New insights on the Chalcolithic period in Lebanon through radiocarbon dating

Abstract Lebanon has known permanent and successive human occupations since the Lower Palaeolithic, which contributed largely to its rich archaeological and cultural heritage. Numerous archaeological excavations have unearthed remains spanning most prehistorical and historical periods. The Chalcolithic (ca. mid-5th to mid-4th millennium BCE in the Levant), the focus period of this paper, represents a critical transitional phase in prehistoric societal evolution, though absolute chronological data from this period in Lebanon remains limited. A few sites from this period have been studied in Lebanon, with very few 14 C dates produced. The RML79 site lies on the northern slope of the Ashrafieh hill, to the east of the capital Beirut, and was excavated intermittently between 2008 and 2012. The preliminary phasing of the site is based on the retrieved ceramics, which indicate that the site was occupied as early as the Chalcolithic period, giving for the first time new insights into a human occupation from this period in the eastern outskirts of the capital. Radiocarbon dates of four charcoal samples collected from the Chalcolithic phase of RML79 confirmed that the latter occupation occurred during the second half of the fifth millennium, with a possible peak in human activity between 4330 BCE and 4000 BCE.