THE NORTHERN LEBANON PROJECT (NOLEP)

The Northern Lebanon Project (NoLeP) is a regional investigation carried out by a joint mission directed by M. Iamoni (University of Udine) and M. Haider (Lebanese University, 3rd Branch Tripoli) in collaboration with the Directorate General of Antiquities of Lebanon and Ifpo-Beirut. Via intensive and extensive surveys covering the area of Koura and Zgharta, NoLeP aims to reconstruct the regional settlement pattern from the time of the earliest human presence up to the area’s recent history. Though several historical references and sporadic investigations suggested that the region was of the utmost importance for the archaeology of Lebanon – and more in general of the Levant – no systematic investigations had been carried out thus far in the inner area of Koura. NoLeP is the first project with the goal of building, as much as possible, a coherent and a complete picture of the numerous phases of occupation that characterised the region. The project focuses particularly on the formation of urban settlements during the Bronze Age, their transformation during the Iron Age, and the impact of large empires during Hellenistic-Roman-Byzantine times. The strategic position of the area under examination and its favourable environmental conditions suggest that the region may play a key role in understanding the development of local human communities and their interaction with neighbouring regions – in particular, the coast, the plain of Akkar and the internal Valley of the Beqaa.