Aadloun , Adloun or Adlun ( Arabic : عدلون ) is a coastal town in South Lebanon , 17 kilometres (11 mi) south of Sidon famous for its cultivation of watermelons. It is also the site of a Phoenician necropolis and prehistoric caves where four archaeological sites have been discovered and dated to the Stone Age . The evidence of human occupation of Abri Zumoffen (or Aadloun I) has been dated as far back as 71,000 BCE with occupation of Bezez Cave (Aadloun II) dating back even further into the earlier Middle Paleolithic .
11-449: Aadloun I or Abri Zumoffen is a low cave and terrace at the foot of a cliff near a beach. It was discovered and sounded by Godefroy Zumoffen in 1898, 1900 and 1908 who found material thought to be either Acheulean or Mousterian . Dorothy Garrod suggested similarities existed to a final Acheulean (or Yarbrudian ) industry of Tabun E . Along with Diana Kirkbride , she re-opened excavations in 1958 with another season in 1963 and found
22-451: A Chalcolithic (Enéolithique) industry that was found by P. E. Gigues. Aadloun IV was found by P. E. Gigues on the terraces below the village near the caves that have been damaged by quarrying . Local farmers have recovered several fine Neolithic and Chalcolithic tools from this area that are held by Saint Joseph University . Dr. Gigues collection was held in Beirut by a relative who charged
33-492: A fee for showing it after his retirement to Morocco . Lorraine Copeland made a collection of mostly Heavy Neolithic flints from the site in 1966. Amongst the finds were massive trapezoidal axes , chisels, a chopper, points, a pick, rough scrapers, blades, cores and hammerstones. The finds led Andrew Moore to suggest that Bezez cave was a factory site for such tools. In 1875 Victor Guérin noted that Aadloun "consists of 350 inhabitants, all Muslims . Cisterns carved into
44-589: A pre- Aurignacian (Garrod's Amudian ) blade industry in the deposits. D. A. Hooijer discussed the fauna of the site suggesting it included game animals and rhino . Materials from the site are now in collections of the Saint Joseph University , Beirut and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge , Cambridge . The site is now owned by the Directorate General of Antiquities but
55-535: The first geological map of Lebanon and authored a book about its prehistory, La Phénicie avant les phéniciens: l'âge de la pierre . Antelias cave Antelias Cave was a large cave located 2.5 km (1.6 mi) east of Antelias , 10 km (6.2 mi) northeast of Beirut close to the wadi of Ksar Akil . It was discovered by Heidenborg in 1833. Godefroy Zumoffen made an excavation in 1893, finding an Aurignacian industry amongst large quantities of bones and flints. Henri Fleisch re-examined
66-453: The material from Zumoffen's excavation and concluded that it was not solely Aurignacian but showed evidence of successive industries present as late as the Neolithic . Raoul Desribes also excavated the site and found numerous tools made of bone including two harpoons which are now in the Museum of Lebanese Prehistory . Auguste Bergy also made a small excavation here and another sounding
77-460: The mouth of the cave for protection. Three distinct levels were determined. Level C was called Acheuleo-Yarbrudian with materials found that resembled level E at Tabun Cave . Level B was called Levalloiso-Mousterian and compared with level D of Tabun. Level C encompassed the Upper Paleolithic and onwards. Aadloun III is a site approximately 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) south of Aadloun with
88-478: The previous land owner carried out private digging that has spread deposits from the Aadloun II cave site over the area creating a false layer. Aadloun II , Bezez Cave or Mugharet el Bzaz is a cave on the east of the road heading to Tyre set into a cliff at an altitude of approximately 17 metres (56 ft) above sea level. It was first sounded with little result in 1898 by Godefroy Zumoffen. A major excavation
99-577: The rock and many ashlars of ancient appearance seem to prove that it succeeded an older locality." Godefroy Zumoffen Godefroy Zumoffen , SJ (1848 in France – 1928) was a French Jesuit archaeologist and geologist notable for his work on prehistory in Lebanon . He is known particularly for pioneering Lebanese archaeology, and for discovering several sites including the Antelias cave . He produced
110-468: Was made possibly in 1948 by J. Ewing who described the industry as "transitional, Upper Paleolithic -to- Mesolithic " . Dirk Albert Hooijer studied the fauna from the cave and found Dama and Capra to have been predominant. Neolithic finds included a long, denticulated, lustrous blade. Bones of a human foetus were also found in the cave by Delore in 1901 which were published by Vallois in 1957 as being possibly Neolithic in date. Collections from
121-633: Was undertaken in 1963 by Diana Kirkbride and Dorothy Garrod who determined a sequence stretching through the Yarbrudian, Levalloiso-Mousterian, Upper Paleolithic and on into the Heavy Neolithic . Materials from the excavations were to be held by Saint Joseph University and the American University of Beirut . The site is owned by the Directorate General of Antiquities and a gate was fixed over
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