Rayak (Riyaq)

Rayak North
Shown within Lebanon
Location 500 metres (0.31 mi) north of Rayak, Lebanon
Coordinates 33°51′00″N 36°01′01″E / 33.850°N 36.017°E
Type Surface site
History
Material Alluvial soil
Periods Shepherd Neolithic
Site notes
Excavation dates 1965
Archaeologists Lorraine Copeland, Frank Skeels
Public access Yes

Riyaq (Arabic: رياق), also Rayak, is a Lebanese town in the Beqaa Mohafazat (Governorate), near the city of Zahlé. It has one military airport, an old train station on the former line from Beirut to Damascus, and a hospital. Riyaq Air Base was bombed by the Israeli Air Force during the 2006 Lebanon War. The landing strip was severely damaged as a result.[1]

General information

Altitude: 930 m
Latitude: 33.85
Longitude: 36
Latitude (DMS): 33° 51' 0 N
Longitude (DMS): 36° 0' 0 E

Area: 332 hectares
Location: 176 x 212 Zip Code: 51311
Population: 3,349
Number of Homes: 1,200
Companies: 18

Distances:
From Zahleh 11 km
From Beirut 60 km

Archaeology and history

Rayak North is a Shepherd Neolithic archaeological site located on either side of the main road, 500 metres (0.31 mi) north of Rayak. Flint tools were found there by Lorraine Copeland and Frank Skeels during a survey of 1965. Along with the Shepherd Neolithic series of blade-butts and end-scrapers, another series of large cores and flakes were found that Henri Fleisch considered similar to materials found at Serain and Fleywe that were of a confusing typology judged to be possibly Mousterian, Levalloiso-Mousterian or Heavy Neolithic.[2]

References

External links

Coordinates: 33°51′04″N 35°59′17″E / 33.851°N 35.988°E