تل البرك | |
  Tell el-Burak Shown within Lebanon Show map of Lebanon Tell el-Burak Tell el-Burak (Near East) Show map of Near East | |
| Location | Brak El Tall, South Lebanon |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°28′57″N35°19′21″E / 33.482388°N 35.322636°E /33.482388; 35.322636 |
| History | |
| Cultures | Phoenician |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates |
|
| Condition | Ruined |
Tell el-Burak is an archaeological site located near the southern coast ofLebanon. It served as an agricultural production center between 725 and 350 BCE.[1][2] The area has been studied by theAmerican University of Beirut and theUniversity of Tübingen since 1998.[3] Theseexcavations have revealed three major periods of occupations on thetell: first in the MiddleBronze Age, then during theIron Age, and lastly during theOttoman Period.[4]
The German-Lebanese team of archaeologists had conducted most of the excavations of Tell el-Burak by 2011, and the study and analysis of the site is ongoing.[as of?][citation needed]
During the2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon,UNESCO gave enhanced protection to 34 cultural sites in Lebanon, including Tell el-Burak, in attempt to safeguard them fromdamage.[5][6]
The tell stands prominently amidst agricultural lands on a strip of plain fronted by theMediterranean Sea and backed by a range of hills. The plain, a well-watered zone, is home to a large agricultural area where fruit trees currently predominate.[as of?] The conical, purpose-built tell towers above the plain approximately 19 meters and is readily visible from both land and sea. From the top of mound,Sidon can be seen to the north and to the south, rising aboveRas el-Qantara, the tell of the Late Bronze Age/Phoenician city ofSarepta can be seen.[citation needed]
During the earliest Middle Bronze Age stage, the mound was built as part of a defensive structure, serving as the base for a fortress on its top.[7][8] It appears to be the first Middle Bronze Age fortified palace so far discovered in Lebanon. The fortress was built withmudbricks.[9]
According to archaeologists[by whom?], Tell el-Burak excavations have helped significantly to clarify the history of the nearbySidon during the Middle Bronze Age. Previously, there was a gap in this history from the end of theEarly Bronze Age until the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, when Sidon is first mentioned in the historical texts[specify].
Sidon was the big power centre at that time, that controlled significant territory. So there appears to have been the Kingdom of Sidon that controlled el-Burak, and other areas.[clarification needed][10]
The biggest room, measuring 7 by 14 meters, contained wall paintings that demonstrated the area's ties toEgypt at the time, as early as 1900 BCE.Egyptian blue, a pigment extremely rare in the natural world yet produced and used in Egypt since the 3rd millennium BCE, was utilized in the paintings. Bertsch, an archaeologist working on the site excavations, stated the paintings may have even been painted directly by Egyptian artists.[11]
Dr. Hélène Sader, professor at theAmerican University of Beirut, believes that the site casts considerable light on the early history and development of the ‘’fresco’’ paintings in the entireMediterranean, including the famous wall paintings ofMinoan Crete.
In theIron Age, Tell el-Burak was home to a settlement that was prosperous and peaceful, as seen in its defenselessness and fine architecture. There is no apparent occupation in the interveningLate Bronze Age, as the site was seemingly abandoned in favor ofSarepta, four kilometers to the south.
In 2004, an underwater archaeological survey was conducted in the area of the tell by the archaeologist Ralph K. Pedersen. It indicated that there was noharbour nor good anchorage near the site.[13]
In September 2020, awinepress was discovered at Tell el-Burak, dating back to the seventh-century BCE.[14][15]
{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|title= (help)