The cult place of Kharayeb: Report of 2013-2014 Mission

Between 1946 and 1969, in an area close to the modern village of Kharayeb, called "mathaf", the ruins of a building have been excavated by M. Chéhab and dated between the Persian and Hellenistic periods. Near the building, a favissa rich in clay figurines dating between 7th and 1th century BCE was also found. The Kharayeb project, at the beginning mainly aimed at reconstructing the life of a Phoenician worship place, is today a wider interdisciplinary research on the agricultural hinterland of Tyre between the Iron Age and the Hellenistic period. Two types of work are carried out: the completion of the excavation work in the ancient worship area and a survey in the surrounding territory. The archaeological data collected during the 2013-2014 archaeological campaigns have allowed to identify a new part of the main rectangular building, to date back to the Iron Age II the first phase of use of the area, to present a new idea of the original architectural decoration of the Hellenistic building with coloured mosaic tesserae, stucco and glass ormamentations.