Dekwaneh (also Dekweneh) is a suburb north of Beirut

Beirut

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

 in the Matn District

Matn District

Matn , sometimes spelled Metn, is a district in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of Lebanon, east of the Lebanon's capital Beirut...

 of the Mount Lebanon Governorate

Mount Lebanon Governorate

Mount Lebanon is one of the Governorates of Lebanon. Its capital is Baabda. The overwhelming majority of its population is Maronites, Greek Orthodox, and Melkite Greek Catholic Christians...

, Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

. The population is predominantly Marionite Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

. It used to be the location of an UNRWA administered Palestinian

Palestinian people

The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...

 Refugee camp housing approximately 50,000-60,000 refugees at called Tel al-Zaatar, site of the Tel al-Zaatar massacre

Tel al-Zaatar Massacre

The Tel al-Zaatar massacre took place during the Lebanese Civil War on August 12, 1976. Tel al-Zaatar was a UNRWA administered Palestinian Refugee camp housing approximately 50,000-60,000 refugees in northeast Beirut.-Background:...

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Archaeology

Dekwaneh I is about 700 metres (2,296.6 ft) northwest of Mar Roucos monastery, in the gullies of (now deforested) pinewood slopes on the west side of a ridge. Material was found by Raoul Describes, who mentioned rock-shelters in the area that were destroyed by quarrying for quicklime. Further collections by Auguste Bergy

Auguste Bergy

Reverend Father Auguste Bergy, born 1873 in France and died 31 August 1955 was a French Jesuit archaeologist notable for his work on prehistory in Lebanon.He is known particularly for excavations and studies at the Sands of Beirut and at Ras Beirut...

 and Peter Wescombe. Some of the flint

Flint

Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...

 tools recovered were determined to be Acheulean

Acheulean

Acheulean is the name given to an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture associated with early humans during the Lower Palaeolithic era across Africa and much of West Asia, South Asia and Europe. Acheulean tools are typically found with Homo erectus remains...

 as well as a large amount of waste and bifaces from the Middle Paleolithic

Middle Paleolithic

The Middle Paleolithic is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleolithic in African archeology. The Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age...

 that suggested it was a factory site at that time.

Dekwaneh II material comes from various locations around the area, most notably the ravine below the monastery. Flint tools were also found here by Bergy and Describes which included the Qaraoun culture

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 Neolithic by Henri Fleisch and confirmed by A. Rust and Dorothy Garrod....

's Heavy Neolithic

Heavy Neolithic

Heavy Neolithic is a style of large stone and flint tools associated primarily with the Qaraoun culture in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon, dating to the Epipaleolithic or early Pre-pottery Neolithic at the end of the Stone Age...

 forms such as massive axe

Axe

The axe, or ax, 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...

s, picks, scrapers and rabots. Other early Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 tools were found along with some Middle Palelithic material including an Emireh point

Emireh point

An Emireh point is a microlith made out of a triangular flake of flint. The bulbs are eliminated or reduced via a process of retouching from both surfaces. The Emireh point is the type tool of stage one of the Upper Paleolithic, first identified in the Emirian culture....

 and tortoise cores. Along with material from Dekwaneh I, finds from the locations are stored in the Museum of Lebanese Prehistory

Museum of Lebanese Prehistory

The Museum of Lebanese Prehistory is a museum of prehistory and archaeology in Beirut, Lebanon.-History:...

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