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33-533: Rayaq North is a Shepherd Neolithic archaeological site located on either side of the main road, 500 metres (0.31 mi) north of Rayaq . Flint tools were found there by Lorraine Copeland and Frank Skeels during a survey of 1965. Along with the Shepherd Neolithic series of blade-butts and end-scrapers, another series of large cores and flakes were found that Henri Fleisch considered similar to materials found at Serain and Fleywe that were of

66-535: A confusing typology judged to be possibly Mousterian , Levalloiso-Mousterian or Heavy Neolithic . In 1838, Eli Smith noted both Reyak and Haush Hala as Christian villages in the Baalbek area. Prior to 1914 there was a broad-gauge railway from Aleppo through Hama and Homs which reached the Beirut to Damascus narrow-gauge line at Riyaq. Both railways were built and owned by French companies. During

99-403: A limited typology collected by Jesuit archaeologist "Père" Henri Fleisch . Lorraine Copeland and Peter J. Wescombe suggested it was possibly "of quite late date" . Shepherd Neolithic material can be found dispersed over a wide area of the north Beqaa Valley in low concentrations. M. Billaux and Henri Fleisch suggested that the flints were of a higher quality than the brittle flint in

132-623: A mix of different Lebanese religious confessions. Rachaiya al Wadi , east of the Western Beqaa district, is home to Lebanon's share of Mount Hermon and borders Syria also. The district's capital, also Rachaiya al Wadi, not to be confused with Rachaiya al Foukhar in South Lebanon, is famous for its old renovated souk and what is known as the castle of independence in which Lebanon's pre-independence leaders were held by French troops before being released in 1943. The southern section of

165-611: A year. Beqaa Valley wineries include: Drugs have a long tradition in the Beqaa Valley, from the days of the Roman Empire to the present. Cultivators and tribal drug lords have worked with militias to build up a thriving cannabis trade. The region has been compared to Peru 's cocaine producing Upper Huallaga Valley . During the Lebanese Civil War , cannabis cultivation was a major source of income in

198-477: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Shepherd Neolithic Shepherd Neolithic is a name given by archaeologists to a style (or industry ) of small flint tools from the Hermel plains in the north Beqaa Valley , Lebanon . Paleolithic Epipalaeolithic Mesolithic Neolithic The Shepherd Neolithic industry has been insufficiently studied and was provisionally named based on

231-581: Is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon and its most important farming region . Industry, especially the country's agricultural industry, also flourishes in Beqaa. The region broadly corresponds to the Coele-Syria of classical antiquity . The Beqaa is located about 30 km (19 mi) east of Beirut . The valley is situated between Mount Lebanon to the west and the Anti-Lebanon mountains to

264-420: Is estimated that that action eliminates no more than 30% of overall crops. Although important during the civil war, opium cultivation has become marginal, dropping from an estimated 30 metric tonnes per year in 1983 to negligible amounts in 2004. Due to increasing political unrest that weakened the central Lebanese government during the 2006 Lebanon War and 2007 Opposition boycott of the government, and due to

297-457: Is home to Lebanon's famous vineyards and wineries . Wine making is a tradition that goes back 6000 years in Lebanon . With an average altitude of 1000 m above sea level , the valley's climate is very suitable to vineyards. Abundant winter rain and much sunshine in the summer helps the grapes ripen easily. There are more than a dozen wineries in the Beqaa Valley, producing over six million bottles

330-582: The First World War , the military airport was built by German troops. In 1918, the British army bombed the railway station and destroyed it. On August 7, 1933, two French aviators (Maurice Rossi and Paul Codos ), aboard a Blériot 110 , broke the world record for straight-line distance. They landed in Rayak after covering a distance of 9,104 km without stopping, in 55 hours, from New York. During

363-867: The Mediterranean Sea . From the 1st century BC, when the region was part of the Roman Empire , the Beqaa Valley served as a source of grain for the Roman provinces of the Levant . Today the valley makes up 40 percent of Lebanon's arable land . The northern end of the valley, with its scarce rainfall and less fertile soils, is used primarily as grazing land by pastoral nomads . Farther south, more fertile soils support crops of wheat, maize , cotton , and vegetables, with vineyards and orchards centered on Zahlé . The valley also produces hashish and cultivates opium poppies , which are exported as part of

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396-642: The Syria campaign in July 1941, the British bombed the French base and Rayak depots held by Vichy regime troops. The first Free French fighter squadron (Alsace Fighter Group) was created there on September 15, 1941. In September 1942, General de Gaulle visited the pilots at the Rayak base, and the No. 3 Normandie Fighter Group (the future Normandie-Niémen ) was established there the following month. On October 10, 1943,

429-478: The illegal drug trade . In Baalbek , that is part of a valley to the east of the northern Beqaa Valley, there are evidence of continual habitation dating back almost 8000–9000 years. Ard Tlaili is a small tell mound with an archaeological site, located on a plain at the foot of the Lebanon Mountain, just 11 km (7 mi) northwest of Baalbeck, in the Beqaa Valley. It dates to around 5780-5710 BC and has

462-760: The 3/3 Ardennes Fighter Squadron was born there. The Lebanese Air Force was created on June 1, 1949. A French M10 Wolverine tank destroyer from the 3rd Squadron of the Colonial Tank Hunter Regiment (RCCC) was named Rayak during the Second World War. The Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1990 interrupted all railway traffic. In 2002, an attempt to restore the Rayak-Damascus link failed. 33°51′04″N 35°59′17″E  /  33.851°N 35.988°E  / 33.851; 35.988 This Lebanon location article

495-722: The 8th and 7th century BC, Sobah, now under Imperial Assyrian rule , served as the residence for an Assyrian governor, Bel-liqbi . By the time of Alexander the Great , the valley was reportedly inhabited by the Itureans , possibly an Arabic or Aramaean people. According to the Histories of Alexander the Great , the Itureans were Arab peasants living in the hills above Tyre who slaughtered about 30 Macedonians , which prompted Alexander to conduct an expedition against them. Later on,

528-531: The Beqaa Valley, where most of the country's hashish and opium was produced. The war led various groups to turn to drug trafficking for income. Syria, which controlled most of the Valley, profited significantly from the trade. Palestinian terrorist groups, including the PLO , also participated in the hashish trade, making millions of dollars. The trade collapsed during the worldwide crackdown on narcotics led by

561-589: The Itureans broke away from the weakened Seleucid Empire to form the Kingdom of Chalcis . From their base in the Bekaa, the Itureans expanded their territory to include the Phoenician cities of the coast and came close to Damascus . Their territory was eventually absorbed into the rest of Roman Syria . The valley was of considerable importance to the Roman Empire as one of the important agricultural regions in

594-559: The United States in the early 1990s. Under pressure from the U.S. State Department, the occupying Syrian Army plowed up the Beqaa's cannabis fields and sprayed them with poison. Prior to 1991 it was estimated that income generated from illicit crops grown in the Beqaa was around $ 500 million. According to the UNDP the annual per capita income at that time in the Baalbek and Hermel district did not exceed $ 500. The same agency estimated

627-435: The assemblage is another distinguishable characteristic, including short denticulated or notched blades, end scrapers, transverse racloirs on thin flakes and borers with strong points. They also display a lack of recognizable typology although Levallois technique was occasionally observed to have been used. They also show signs of having been heavily worked with cores being re-used and turned into scrapers. Fleisch suggested

660-577: The bands of Neolithic surface sites continues south into the areas around Zahle and Rayak . The type sites of the Shepherd Neolithic are at Qaa and Maqne I , with other sites with Shepherd Neolithic finds include Douris , Hermel II , Hermel III , Kamouh el Hermel , Qalaat Tannour , Wadi Boura I and possibly at Rayak North , Riha Station and Serain . Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley ( Arabic : وادي البقاع , romanized :  Wādī l-Biqā‘ , Lebanese Arabic : [bʔaːʕ] ; also romanized as Bekaa , Biqâ , and Becaa )

693-605: The district is inhabited with Druze and Christian Lebanese, while the other northern section is mainly inhabited by Sunni Lebanese. Due to wars and the unstable economic and political conditions Lebanon faced in the past, with difficulties some farmers still face today, many previous inhabitants of the valley left for coastal cities in Lebanon or emigrated from the country altogether, with the majority residing in North America , South America or Australia . The Beqaa Valley

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726-566: The early Iron Age , the Beqaa Valley came to be dominated by Phoenician -and Aramaic -speaking populations. In the 11th and 10th centuries BC, the Aramaeans founded the kingdom of Aram-Zobah (also Sobah), mentioned in the Bible . Many scholars suggest it was located in the Beqa'a valley. The precise whereabouts of Zobah , a prominent city at the time, remains a subject of scholarly debate. In

759-588: The east. It is the northern continuation of the Jordan Rift Valley , and thus part of the Great Rift Valley , which stretches from Syria to the Red Sea . Beqaa Valley is 120 kilometres (75 mi) long and 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) wide on average. It has a Mediterranean climate of wet, often snowy winters and dry, warm summers. The region receives limited rainfall, particularly in

792-571: The eastern provinces, and it was known for its many temples . The region also gained the attention of Palmyrene Queen Zenobia , who built the Canalizations of Zenobia , linking the valley with Palmyra. Zahle is the largest city and the administrative capital of the Beqaa Governorate . It lies just north of the main Beirut – Damascus highway, which bisects the valley. The majority of Zahle's residents are Lebanese Christian ,

825-418: The exception of the town of Deir el Ahmar , whose inhabitants are Christians . The Baalbek and Hermel districts have a Christian and Sunni minority, mainly situated further north along the border with Syria. The western and southern districts of the valley also have a mixed population of Muslims , Christians , and Druze . The town of Joub Janine with a population of about 12,000, is situated midway in

858-477: The figure for the rest of Lebanon was $ 2,074. Since the mid-1990s, the culture and production of drugs in the Beqaa Valley has been in steady decline. By 2002, an estimated 2,500 hectares of cannabis were limited to the extreme north of the Valley, where government presence remains minimal. Every year since 2001 the Lebanese Army plows cannabis fields in an effort to destroy the crops before harvest. It

891-483: The industry was Epipaleolithic as it is evidently not Paleolithic , Mesolithic or even Pottery Neolithic . He further suggested that the industry could have been used by nomadic shepherds . The relationship and dividing line between the related Heavy Neolithic zone of the south Beqaa Valley could also not be clearly defined but was suggested to be in the area around Douris and Qalaat Tannour . Not enough exploration had been carried out to conclude whether

924-458: The majority being Melkite Greek Catholic , Maronite Catholic , and Greek Orthodox Christians . The town of Anjar , situated in the eastern part of the valley, has a predominantly Armenian Lebanese population and is famous for its 8th-century Arab ruins. Further east, the town of Majdal Anjar has a Sunni Muslim majority. The majority of the inhabitants of the northern districts of Beqaa, Baalbek and Hermel , are Lebanese Shiites , with

957-427: The nearby conglomerates indicating origin from elsewhere. Three groups of flint could be determined; light brown, red-brown and that varied but was usually grey-chocolate that was distinguished with a radiant "desert shine". Characteristics of the industry include smallness in size, commonly between 2.5 cm and 4 cm and frequently being quite thick, unlike geometric microliths . The small number of tools within

990-527: The north, because Mount Lebanon creates a rain shadow that blocks precipitation coming from the sea. The northern section has an average annual rainfall of 230 millimetres (9.1 in), compared to 610 millimetres (24 in) in the central valley. Nevertheless, two rivers originate in the valley: the Orontes (Asi), which flows north into Syria and Turkey , and the Litani , which flows south and then west to

1023-530: The south. The Beqaa valley was known as Amqu during the Bronze Age . The identity of the inhabitants is not known for certain, but the region was part of the Amorite Kingdoms of Amurru and Qatna . To the southwest of Baalbek was Enišasi , a city or city-state mentioned in the 1350 - 1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence , written by two rulers of the city Šatiya and Abdi-Riša . By

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1056-789: The southernmost pottery belonging to the Halaf Culture . Labweh is a village at an elevation of 950 metres (3,120 ft) on a foothill of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains in Baalbek District, Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, Lebanon, settled since the Neolithic period . In the Middle Bronze IIA , the Beqa Valley was a highway between the regional power of Qatna in the north and its vassal Hazor in

1089-438: The valley, and its population is Sunni . Joub Janine is the governmental center of the region known as Western Beqaa, with municipal services like the serail , which is the main government building in the area, emergency medical services ( Red Cross ), a fire department , and a courthouse . Other towns in the Western Beqaa district are Machghara , Sabghine, Kamed al Lawz , Qab Elias , Sohmor , Yohmor . The towns are all

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