The 2011 excavation season at Kamid el-Loz, a site located in the central Beqa’a Valley of Lebanon, produced exciting and important results. It was only thanks to the Heritage Fellowship that I was able to participate in this campaign, conducted by the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität of Freiburg, and take part in these findings. This year, in fact, we excavated north of the Middle Bronze Age palace and discovered additional Late Bronze and Middle Bronze Age installations. Middle Bronze Age I ceramic vessels were recognized in the Administrative area and a burial pit was uncovered in the Residential quarter, adding to our knowledge on MBA funerary practices.
Kamid el-Loz is presently the only Middle Bronze Age site under excavation in the central Beqa’a Valley and there is a lack of information regarding the ceramic economy (production, distribution and circulation) of this area. A first phase of my doctoral dissertation aims to reconstruct the ceramic vessel production of the site, compile a ceramic typology of the Middle Bronze Age, identify the presence of imports and contextualize the ceramic assemblage found in the palace rooms. To this end, this summer, I was able to analyze the Middle Bronze Age ceramic assemblage from the 2010 and 2011 seasons and review the collection from 2008. Furthermore, several ceramic samples were exported and will be subjected to petrographic analysis. My hope is to be able to identify the sources that were used to produce some types of ceramic vessels found at Kamid el-Loz.
I wish to express my gratitude to the Heritage Fellowship and the donor for awarding me this grant. The information gathered this season is essential for the development of my PhD dissertation. I also wish to thank Prof. Dr. Marleis Heinz, the director of the excavation, and the entire team, for their warm welcome and hospitality.
-Antonietta Catanzariti, Heritage Fellow