How are archeologists coordinating research at the Baalbek archeological site?

In 2005, the International Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage (CIPA) held a symposium in Torino, Italy. One of the papers presented at that symposium addressed the complexity of documenting the archeological finds at Baalbek, and outlined plans to develop an open source system of documenting archeological information.

This interdisciplinary cooperation of specialists in Near Eastern archaeology, classical archaeology, ancient history, architectural history, geodesy, hydrology, geomorphology and oriental studies will lead to an understanding of the topographical, urban, economical and social evolution of the sanctuary and the town of Baalbek over a timespan of 5000 years in its surrounding social and regional context.

The research in Baalbek deals with heterogenous remains of different time periods. The beginnings of Baalbek can be traced to a small tell settlement in the 3rd millenium BC (M.v. Ess, 1998), but in the town remains of a hellenistic temple, a monumental Roman sanctuary and representative public buildings of the same time period, a Byzantine church and buildings from Medieval times up to the late Ottoman city of the early 20th century have been found.

A multitude of finds from different time periods as well as infrastructural elements, water supply systems and quarries mainly from the Roman period await further study.

The geographical area of research not only encompasses the ancient city and the surrounding region, but also an important number of different time horizons.

The stratigraphic sequence of different chronological layers can best be demonstrated in the main sanctuary. The Roman sanctuary and its scarcely known predecessors cover a prehistoric settlement mound.

In the Byzantine period a large basilica was built into the great courtyard, and in medieval times the whole sanctuary with its two courtyards and propylon was integrated along with the temple of Bacchus into an Islamic fortress, which in the late ottoman period was partly reused by a settlement inside the preserved building remains (Ragette, 1980; van Ess, 1999).

Some of the structures mentioned above are only known to us from documentation of earlier expeditions, as the modern city nowadays covers large portions of the ancient sites.

Furthermore, earlier excavations often irrevocably destroyed younger strata in order to get to the levels of the Roman imperial period. Thus, the documentation from more than 100 years of research forms an important base to our current research, and we can draw from a diverse record of maps, architectural drawings, photos and finds.

The above excerpt is from a lengthy paper which ends with a discussion of how a computer system should be structured to document such complex archeological research as is being carried out periodically at Baalbeck.

See this paper here: DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTERNET-BASED INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND STUDIES ON URBAN HISTORY IN BAALBEK/LEBANON.