What lies in the Tell underneath the Baalbek temple complex?

Because digging out the ruins at Baalbek would destroy the Roman ruins, archeologists have tried to piece together the history of the Tell under the ruins by searching the surrounding area. The sparse evidence available from the Tell Baalbek has been summarized by Wikipedia:

The history of settlement in the area of Baalbeck dates back about 9,000 years, with almost continual settlement of the tell under the Temple of Jupiter, which was a temple since the pre-Hellenistic era.[4]

Archeologists admit that much of the information available is very speculative.

There has been much conjecture about earlier levels at Baalbeck with suggestions that it may have been an ancient settlement. The German expedition in 1898 reporting nothing prior to Roman occupation.[1]

Recent archaeological finds have been discovered in the deep trench at the edge of the Jupiter temple platform during cleaning operations. These finds date the site Tell Baalbeck from the PPNB [Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (7300 – 5900bc)]neolithic to the Iron Age. They include several sherds of pottery including a teapot spout, evident to date back to the early bronze age.[2]

Previous excavations under the Roman flagstones in the Great Court unearthed three skeletons and a fragment of Persian pottery dated to around 550-330 BC. The fragment featured cuneiform letters and images of figurines.[3]

There is some historical mention of Alexander the Great, in approximately 334 B.C., having ventured into the Near East, possibly having brought Greek influence to the Baalbek site.

In general, however, the history of the Tell under the temple complex is conjectural.

Source: Wikipedia on Baalbek.

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