Project: Production and exploitation of fishing gear used in Phoenicia, the case of Porphyreon

photo: Adam Oleksiak

Production and exploitation of fishing gear used in Phoenicia, the case of Porphyreon

Keywords: Jiyeh, Porphyreon, fishing, FRLS, net sinker, lead isotopes, elemental analysis, provenance, archaeometallurgy, archaeometry

Porphyreon was an ancient coastal settlement located in the area of present-day Jiyeh in Lebanon, approximately 25 km south of Beirut. Between 1997 and 2014, archaeological fieldwork was conducted there by the Polish-Lebanese Joint Expedition to Chhim and Jiyeh, directed by Prof. Tomasz Waliszewski (University of Warsaw), on behalf of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, and the Directorate General of Antiquities of Lebanon (DGA). The research focused primarily on the residential quarter of the site and investigated layers dated to the Roman and Byzantine periods.

The project’s author distinguished a substantial group of artefacts associated with fishing activities from among the finds recovered during the excavations, including several dozen lead net sinkers, as well as fishhooks and net-repair tools, both made of copper alloys. Evidence of local sinker production was also identified, such as lead sheet preforms used to produce folded rectangular lead sinkers (FRLS), along with a stone mould for casting them.

This project focuses on the archaeometric provenance study of the metals used in the production of this fishing gear. Elemental analyses (XRF) and lead isotope analyses (LA-ICP-MS) will be carried out. The objective is to reconstruct those stages of production and distribution that remained unclear based on fieldwork data alone. The implementation of this project constitutes one of the initial phases of a broader study dedicated to ancient fishing in Phoenicia, which will also include the analysis of fishing gear from other sites across the Levant.

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