Sin el-Fil ( ar, سنّ الفيل /

ALA-LC ALA-LC (American Library AssociationLibrary of Congress) is a set of standards for romanization, the representation of text in other writing systems using the Latin script. Applications The system is used to represent bibliographic information by ...

: ''Sinn al-Fīl'') is a suburb east of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

in the

Matn District Matn ( ar, قضاء المتن, '), sometimes spelled Metn (or preceded by the article El, as in El Matn), is a district ('' qadaa'') in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of Lebanon, east of the Lebanon's capital Beirut. The district capital is ...

of the Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon.

Overview

Etymology

The name literally means 'ivory': "tooth" (''sinn'') of "the elephant" (''al-fīl''). Being geographically closer to the ancient city of Antioch and far remote from natural

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

habitat, it is believed that the town name may have been a derogation of Saint Theophilus of Antioch.

Geography

With a rich red soil and moderate precipitation (but available ground water irrigation) the agricultural land of Sin el Fil in the early 20th century sprawled into a densely populated suburb. The natural landscape of the late century was dominated by stone pine. The

Beirut River Beirut River ( ar, نهر بيروت, ''Nahr Bayrūt'') is a river in Lebanon. The river runs east to west, then curves north, separating the city of Beirut from its eastern suburbs, primarily Bourj Hammoud and Sin el Fil. According to popular le ...

runs west of Sin el Fil and separates the town from the capital,

Demographics

Archaeology

Collections of archaeological material from this limestone "hogsback" were made from the

gullies A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or commonly a combination of both eroding sharply into soil or other relatively erodible material, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble lar ...

to the south of the main road on the slopes of forested hills. The recovery areas were described as ''"ravines sinueuses"'' by Raoul Describes after making a collection in 1921. Other

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

who made collections from the area included Godefroy Zumoffen in 1908, Paul Bovier-Lapierre and Auguste Bergy as well as Mouterde, Gigues,

Lorraine Copeland Lorraine Copeland (born Elizabeth Lorraine Adie, 1921April 2013) was a British archaeologist specialising in the Palaeolithic period of the Near East. She was a secret agent with the Special Operations Executive during World War II. Early life ...

and Peter Wescombe. E. Passemard suggested that two of the trihedral pieces collected by Paul Bovier-Lapierre were Chalossian. Describes published some of the material as

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 ...

but the bulk of the material was very mixed including many indeterminate

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

pieces including Trihedral Neolithic and

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 ...

forms. There was also a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

occupation on the flat fields above the slopes. Some archaeological material from Sin el Fil is in the

National Museum of Beirut The National Museum of Beirut ( ar, متحف بيروت الوطنيّ, ''Matḥaf Bayrūt al-waṭanī'' or French: Musée national de Beyrouth) is the principal museum of archaeology in Lebanon. The collection begun after World War I, and the m ...

and the

Museum of Lebanese Prehistory The Museum of Lebanese Prehistory (french: Musée de Préhistoire Libanaise, ar, متحف ما قبل التاريخ اللبناني) is a museum of prehistory and archaeology in Beirut, Lebanon. History The museum is the first museum of prehist ...

. On 1st March 1990 Sin el Fin was the scene of heavy fighting between Samir Geagea’s Lebanese Forces (LF) and parts of the Lebanese Army loyal to General Michel Aoun. It was the last offensive in Aoun’s failed attempt to take control of Christian East Beirut and caused extensive damage and many casualties.Middle East International No 371, 16th March 1990, Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP;

Jim Muir Jim Muir (born 3 June 1948) is a British journalist, currently serving as a Middle East correspondent for BBC News, based in Beirut, Lebanon. Education Muir is of Scottish heritage, but was born in Farnborough, Hampshire in England in 1948, an ...

pp.9,10

Twin towns – sister cities

* Prato,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, since 2008

References and footnotes

External links

Sinn El Fil
Localiban
Municipality of Sin el Fil
''(Arabic)'' {{Archaeological sites in Lebanon Populated places in the Matn District Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon Archaeological sites in Lebanon Trihedral Neolithic sites Heavy Neolithic sites