ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on developments witnessed in Lebanon during the past 14 years of civil war and social turmoil, while I was conducting field archaeology in predominantly rural areas and teaching the subject to university students in urban Beirut. One limitation of the views expressed here is that they were gathered by an outsider whose personal experience and preferences in archaeology have influenced the choice of data and ideas presented. Although frequent periods of insecurity imposed restrictions on their scope, my continuing research and fieldwork have given me an awareness of the sophisticated and appropriate knowledge possessed by rural people who were my partners in learning. The resulting perspective on Near Eastern archaeology offers a new approach to the subject and increases its relevance to Lebanese society. Attempting to understand the development of society from its village origins in antiquity by means of ethnoarchacological field research likewise promises to revitalize the subject.
