Museum of Lebanese Prehistory
| Musée de Préhistoire Libanaise | |
 Location within Beirut
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| Established | 2000 |
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| Location | Beirut, Lebanon |
| Coordinates | 33°53′29.92″N 35°30′29.37″E / 33.8916444°N 35.5081583°E |
| Type | Archaeological |
| Director | Maya Haïdar-Boustani |
| Curator | Nelly Abboud |
| Website | Museum of Lebanese Prehistory |
The Museum of Lebanese Prehistory (Musée de Préhistoire Libanaise) is a museum of prehistory and archaeology in Beirut, Lebanon.
The Museum is the first museum of prehistory in the Arabic Middle East and was opened in June 2000 to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Saint Joseph University of Beirut. The founding of the museum followed from the work of Jesuit scholars who controlled prehistoric research in this part of the world until the 1950s. These had accumulated a large amount of artifacts and heritage, collected at the "Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines" of Saint Joseph University. This faculty established a research centre in 1988 that developed with the creation of the Museum of Prehistory in June 2000.
The museum houses an exceptional collection of animal and human bones, Neolithic pottery, stone tools and other ancient items recovered from over four hundred archaeological sites since the 19th century. The collections form a unique reference and were only accessible to specialists until the late 1990s. By exhibiting part of the collection to the public, the University has enabled people to investigate and discover the details and mysteries of prehistoric Lebanon.
The museum occupies a total of 350 square metres (3,800 sq ft) on two levels. The upper floor is devoted to tools and the basement displays illustrate the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers. The invention of agriculture and the domestication of animals are key themes and the museum includes 35 display boards and 22 windows exhibiting different fossils and flint tools from the Stone Age. These include early agricultural tools, blades, sickles, a pick, an axe and millstone. Dioramas and recreated artifacts are presented together in thematic arrangements and in some cases compare and relate modern tools to Stone Age counterparts making the artefacts easier to understand. Displays cover three areas: tools, hunting and the invention of agriculture. Visitors are invited to discover how and why flint tools were made and what purpose they served. Rare bone tools and an antler from the Antelias cave, Sands of Beirut illustrate the ingenuity of the prehistoric people who inhabited Lebanon. Hunting is illustrated in various panels with reconstructions of weapons like the spear and arrows along with elements of well-preserved fauna from sites explored by the Jesuit Fathers. The invention of agriculture was one of the most important milestones in the history of mankind achieved in the Middle East. A special area of the display highlights the various stages from plowing up to production of bread, a transition accessible to all audiences. A French and Arabic documentary presentation entitled Lebanon in Prehistory can be viewed by visitors.
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Wikipedia