MEG-A Project

Something is cooking up in the MEG-A studies!🤓 Teodozja Rzeuska, Emilia Jastrzębska and Zuzanna Wygnańska had an amazing and super insightful time at a 2-day ceramology meeting at the end of February with Dr Georges Mouamar (CNRS ) at Archéorient, Maison de l'Orient et de la méditerranée in Lyon! The topic: pottery from the megalithic tombs in Akkar. Many thanks to Georges for his time and passion to share his expertise! 🤠The meeting was organised thanks to Narodowe Centrum Nauki grant no 2020/39/I/HS3/02993.

Meet the Polish MEG-A team! Director of the Polish team and co-PI of the Swiss-Polish MEG-A Project co-funded by Narodowe Centrum Nauki: a zealous seeker of megalithic burial sites, a relentless inventor of difficult tasks. But also a logistical powerhouse, a purveyor of provision (and hydration!), and a travel agency specialised in Lebanon. All rolled into one person - Dr Zuza Wygnanska (Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN). Narodowe Centrum Nauki, Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Beirut

Hunting high and low: During the June-July season, the MEG-A survey team (a Polish leg of the Polish-Swiss project), including Zuzanna Wygnańska Filip Wałdoch, Khalil, Mohamad, Kahwagi Janho and Johnny Chaccour, is pressing on with their research on the Akkar uplands. This year's results delivered the breakthrough we've been looking for for nearly four years! It appears the megalith builders didn't just construct their tombs in the area of modern-day Menjez, but also across the basalt hills along the Nahr al-Kabir river. Finding extensive megalithic necropolises with dozens of tombs truly illuminates the practices of these people! Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN Narodowe Centrum Nauki Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Beirut Université de Genève Menjez Heritage House (Photos: Jan Kurzawa )

What does the soil say?🧐

We take samples from soil layers to uncover what the environment looked like in the past. What grew here, was it dry, wet, or... was something else going on?👀

Photo: Jan Kurzawa

Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN
Narodowe Centrum Nauki
Instytut Botaniki im. W. Szafera Polskiej Akademii Nauk w Krakowie

Successful and happy coring team after the mission impossible accomplished! Thank you Mr. Muhammad Abdalla, the mayor of Municipality of Kouchara for your kindness and support 🤗

And some MEG-A diplomacy :)) Meeting with the Polish ambassador in Lebanon Aleksandra Bukowska-McCabe, the consul Aneta Ananicz and Adriana Lis, referent ds. dyplomacji publicznej

Meet our coring team! Damick Khalil and Barbara Woronko are leading the region's first-ever paleoenvironmental studies!

Despite all odds the Polish-Lebanese team have successfully kicked off the season!! We shall update you on our advances soon!

Today was the first time we presented the project to a wide non-archaeological audience of all ages at the 28th Science Fair in Warsaw. 12 hours of animated discussions in the oddly cold May weather was exhausting but also fun! Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN Narodowe Centrum Nauki