Sources, Historiography, Method &Theory

chapter 2 Sources, Historiography, Method & Theory 2.1 Introduction This chapter plays two main purposes; firstly,it places the study into the context of previous work through a critical survey of the archaeological and historical sources for the colonia at Berytus and Heliopolis and secondly it develops the methodology that is applied later in the book, including its underpinnings in archaeology theory. 2.2 Sources and Historiography 2.2.1 Archaeological Studies of Berytus The archaeology of West Beirut was little known prior to the excavation programme that began in 1993, after the end of the civil war and in parallel with the redevelopment of the downtown area. Some archaeological work was con- ducted in the nineteenth century (Marquis 1995, 16), but the first real systematic attempt at understanding ancient Beirut was made by Robert Du Mesnil du Buisson in the 1920s. Du Mesnil du Buisson was a French archaeologist and decorated veteran of the First World War. In the interwar period, he excavated in the Middle East and is perhaps best known for his work at Dura Europos, where he excavated the siege works as part of the Yale-French Academy excavations running from 1928–1937 (James 2009). Prior to his work at Dura Europos, Du Mesnil du Buisson worked on several aspects of the archaeology of ancient Beirut. He (1921a, b) reconstructed the ancient defences of Beirut from the few extant remains still visible and earlier accounts, particularly those that pre- dated redevelopment of Beirut in the mid-nineteenth century. The defences were medieval in origin, but Du Mesnil du Buisson also examined the general topography of the ancient city (Du Mesnil du Buisson 1924, 1925), identified the Decumanus Maximus (Du Mesnil du Buisson 1926a), explored the legend of Saint George in Beirut (Du Mesnil du Buisson 1927), discussed the Poseidon of Berytus (Du Mesnil du Buisson 1926b), and reported on a bronze statue of Jupiter Heliopolitan discovered in Beirut (Du Mesnil du Buisson 1928). Du Men- sil du Buisson did not excavate in Beirut, and hence his findings relate only to extant remains and older photographic records. An exploration of the legends of Saint George in Beirut seems a fanciful topic today and one that an archaeol- © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004400733_003 sources, historiography, method & theory 13 ogist would not undertake. Nevertheless, his work on Beirut remains valuable, and he did correctly identify the location of the Decumanus Maximus. Further archaeological research on the ancient city of Berytus was con- ducted by Jean Lauffray in the 1930s and 1940s. Lauffray was a French architect who became involved in archaeology in the 1930s, working on excavations in Syria and Turkey (Contenson 2001). Lauffray worked in Beirut in the 1940s, identifying the location of the forum, a basilica, a bath house, and Temples in the vicinity of Nejme Square (Place de l’Étoile) (1944–1945, 1946–1948). In doing so he identified most of the key elements of the Roman city, although he incorrectly described the Decumanus Maximus as being colocated with the modern Rue Waygand. Later Lauffray worked at Byblos; in France; and at Kar- nak, in Egypt (Contenson 2001). In 1977 the Direction Générale des Antiquités (DGA) began excavating in the city centre of Beirut, which was now abandoned following the outbreak of the civil war in 1975 (Asmar 1996, 7). Some of the excavations were subse- quently published (Forest and Forest 1982, Turquety-Pariset 1982), although the excavation programme was suspended in 1983, following an upsurge in fighting (Asmar 1996, 7). After the end of the civil war in 1990, plans were made to redevelop the city centre. In October 1991 the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Council for Redevelopment and Reconstruc- tion (CDR) signed a memorandum establishing an archaeological cooperation project (Asmar 1996, 7). In November 1993 a programme of excavations was established by the Lebanese government, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and UNESCO, with the DGA as the executing agency (Asmar 1996, 7). The subsequent programme of excavations became known as the Beirut Central District (BCD) Infrastructure Archaeology Project. The programme can be divided into four phases, covering the periods 1993–1995, 1995– 1999, 2000–2006, and 2007 onward. Given the scale of the project, it required a large multinational team to be established, involving the Lebanese University and the American University of Beirut with eight European universities and four other archaeological institutions (Asmar 1996, 8). The first phase of the BCD project covered some fifty-nine sites scattered across downtown Beirut. The locations of the sites are shown in Figure 2 while Table 4 in appendix A provides a summary of the sites alongside associated references. The BCD excavation programme provided a unique opportunity to excavate an ancient city that had been buried under later development. However, notwithstanding the effective abandonment of the city centre, the excavation was, by necessity, broken up according to development sites. This meant a patchwork of individual excavations and an approach not dissimilar.

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