Chhim (Lebanon)
Dates of work: 8 June–14 August 2015
Team:
Director: Assoc. Prof. Tomasz Waliszewski, archaeologist (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Archaeologists: Magdalena Antos (independent), Dr. Michał Dzik (Institute of Archaeology, University of Rzeszow), Dr. Ingrid Perise-Valero (Universite Paris Sorbonne Abu Dhabi), Agnieszka Szymczak (PCMA UW), Maciej Wyżgoł (independent)
Ceramologists: Małgorzata Kajzer, lamp studies (PhD candidate, Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow), Zofia Kowarska (independent), Dr. Francisco J. Nunez (independent), Dr. Urszula Wicenciak (PCMA UW)
Architectural elements specialist: Dr. Marzena Łuszczewska (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Glass specialist: Marcin Wagner (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Metal specialist: Agnieszka Szulc-Kajak (PhD candidate, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences)
Bone artifacts specialist: Mariusz Gwiazda (PhD candidate, Center for Research on the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe, University of Warsaw)
Numismatist: Dr. Piotr Jaworski (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Archaeozoologist: Assoc. Prof. Joanna Piątkowska-Małecka (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Archaeobotanist: Assoc. Prof. Monika Badura (Laboratory of Palaeoecology and Archaeobotany, Department of Plant Ecology, University of Gdańsk)
Special project (collecting historical travel sources on the discovery of Lebanese antiquities): Assoc. Prof. Monika Rekowska (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Restorers: Julia Burdajewicz, Anna Tomkowska (Department of Artworks Conservation and Restoration, Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw)
Documentalists: Magdalena Makowska (independent), Marek Puszkarski (PCMA UW)
Photographer: Adam Oleksiak (freelance)
Student-trainees: Aleksandra Pawlikowska (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw), Maciej Sobczak (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań), Justyna Włoch (Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw)
The season in 2015 was dedicated to studies of the collected finds for the purpose of the final publication of the site: local pottery of the Persian, Hellenistic and early Roman periods, glass vessels, metal artifacts (about 600 objects of iron, copper alloy and lead), oil lamps (more than 1000 fragments), bone objects and miscellanea, coins (more than 340), and stone architectural elements, as well as animal bones and archaeobotanical remains (for the lattermost, see Badura et al. 2016, in this volume).
Site stratigraphy was verified in some limited tests in street E XXII in the habitation quarter and an extension of the trench from 2001 in room E VIII and street E XXV. A detailed documentation and stratigraphic analysis of the residential architecture involved mapping of particular occupational layers, orthophotographic recording of walls and processing with advanced computer software for a chronological and functional reconstruction. The project’s restorers completed state-of-the-art conservation of the wall painting and mosaic floors from the Christian basilica in sector B, which had been protected provisionally after the initial discovery.
Text: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 25