic]] [[flint tools]] on the surface along with the remains of a structure suggested to be a [[hut circle]]. [[Auguste Bergy]] discussed polished [[axe]]s that were also found at this site, which has now completely disappeared as a result of construction and urbanization of the area.<ref name="Bergy">Bergy, Auguste. "La paléolithique ancien stratifié à Ras Beyrouth". ''Mélanges de l'Université Saint Joseph'', Volume 16, 5–6, 1932.</ref>

Beirut{{nbsp}}IV (''Furn esh-Shebbak'', river banks) was also on the left bank of the river and on either side of the road leading eastwards from the Furn esh Shebbak police station towards the river that marked the city limits. The area was covered in red [[sand]] that represented [[Quaternary]] [[river terrace]]s. The site was found by [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] Father Dillenseger and published by fellow Jesuits Godefroy Zumoffen,<ref name="Zumoffen1900"/> [[Raoul Describes]]<ref name="Describes1921">Describes, Raoul. "Quelques ateliers paléolithiques des environs de Beyrouth", ''Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph'', Volume VII, 1921.</ref> and Auguste Bergy.<ref name="Bergy"/> Collections from the site were made by Bergy, Describes and another Jesuit, [[Paul Bovier-Lapierre]]. Many [[Middle Paleolithic]] flint tools were found on the surface and in side [[Gully|gullies]] that drain into the river. They included around 50 varied [[biface]]s accredited to the [[Acheulean|Acheulean period]], some with a [[Lustre (mineralogy)|lustrous sheen]], now held at the [[Museum of Lebanese Prehistory]]. [[Henri Fleisch]] also found an [[Emireh point]] amongst material from the site, which has now disappeared beneath buildings.

Beirut{{nbsp}}V (''Nahr Beirut'', [[Beirut River]]) was discovered by Dillenseger and said to be in an [[orchard]] of [[mulberry]] trees on the left bank of the river, near the [[river mouth]], and to be close to the railway station and bridge to [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]]. [[Levallois technique|Levallois flints]] and bones and similar surface material were found amongst [[breccia|brecciated deposits]].<ref>Karge, P., Rephaim : Die Vorgeschichtliche Kultur Palästinas und Phöniziens, Paderborn (First edition), 1917–1918</ref> The area has now been built on.<ref>Zumoffen, Godefroy., L'âge de la Pierre en Phénicie, L'Anthropologie, Volume 8, page 272, 1898.</ref>

Beirut{{nbsp}}VI (Patriarchate) was a site discovered while building on the property of the Lebanese Evangelical School for Girls in the Patriarchate area of Beirut. It was notable for the discovery of a finely styled [[Canaanean blade]] [[javelin]] suggested to date to the early or middle Neolithic periods of [[Byblos]] and which is held in the school library.<ref name="CopelandWescombe1965"/>

Beirut{{nbsp}}VII, the Rivoli Cinema and Byblos Cinema sites near the Bourj in the Rue el Arz area, are two sites discovered by Lorraine Copeland, [[Peter Wescombe]], and Marina Hayek in 1964 and examined by [[Diana Kirkbride]] and Roger Saidah. One site was behind the parking lot of the Byblos Cinema and showed collapsed walls, pits, floors, charcoal, pottery and flints. The other, overlooking a cliff west of the Rivoli Cinema, was composed of three layers resting on [[limestone]] bedrock. Fragments of blades and broad flakes were recovered from the first layer of black soil, above which some Bronze Age pottery was recovered in a layer of grey soil. Pieces of [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] pottery and [[mosaic]]s were found in the upper layer.<ref name="CopelandWescombe1965"/> Middle Bronze Age tombs were found in this area, and the ancient [[Tell (archaeology)|tell]] of Beirut is thought to be in the Bourj area.<ref>Lauffray, J., Forums et monuments de Béryte, BULLETIN DU MUSEE DE BEYROUTH. Tome VII, 1944–1945, Beyrouth, in-4° br., 124 pages dont 4 de texte arabe, 29 planches hors-texte.</ref>