Deposit Jars

All the Foundation Jars in the temple of Baalat Gebal in Byblos were found below the pavement and are dated prior to the end of the 6th dynasty in Egypt. The famous foundation deposit consisting of a jar with geometric decoration with circles and wavy lines in red is  fitted with a lid and filled with a wide variety of objects. All objects bearing hieroglyphs that it contained predate the end of the Egyptian Old Kingdom notably some carry the cartouches of Ounas, Pepi l and Pepi II. Inside the famous Pierre Monter Jar discovered during the first excavation campaign in Byblos in 1922 we find beetles, bronze pins,  torcs and helixes, three cylinders seals, four vases, two in bronze and two in silver, a magnificent spearhead and about fifteen gold figurines, a gold medallion, beads of carnelian, crystal, bronze, silver and gold that filled half of it. On one of the pearls we read in hieroglyphs "Life of Ra". The rings are numerous. Many scarabs have served as rings. This jar was discovered in a blockage of coarse masonry nearby the column bases of the north entrance of the temple. Not far two other jars were found in another blockage of stones inside two niches. The jars were closed with a lid. Both have the same fine paste and an ornamentation of red lines identical to that of the famous Montet jar discovered not far from there in 1922 . These jars date to the Old Kingdom in Egypt. When the pavement of the temple was removed were found a big number of fragments of inscriptions dating to the Old Kingdom particularly to the VI Dynasty. During the last campaign of excavation in the temple three new jars were found. The two first were devoid of any decoration. They contained many cornelian pearls a few scarabs a magnificent gold aiguillette  and a lot of tiny gold rings. The third jar appeared to us a little further west. The decor consists of a grid of red lines. The interior was stuffed with 150 bronze objects. 

In the pro-cella of the temple of the Obelisks in Byblos two large deposit jars were uncovered located in a pit beneath a  paving stone slab of the north- eastern corner of the room. It consisted of a large number of different objects for a total of 455 artifacts. The vast majority of these artifacts  are represented by a corpus of faience miniature models representing human beings. Other objects belonging to this deposit include models made of stone,  toilet vessels in alabaster, cuboid rods in steatite, tablets and beads, and pottery vessels of different shapes and sizes and lot of Gold foils. Most of the objects from this deposit are closely related to the material culture of Middle Kingdom Egypt. Other deposit jars located in a pit dug in the south-western corner of the temple and covered by stone slabs which formed the floor of the room. Six other deposits of objects were uncovered in the whole Obelisk Temple complex. Several objects found in these offering caches belong to or show influence from Mesopotamian. A lapis lazuli cylinder seal found near the floor  represents one of the key finds dating between the Ur III phase and the early First Babylonian Dynasty, 2112–1800BCE. The bag-shaped jar  in which the bronze figurines were found has a wide aperture and a flat base, similar bag-shaped jars were produced in Egypt from around the time of Amenemhat III . Some of these deposits can be defined as a "structured deposition" or in other words an "intentional" assemblages. Some archeologists advanced the idea that some of these deposits were created with the purpose of "hiding valuable objects" or safeguarding a treasure or a form of capital reserve or currency objects.

 Area V Area VI Area VII are the areas to the northern part of the promontory of Byblos between the temple of Baalat Gebal and the Northern Glacis wall. Some of the typical objects found there are pottery to name some, elongated body pot with a narrow flat base covered with a light red slip,  a big jug more concave at lower part with two small ear lugs set at mid body decorated with a  dark red slip, a small bowl with a flattened base and everted rim, a grayish pot with splaying edges, an unusual bowl or pot stand resting on a high cylindrical base body and sharply carinated ending in a high cylindrical neck, globular pot with a flat base decorated with five large mouth and beaded red horizontal bands,  a red slipped  bottle with a ring base,  an elegant pot with thin straight sides and a tapering slightly everted rim with  a very short pedestal base. Some objects to mention are three spherically shaped pottery beads, a miniature votive beaker, two coarse sherds stamped with geometric patterns . Bronzes found, like  a thick bronze axe largely perforated at the butt, flat bronze dagger blade with  three rivet,  bronze chisel with asp-laying  cutting edge, a  rod with a triangular section flattened, a ring with a circular section with the ends overlap and are flattened. Other  miscellaneous objects, like an offering table of very fine limestone embedded or sunk leaving only its surface showing, an elliptical thick ivory plate perforated at the centre, a miniature clay obelisk.

The main corpus of metal weapons in Byblos can be dated from the Middle Bronze Age I (2000-1750 BCE). Almost nine hundred weapons were found for a period stretching from the end of the Chalcolithic until the end of the Iron Age. In the Eneolithic Necropolis daggers were found in twenty graves. Numerous stone moulds for metal production were found on the site of Byblos  a proof that a local production was then present and at a good scale. Different types of moulds were found especially bivalve moulds scattered inside the habitat even sometimes in the walls. Other moulds were used for the making of weapons for example the mould for dagger with two ribs, the mould for crescentic axe with spheric button, the mould for narrow bladed axe, the mould for the  D-Shaped fenestrated axeheads.  Byblos was one of the major centers for metallurgic production. The greatest increase in the metallurgical production dates at the end of the third millennium. The typical end of Early Bronze Age  weapons produced in Byblos were the  poker spears, about 480 weapons come from these contexts. Types of metal weapons, angular tripartite spearheads, spearheads with large tang wearing two rivets in the length, triangular daggers with a concave guard, most of them are small between 15 and 25 cm, real swords reaching  60 centimeters, socketed spearheads. In the temple of obelisks most weapons are made of gold and silver. Traces of the original wood or bone grip are still present on some daggers. The deformation of the socket shows that the wooden shaft of spearhead has been broken and lifted before being put inside the hoards.  Signs are engraved on the weapons, they are simple signs with a forked form, a W form with variants,  triple V, or 2 W one over the other. Those signs can be letters  or syllabs. The «W» series is found on gold and silver fenestrated axes found  in the Temple  of Obelisks in Byblos,  the fork incisions are found in the Field of Offerings and elsewhere on the Byblos site.

The  Chalcolithic period in Byblos is also called énéolithique and spans between around 4500 to 3700 BCE.  The archeological site of Byblos has 2,059 burial jars for the Chalcolitic era with 3,652 grave goods with an average of 3 objects per jar. Burials in jars was either inside or in the immediate vicinity of the dwellings. A variety of jar forms can be observed including ovoid, globular and elongated. The three types of observed decorations on the jars were incisions of a chevron type, horizontal bands,  parallel line incisions arranged in a “herring-bone” motif, relief decoration such as ropes. Seals  impressions with signs and animal figures appeared on the handles or shoulders of some jars. A rich variety of artifacts was discovered in these jars. The grave artifacts included ceramics, metals, stone objects, lithic objects, and art objects and ornaments objects. The ceramic shapes include several pots, bowls, jugs, cups, plates, kraters, twin jugs and tripod vessels . Objects made of limestone or basalt were found. Stone artifacts included cups, mace heads, goblets, bowls. Found, weapons made of flint and objects in obsidian and ivory. Metals included shaped beads, rings, necklaces, pendants, bracelets, daggers and fishing hooks, those last two were mainly maid in copper. The ornamentation was predominantly made of silver, gold artifacts were rare. Art objects include some small sculptures, figurines made of stone or ivory, beads, amulets, necklaces with a lot made in carnelian. The glyptics consisted of several clay cylinders and stone or ivory seals.

Noticeable objects  found outside the temples and the tombs in Byblos, fragment of a bas-relief from the time of Thoutmes III in local  limestone with the cartouche of Thoutmes III. A  fragment of an Egyptian stele containing magic texts in limestone. A cubic-shaped fragment covered on three faces with columns of hieroglyphs. A  fragment of a basalt statuette found, against the tower of the Crusaders. A large white quartz beetle found around the temple of Baalat Gebal. A faience beetle bearing on the reverse the first name and an epithet of Ramses II. A  faience scarab. Eight flint blades pointed at one end, rounded at the other. A flint saw. Three flint scrapers . A terracotta head. A Terracotta statuette of Astarte. A terracotta monkey found near the Baalat Gebal Temple. A double-edged bronze hatchet.  An ivory needle with the decoration consisting of a hatching and parallel circles  found  between tomb V and the colonnade.  A stone altar bearing a Phoenician inscription.

Found in Byblos some unfinished scarabs indicating that there was probably a local seal production workshop in Byblos and that a seal-cutter was present in Byblos during that period of early Middle Bronze Age.  The  city at that time served as an intermediary point in the distribution network of unfinished items. The stylistic group of the scarabs made in Byblos was identified as the Green Jasper Group dating to around the 1800th century BCE and scarabs made in the workshop of Byblos were with Egyptianizing and  were found in the Levant, Cyprus, Crete, Tunisia and Tell el-Dab'a. Byblos played an important role in the manufacture of both cylinder seals and scarabs. Some suggested that the compositions on these scarabs were possibly derived from the cylinders and the majority display Egyptianizing iconography. They share a predilection for iconographic motifs like figures in a gesture of veneration, the comb-like branch, or standing falcons. Byblos scarabs display an undecorated base. A big number of scarabs were found on the ruins site of Byblos, spread between the north-eastern part of the city between the north-eastern city gate and the Chappelle Orientale and domestic area north of the Temple of the Baalat Gebal. and the southeast of the sanctuary of the Champs des Offerandes.

Ancient furniture in wood was in use throughout the Levant, Mesopotamia and Egypt since the 3rd millennium BCE. Number of sites have yielded the remains of wooden furniture including Byblos in the Royal tombs. Evidence first in Mesopotamia in the later fourth and early third millennium where information about furniture used derives mainly from texts and representations on sculpted material. Furniture  seems rarely to have been made of stone. Statuettes found at different sites including Byblos show figures that are clearly seated on pieces of furniture such as stools made of wood. Clay tablets were found in Mesopotamia were stored on wooden shelves. The remains of the tables and chairs  from Mesopotamia and the levant show ancient woodworking techniques in the third millennium. Sophisticated joinery techniques including mitered bridle joints and butt joints with floating tenons,  half-lap joints with through tenons and nails were used. Texts from Mesopotamia provide evidence for details of furniture construction including the use  of glue. The legs of tables were attached to their tops by means fasteners.

 The backless stool is largely represented on seals and seem to be made mostly of wood. Other types depicted on seals include stools with sculpted wooden legs joined by horizontal stretchers and folding stools with crossed legs. Depictions of chairs with backs first occur in Early Dynastic times. Many of the references to seats and sedan chairs for traveling in late-third-millennium texts. The design of these early chairs follows that of stools. Tables were in use in the third millennium. Number of tables appear on seals and reliefs. Tables with concave or tray-shaped tops were common in the ancient Near East and the Levant. Tables can have vertical and crossed strut work. A number of beds in wood are mentioned in texts from the later third millennium. A number of model beds made of terra-cotta show a woven surface. The resting surface of early beds can be woven from rope or other materials. Linen sheets are listed in texts. Evidence of stool upholstered with a thick cushion.

Mineral Varieties varieties for beads that can be found in Byblos are carnelian, turquoise, agate, quartz, amethyst, obsidian, talc, chlorite, serpentine, amphibole, turquoise, malachite, calcite, marble, amazonite. Amazonite sources are mentioned in southern Jordan . Sources of amethyst are located in the Egyptian desert and Anatolia . Major obsidian sources are located in northern Mesopotamia and in Central Anatolia . Turquoise sources are in the Sinai Peninsula . Carnelian sources are mentioned for the upper Euphrates, the Sinai Peninsula in southern Jordan . Rocks belonging to the ophiolitic group chlorite, serpentine, talc are available in Anatolian and Upper Tigris areas . Among the beads shapes we find polygonal shapes, diamond, trapezoidal, rectangular and the most frequent, oval and circular shapes.

Most of the minerals are found either in Egypt and/or Turkey. Pendants, amulets, small rings, scarabs and beads were fashioned from stone. Colored stone was used as well as an inlay. 

Carnelian was one of the earliest stones used for the manufacture of jewelry. A form of this stone is translucent and milky-white in color and is termed milky quartz. Jasper is is green or yellow and is a frequent stone and used a lot in scarabs. Red jasper was in use since Pre-Dynastic times especially for beads. Hematite is a magnetic iron oxide of brown- black color with black streaks, it was commonly used for larger objects such as seals and pendants in addition to mace heads and weight stones. Turquoise is found in Sinai. Feldspar also termed Amazonite was often listed along with lapis lazuli and turquoise in lists of valuable materials . The stone was in use since Pre-Dynastic times and used as the material from which to make papyrus amulets. Serpentine is a magnesium silicate that is easily carved used for cylinder seals, scarabs and amulets. It is also called soapstone and ranges in color from cream white to gray and black. Diorite is a hard igneous rock of speckled white and black color that may be polished and was also commonly used for sculptures and ceremonial vessels . Lapis lazuli is one of the best known and most easily recognized precious stones with its deep blue color. Lapis was in use since the PreDynastic period and remained popular until the Late Period for beads. The source of lapis were also found in Afghanistan arriving in Egypt as lumps of raw material . Lapis was considered very precious but unlike gold. Of all the precious stones used by the Egyptians lapis lazuli was the most prized of all. Alabaster is a lustrous white or cream colored calcite and is more often found employed in the production of vases, bowls and lamps. Amber consists of fossilized resin from extinct coniferous trees. Its color varies from yellow to brown and it may be polished.

Stone anchor on the rocky sea floor were found after a maritime archaeological survey about two kilometres southwest of Byblos in a area called Dahret Martine that might have served as an offshore anchorage area. Several anchors carry the Bronze Age characteristics. The stone anchors found indicate the origins of the ships which carried them and are recognized Stone anchors from Egypt, Byblos, Ugarit,  Crete and Cyprus. Some dates back to 2400 BC . Stone anchors have been found in relatively large numbers in the land site of Byblos as well. Stone anchors were excavated within the vicinity of the temples. Stone anchor wearing the Egyptian Hieroglyph NFR was found in the temple of the Enceinte Sacrée at Byblos . Stone anchors are usually pierced with two or more holes. Using many anchors would have strengthened the holding power of the vessel and it would have made the line of the anchors act like an anchor chain .

Another common Neolithic and later a Bronze Age artifact found in Byblos is a flat disk with a hole in the middle. The whorl is a flywheel on the shaft of a hand-held spindle designed to maintain a twisting momentum to the yarn drawn out from a cluster of fibers. The hand-spindle is a simple device consisting of a stick and a weight. Spindle whorls are made from pottery or stone . The whorls are used also for stamping textiles.

Flat-topped circular tables offer important evidence for the reconstruction of the cultic and diplomatic activities of the Egyptians in the sanctuary of Baalat Gebal in Byblos. Flat-topped circular tables, tables made of alabaster and calcite are frequent in the temple of the Lady of Byblos. The fragmentary inscriptions on the tables are usually formed by the royal titles followed by a typical formula. On one table we can read, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Two Ladies, the son of Ra, following a cartouche of Pepi I associated with Hathor, Lady of Byblos . Another inscription on a fragment of a flat-topped circular table mentions an the epithet rbt kbn, or rabbat Keben meaning the Lady of Keben or Byblos. On Another fragment of table an inscription, the Lady of Byblos he makes for her to live (reference to the Pharaoh). Other  fragmentary examples also refer to offerings destined to an unknown deity. On one table it reads, authority and health, specifically to the Pharaoh Pepi I. A fragments of a table only mention the name and offices of a private person Seshemranefer, this table seems to be from the beginning of the Old Kingdom 3rd - 4th Dynasties in Egypt but most of the previously mentioned tables go back to the 6th Dynasty.

The Egyptians and Mesopotamians and in consequence the Byblians possessed many mechanical devices, like the winch or lever and turning rotary mills. It has been assumed that the pulley together with its attendant devices such as the windlass were also in use. They made use of cisterns hollowed out of a rocky surface and underground dug cisterns where the water was to be drawn off. 

The first vitreous materials were glazed stone like quartz, body coated with a glaze that was colored blue by the addition of copper. Small glazed objects such as beads, scarabs and seals were first produced in the Near East and Egypt during the fourth millennium BCE. The discovery of the process for producing a blue glaze most probably was when melted copper colored melted sand. It was not until about 1500 BCE that significant quantities of glass began to be produced. The range of colorants used in both faience and glass included copper for blue, cobalt for dark blue, iron for pale yellow or green, manganese for purple, calcium antimonate for white, lead antimonate for yellow. The production of glass vessels that were formed round a clay mold was a process that was more akin to metalworking and was  influenced by Mesopotamia early 2nd millennium BCE. Glass was a composite material which could have been be remelted and reused. 

The earliest known use of metal seems to have been in south eastern Anatolia at the late eighth millennium BCE where a native copper was produced. The earliest metal to have been smelted from its ores was probably lead. Smelted copper was probably first produced in the Near East during the fifth millennium BCE, during the fourth millennium copper alloys start to be produced. Artefacts would have been to melt the copper or its alloy in a crucible and then pour the molten metal into a mold which could be either open or closed. The mold would have been made from clay, stone, or even metal itself. The casted metal would've been worked to its final shape by of hammering. 

Objects and artifacts listed here some are found in many copies and variations. This list is not completely exhaustive but is a good representation of what is found during seven excavation campaigns by Pierre Montet and Maurice Dunand from 1921 to 1926:

• vase in obsidian, set with gold

• gray stone vase in the name of Amenemhat

• silver teapot vases

• several vases of alabaster, one of them is of globular form, others more elongated

• vase cut in the body of a fish

• Cup with handles in two heads of cow and a plate shape of a bird's head

• jug in yellowish earth, the paunch of which is decorated with two  cups of lotus of small features

• lustrous black earth jug divided into alternately smooth and engraved segments

• large and small jugs, pinched rim in front of the handle

• plates among unpublished shapes

• votive axes

• lances and bronze dagger blades

• small cup in earth and barely cooked

• vase of Ounas

• vase carved in a square block with carved facades representing a building, Pepi I

• vase of Pepi

• vase of obsidian

• silver containers

• cup with handle

• vase in the shape of a bell

• bowls and plates of bronze

• cylindrical vases

• jars with two handles, wide belly, narrow neck and pointed bottom, jars with wide mouth and rounded bottom

• cones in pottery painted, with petals and sepals of a lotus, pots with broad belly and flat bottom, pot with two handles furrowed from top to bottom by red stripes, pottery with collar and equipped with one or two handles

• vase carved in the body of a cynocephalic female

• alabaster vases

• elongated ovoid vases, a few flat bottom

• goblets  elongated with flat rims

• vases and utensils in the shape of antelope with the four tied legs

• statuette of monkey

• kettle decorated with paintings of animals and characters

• statue of a woman, funerary statuette, statuettes of figures kneeling, statuette of child carrying the

• pottery of birds heads

• Small bronze animals

• tiny figurines of archaic style

• Silhouette of a bird in metal

• duck raising his head

• cylinder of thinite period

• acylinder with a hieroglyphic legend

• small cylinder between two discs with composition

• set of obsidian, set with gold

• large silver mirror with gold trim

• sandals of silver

• beautiful harps

• silver knife

• table and 4-foot bronze tables (very small)

• small nail and bundle of bound gold threads

• big bronze keys

• votive stone votive apses

• small pyramidion with steps

• discs made of alabaster or black breccia raised on a hollow support

• very thin medals

• tight barrel with ropes

• cylindrical cases in spiral rod

• votive objects

• cup of lotus

• round case decorated with two heads of women

• scarabs

• sistrum in alabaster

• pectoral in gold and stones calibrated with its chain in the form of shell

• pectoral in gold with threads of pearls

• bronze statuettes lined with extremely thin golden leaves (Byblos figurines)

• ivory objects, amulets cut out of ivory plates, Osirian fetishes, five-petalled lotus flowers, lotiforme column, a bee, a lion, a seated cynocephalus, head of a cynocephalus, five prisoners kneeling , royal crowns placed on a basket, votive objects, a swallow

• bracelet with threads of pearls mounted on two metal strips

• bracelet with gold leaf terminated by two threads that go through the two holes of the amethyst

• bracelet with ornamentation in thyste and amethyst scarab

• bracelet fashioned so as to resemble a rope

• bracelet with several rows of pearls

• gold rings with amethyst

• vessel of bronze decorated with characters

• shards with combed decoration

• head of crystal serpent

• pendant in serpentine

• lamps and a small bronze altar

• torques in silver

• scarab in crystal

• scarabs of the Hyksos type

• small vase in breach

• baked clay masks

• bull or cow of bronze clad in gold

• small bronzes, animals, axes, necklaces, pins, torques and helikes, belts, belts, spirals in the form of a springs

• amethyst perls, carnelian perls, alabaster perls, finely chiselled gold perls, crystal perls, pale blue earthenware perls

Special objects found in the royal tombs:

The following are scenes represented on artifacts from Byblos:

-  Man with a band covers on his forehead. 

-  A standing woman wearing a narrow dress. 

- Griffon in front of a plant or in the mountains. 

- A falcon spreads its wings.

- A lotus bud between two spirals. 

- A feline in the attitude of walking. 

- A lying or standing or walking lion or a lioness. 

- A flower with six petals in the shape of a calyx. 

- A monkey sitting on top of a cylinder. 

- Birds fitted on their necks. 

- Chariot drawn by two horses. 

- A seated cynocephalus. 

- Sphinx or winged Sphinx or Sphinx with a female or a man head. 

- A bull flapping its sides with its tail. 

- A bull and a goddess and a square table with four legs and a vase.  

- An antelope, probably an Oryx, attacked by a griffin. 

- A goddess wears a vulture and a disk surrounded by the horns on her head.  

- A bull grappling with a lion and a griffin.

- Uraeus which decorates the king's forehead.

- The hair of a woman is divided into two large braids which fall down in front and end in a curl, on the breasts.

- Women carry baskets on their heads.

- Women hairstyle is the large wig surmounted by the citef tiara, the two straight feathers above the disc and the ram's horns.

- God with the head of a ram with horns around a solar disk.

- Confronted goats.

- Falcon with or without opening its wings and holding in its talons rings or plants.

- Heads of ox and birds.

- Monkey-shaped vases.

- A bull attacked by a griffin and a lion.

- Women having torn their dress to the waist dressed like the mourners the dress completely covers the shoulders and chest.

- A monkey sitting on top of a cylinder.

 Five royal inscriptions from Byblos date from the tenth century and are written in Phoenician. Names of Abibaal and Elibaal of Byblos are written on Egyptian statues of Shoshenq I and Osorkon I. One dedicatory inscription of Shipitbaal of Byblos refer to the genealogy of the king. The genealogy in Shipitbaal inscription includes two generations listing his father Elibaal and grandfather Yahumilk. Each of the inscriptions is dedicated to the goddess Lady of Byblos. Another royal inscription that involves curses are on king Ahiram sarcophagus of Byblos. 

Found in Byblos six scarabs bearing names and titles of rulers of Byblos written in Egyptian hieroglyphs each inscribed with the title “Governor of Byblos” followed by a Phoenician name. The phrasing using is the same as used for Egyptian officials as well as the back type used in the 13th Dynasty in Egypt and late Middle Kingdom royal-name scarabs. The phrase on this scarab evokes Hathor Lady of Byblos. The back of the scarabs is decorated with apotropaic signs and symbols, and a human face replacing the beetle’s head. These rulers enclosed their names in cartouches. The function of private-name scarabs was probably amuletic rather than administrative. One was an amethyst private-name scarab.  

The cylinder seal from Byblos dating from the early Sixth Dynasty possibly around 2350 BCE is well designed. The cylinder is the main sealing instrument in the Old Kingdom in Egypt. The sequence of the signs in hieroglyphs reads: "Beloved of Si-hathor, the Sun of foreign land(s), (of) Hathor (and of) Khaitaw, Rum's son, ruler of the land of Byblos, Hasrurum, given life forever. Beloved is the King of Byblos. The tilted hieroglyph of the seated goddess connects with the bird-sign, placed to its left. The mention of the goddess with the signs written beneath it occupying the entire right section of the legend with bird-sign between the hieroglyphs.