The rural hinterland of Tyre between the Late Bronze Age and the Hellenistic periods: the examples of Kharayeb and Jemjim

It is well known that the formation and development of cities and countryside are parts of the same synchronic process that should be studied on a regional level and over long periods. Development of urban settlements and countryside are intrinsically linked. Since the 70s of the last century, many scholars dealing with the Near East have ceased to focus exclusively on urban centers and monumental architecture, orienting their investigations into complex economic systems, including the examination of the inland areas and the small rural settlements. However, despite this orientation of research, the situation of the Phoenician coastal cities' hinterland is not well known. Starting from this assumption, the Italo-Lebanese "Kharayeb project" (Italian National Council of Research and Lebanese University) aims to investigate the mutual relationships between the urban landscape of the great center of Tyre and the rural countryside north of the city, considering the landscape as an expression of the communities who contributed to form it.