ANE TODAY – 202004 – The Dolmen Tour and House of Heritage in Menjez (Akkar – North Lebanon)

The Dolmen Tour and House of Heritage in Menjez (Akkar – North Lebanon)

By Tara Steimer-Herbet

 

The megalithic heritage of the Middle East and many parts of the world is frequently neglected and consequently has been subject to extensive damage. Preserving and studying that heritage is critical for scholars and communities alike. Lebanon’s megaliths are no exception.

Preservation and protection of 11 dolmens, situated in Menjez, North Lebanon (Akkar), was carried out between April 2018 and December 2019, a project funded by the British Council – Cultural Protection Fund (BC-CPF). It was implemented by four partners, the University of Geneva, the Municipality of Menjez, the Museum of Lebanese Prehistory and the Château-Musée of Bélesta (France), under the supervision of the Directorate General of Antiquities in Beirut, and with the active involvement of the local Menjez community.

The project was prepared in response to a call for proposals issued by the BC-CPF in the spring of 2017, targeting cultural heritage under threat in the Middle East and North Africa. The preservation of the megalithic monuments of Menjez, which date from the Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age period (approximately 4000-2500 BCE), seemed like a perfect fit under the objectives. The project was designed to protect, analyze, and preserve 11 megalithic monuments situated in the village of Menjez, in the basaltic mountains of the Akkar.

The village of Menjez itself is situated close to the Nahr el-Kebir, 3 km from the Syrian border.

Map of showing the location of Menjez and other dolmen fields. All images courtesy of Tara Steimer-Herbet.

 

The vestiges of the megalithic monuments are spread all over the village, on both private and state-owned land. Unfortunately, they are not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Antiquities, and extensive agricultural activities have endangered their existence. In 1960, when the Jesuit Father Maurice Tallon arrived in the region to undertake his first excavations, he counted no less than a hundred monuments. Today there are only 40 left.

The project itself was straightforward. It consisted in the selection of a group of dolmens on state land, their analysis and promotion, and in training two people from Menjez to become” cultural animators,” educator-motivators, guiding groups through visits of the megalithic monuments. The aim was not only to protect, record, and preserve the megalithic edifices, but also to help the municipality of Menjez open a Heritage House, in order to familiarize the community regarding their heritage.

Heritage House.

 

Exhibitions in the Heritage House.

 

Exhibitions in the Heritage House.

 

Dolmens after cleaning.

 

The two animators are now capable of guiding tours through the dolmen path. They have also been trained how to lead workshops for schoolchildren in the Heritage House. By sensitizing the local population to their own heritage, it is also hoped that the destruction of the megalithic monuments situated in private land will stop, and that we will be able to demonstrate the value of preserving monuments by generating revenues for the surrounding communities.

Tourism in the Akkar region never grew after the Lebanese Civil War began in 1975. Despite the fact that Menjez and the Akkar region are impoverished, the government has provided little support for socio-economic development. To make matters worse, the refugee crisis resulting from the Syrian war has further weakened the region. This part of Lebanon has been declared a ‘red zone,’ which deters travellers from visiting the area. As a consequence, the region is not considered a top priority for tourism, which understandably focuses on sites that have a higher economic potential. Nonetheless, Menjez stands out as a unique architectural and cultural heritage site in Lebanon, and deserves close attention.

The tombs are built of basalt stone slabs, an abundant raw material in this region of Lebanon, with many basalt outcrops readily furnishing building material. The topographic distribution of the monuments is repetitive. They are built on flats, slopes, or slope ruptures and are generally placed several dozen meters apart. All tombs have an access corridor, usually oriented towards the south.

Tomb 11.

 

Tomb 10.

 

Inside, raised stone slabs averaging 1.6m in height delimit the space dedicated to the dead. These stones rest upon a pavement, with the largest stones maintained by smaller blocks. Orthostats lean on this pavement, implying a construction sequence: first the pavement, then the tomb itself. The enclosures are built of massive blocks, and it is possible they were erected later.

It is hoped that protecting and popularizing the megalithic monuments with a dolmen tour will promote tourism in the area, bringing benefits to the local community and attracting more funding for preservation of additional prehistoric sites, restoration of the Roman Temple, and the Crusaders fortress.

Map of walking tour.

 

Menjez tour flyer.

 

An increased number of visitors to the village will also provide economic stimulus that will help sustain the heritage of Menjez. Residents will reap the rewards from maintaining a healthy environment and will also gain a sense of pride that will also serve to promote sustainability.

Beyond the popularizing and protecting the megalithic monuments, the aim of the project was to motivate the people of Menjez to take matters into their own hands, since many local farmers actually own megalithic monuments on their lands. As such, it was of particular importance to sensitize them to the heritage they possess and represent. The implementation of the project was a successful step in that direction. Cleaning, studying and covering with decorative gravels, eleven monuments may now be visited in the dolmen tour.

Cleaning and surveying a dolmen.

 

Cleaning and surveying a dolmen.

 

The project also collected new data regarding the prehistory of the region, and the University of Geneva is engaged in a 3D visualization project.

If the project had not been implemented, eventually the megalithic monuments would have been lost; local farmers need more land and are slowly, inexorably destroy the monuments. If no efforts are made to preserve them, the condition of the dolmens will worsen, and all traces of this prehistoric heritage could be lost. More efforts are needed in the near future, but the implementation of this project provided a clear example of what a solid, community supported, private/public partnerships can achieve, and how it can benefit all parties involved.

 

Tara Steimer-Herbet  is a department member in the Laboratoire d’archéologie préhistorique et anthropologie at the University of Geneva.

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