BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Lebanese Culture Minister Allows Construction on Phoenician Port

Bible and archaeology news

Lebanese citizens are protesting Culture Minister Gaby Layyoun’s decision to allow construction on a site that may contain a 2,500 year old Phoenician port. UNESCO and other organizations have declared the site of historic importance, with a dry dock featuring a network of canals leading out to sea. Layyoun revoked the decree by a former culture minister, citing evidence supplied by archaeologists and maritime historians contracted by the construction company. These archaeologists say that the distance from the Mediterranean invalidate claims that the site was once a port. Bulldozers have already leveled sections of the site that UNESCO, historic preservation activists and archaeologists claim held remnants of ancient canals as well as later Roman era structures.