Beirut has a long history of occupation starting in prehistorical times. During the Byzantine period, Beirut was known as Berytus where it was renowned in the Roman world as a commercial center but most especially for its school of law, which flourished from the third to the sixth centuries CE. ( Issam Ali Khalifeh in Meyers, 1997). The Beirut Quake of 551 CE apparently caused the city to shrink in size. Archaeological excavations in the port area of Beirut where the old Roman/Byzantine city was located have been limited.

• from Issam Ali Khalifeh in Meyers et al (1997)

Beirut is the capital of Lebanon , located on the Mediterranean coast (33°54' N , 35°3o' E). The city's ancient name was Biruta and, in the classical period, Berytus. Th e name is generally thought to b e derived from the common Semitic word for "well" or "pit" —in Akkadian, burtu; Hebrew, be'er; Arabic, bir. Biruta is a plural form.

Berytus was renowned in the Roman world as a commercial center but most especially for its school of law, which flourished from the third to the sixth centuries CE. The earthquake of 551 CE devastated the city. In turn the medieval city fell into ruins, but its scattered granite columns impressed the Persian traveler Nasr-i-Khusraw, who visited the city in 1047. The early western visitors, Henry Moundrell (1697), Richard Pococke (early eighteenth century), F. B. Spilsbury (1799), and William Thomson (1870), all realized that the scattered remains were the ruins of Roman public buildings.

• from Issam Ali Khalifeh in Meyers et al (1997)

In 1968, the Department of Antiquities commissioned Haroutine Kalayan to excavate certain monuments in Beirut.

1. An extensive Roman bath near the Grand Serail, with a large cistern and rooms decorated with frescoes were uncovered and partly restored.
2. A Roman defensive tower that had been reused in the medieval period
3. A stretch of a Roman street complete with its pavement, columns, capitals, and an architrave in the center of Parliament Square
4. A second Roman bath and part of an important municipal building (a basilica?) that probably covers the Decumanus Maximus

In 1969, the Department of Antiquities, represented by Roger Saidah, began to clear an area on the ancient tell, near the port area, where in 1954, M B and L B tombs had been found (see above). Surface finds included a Neolithic hammerstone, some EB combed ware, and MB and LB sherds. No Early Iron Age material was recovered, but some sixth century BCE jar handles were found. This excavation was the last opportunity to work on the ancient tell. Saidah's results remain unpublished, as he died soon thereafter.

In 1977, when the possibility of reconstructing the modern city was being studied, Ibrahim Kawkabani, under auspices of the Lebanese Department of Antiquities, and J. D. Forest, from the Institut Francais d'Archeologie du Proche Orient, undertook a series of soundings to look for the city's ancient law school (see above). The work stopped with the onset of Lebanon's civil war. Twenty soundings were made, producing finds from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Mamluk periods. The material culture unearthed included pottery jars, lamps, and figurines, stamped Rhodian and other jar handles, carved bone objects; metal weights, rings, and handles; sculptured and inscribed reliefs, mortars, and capitals; and weaving utensils. Glass, coins, and gold jewelry, mainly from the Byzantine period, were also recovered but remain unpublished.

In 1977 and 1982, several attempts to reconstruct and restore modern Beirut's central business district were stalled by security considerations. In 1983 and 1984, reconstruction and restoration went forward at a considerable pace. A symposium called Beirut of Tomorrow, held at the American University of Beirut in 1983, called for the protection of historic monuments and for attempts to explore the ancient tell of Beirut. UNESCO experts Ernst Will and Rolf Hachmann were invited to the city in 1983 as consultants.

Early in 1993, UNESCO consultants Philippe Marquis, John Schofield, and Jean Paul Thalmann were contracted to work with the Council for Development and Restoration and the Department of Antiquities. On 10 September 1993, work was begun in downtown Beirut in collaboration with teams from the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, Britain, France , the Netherlands, and Italy, and the Royal Museum of Belgium. Five soundings were dug in a three-month period in the downtown area, with the objective of exploring the limits of the ancient town. The teams worked during 1994 and 1995 in and around the ancient town in an area of about 500,000 sq m, expanding the number of soundings to find the Prehistoric, Canaanite, Phoenician, Roman, and medieval cities. Archaeological rescue operations accompanied the construction in the downtown area and will continue to do so.

• from The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites

In Sector BEY 004 (Lebanese University Site ?), Saghieh-Beydoun (1997) discovered some soft sediment liquefaction features known as flame features at the base of what appears to be be a destruction layer or debris flow deposit. This deposit may be dated to the mid 6th century CE - the date of the images above are not entirely clear in the article and I don't currently have access to the report. The flame features show up at the bottom of the drawing above. A photograph of this or a nearby section (below) also shows the flame features.



Flame features are diagnostic of pore fluid overpressures which are commonly caused by liquefaction during earthquakes. Their presence at the bottom of the debris layer may suggest a tsunami debris flow deposit that was then agitated by seismic shaking that then created the liquefaction features supporting observations by John of Ephesus and Pseudo-Dionysius of Tell-Mahre that the tsunami preceded the earthquake suggesting further, as noted by Mordechai (2020) that the main earthquake struck after a powerful foreshock.

Mordechai (2020) surveyed archeoseismic evidence in Beirut:

A late antique layer of destruction, followed by fire in some cases, was found in several excavation sites in the city and was attributed to the 551 earthquake based on several pieces of evidence.^[54] One archaeologist described how a diagnostic sounding revealed the earthquake’s ‘horrors in an archaeological inferno over the whole [single] excavated area’ through a layer of destruction between 0.75m and 1.00m thick.^[55] This layer, however, was uneven and much thinner in other areas. Other teams asserted that the buildings in their site did not collapse immediately – as evident from the absence of smashed collections of pottery and household goods.^[56]

Footnotes

[54] The excavations revealed objects that were buried in the debris such as a wrapped coinroll (see below), a hanging bronze polykandelon and human and animal remains near a collapsed wall, and another group of coins. For the objects, see respectively Mikati & Perring,‘Metropolis to ribat’ (cit. n. 4), pp. 47–49, Perring, ‘Excavations in the Souks’ (cit. n. 41), pp.21–23
, and M. Steiner, ‘The Hellenistic to Byzantine souk: results of the excavations at BEY 011’, ARAM 13–14 (2001–2002), pp. 113–127. Other teams were uncertain whether the destruction layer was to be dated to the sixth or seventh century. See P. Arnaud, E. Llopis & M. Bonifay,‘Bey 027 Rapport préliminaire’, BAAL 1 (1996), pp. 98–134, at p. 109.

[55] Saghieh, ‘Bey 001 & 004’ (cit. n. 46), p. 40.. M. Saghieh-Beydoun, ‘Evidence for earthquakes in the current excavations of Beirut city centre’, [in:] C. Doumet-Serhal (ed.), Decade: A Decade of Archaeology and History in the Lebanon, Beirut 2004, pp. 280–285, at p. 284 later reported finding soil liquefaction, an earthquake-related phenomenon, but did not attribute it to a dated seismic event.

[56] For layer of destruction, see for example Figure 6 in L. Badre, ‘The Greek Orthodox cathedral of Saint George in Beirut, Lebanon: The archaeological excavations and crypt museum’, JEMAHS 4 (2016), pp. 72–97, at p. 78.. For buildings not collapsing, see D. Perring et al., ‘Bey 006, 1994–1995: The souks area interim report of the AUB Project’, BAAL 1 (1996), pp. 176– 206, at pp. 196–198. K. Butcher & R. Thorpe, ‘A note on excavations in central Beirut 1994– 1996’, JRA 10 (1997), pp. 291–306, at p. 299, assert that ‘evidence for earthquake damage on the Souks site is virtually absent...’, and M. Heinz & K. Bartl, ‘Bey 024 “Place Debbas” preliminary report’, BAAL 2 (1997), pp. 236–257, at p. 256, similarly assert that ‘traces of violent destruction (earthquake) were not visible’.

Hall (2004) noted that:

Some archeological evidence has been interpreted to suggest rebuilding on a scale not quite the match of the previous construction (compare Agathias above). Lauffray has found columns of mismatched colors in a building he considers either a church or a basilica. He thinks these columns may represent replacement work after the earthquake. It is notable that Zacharias in his description of the church of Eustathius insists very strongly that the original columns were of purest white and were carefully matched.^[115] When summing up the archeological evidence for Berytus, Lauffray thought that some restorations were made to the civic basilica in the sixth century AD. Lauffray also suggested that after the earthquake some of the baths and certain parts of the porticos of the streets were restored. Lauffray notes the difficulty of securely identifying the churches and some other buildings.

Footnotes

[115] Lauffray (1944–6) 62, referring to a colonnade indicated by five column bases.

Marriner et al (2008) reported on 20 cores taken in Beirut's buried ancient harbor; none of which contained apparent tsunamites. However, the tsunami may have left evidence in other parts of the city. Some of their discussion regarding tsunamogenic evidence is reproduced below:

Excavations undertaken in Beirut's harbour by Curvers et al. have revealed the presence of tree branches and considerable amounts of unabraded Roman pottery and rubble in 6-7th century AD layers (Curvers, personal communication). Surveys in the Ottoman harbour have unearthed harbour muds and silts which lie unconformably above sea-scoured bedrock (Curvers and Stuart, 2004). These have been attributed to tsunami action and indirectly infer considerable damage to the city's seaport infrastructure. This archaeological evidence, coupled with the stratigraphic data, support major changes in the port's configuration at this time. At no point during the Islamic and medieval periods do we record such a well-protected harbour. In light of this, there appears to be a clear link between the retraction of the Byzantine Empire to its Anatolian core and the catastrophic destruction of many parts of Beirut, including its harbour area, during the 551 AD earthquake and tsunami.

... Although sedimentary traces of the tsunami impacts are not observed in the cores, recent excavations suggest that the ancient sources did not exaggerate in their description of the archaeological destruction caused by the event (Curvers and Stuart, 2004). New research has yielded closely dated stratigraphic sequences at a number of dig sites that unequivocally corroborate the widespread earthquake damage (Elayi and Sayegh, 2000; Curvers and Stuart, in press). In the aftermath, Beirut underwent altering patterns of trade, production and consumption. The archaeology also shows that many parts of the city were left in partial ruin or even abandoned, with limited evidence for reconstruction. Mikati and Perring (2006) present a model of 'continuity' but degradation of urban infrastructure at post-earthquake Beirut. Dating of raised shorelines north of Beirut confirms uplift of 50-80 cm (Morhange et al., 2006).

Salamon et al. (2024:Section 1.3) summarized 551 CE tsunamigenic evidence in Beirut as follows:

We focused on Marriner et al. (2008, and references therein), who conducted extensive geoarchaeological investigations in the area of the ancient harbor of Beirut and integrated a wealth of information from previous studies. They unearthed and discovered unique findings dated to the Byzantine and later periods. A notable finding is the transition from fine-grained to coarser-grained sediments, which is usually associated with a partial or total abandonment of harbors and/or economic and political decline. They also uncovered sea-scoured bedrock that can be attributed to erosion due to strong tsunami currents. In addition, they noted the spread of ruins, the relative absence of seaport infra structure, partial abandonment, and limited rebuilding across the city area of Beirut at that time. Furthermore, these authors were able to reconstruct the location of the Romano-Byz antine harbor coastline of Beirut at the time of the earthquake (Fig. 11 dashed blue line, in Marriner et al. 2008). They also inferred that westward and eastward, the harbor coastline appeared to merge with the pre-1840 coastline, which has not changed much since antiq uity. Overall, Marriner et al. (2008) concluded that these discoveries echo a catastrophic event, most likely the 551 earthquake and tsunami.

Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description
flame features at the bottom of a collapse layer	South section BEY 004 (Lebanese University Site ?) Figure 3 The Lebanese University Site Mordechai (2020)	Figure 5 South Section JW: Flame features are drawn in the bottom layer of the section. Saghieh-Beydoun (2004) Figure 4 Seismites and Liquefactions JW: Flame features are visible at the very bottom of the section (e.g. from the white part of the pole downward). Saghieh-Beydoun (2004)	JW: In Sector BEY 004 (Lebanese University Site ?), Saghieh-Beydoun (1997) discovered some soft sediment liquefaction features known as flame features at the base of what appears to be be a destruction layer or debris flow deposit. This deposit may be dated to the mid 6th century CE - the date of the images above are not entirely clear in the article and I don't currently have access to the report. Flame features are diagnostic of pore fluid overpressures which are commonly caused by liquefaction during earthquakes. Their presence at the bottom of the debris layer may suggest a tsunami debris flow deposit that was then agitated by seismic shaking that then created the liquefaction features supporting observations by John of Ephesus and Pseudo-Dionysius of Tell-Mahre that the tsunami preceded the earthquake suggesting further, as noted by Mordechai (2020) that the main earthquake struck after a powerful foreshock.
Collapse layer	Various locations (?) including South section BEY 004 (Lebanese University Site ?) Figure 3 The Lebanese University Site Mordechai (2020)	Figure 5 South Section JW: Flame features are drawn in the bottom layer of the section. Saghieh-Beydoun (2004) Figure 4 Seismites and Liquefactions JW: Flame features are visible at the very bottom of the section (e.g. from the white part of the pole downward). Saghieh-Beydoun (2004)	A late antique layer of destruction, followed by fire in some cases, was found in several excavation sites in the city and was attributed to the 551 earthquake based on several pieces of evidence.[54] One archaeologist described how a diagnostic sounding revealed the earthquake’s ‘horrors in an archaeological inferno over the whole [single] excavated area’ through a layer of destruction between 0.75m and 1.00m thick.[55] This layer, however, was uneven and much thinner in other areas. Other teams asserted that the buildings in their site did not collapse immediately – as evident from the absence of smashed collections of pottery and household goods.[56] Footnotes [54] The excavations revealed objects that were buried in the debris such as a wrapped coinroll (see below), a hanging bronze polykandelon and human and animal remains near a collapsed wall, and another group of coins. For the objects, see respectively Mikati & Perring,‘Metropolis to ribat’ (cit. n. 4), pp. 47–49, Perring, ‘Excavations in the Souks’ (cit. n. 41), pp.21–23, and M. Steiner, ‘The Hellenistic to Byzantine souk: results of the excavations at BEY 011’, ARAM 13–14 (2001–2002), pp. 113–127. Other teams were uncertain whether the destruction layer was to be dated to the sixth or seventh century. See P. Arnaud, E. Llopis & M. Bonifay,‘Bey 027 Rapport préliminaire’, BAAL 1 (1996), pp. 98–134, at p. 109. [55] Saghieh, ‘Bey 001 & 004’ (cit. n. 46), p. 40.. M. Saghieh-Beydoun, ‘Evidence for earthquakes in the current excavations of Beirut city centre’, [in:] C. Doumet-Serhal (ed.), Decade: A Decade of Archaeology and History in the Lebanon, Beirut 2004, pp. 280–285, at p. 284 later reported finding soil liquefaction, an earthquake-related phenomenon, but did not attribute it to a dated seismic event. [56] For layer of destruction, see for example Figure 6 in L. Badre, ‘The Greek Orthodox cathedral of Saint George in Beirut, Lebanon: The archaeological excavations and crypt museum’, JEMAHS 4 (2016), pp. 72–97, at p. 78.. For buildings not collapsing, see D. Perring et al., ‘Bey 006, 1994–1995: The souks area interim report of the AUB Project’, BAAL 1 (1996), pp. 176– 206, at pp. 196–198. K. Butcher & R. Thorpe, ‘A note on excavations in central Beirut 1994– 1996’, JRA 10 (1997), pp. 291–306, at p. 299, assert that ‘evidence for earthquake damage on the Souks site is virtually absent...’, and M. Heinz & K. Bartl, ‘Bey 024 “Place Debbas” preliminary report’, BAAL 2 (1997), pp. 236–257, at p. 256, similarly assert that ‘traces of violent destruction (earthquake) were not visible’. - Mordechai (2020)
Fallen Columns (inferred)	?		Some archeological evidence has been interpreted to suggest rebuilding on a scale not quite the match of the previous construction (compare Agathias above). Lauffray has found columns of mismatched colors in a building he considers either a church or a basilica. He thinks these columns may represent replacement work after the earthquake. It is notable that Zacharias in his description of the church of Eustathius insists very strongly that the original columns were of purest white and were carefully matched.[115] When summing up the archeological evidence for Berytus, Lauffray thought that some restorations were made to the civic basilica in the sixth century AD. Lauffray also suggested that after the earthquake some of the baths and certain parts of the porticos of the streets were restored. Lauffray notes the difficulty of securely identifying the churches and some other buildings. Footnotes [115] Lauffray (1944–6) 62, referring to a colonnade indicated by five column bases. - Hall (2004)

Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description
tree branches and considerable amounts of unabraded Roman pottery and rubble in 6-7th century CE layers	Beirut's harbour at one of the BCD sites (?) Fig. 1 Location of archeological sites (1999-2006) Curvers et al (2007) Fig. 11 5000 years of coastal deformation in Beirut’s ancient harbour. Note the progressive regularisation of the coastline from a natural indented morphology to an increasingly rectilinear disposition during later periods (base image: DigitalGlobe, 2006). Archaeological data from Elayi and Sayegh (2000) and Marquis (2004). Marriner et al (2008) Fig. 4 Location of core sites at Beirut. Archaeological data from Elayi and Sayegh (2000) and Marquis (2004) Marriner et al (2008)		Excavations undertaken in Beirut's harbour by Curvers et al. have revealed the presence of tree branches and considerable amounts of unabraded Roman pottery and rubble in 6-7th century AD layers (Curvers, personal communication). - Marriner et al (2008)
harbour muds and silts lying unconformably above sea-scoured bedrock	Ottoman harbour at one of the BCD sites (?) Fig. 1 Location of archeological sites (1999-2006) Curvers et al (2007) Fig. 11 5000 years of coastal deformation in Beirut’s ancient harbour. Note the progressive regularisation of the coastline from a natural indented morphology to an increasingly rectilinear disposition during later periods (base image: DigitalGlobe, 2006). Archaeological data from Elayi and Sayegh (2000) and Marquis (2004). Marriner et al (2008) Fig. 4 Location of core sites at Beirut. Archaeological data from Elayi and Sayegh (2000) and Marquis (2004) Marriner et al (2008)		Surveys in the Ottoman harbour have unearthed harbour muds and silts which lie unconformably above sea-scoured bedrock (Curvers and Stuart, 2004). These have been attributed to tsunami action and indirectly infer considerable damage to the city's seaport infrastructure. - Marriner et al (2008)

• Earthquake Archeological Effects chart
  Earthquake Archeological Effects (EAE)
  
  Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)
  of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)

Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description	Intensity
flame features at the bottom of a collapse layer indicating liquefaction	South section BEY 004 (Lebanese University Site ?) Figure 3 The Lebanese University Site Mordechai (2020)	Figure 5 South Section JW: Flame features are drawn in the bottom layer of the section. Saghieh-Beydoun (2004) Figure 4 Seismites and Liquefactions JW: Flame features are visible at the very bottom of the section (e.g. from the white part of the pole downward). Saghieh-Beydoun (2004)	JW: In Sector BEY 004 (Lebanese University Site ?), Saghieh-Beydoun (1997) discovered some soft sediment liquefaction features known as flame features at the base of what appears to be be a destruction layer or debris flow deposit. This deposit may be dated to the mid 6th century CE - the date of the images above are not entirely clear in the article and I don't currently have access to the report. Flame features are diagnostic of pore fluid overpressures which are commonly caused by liquefaction during earthquakes. Their presence at the bottom of the debris layer may suggest a tsunami debris flow deposit that was then agitated by seismic shaking that then created the liquefaction features supporting observations by John of Ephesus and Pseudo-Dionysius of Tell-Mahre that the tsunami preceded the earthquake suggesting further, as noted by Mordechai (2020) that the main earthquake struck after a powerful foreshock.	VII +
Collapse layer indicating collapsed walls	Various locations (?) including South section BEY 004 (Lebanese University Site ?) Figure 3 The Lebanese University Site Mordechai (2020)	Figure 5 South Section JW: Flame features are drawn in the bottom layer of the section. Saghieh-Beydoun (2004) Figure 4 Seismites and Liquefactions JW: Flame features are visible at the very bottom of the section (e.g. from the white part of the pole downward). Saghieh-Beydoun (2004)	A late antique layer of destruction, followed by fire in some cases, was found in several excavation sites in the city and was attributed to the 551 earthquake based on several pieces of evidence.[54] One archaeologist described how a diagnostic sounding revealed the earthquake’s ‘horrors in an archaeological inferno over the whole [single] excavated area’ through a layer of destruction between 0.75m and 1.00m thick.[55] This layer, however, was uneven and much thinner in other areas. Other teams asserted that the buildings in their site did not collapse immediately – as evident from the absence of smashed collections of pottery and household goods.[56] Footnotes [54] The excavations revealed objects that were buried in the debris such as a wrapped coinroll (see below), a hanging bronze polykandelon and human and animal remains near a collapsed wall, and another group of coins. For the objects, see respectively Mikati & Perring,‘Metropolis to ribat’ (cit. n. 4), pp. 47–49, Perring, ‘Excavations in the Souks’ (cit. n. 41), pp.21–23, and M. Steiner, ‘The Hellenistic to Byzantine souk: results of the excavations at BEY 011’, ARAM 13–14 (2001–2002), pp. 113–127. Other teams were uncertain whether the destruction layer was to be dated to the sixth or seventh century. See P. Arnaud, E. Llopis & M. Bonifay,‘Bey 027 Rapport préliminaire’, BAAL 1 (1996), pp. 98–134, at p. 109. [55] Saghieh, ‘Bey 001 & 004’ (cit. n. 46), p. 40.. M. Saghieh-Beydoun, ‘Evidence for earthquakes in the current excavations of Beirut city centre’, [in:] C. Doumet-Serhal (ed.), Decade: A Decade of Archaeology and History in the Lebanon, Beirut 2004, pp. 280–285, at p. 284 later reported finding soil liquefaction, an earthquake-related phenomenon, but did not attribute it to a dated seismic event. [56] For layer of destruction, see for example Figure 6 in L. Badre, ‘The Greek Orthodox cathedral of Saint George in Beirut, Lebanon: The archaeological excavations and crypt museum’, JEMAHS 4 (2016), pp. 72–97, at p. 78.. For buildings not collapsing, see D. Perring et al., ‘Bey 006, 1994–1995: The souks area interim report of the AUB Project’, BAAL 1 (1996), pp. 176– 206, at pp. 196–198. K. Butcher & R. Thorpe, ‘A note on excavations in central Beirut 1994– 1996’, JRA 10 (1997), pp. 291–306, at p. 299, assert that ‘evidence for earthquake damage on the Souks site is virtually absent...’, and M. Heinz & K. Bartl, ‘Bey 024 “Place Debbas” preliminary report’, BAAL 2 (1997), pp. 236–257, at p. 256, similarly assert that ‘traces of violent destruction (earthquake) were not visible’. - Mordechai (2020)	VIII +
Fallen Columns (inferred)	?		Some archeological evidence has been interpreted to suggest rebuilding on a scale not quite the match of the previous construction (compare Agathias above). Lauffray has found columns of mismatched colors in a building he considers either a church or a basilica. He thinks these columns may represent replacement work after the earthquake. It is notable that Zacharias in his description of the church of Eustathius insists very strongly that the original columns were of purest white and were carefully matched.[115] When summing up the archeological evidence for Berytus, Lauffray thought that some restorations were made to the civic basilica in the sixth century AD. Lauffray also suggested that after the earthquake some of the baths and certain parts of the porticos of the streets were restored. Lauffray notes the difficulty of securely identifying the churches and some other buildings. Footnotes [115] Lauffray (1944–6) 62, referring to a colonnade indicated by five column bases. - Hall (2004)	V +

The archeoseismic evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).