Douwara is 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 ...

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 highland ...

located southwest of

Ain Ebel Ain Ebel () is a municipality in the Nabatieh Governorate, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of Beirut. Its inhabitants are predominantly Christian. Etymology Historian Joseph Toufik Khoreich writes that the name means "Spring of the Mon ...

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. Municipalities The following 36 municipalities are all located in the Bint Jbeil District: * Ain Ebel * Aitaroun * A ...

Nabatieh Governorate Nabatieh Governorate (, ') 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, singular qadaa) containing 130 mu ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. It is located on slopes north of the road from Ain Ebel to

Rmaich Rmaish (also spelled Rmeish, Rmaich, and Rmeich; ) is the southernmost municipality of Lebanon, located in the District of Bint Jbeil, Lebanon, south of Ain Ebel, near the Lebanese-Israeli border covering an area of . The ruins found in the vill ...

. It was discovered by

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

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 re ...

, whilst out prospecting for prehistoric sites in 1950, who published his findings in 1951 and 1954.Fleisch, Henri., Nouvelles stations préhistorique au Liban, BSPF, vol. 51, p. 564, 1954. The collections from the site were also discussed by

Jacques Cauvin Professor Jacques Cauvin (1930 – 26 December 2001) was a French archaeologist who specialised in the prehistory of the Levant and Near East. Biography Cauvin started his work in France at Oullins Caves and Chazelles Caves (near Saint-André-d ...

. Vast numbers of heavy tools were found representing the industry of the Qaroun culture including piles of debitage and bifaces. Another industry present at the site was tentatively identified as

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

and included

axe An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...

chisel A chisel is a hand tool with a characteristic Wedge, wedge-shaped cutting edge on the end of its blade. A chisel is useful for carving or cutting a hard material such as woodworking, wood, lapidary, stone, or metalworking, metal. Using a chi ...

s and heavy borers that resembled

Minet ed Dhalia point A Minet ed Dhalia point or stylet is an archaeological term for an elongated, isosceles triangle made with pressure flaking on both faces of a piece of flint. They are predominantly found at sites in Lebanon (ancient Canaan). They are the type tool ...

References

{{Portal, Lebanon, History, Asia Bint Jbeil District Archaeological sites in Lebanon Heavy Neolithic sites Chalcolithic sites Neolithic settlements