Ras al-Bassit

Ras al-Bassit رأس البسيط
Shown within Syria
Location	53 km north of Latakia, Syria
Coordinates	35°50′46″N 35°50′17″E / 35.846°N 35.838°E / 35.846; 35.838
Type	settlement
History
Periods	Late Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic period, Roman period, Late antiquity, Crusader period
Cultures	Canaanite, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader
Site notes
Excavation dates	1971–1984, 2000-present
Archaeologists	Paul Courbin, Jacques Y. Perreault, Nicolas Beaudry
Ownership	Mixed public and private
Public access	Partial

Ras al-Bassit (Arabic: رأس البسيط‎) is a small cape located 53 kilometres (33 mi) north of Latakia, Syria on the Mediterranean Sea. The cape is a popular resort destination and the coastline is unusual for its distinctive black sand beaches.^[1]

History

Excavations led by French archaeologist Paul Courbin between 1971 and 1984 revealed a small settlement back to the Late Bronze Age, when it may have functioned as an outpost of Ugarit, to the south. Unlike Ugarit, Bassit survived to the passage of the Sea Peoples and into the Iron Age. It had strong links with Phoenicia and Cyprus, and a Greek presence was attested from the 7th century BCE. Bassit expanded and its acropolis was fortified in the Hellenistic period^[2].

The Canadian archaeological excavations undertaken in 2000 have been focusing on the late Roman and Byzantine occupation of the site (Université du Québec à Rimouski / Université de Montréal). Bassit thrived from the late 3rd to the early 6th century CE; this period is marked by a number of important building projects. A church complex was built at the foot of the acropolis in the 6th century, as the site was starting to decline; the site seems to have been gradually abandoned soon after the Arab conquest. Excavation in the church yielded a small chapel from the Crusades period (12-13th c.)^[3].

References

Bibliography

• Courbin, Paul (1986). 'Bassit'. Syria 63, pp. 175-220.
• Mannheim, Ivan (2001). Syria & Lebanon handbook: the travel guide. Footprint Travel Guides. ISBN 1-900949-90-3, 9781900949903. http://books.google.com/books?id=t9LHVdWLc7gC&pg=PA300&dq=Ras+al-bassit&ei=4FCOS8udNYHglQS9s52wDQ&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Ras%20al-bassit&f=false. 
• Beaudry, Nicolas, & Perreault, Jacques Y. (2003). 'Travaux récents à la basilique de Ras el Bassit', Annales archéologiques arabes syriennes 45-46, pp. 381-391.
• Beaudry, Nicolas (2005). 'Formes architecturales et géographie historique: l'église de Bassit et le corpus nord-syrien', Mélanges Jean-Pierre Sodini, Travaux et mémoires 14, Paris, pp. 119-136.
• Mills, Philip J. E., & Beaudry, Nicolas (2007). 'The ceramic coarse wares from the basilica excavations at Ras el Bassit, Syria: a preliminary assessment', LRCW2. Late Roman coarse wares, cooking wares and amphorae in the Mediterranean: archaeology and archaeometry, British Archaeological Reports S1662, Oxford, pp. 745-754.
• Beaudry, Nicolas (2007). 'Ras el Bassit et l'Antiquité tardive sur la côte nord-syrienne', Revue d'études des civilisations anciennes du Proche-Orient 13, pp. 19-28.

External links

(French) MAQREB - Mission archéologique canadienne à Ras el Bassit