Khallet el Hamra or Khallet Hamra is a

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...

joining the larger Wadi Yaroun located southeast of

Ain Ebel ʿAin Ebel ( ar, عين إبل; Syriac: ), the ancient 'En Bol, is a village located in the Lebanese Upper Galilee in the Caza of Bint Jbeil in the Nabatiye Governorate in Lebanon. Etymology Historian Taissier Khalaf writes that the name of th ...

in the

Bint Jbeil District The Bint Jbeil District is a district in the Nabatiyeh Governorate of Lebanon. The capital of the district is Bint Jbeil. Villages The following 36 municipalities are all located in the Bint Jbeil District: *Aynata * Aayta Ech Chaab * Aayta Ej ...

Nabatieh Governorate Nabatieh Governorate ( ar, محافظة النبطية, ') is one of the nine governorates of Lebanon. The area of this governorate is 1,058 km2. The capital is Nabatieh. Districts The governorate is divided into four districts (Aqdiya, sing ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. A

Heavy Neolithic Heavy Neolithic (alternatively, Gigantolithic) is a style of large stone and flint tools (or industry) associated primarily with the Qaraoun culture in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon, dating to the Epipaleolithic or early Pre-Pottery Neolithic at t ...

archaeological site of the

Qaraoun culture The Qaraoun culture is a culture of the Lebanese Stone Age around Qaraoun in the Beqaa Valley. The Gigantolithic or Heavy Neolithic flint tool industry of this culture was recognized as a particular Neolithic variant of the Lebanese highlands ...

was discovered by jesuit archaeologist

Paul Bovier-Lapierre Reverend Father Paul Bovier-Lapierre (1873–1950) was a French Jesuit archaeologist, notable for his work on prehistory in Egypt and surveys in southern Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Repu ...

in 1908. It was located to the south of a track that leads from Ain Ebel to

Bint Jbeil Bint Jbeil () is the second largest town in the Nabatiye Governorate in Southern Lebanon. The town has an estimated population of 30,000. Its exact population is unknown, because Lebanon has not conducted a population census since 1932. Hist ...

at around above sea level. Bovier-Lapierre considered several of the

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

s found to be Chellean with one exceptionally large and finely made

Acheulean Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French ''acheuléen'' after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated ...

chopper.Karge, P., Rephaim: Die Vorgeschichtliche Kultur Palästinas und Phöniziens, p. 43, Paderborn (First edition), 1917-1918.

Henri Fleisch Reverend Father Henri Fleisch (1 January 1904 – 10 February 1985) was a French archaeologist, missionary and Orientalist, known for his work on classical Arabic language and Lebanese dialect and prehistory in Lebanon. Fleisch spent years rec ...

re-evaluated the materials in light of more modern studies and noted the finds to be only sparsely Acheulean with the assemblage consisting of predominantly ''"abundant"'' Heavy Neolithic tools of the Qaraoun culture.

References

External links

3D Google Earth map of Khallet el Hamra on www.gmap3d.comKhallet el Hamra on www.geographic.org
{{Portal, Lebanon, History, Asia Bint Jbeil District Archaeological sites in Lebanon Heavy Neolithic sites Neolithic settlements