Claude Doumet-Serhal, a Lebanese archaeologist born in Beirut, has dedicated her career to uncovering Lebanon’s ancient past. During the Lebanese civil war, she moved to Paris, where she earned a PhD from Sorbonne Paris 1 and a diploma from the École du Louvre. Her early fieldwork focused on sites in Syria, such as Ras Shamra-Ugarit and Ras Ibn Hani. In 1993, after relocating to London, Doumet-Serhal founded the Lebanese British Friends of the National Museum, a non-profit organization aimed at restoring Beirut’s National Museum and promoting Lebanon’s cultural heritage. In 1998, she launched a joint excavation project in Sidon with the British Museum and Lebanon’s Department of Antiquities.

Over 21 years, this excavation has revealed one of the Levantine coast’s most significant archaeological sites, showcasing continuous occupation from the end of the third millennium BC to the Crusader period. The Canaanite DNA findings from Sidon, analyzed at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, have provided key insights into Lebanese ancestry.

Doumet-Serhal’s contributions have earned her an MBE and recognition as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in London, Special Assistant at the British Museum, Honorary Research Fellow at University College London, and Trustee of the Honor Frost Charitable Trust. She also received a distinction from the Lebanese CNRS for scientific research in 2015. She continues to publish and exhibit extensively, sharing the groundbreaking results of her work.