Lebanon
Please note: this page is still under construction, if you have any questions about recent projects supported by the Foundation please email us grants@honorfrostfoundation.org
This page contains information about current and completed projects in Lebanon supported by the Foundation, as well as information about the recently established HFF team in Lebanon.
The recent growing coastal urbanization in Lebanon has constituted one of the main threats to the coastal and underwater archaeological resource in the country. The Honor Frost Foundation has therefore combined efforts with the Directorate of Antiquities, Ministry of Culture, Lebanon in order to contribute to the study, inventory, protection, conservation, and management of the country’s maritime heritage. HFF has established a team of five members including: Dr. Lucy Semaan, Dr. Stephen McPhilipps, Dr. Enzo Cocca, Dr. Nicholas Carayon, and Mr. Mario Kozaily.
The main objective of the team is to efficiently respond to the needs in case of rescue archaeology sites. While combining both terrestrial and underwater archaeological interventions, the team adopts a seamless approach between land and sea to the study of the maritime environment and its material and immaterial culture. To that end, several methods are deployed ahead of development projects at targeted sites such as coastal and underwater diver-based surveying, the application of remote-sensing technologies and photogrammetry recording, as well as generating a digital database and a GIS platform.
When Frost first came to Lebanon in 1957 she dived at numerous underwater sites, which she either had personal knowledge of or learnt about from local maritime communities. Her main interests included coastal landscapes, harbor archaeology, shipwrecks, site formation processes, and a typology of anchors, all focused on the major three ancient harbors in Lebanon, Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos. However, she also undertook surveys in smaller towns on the Lebanese coast. She believed in a multi-disciplinary approach to archaeology, looking beyond the object to understand the community that produced it. She also demonstrated an understanding of the intrinsic link between archaeology and sea-level changes coupled with other geological factors. Hence, the HFF Lebanon team is carrying on from Honor Frost’s work in the country by assisting Lebanese archaeologists operating in coastal environments and filling in the expertise gaps where needed.
The Honor Frost team in Lebanon also endeavors to develop local capacity through raising the profile of the different stakeholders and create awareness towards Lebanon’s maritime heritage. This aspect of the HFF Lebanon team echoes Honor Frost’s vision. Indeed, when Angela Croome described Honor Frost, she said Frost used her “attention to and flair in nurturing the young”, It thus important for our local team to shape the minds and skills of Lebanese archaeologists with a penchant for maritime archaeology.
Anfeh – Lebanon
Anfeh, Lebanon Lucy Semaan Anfeh, is a village in the Koura district of the North Governorate of Lebanon. It is located 15 km south of Tripoli and 70 km north of Beirut. The coastal village is extended by a noseshaped promontory, 400m long with a maximum width of 120m and oriented on an eastwest axis …
Batroun – Lebanon
Batroun, Lebanon Clement Flaux and Nicolas Carayon Batroun is located 53 km north of Beirut. The coast is characterized by a rocky promontory made of calcareous sandstones (coastal aeolianite locally known as ramleh), separating two coves on its northern and southern sides. The ancient city was located above the rocky promontory, the western side of …
Byblos & the Sea – Lebanon
Byblos & the Sea, Lebanon Martine Francis and Nicola Grimal Byblos & the Sea is a multidisciplinary research project on the coastal and maritime area of Byblos co-directed by Martine Francis (affiliated researcher at the Collège de France) and Nicolas Grimal (Prof. at the Collège de France), in collaboration with the Directorate General of Antiquities of …
CADMOS-S project – 2018
CADMOS-S project – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) – 2018 Alexandre Sursock and Milad Fakhri Geophysical Survey off southern Lebanon The CADMOS-S project was one of the first maritime archaeology programmes in Lebanon to use geophysical means of exploration. It was jointly funded, over the last two years (2015-2017), by the Honor Frost …
El Kharayeb – Lebanon
El Kharayeb, Lebanon Ida Oggiano and Wissam Khalil The archaeological mission in the localities of Kharayeb and Adloun located on the South-Lebanon coast is a joint Lebanese and Italian multidisciplinary mission directed by both Ida Oggiano from the Institute for Ancient Mediterranean Studies – Italian National Research Council (Roma) and Wissam Khalil from the Department …
Endangered Seascapes – 2017
Endangered Seascapes: The dynamics of change in coastal environments, Northern Lebanon – 2017 Dr Jennie Bradbury 1. Background and Objectives Until recently, the northern coastal strip of Lebanon had largely escaped the impact of mass urban sprawl and development. It therefore represents one of the only remaining coastal areas with relatively well-preserved archaeology. Unfortunately, this …
Sidon – Lebanon
Sidon, Lebanon George Papatheodorou and Eric Gotwalles In the 1960’s Honor carried out underwater surveys off the coast of Sidon as development threatened the offshore island harbour, her work was published in 1973 in the IJNA and in the NMN in 2000. Studies of this site is being continued by George Papatheodorou and Eric Gotwalles, with …
Tyre – Lebanon
Tyre, Lebanon Beginning in the 1960’s, Honor Frost initiated several investigations aimed at identifying the existence of harbour installations around the coast of Tyre. While her initial exploration focused on the southern side of the former island, she also identified the significant archaeological potential for harbour facilities within the northern coast of Tyre (Frost, 1971). Later, she encouraged …