Ras el Bassit and the Late Antique Archaeological Landscape of Coastal North Syria

The knowledge of the Late Antique archaeological landscape of coastal North Syria remains sparse. As field investigation is to resume again and to extend to the Late Antique urban fabric and economy of the site, this chapter is intended as a provisional portrait of Late Antique Bassit and as a statement of its potential, drawing both from Courbin's archive and published results, and from the results of recent and ongoing research. An overview of Late Antique Bassit thus includes a short report on the church complex; by underlying differences in material culture and church architecture, it then considers to what extent Late Antique Bassit relates to inland North Syria or yields evidence of a regional material identity on the North Syrian coast. To this end, the potential of Late Antique Bassit is wide, and the site promises a significant contribution to the archaeology of the Northern Levant in Late Antiquity. Keywords: archaeological landscape; church architecture; coastal North Syria; Courbin's archive; Late Antique Bassit; Northern Levant; Ras el Bassit