Qalaat al-Qawz, the Bronze Age Hill of Baniyas

The Qawz quarter of Baniyas sits on a hill of about 6 hectares that looks east and south over the valley of the Baniyas river. In the Bronze Age there was a fortified settlement here. Today most of the hill is houses and only fragments of the old walls show, so expect scattered traces inside a neighbourhood rather than a laid-out archaeological site.

What there is to see

Stretches of wall survive on the steep south slope and on the north side. They are built of rough, undressed blocks, each weighing several tonnes. The lower line runs for about 400 m and keeps the positions of two gates and three towers. Around them are rock walls, caves worked into the line of the wall, steps cut into the rock, and potsherds turning up in the fields.

How old it is

The Syrian researcher Mohammad Yahya al-A’sar drew a detailed plan of the site in 1991. His work dates the fortifications to the 15th century BC or earlier and describes a double ring of walls. Tablets found on the site record legal contracts with written witnesses; the French scholar Sylvie Lackenbacher published them.

Was this Uza?

Local publications link Qawz with “Uza”, a name in the Karnak inscriptions and the records of Thutmose III, and with a place in the Amarna letter sent by Ammunira, king of Beirut, in 1377 BC. Treat it as a proposal: the identification rests largely on one local study and is not settled.

Is it protected?

About 1500 people live in the quarter. In 2007 the Tartus antiquities department asked the Baniyas council not to issue new building permits on the site without its approval, and in 2012 the site was registered as an antiquity. Because the remains sit among houses, some may be on private property; looking from the street and asking first is the sensible approach.

What most people miss

The south slope. It is one of the places where the line of the wall is clearest, and it also looks out over the Baniyas river valley.