Aammiq is a village in the Western Beqaa District in Lebanon. It is also the name of an archaeological site.
| Aammiq | |
| Map Type: | Lebanon |
| Map Alt: | 830m (2,720feet) |
| Location: | southwest of Zahle Aammiq Wetland, Lebanon |
| Coordinates: | 33.7314°N 35.789°W |
| Type: | Tell |
| Part Of: | Settlement |
| Built: | c. 12000 BC |
| Abandoned: | c. 4500 BC |
| Epochs: | Natufian, Neolithic, Chalcolithic |
| Excavations: | 1963, 1965, 1971 |
| Archaeologists: | M. Cavalier Jacques Cauvin J. Besançon & Francis Hours |
| Condition: | ruins |
| Public Access: | Yes |
Aamiq or Aammiq II is an archaeological site southwest of Zahle in the Aammiq Wetland, Beqaa Valley, Lebanon.[1]
It was first excavated by Jacques Cauvin in 1963, then again by M. Cavalier in 1964, 1965 by Lorraine Copeland and Peter Wescombe and Jacques Besançon & Francis Hours in 1971.[2]
Two periods of inhabitation were found, the first period between 12000 and 10200 cal. BC was Natufian or perhaps preceramic neolithic where a skeleton was found covered with red ochre. Tools with agricultural purpose included mortars, grinders and stoneware basalt pestles. Other brown flint lithics recovered include a triangle, blades, scrapers and picks, tools suggested pre-natufian occupation. A late neolithic period was also detected at around 5000-4500 cal BC (Ubaid period) similar to late neolithic Byblos.[3] Ceramics found included some Chalcolithic sherds and lithics included Canaanite blades, axes and adzes, a long, polished plano-convex flint hatchet; many large flakes and blades and sickle elements. A fragment of a stalked arrow is the only trace of occupation between the periods, Chalcolithic occupation followed the older occupation at the edge of the marsh at Mallaha.[4]
The results of a pollen core from Aamiq was published in 2008 suggesting the area was used for grazing in the neolithic while the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains were being deforested. This is supported by Heavy Neolithic tools manufactured in specialized workshops such as Kamed el Loz I, Souwan and Wadi Msı'l el Hadd and a special design of flint called an Orange slice found at sites like Majdel Anjar I, Dakwe I and IIHabarjer III, Qaraoun I and II, Kefraya, and Beı'dar Chamou't.[5]