Minet el-Beida
Encyclopedia
Minet el-Beida is a small bay
Bay
A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...

 located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of Latakia
Latakia
Latakia, or Latakiyah , is the principal port city of Syria, as well as the capital of the Latakia Governorate. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages...

, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 on the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

. It is an important archaeological site because it served as the harbor town and necropolis
Necropolis
A necropolis is a large cemetery or burial ground, usually including structural tombs. The word comes from the Greek νεκρόπολις - nekropolis, literally meaning "city of the dead"...

 for Ugarit
Ugarit
Ugarit was an ancient port city in the eastern Mediterranean at the Ras Shamra headland near Latakia, Syria. It is located near Minet el-Beida in northern Syria. It is some seven miles north of Laodicea ad Mare and approximately fifty miles east of Cyprus...

.

Overview

Minet el-Beida takes its name from the white rocks at the entrance of the bay. Located 1 kilometre (0.621372736649807 mi) west from Ugarit
Ugarit
Ugarit was an ancient port city in the eastern Mediterranean at the Ras Shamra headland near Latakia, Syria. It is located near Minet el-Beida in northern Syria. It is some seven miles north of Laodicea ad Mare and approximately fifty miles east of Cyprus...

, the bay is the best natural port along that entire stretch of the coastline. The bay is now smaller than it was in the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

, because of the action of the alluvial
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...

 fill.

The town was first settled in the late fifteenth century BC. The town plan resembles that of Ugarit, with irregular streets. Houses consisted of a courtyard surrounded by rooms, a well and an oven. Some houses contained underground tombs. The port town also had storehouses used for goods both imported or awaiting export. One such storehouse had 80 shipping jars still preserved inside. The site witnessed the first great entrepôt
Entrepôt
An entrepôt is a trading post where merchandise can be imported and exported without paying import duties, often at a profit. This profit is possible because of trade conditions, for example, the reluctance of ships to travel the entire length of a long trading route, and selling to the entrepôt...

 for international overseas trade with the Aegean
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...

 and beyond, and with the central Mediterranean.

Excavation

It was the 1928 chance discovery in Minet el-Beida that prompted the excavation of the site and later of Ugarit
Ugarit
Ugarit was an ancient port city in the eastern Mediterranean at the Ras Shamra headland near Latakia, Syria. It is located near Minet el-Beida in northern Syria. It is some seven miles north of Laodicea ad Mare and approximately fifty miles east of Cyprus...

 (modern Ras Shamra). The discovery happened when a local farmer was attempting to plough his land and his ploughshare struck a large piece of stone which turned out to be one of a number of stone slabs which formed the roof of a vaulted tomb.

Claude F. A. Schaeffer
Claude F. A. Schaeffer
Claude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer , aka Claude Schaeffer, led the French excavation team that begun working on the site of Ugarit in 1929, uncovering the Ugaritic religious texts.-References:...

 led the French excavation team at Minet el-Beida. The site was immediately recognized to be the main port for the Kingdom of Ugarit. It was the object of archaeological exploration until 1935 when it was abandoned in order to concentrate all efforts on Ras Shamra.

Finds at the site indicate that Ugaritians formed the main element in the population, but with a large number of foreigners including Egyptians
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

, Cypriots
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

, Hittites
Hittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...

, Hurrians
Hurrians
The Hurrians were a people of the Ancient Near East who lived in Northern Mesopotamia and adjacent regions during the Bronze Age.The largest and most influential Hurrian nation was the kingdom of Mitanni. The population of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia to a large part consisted of Hurrians, and...

, and people from the Aegean. Remains found at the site included, Cypriot pottery both imported and locally made; ivory cosmetic boxes from Egypt; Mycenae
Mycenae
Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...

an pottery; bronze weapons and tools; cylinder seals and inscribed tablets.
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