Ports of Ugarit and Forgotten Marine Facilities

Lattakia, (ST- (The splendor and prosperity of the Kingdom of Ugarit, the development in business and remote contacts with countries overseas required the need to marine utilities that meet the services of the stage. The Beida Gulf, which is protected from the southwestern wind and waves suffice but within the intensity of the winds and high waves turn the port into an unsafe place, then there is no choice except the withdrawal of ships to the beach and access to the al -Feid River.

It is not logical that al -Feed River with its small basin and scarce water is the only port of Ugarit to the world of seas and there must be naval facilities through which the ships of Ugarit can depart to the outside world, including the maritime Ibn Hani facility which is called Ras al –Fanar

The director of Lattakia Antiquities, Dr. Jamal Heidar, described as head Ras Ibn Hani is the more tortuous and prominent port in the Syrian coast and it is known as the second safe water for boats and ships from the south- western wind and waves after the Baseet Anchorage. It has a site on all nautical charts at the moment, but in the past there were several marinas, including al –Kheder Anchorage in the south and al Qabban Anchorage in the north in addition to some of the facilities and other marine uses for the ships of that era.

“The maritime researcher, Hussein Hijazi, said in his book ports and harbors and old marinas that marine facilities in Ibn Hani belong to the city of Ugarit. These facilities offered many advantages for the development of fortifications and increasing the immunity of the city in the Hellenistic Period. The ports and jetties have been used after the repair, restoration and adding extensions that built of trimmed stones and fixed walls of carved stones to establish impregnable fortifications,” Dr. Haider pointed out.

“The facilities ceased to exist as a result of sea level rise in the Roman era has contributed to the strength of the impact of wind and waves dramatically and thus aggravated the situation and the wind and waves began to throw the beach with large quantities of sand and marine debris and working quickly on the formation of northern hills of sand at al Qabban Anchorage and southern hills of sand and move constantly in a dynamic way and this can be seen in the hills south the city of Lattakia and at al –Heesh area south of the city of Tartous,”Dr. Haider added.

The hills of sand which dominated most of the civilization antiquities in Ras Ibn Hani is not a simple movement as it was in the beginning, but it is a movement of a great beach that its indirect cause was the building of constructions and marine facilities that changed the landmarks of the beach after sea-level rise rate of 2 meters at least.

“Excavations and marine archaeological research in Ras Ibn Hani indicated that the city of Ugarit, lying currently in the archaeological hill which rises nearly 9 meters above sea level, was founded in the fourteenth and the thirteenth century BC. The peoples of the sea invaded the city at the end of the thirteenth century BC that this city was destroyed around 1200 BC and archaeological excavations confirm this,” Dr. Haider said.

“Excavations carried out in the archaeological hill resulted in the discovery of flint blades date back to the Neolithic period 7000/5000 BC. The blades were positioned in the soil of a river may be brought from somewhere else and the discovery of fragments of pottery date back to the era of ancient bronze found together in the rubble of walls east of the hill. Architectural and pottery installations, Ugaritic and Babylon texts and findings dating back to the Late Bronze Age 1400/1200 BC in addition to architectural pottery and findings back to the first Iron Age I 1200/900 BC,” he commented.

Another findings of pottery and organic materials back to the second Iron Age 900/600 BC and together again back to the Hellenistic era including a huge fortified defensive installations, houses, tombs, potteries and many findings particularly as well as money and engraved texts stretching chronologically from the Alexander about 333 BC until the Roman conquest of the country 64 / 63 BC.

Roman and Byzantine discoveries also were found extended on the hill and on many sections beyond enhanced with facilities and pottery finds with a lot of money dating back to the fourth century AD and the reign of Justian, likely it is the last stages of the housing in Ras Ibn Hani and it ended with the earthquakes that destroyed Antioch in 528 / AD.

“Navy excavations indicate that habitation in Ras Ibn Hani began in an oldest age of Ugarit and what confirms this speech is the presence of the old lighthouse and other findings that date back to oldest eras of Ugarit,” Dr. Heidar concluded.

Sharif al -Khatib