History of ancient Lebanon

The history of ancient Lebanon spans the period from prehistoric times through antiquity and the Arab conquest in the 7th century.

Prehistoric times

Pleistocene

Historical fossil collections from Lebanon indicate that the region served as an important corridor for animals and different human lineages during the Pleistocene, particularly between approximately 400,000 and 100,000 years ago. These finds contribute to one of the longest paleoecological records in the region, documenting movements of Homo sapiens and possible encounters with Neanderthals, as well as evidence of hominins processing prey animals. The environmental record further indicates well-developed Mediterranean forest vegetation, including firs, birches, hazels, elms, lindens, hop-hornbeams, and hornbeams, forming a mosaic of densely vegetated areas and seasonally productive clearings.

Neolithic

The earliest known settlements in Lebanon date to the Neolithic period, with archaeological evidence documenting human occupation in the region by at least the early Holocene.

The earliest inhabitants settled there during the Early Neolithic period, establishing small communities on the western slope of the promontory of Byblos, giving further proof that the city is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, and has been continuously occupied since Neolithic times, with UNESCO identifying its earliest settlement as a community of fishermen dating to approximately 8,000 years ago. In Byblos, People lived in simple huts with pebble floors coated in crushed-limestone plaster. Their economy combined basic agriculture, animal husbandry, and fishing, while trade networks brought obsidian from Anatolia to the settlement. Other archaeological evidence from Byblos includes settlement remains and artifacts, while later excavations have documented burials and other evidence of the site's long sequence of occupation.

Bronze Age

By around 4000 BC, the region corresponding to present-day Lebanon was characterized by a chain of coastal settlements and cities backed by a densely forested mountainous hinterland.