ORAL CONTRIBUTIONS

1. The obsidian assemblage from Neolithic Hagoshrim, Israel: Pressure technology, craft specialization and trade.

Heeli C. Schechter¹, Ran Barkai¹, Ofer Marder² and Avi Gopher¹

¹ Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Israel.

² Israel Antiquities Authority. Israel.

Abstract:

The large obsidian assemblage from the site of Hagoshrim, northern Israel, presents a rare opportunity to study several aspects of Neolithic obsidian in the southern Levant in a much broader perspective than formerly possible. In this study we explore the large variety of obsidian raw material types, their origin, and implication on trade; discuss technological aspects of the bladelet-dominated assemblage, particularly the use of pressure technique; describe tool typology and raw material exploitation; and recognize temporal changes in the assemblage.

The obsidian assemblage of Hagoshrim consists of ca. 10,000 items, derived from continuous surface collection, and from the 1996-1997 systematic excavations (by N. Getzov). The surface collection was analyzed and presented elsewhere so this report deals with the excavated assemblage only (N=2927). The studied assemblage includes raw material chunks, cores, waste, and tools, from all stages of production except for raw material procurement stages. Obsidian items were recovered from all areas and stratigraphic layers of the excavation yet the principal analysis was performed on the assemblages from layers VI-IV of the PPNC and PN periods.

Our main conclusions imply a constant primary East-Anatolian source, along side a rising variety of obsidian types from other sources. Intensification of on-site pressure-bladelet production and technological specialization is also suggested. The sheer volume of the assemblage compared to other known Levantine sites, the increasing variety in obsidian sources and the local technological specialization, reflect shifts in regional trade systems and the growing centrality of Hagoshrim in these systems. 

Key words: Hagoshrim, Israel, Neolithic, Obsidian, Pressure technique, trade.

2. The sequence of chipped stone artifacts from the PPN site of Chogha Golan, Ilam Province, western Iran

Mohsen Zeidi and Nicholas J. Conard

Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Germany.

Abstract:
The site of Chogha Golan is a tell with an area of about 3 hectares on the western bank of the Konjan Cham River 30 km north of Mehran in the Ilam Province of Iran. The site is located in the low foothills of the Zagros at an elevation 485 m asl. The site preserves a stratigraphic sequence of eight meters of PPN cultural deposits dating to the 11^th and 10^th millennia calibrated radiocarbon years BP.

The team of the Tübingen Iranian Stone Age Research Project (TISARP) conducted the excavations at Chogha Golan in 2009 and 2010. The stratigraphy of the site includes 11 major archaeological horizons (AHs) with the basal unit of AH XI directly overlying thick river gravels. This unit is the richest of the horizons, but all horions between AH XI and AH I at the top of the sequence have produced large lithic assemblages. The archaeological sequence is separated by multiple painted plastered floors and architectural building phases.

As is typical for this part of westcentral Zagros, the PPN assemblages are characterized by highly standardized unidirectional bladelets cores, and bullet cores, and the laminar debitage and tools from these cores. Here we present the assemblages of chipped flint and obsidian from Chogha Golan and discuss how technology evolved during this phase of the PPN.

3. The ground stone tools from the PPN site of Chogha Golan, Ilam Province, western Iran

Nicholas J. Conard and Mohsen Zeidi

Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Germany.

Abstract:
The site of Chogha Golan is a tell with an area of about 3 hectares on the western bank of the Konjan Cham River 30 km north of Mehran in the Ilam Province of Iran. The site is located in the low foothills of the Zagros at an elevation 485 m asl. The site preserves a stratigraphic sequence of eight meters of PPN cultural deposits dating to the 11^th and 10^th millennia calibrated radiocarbon years BP. The team of the Tübingen Iranian Stone Age Research Project (TISARP) conducted the excavations at Chogha Golan in 2009 and 2010. The stratigraphy of the site includes 11 major archaeological horizons (AHs).

Ground stone tools (GST) litter the surface of the site, and excavators recovered several dozen GSTs, particularly from the upper strata, where we excavated larger surfaces. While many of the mortars were found in the general fill of the site, three mortars from AH II and two from AH X were incorporated into well-preserved, painted plastered floors. The assemblage also includes sandstone grinding basins and numerous pestles and handstones that presumably come from the gravels of the Konjan Cham River. Here we present these artifacts and consider their position in the social-economic contexts of the PPN of the westcentral Zagros.

4. Distinguishing between arrowheads and spearheads: the case of Çatalhöyük projectile points

Lilian Dogiama

Department of Anthropology. McMaster University, Canada.

Abstract:

A great deal of work has been undertaken on Neolithic projectile points of the Eastern Mediterranean/Near East; their distinctive forms, sizes and technological characteristics have been employed extensively in the development of regional chronologies and to define cultural groups.

In this paper I explore the history of research on distinguishing different types of projectile technology (spears, arrows, darts), before then turning to preliminary results from the study of the Çatalhöyük projectiles.

At Çatalhöyük hunting was taking place in the context of a primarily agro-pastoral community where it features prominently in iconography. The ability to classify arrowheads and spearheads is deemed important in this specific context, as these weapons imply the use of two separate hunting techniques, namely hunting with a bow and arrow and hunting with a spear. These techniques have different socioeconomic (e.g., different point types might signify functional differences) and symbolic (e.g., hunting rituals, differences in performativity and skill) implications for the history and people of Çatalhöyük.

Drawing on North American literature, I examine three different methods for distinguishing between arrowheads and spearheads proposed by Patterson (1985), Thomas (1978; developed further by Shott [1997]) and Van Buren (1974).

Keywords: projectile points; arrowheads; spearheads; Çatalhöyük; hunting.

5. Observations on the Chaîne Opératoire at Nahal Lavan 1021, Western Negev Dunes, in Light of Refitting Studies

Netta Mitki, Omry Barzilai and Nigel Goring-Morris

Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract:

The ephemeral Middle PPNB knapping workshop of Nahal Lavan 1021 in the western Negev dunes was excavated in 2005. The lithic assemblage is relatively small, comprising ca. 5,000 items (exclusive of debris), but including 55 cores. Its limited size, its focus on a single knapping concept, together with the distinctive nature of local raw materials used renders it an ideal candidate for systematic refitting studies. Preliminary results are presented here.

To date a refitting rate of ca. 6% has been accomplished. Almost all products derive from an opposed platform bi-directional blade/let technology characteristic of the western Negev and central Negev highlands. Although most tools and targeted blade/let blanks were removed from the site by the knappers, the refits encompass almost all the different stages of pre-forming and knapping, executed to various degrees of skill. Nodules of variable sizes were exploited: some to make a single core; others to make two separate core reduction sequences; in other instances massive flakes were knapped at nearby sources and used to make core pre-forms.

The refitting study already enables us to reconstruct group decision making processes, different modes of production and to discern individual knapping skills of the group occupying NL 1021.

6. The Lithic Assemblages of Kfar HaHoresh, Israel: A Reappraisal

Dana Shaham, Lena Brailovsky and Nigel Goring-Morris

Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract:

Since its discovery in 1991 investigations at Kfar HaHoresh, in the Lower Galilee, Israel, 16 excavation seasons have exposed a total area of ca. 500 m². The investigations have revealed a complex stratigraphic sequence of occupation comprised of funerary and associated installations, midden deposits and production areas.  C14 dates together with techno-typological observations indicate that it was occupied from the Early through to the Late PPNB, ca. 8500-7250 calBC. In light of its unusual location and its contents, including numerous burials, Kfar HaHoresh has been interpreted as representing a local cult and mortuary centre serving neighbouring communities. Yet, to date, only preliminary results of small samples of the lithic assemblages and special focused studies from the site were published.

Significant progress on the lithic analysis at Kfar HaHoresh enables us to present recent results regarding the technological and typological aspects of the assemblages through the stratigraphic sequence. Of particular interest is the opportunity to evaluate changes in aspects of the two distinct modes of knapping present at the site: the 'formal' (bidirectional blade and bifacial) versus the 'non-standardized' (ad hoc) modes of lithic production.  

Keywords:  Kfar HaHoresh, PPNB, lithics, techno-typology, knapping modes

7. The Bidirectional Blade Industries of the Southern Levant

Omry Barzilai

Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract:

Bidirectional blade technology, often termed naviform, is among the most characteristic features of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (ca. 10,500-8,250 calBP).

This technology was comprehensively studied for the northern Levant whereas in the south only one site (‘Ain Ghazal) was subjected to a detailed experimental study.

The current paper presents a comparative technological, typological and stylistic study of the bidirectional blade industries of the southern Levant. A total of 28 assemblages from various sites representing the chronological range of the PPNB from four distinct geographical regions within the southern Levant were analyzed.

The research results identified several variants for producing bidirectional blades. Two industries were identified respectively in the Mediterranean woodland area and the Negev for the Early and the Middle PPNB sub-stages. One industry was recognized for the Late PPNB in Transjordan. During the Final PPNB (also known as PPNC in the Amman region) bidirectional blade production continued in the Carmel-Galilee region. This industry subsisted until the early PN (Yarmukian) in the central Jordan Valley.

8. Sedentism or mobility: can subsistence strategy be detected through lithic technology? Core exploitation and blank manufacture in the Late Natufian of the core area and periphery

Hila Ashkenazy, Anna Belfer-Cohen, and Nigel Goring-Morris

Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract:

Although the beginning of village life, agriculture and husbandry are known from the Neolithic, the roots of this shift can be traced to the Late Epipalaeolithic Natufian entity, with its rich and diverse material culture.  However, most of this diversity of data comes almost exclusively from a limited region – the so-called Natufian 'core area' - leaving us with a skewed picture of the entity as a whole. It is our intent to show that the study of lithic technology may enable the identification of changes in both the core and peripheral areas that precede the subsequent shift to agricultural village life,  The assemblages of four sites, two from the core-area (Hayonim and Hilazon) and two from the periphery (Saflulim and Givat Hayil I) are examined.  The technological study focuses on the manner in which the cores were prepared, maintained and exploited, as well as the preferred type of blank.  It is our intent to show that efficiency and standardised manufacture vs. opportunistic exploitation of the raw material constitute the main differences between the assemblages from core-area and the periphery, and that they can be attributed to the different subsistence strategies and mobility patterns employed in the two areas.

Keywords: Natufian, lithic technology, mobility, sedentism, opportunism 

9. Of Neolithisation and Regionalism: Obsidian sourcing at PPNA Körtik Tepe (SE Turkey).

Sarah GRANT¹, Tristan CARTER¹, Vecihi ÖZKAYA² and Metin KARTAL³

¹ McMaster University, Ontario, Canada.

² Dicle University, Turkey.

³ Ankara University, Turkey .

Located on the Upper Tigris, the PPNA site of Körtik Tepe represents one of the earliest sedentary settlements in the Anatolian part of the Fertile Crescent (early 10^th millennium BC). Excavation has revealed six occupation phases, with subsistence comprising plant cultivation, fishing and the exploitation of various wild animals. While the site has a strong local character, there is also clear evidence for interaction with communities at the larger regional level.

Using EDXRF to analyse 120 obsidian artefacts, we have aimed to integrating sourcing data, techno-typological specifics and context, to clarify these inter-community relations. Our results demonstrate the exploitation of at least three SE Anatolian sources, the materials being consumed in multiple technical traditions.

  Our results support the claimed similarity between the Körtik Tepe data and that from its neighbours and antecedents (Çayönü, Hallan Çemi, Demirköy) and by extent the emergence of a strong Upper Tigris regional tradition. We next aim to compare how these communities consumed these obsidians, to see if this focus on raw material alone masks site-specific practices (as with recent archaeobotanical and faunal reportage) that enable us to contribute to reconstructing the mosaic of cultural traditions within the complex processes subsumed in the term ‘Neolithisation’.

10. Lithics Industry at Tell-e Ateshi, a Pre- pottery Neolithic Settlement in the Southeast Iran: An Introduction to the Form, Function, Petrography and Mineralogy.

Bahram Ajorloo, Omran Garazhian, Mehdi Razani

Tabriz Islamic Art University, Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

The Pre- pottery settlement of Tell-e Atashi, located in the Darestan district of the Bam territory, falls within the arid desert area of the southeast Iran. The site lies about 700m above sea level and is limited to the north and south by volcanic mountains. It was targeted by sampling and sounding projects in summer 2008. The test trenches show that cultural sediments survive to a height of about 6m from the surface down to virgin soil and consist mostly of in situ architectural structures.

Regardless of architectural remains, as the results, various material cultures including lithic artifacts were recorded from the PPN Tell-e Atashi. The lithic artifacts at Tell-e Atashi are categorized in five main groups:

1-                 Chipped artifacts

2-                 Ground stone and grinding artifacts

3-                 Stone wares

4-                 Decorative objects; and

5-                 Architectural artifacts

The conclusions of preliminary studies recognized the material of these lithics, such as: Andesine, Diorite, Marl, Green Schist, Marble, Calcite family and sand stone. Such studies also prove this idea again that the Neolithic people of the region had selected stone materials consciously. By this paper, the forms and functions of the lithics industry at Tell-e Atashi are discussed on the basis of petrography and mineralogical facts.

Key words: Tell-e Atashi, the southeast Iran, Lithics industry, Pre- pottery Neolithic.

11. Observations on Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Lithic Variability and Regional Settlement Patterns in the Shephelah, Central  Israel

Ofer Marder

Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract:

This presentation focuses on the results of several salvage excavations conducted during the last decade at Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) sites in the Shephelah, Central Israel. Excavations carried out at Tzur Natan, Quleh and Bareqet revealed no architectural features but numerous cup-marked bedrock installations. The finds included flint and groundstone artifacts, and occasionally small faunal assemblages. The vast majority of the flint tools can be attributed to the PPNA, although there may also be some Geometric Kebaran and Natufian elements. Notably there are numerous ad-hoc and bifacial tools, some sickle blades, and few projectile points. Inter-site lithic variability, site function and local settlement patterns will be presented in light of several other recent investigations of PPNA sites in the region and comparison with Epipaleolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlement patterns in the same region. 

Key Words: Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, Lithic Variably, Settlement Patterns, Central Israel, Epipaleolithic (Natufian)

12. Long blade caches at Late Neolithic Shir, Syria

Dörte Rokitta-Krumnow

German Archaeological Institute, Orient-Department, Berlin, Germany.

Abstract:

Archaeological investigations at the Late Neolithic site of Shir in north-western Syria revealed a continuous occupation between 7000 and 6200 BC. Although Shir is a mere Pottery Neolithic site, the chipped lithic industries among other find categories manifest strong PPNB traditions. Among the flint findings daggers, large projectile points, and long blade caches are characteristic throughout all occupational levels. The blanks, measuring up to 22 cm, are predominantly struck from bidirectional/naviform cores. This, together with the raw material choice and the chaîne opératoires, clearly indicates local production. The standardization of the blades and the economic handling of the raw material attests a highly specialized craftsmanship. In addition, the caching of finds at Shir provides insight into various symbolic practices in the context of a Late Neolithic community.

Keywords: Pottery Neolithic, bidirectional blade technology, long blades, caches, symbolic behaviour

13. Towards an Archaeology of Pilgrimage: Sourcing Obsidian from the PPN Temple Complex of Göbekli Tepe

Tristan CARTER¹, François-Xavier LE BOURDONNEC², Gérard POUPEAU² and Klaus SCHMIDT³

¹ McMaster University, Ontario, Canada.

² CNRS / Université Bordeaux 3, France.

³ Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Germany.

Abstract:

Dated to 10^th - 9^th millennia cal BC, the remarkable PPN site of Göbekli Tepe (Urfa Region, SE Turkey) is interpreted by many as the world’s oldest temple complex, its varied finds suggesting visitation by peoples from the Upper Mesopotamia, Zagros and southern Levant. Much discussion on the archaeology of pilgrimage has focused on places, rather than the residues of the associated ritual activities. By sourcing the Göbekli Tepe obsidian we aimed to clarify the centre’s supra-regional connections, hypothesizing that a pilgrimage site should have a broader range of raw materials and artifact types than at nearby contemporary settlements.

Using PIXE and EDXRF we elementally characterized 120 artifacts, with at least six different sources are represented, with one Cappadocian, two or three from East Anatolia and one or more from NE Anatolia. Such as wide range of raw materials – and their associated technologies of consumption – has never been documented previously at contemporary sites from surrounding regions. In modeling the materiality of pilgrimage these are exactly the type of culturally hybrid data that one could have wished for. We now aim to re-humanize the consumption of these obsidians, considering the broader experiences and meanings associated with visiting Göbekli Tepe.

14. Chipped Stone industry from excavation in PPN settlement of Tel-e Atashi, SE Iran

Mozhgan Jayez and Masoud RAHMATI

Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Restoration, Art University, Ishafan, Iran.

Abstract:

Tell-e Atashi is a PPN settlement in Bam district, Kerman Province of Iran. It is one of the largest Neolithic sites of Iran dating back to late 6^th-ealry 5^th millennium BC. The site was excavated in 2009 and in this article the lithic assemblage from excavation is studies with regard to aspects such as blanks (technology structure), structure and morphology of retouched tools, metric analysis and we attempt to reconstruct site function, organization of stone tool production and reduction sequence from chipped stone artifacts. According to comparative studies between stratigraphic phases of the site, it seems that the presence of bladelets is almost constant through all phases. Relatively few formal tools exist and Utilization of microliths is a major characteristic of the assemblage. Surprisingly few bladelet cores with pressure technique in producing bladelets are present.

Key Words: PPN, Chipped stone, Tell-e Atashi, Bam, Technological structures

15. Nahal Ein Gev II – A late Natufian site/village?

Leore Grosman¹, Anna Belfer-Cohen¹ and Ofer Bar-Yosef²

¹ The Hebrew University, Israel.

² Harvard University, USA.

Abstract:

The site of Nahal Ein Gev II is located 2 km east of the Sea of Galilee lake shore. It was briefly tested in 1973 and assigned to the Late/Final Natufian/PPNA (?). We have returned to the site starting the summer of 2010. An area was opened at the eroded south section next to the wadi bank to assist in understanding the nature of the occupation. So far, the stratigraphy revealed is uniform, suggesting a single occupation layer rich in lithics and other cultural material remains. There are indications of at least seven circular structures constructed by large blocks of the local basalt (some preserved to a height ca. 30-40), with diameters reaching up to 4-6 m. 

Preliminary results of the new series of excavation confirm the previous cultural assignment of the site to the Late/Final Natufian. It was probably a village exhibiting a complex site plan that includes various massive round structures. We hope that further excavations will shed light on Late Natufian sedentary life and the possible migration of groups during the end of this period from the Mediterranean 'core area' to sedentary villages in the Jordan Valley, practicing early stages of cultivation.

Key words: Natufian, Early Neolithic, Nahal Ein-GevII, early villages, circular structures.

16. Chipped Stone Assemblage from Systematic Surface Survey in PPN Settlement of Tell-e Atashi in South-Eastern Iran

Maryam Shakooie

Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract:

Tell-e Atashi is a principal site among Darestan Neolithic sites. Darestan is located in district of Bam in east Kerman province, south-eastern Iran. Systematic surface sampling was conducted in Tell-e Atashi in 2009, as a result of which chipped stone artifacts from 5 percent of the total area of the site comprised of 723 2×2m squares was collected. In this article I studied chipped stone artefacts from surface sampling in Tell-e Atashi with respect to their typological and technological aspects and their distribution in sampling area. High Segmentation of artifacts, few blade/lets in comparison to flakes and few formal tools are some of the characteristics of chipped stone assemblage from surface sampling. There are rare bullet cores in the assemblage and most of the cores are multidirectional flake cores and mixed cores, which is in accordance to flake-based technology of the site. Since Tell-e Atashi was also excavated, a comparison between results form surface sampling and excavation is presented in this article to recognize similarity between sampling and excavation data.

17. Giv’at Kipod, Israel: a production centre for basalt bifacial tool in the southern Levant

Danny Rosenberg¹ and Ron Shimelmitz²

¹ Laboratory for Groundstone Research, Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Israel.

² Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Abstract:

Bifacial tools made of a variety of raw materials occupy a central position among the lithic industries of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods of the southern Levant. This paper describes the excavation at the basalt bifacial quarry and production site of Giv’at Kipod in the Manasseh Hills in Israel, and discusses the technological aspects of tool production at the site and end products. The extensive production of bifacial tools at Giv’at Kipod and the accessible source of high quality raw material suggest a long-lasting production pattern and repetitive visits to the site. The intensity and scale of production at the site suggests it had a primary role in the region for the production of these items bearing profound meanings interlacing both social and economic components. The site, the only known quarry and production site for basalt bifacial tools in the southern Levant to date, offers a unique opportunity to reconstruct quarrying methods, organisation of production, spatial distribution patterns, knapping technologies and discard patterns for such tools and enable reconstruction of ties between habitation and quarry sites.

Keywords: Bifacial tools, Basalt, Quarry, Production, Workshop

18. Incised slabs from Hayonim Cave: a methodological case study for reading Natufian art

Dana Shaham

Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract:

The massive appearance of artistic manifestations during the Natufian culture in the Levant (ca. 15,000 BP) has been linked with the Natufian apparent social complexity, part of the social transformations which accompanied the transition from Paleolithic to Neolithic lifeways. Although Natufian art objects have been studied and interpreted since the discovery of the Natufian culture, the artistic-visual context of Natufian art is yet to be defined.

A group of limestone slabs bearing patterned incisions were retrieved from Natufian contexts at Hayonim cave, Israel. Few were published before while some weren't studied until recently. These incised stone slabs will furnish examination of a cross-disciplinary approach for studying Natufian art by using the art history comparative method, where inductive bodies of visual comparisons follow descriptive, stylistic and thematic questions.  We intend to present the current study results along with preliminary inferences of this approach of exploration, hitherto not applied to the study of the Natufian artistic manifestations.

Keywords:  Natufian culture, Hayonim cave, incised slabs, prehistoric art, methodology

19. Qumran Cave 24, A Neolithic-Chalcolithic Site near by the Dead Sea: some information on lithics

A. Gopher¹, R. Barkai, C. Lemorini and H. Schechter

¹ Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Abstract:

Qumran Cave 24 is a small cave site located west of the Dead Sea at elevation 285 mbsl in a presently extremely dry area. Below the late Classical layers of the Roman period, a Neolithic-Chalcolithic sequence was exposed including PPNA, PPNB, Pottery Neolithic (PN) and Chalcolithic Ghassulian layers.

All layers provide lithics and faunal remains as well as groundstone and bone tools.

Lithic (typological and technological) analyses as well as a series of ¹⁴C dates, enable a chrono-cultural assignment of the assemblages to well known regional entities.

The site is interpreted as a seasonal occupation for both PPN Hunters-Gatherers and for PN and Chalcolithic herders, most probably occupying the site in the winter.

While the absolute numbers of flint items are low, it seems that flint knapping was carried out in the cave too as indicated by the presence of PEs, cores, CTEs and a high percentage of debris. The percentage of shaped tools is quite 'normal' (between 7-10%) in the different layers. Tool composition is of interest for reconstructing cave function. It indicates a relatively high presence of arrowheads in the PPNB while the presence of arrowheads in the PPNA is relatively low. An elegant obsidian Helwan point is a manifestation of investment in PPNB arrowheads. In situ arrowheads in the PN and Chalcolithic layers are minor, we do however note that typological PN (small) arrowheads do appear in the cave in unsafe and intrusive contexts indicating that hunting was of importance both in the PPN and in the PN when domesticates are already present. Sickle blades are minute throughout the sequence except for the PPNB. Only a single flint axe (with a transversal blow) was found in the lowest level. It seems that crop harvesting and woodworking were marginal activities, which is not surprising. Two narrow and unshaped blades were found 'hafted' that is, within their hafting material/glue. 

A variety of activities were detected in a use-wear study of over 100 items of a variety of types indicating mainly various cutting, scraping and whittling activities. Vegetal materials are most conspicuous in PPNB cutting while soft tissues (meat) are dominant in PPNA cutting. Of note are an arrowhead tang showing hafting in wood, an obsidian blade used to shape soft stone, wood shaping and soft stone shaping.

An additional point of interest is the presence of lunates in the deepest (PPNA) layers (and some intrusive in later layers) – they are all backed and very small. Although lunates are known from PPNA contexts their presence here raises the possibility of a very late Natufian presence on-site.

Qumran Cave 24 may provide a good starting point for reconstructing mobility patterns and seasonal activities of both PPN Hunters-Gatherers and later PN and Chalcolithic herders in a desert landscape as part of larger scale socio-economic systems.

Key words: Pre-Pottery Neolithic, Pottery Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Dead Sea area, Qumran Cave 24, lithic technology, typology and function, settlement patterns.

20. Preliminary Results of Trial Excavations at Nahal Hava: A PPNB Campsite in the Central Negev Highlands, Israel

Michal Birkenfeld and Nigel Goring-Morris

Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract:

The site of Nahal Hava is located in its upper reaches at the eastern end of Mishor Haruhot, ca. 1.5 km north of the Maktesh Ramon escarpment, in the central Negev highlands. The specific setting is beneath a low bluff on the southeast facing slope of a small tributary wadi at 750 m asl. A short season of excavations was conducted in 2010; the site comprises two distinct areas.

Nahal Hava I is an open-air encampment with a cluster of at least five low circular stone-walled structures in a beehive arrangement extending over <100 m². The structures were extensively deflated; although many finds were washed down-slope, they were exclusively of PPNB attribution.

Nahal Hava II is located ca. 15m north of NH I in a similar situation. It comprises a small rockshelter/cave, again with much material washed down-slope, but with evidence for ashy sediments. Unfortunately, it was impossible to investigate the rock-shelter/cave, which was infested with fleas. Finds included lithics attributable to the Late Epipalaeolithic and PPNB.

The Nahal Hava site complex complements previous studies indicating a distinctive mobile foraging adaptation in the western and central Negev during the PPNB, with (seasonal?) movements between the lowlands and highlands.

21. The Bone Tool Repertoire from PPNB Kfar Hahoresh

Anna Belfer-Cohen and Nigel Goring-Morris

Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Israel

Abstract:

The bone tool repertoire from Kfar Hahoresh (N=ca. 270), though fragmented, was recovered from the Early through the Late PPNB levels (ca. 8,500-7,250 calBC). In general, the dominant types are of the spatulae variety but there are also awls and thick or flat points, as well as beads and pendants. The functional items appear to mainly represent activities associated with weaving and basketry, also evident through the wear-signs of delicate denticulation on some of the items.

Bone tool assemblages first appear in the southern Levant in quantity during the Natufian (the Levantine Aurignacian excepted). But, to date, few early Neolithic bone tool assemblages have been published in detail. Still, it is clear that the repertoire, morphology and decorations change through time, with a shift away from the narrow 'projectile'-like tools, needles, 'gorgets' and bone hafts characteristic of the Natufian. The PPNB assemblages also differ from those of the PPNA which are noted by the present of heavy duty scrapers and polishers. So too, raw materials change with a lesser use of horn.

22. Caching and depositing in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of Yiftahel, Israel

Hamoudi Khalaily, Ianir Milevski and Omry Barzilai

Israel Antiquities Authority.

Abstract:

Extended salvage excavations were conducted at the site of Yiftahel, Lower Galilee, during 2007-2008. These excavations exposed remains dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (8500-7000 BC cal.) covering an area estimated to ca. 4 hectares.

Four excavation areas were opened: Area I in the northern part of the site, Areas F and H in the center, and Area G at the southern fringe.  In area I, impressive complex buildings with plastered floors and several phases were exposed. This complex consist of two superimposed buildings with a rectangular plan, covering an area of ​​100 square meters. The walls were built of stone and brick and several installations integrated in the plaster floors or dug into it. The buildings also include various human burials beneath the floors, as well as cultic interments of aurochs. Notably a cache of three plastered skulls was recovered adjacent to Building 501.

One of the striking phenomena within the buildings of Area I, is the caching and depositing of lithics in various locations above and under the floors. Caches of flint items were encountered in three places, one of these locales consisted more than 100 naviform flint blades and other objects concealed in a corner of a room, beneath the plaster floor.  Another cache was found adjacent to the previous one, containing 20 Byblos points in different stages of preparation. The third is a remarkable concentration of 21 naviform cores in early production stages . This was associated with another stock of 11 blade tools, two polished axes, two rubbing stones, an anvil, a hammerstone, and bone tools that were placed in a pit.  And finally, a hoard of five votive green axes was found above the floor of Building 501.

It is suggested that caching and depositing of flint tools and other prestigious materials in the complex building in Area I at PPNB Yiftahel is one of a series of communal activities. The location of these caches together with other mortary and cultic burials suggests that these structures functioned as communal locales and not as residential ones. Their discovery at the PPNB site of Yiftahel indicates an intricate social and economic system at the community level.

23. Don't look at the hole, look around it. The usage of PPNA cupmarks and its significance

David Eitam

Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract:

Cupmarks were a dominant feature among PPNA installations, whereas the Natufian conical mortar (better known as "stone pipe" when pierce at bottom) was the "fossile directeur" of the Late Epipaleolithic. While the uses of the conical mortars were lately revealed, the role of PPNA cupmarks is still enigmatic. The function of the early Natufian wide conical mortar was to remove the deadly-sharp base of the own (hummeling), whereas the late and final Natufian oblong conical mortars were used for de-husking the wild barley grain (Eitam 2008). This was recently demonstrated by experimental operations conducted by us (Eitam et al. forth). 

When searching for the PPNA cupmark function, one may look at it as part of a complex installation, considering the flat or slightly concave surface around the cupmark (Eitam 2010). The shape and usewear of some the surfaces, indicate that grinding was carried out by rotary motion in oval course, or in linear line. The cupmark seems to be a collecting vat, gathering the ground meal or groats. This method of gathering the grounded material began during the end of the Natufian (Eitam 2008), frequently common in PPNB querns, was still used in large querns during MBI period (2200-2000 BC; Eitam 2005: Fig. 463:1).

The economic-social significances of these observations will be presented in the talk, suggesting a transformation in subsidence strategy during the Late Epipaleolithic and PPNA.

24. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Quarry Site of Kaizer, Modi‘in – the spoils

Gadi Hezlinger, Leore Grosman, Naama Goren-Inbar

Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract:

The archaeological site of Kaizer Hill, located in the outskirts of the city of Modi‘in, Israel, was surveyed in the past by the Israel Antiquities Authority and assigned to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) by its lithic assemblage. A recent study has identified the site as a large-scale quarry from which three types of rock were extracted: caliche, limestone and flint. The identification of quarrying is based on the following observations: 1) Diverse quarrying marks (rock damage), including quarrying fronts, on the caliche and limestone surfaces; 2) Homogeneous PPNA lithic assemblages identified on both the hilltop and its slopes; 3) Spoils discerned on the slopes of the hill.

We present here the results of a systematic study of the spoils. The fieldwork included sampling of the spoils, detailed study of their location (aerial photographs), and their excavation, documentation, and analysis. The results point to systematic planning and execution as well as an evident spatial organization, expressed in the waste management strategy. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrated the existence of several quarrying methods that form an overall strategy of rock quarrying. The results shed light on the technological skills and quarrying strategies deriving from the complex cultural abilities of the PPNA community.

Keywords: spoils, quarrying, limestone, PPNA, Israel

25. A Functional Look at Drills from Huzuk Musa, The Lower Jordan Valley

Iris Groman-Yaroslavski, Danny Rosenberg and Dani Nadel

Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Israel.

Abstract:

Reconnaissance investigations at Huzuq Musa (the Lower Jordan Valley) revealed a large site featuring many stone structures and bedrock features. Excavations provided a wealth of in situ material, belonging to the latest phase of the Natufian culture and probably also to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA). One of the most prolific tool types at the site is the drill, which also serves as a hallmark of this short and intriguing cultural phase. In this paper we discuss the state of preservation of the drills and their typological breakdown. We also present a functional interpretation based on preliminary results from the use-wear analyses. A potential correlation to the bead industry at the site is also addressed.

Key words: Huzuk Musa, Natufian, PPNA, drills, typology, use-wear analysis

26. The Near Eastern connections of the Neolithic in the Southern Caucasus: a lithic perspective

Zinovi Matskevich

Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, USA.

Abstract:

The area of the Caucasus represents a particularly interesting case-study for testing hypotheses concerning the spread of farming economy beyond the Near East, as it represents a natural transitional zone between South-Western Asia and Eastern Europe. The first agricultural communities have established themselves in the eastern part of the southern Caucasus no later than the second half of the seventh millennium calBC. At the same time, in the western Caucasus hunting-gathering seems to remain a dominant subsistence pattern as late as the fifth millennium cal. BC. During this long period of hunter-gatherers/early farmers coexistence, there is evidence for intensive cultural contacts both within the region (expressed by obsidian trade) and with the Near East, expressed in gradual infiltration of the Neolithic cultural practices and material culture traits. The paper will present the “Near Eastern” elements in the lithic repertoire of the Early Holocene cultural entities of the Caucasus and discuss the cultural impact of the Neolithic cultures of the Fertile Crescent on the neighbouring territories.

27. The Lithic Assemblage from Hof Shahaf – Early or Late Natufian?

Noa Klein

Department of Prehistory, The Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract:

Hof Shahaf is a Natufian site on the western shore of Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee). The site was excavated in 2008 as part of  salvage excavations in the area. It is the first Natufian site to be excavated on the shore of the lake. The findings in the site display a mix of Early and Late Natufian attributes, and so the placement of the site within the Natufian timeline is difficult. The analysis of the lithic assemblage was done with the main purpose of better defining Hof Shahaf within the Natufian scheme, both temporarily and functionally. The traditional tripod division of the Natufian is based on the microlithic lunate retouch and length. The trend changes over time from long, Helwan retouched lunates to short and backed ones. The Hof Shahaf lunates, however, do not conform to this scheme: the high percentage of Helwan lunates at the site suggests that the assemblage is Early Natufian; however, their small size is considered more indicative of the Late Natufian. Again, temporal placement of the site is difficult. However, precedents of such phenomenon do exist in the literature, suggesting it might not be that unusual within the Natufian complex.

Key words: Neolithic spread, Caucasus, bullet cores, obsidian, microliths

28. Points with Palmyran Retouch from Tell Ain el-Kerkh, Syria

Makoto ARIMURA

National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract:

Specific point groups having a proximal scar on the ventral face of the tang have been identified by several scholars as “Palmyran retouch” or “Palmyran points”. Studies so far have mentioned that the proximal scar functioned as a retouch to remove the bulbar end of the blank blade. Recent studies have revealed that such a retouch technique is closely related to a regional variant of bi-directional blade technology (Douara type navioform method or off-set bi-directional strategy). The chrono-geographical distribution of sites producing these points indicates that they might be characteristic of the LPPNB lithic industries of Syrian desert and Jezireh.

Tell Ain el-Kerkh, which is situated in the Levantine corridor in Northwest Syria, is a huge tell complex, and it was occupied from the EPPNB to the Pottery Neolithic period. Excavations at PPNB–Early PN layers at Tell Ain el-Kerkh also yielded several points with Palmyran retouch. Judging from the technological study of lithic industries in these layers, points with Palmyran retouch from Tell Ain e-Kekrh might not have been made in the site but come from elsewhere.

This presentation will report the western examples of points with Palmyran retouch and consider their meaning in the PPNB in the northern Levant.

29. Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Foragers in the Central and the Western Negev: a summary of recent investigations

Nigel Goring-Morris¹ and Omry Barzilai ²

¹ Institute of Archaeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

² Israel Antiquities Authority, Israel.

Abstract:

The central/western Negev and northern Sinai PPNB is represented by mobile foragers shifting seasonally between highland base camps with durable circular architecture and lowland ephemeral stations. Lithic assemblages demonstrate shifts in preferred raw materials, technologies and typological classes.

Following a hiatus during the PPNA, sparse Early PPNB re-occupation of the region is documented, when high quality raw materials were used for single platform prismatic and bidirectional platform cores to produce elongated flake blanks for short Helwan points. The use of obsidian and appearance of bifacial tranchet axes are notable at Nahal Lavan 109; characteristics indicating connections with the Judean hills (especially EPPNB Motza).

Occupation densities increased during the Middle/Late PPNB, when any local raw materials available were exploited for a distinctive “supporting platform” bidirectional blade technology to produce irregular blanks for medium-sized arrowheads (especially asymmetrical Jericho/Byblos points with short, simply retouched tangs) and retouched blades, but few bifacial tools. There are few obvious correlations with assemblages from neighboring regions.          

Although few obvious Late PPNB sites are documented, the subsequent Final PPNB/early Late Neolithic is represented by the 'Tuwailan' industry, with its apparent pastoralist features - fewer arrowheads and the appearance of unifacial/bifacial knives – when correlations with the southern Coastal Plain are indicated.

30. Grooved stones and the Neolithic–Chalcolithic transition in the southern Levant

Ariel Vered

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract:

Grooved stones are found regularly in the southern Levant in Natufian and Neolithic sites. Patterns of groove morphology, use marks and raw material selection suggest that several types of grooved stones were in use, each designed for a different task. Similar tools known from the ethnographic record served in making arrows, shaping beads, and sharpening bone and wood tools; however, identifying the exact usage(s) of particular archaeological specimens remains difficult. Unlike other groundstone tools that make their debut in the Natufian, grooved stones are extremely rare from the Chalcolithic period onward. "Shaft straighteners" were obsolete when hunting became of minor economic significance, but the nearly simultaneous drop in the numbers of all other types of grooved stones calls for an explanation. As these tools were used in making and maintaining other items, their scarcity may hint at a change in the organization of production, perhaps reflecting a growing social complexity in the transition to the Chalcolithic period.

Keywords: grooved stones, shaft-straightener, southern Levant, Neolithic, Chalcolithic

31. Tool Curation and Diffusion Networks of Anatolian Obsidians

Laurence Astruc

CNRS/IFEA, France.

Abstract:

We propose here a discussion on the Tool Curation and Diffusion of Anatolian Obsidians during the Neolithic. Tool types such as thinned down blades, Corner Thinned Blades (CTB), Side-Blow-Blade-Flakes (SBBF) and Çayonü Tools have been analyzed on a technological point of view, from the raw material selection to the manufacture and rejuvenation of tools. Our results are based on the archaeological assemblages available for study in northern Syria and Sinjar. I would like to thank Y. Nishiaki, E. Coqueugniot, P. Akkermans, N. Bader and M.C. Cauvin for allowing me to make reference to their material. Already published Mesopotamian and Anatolian assemblages will be used for comparison.

32. Early Neolithic Flint Raw Material Procurement in the Greater Petra Region/Southern Levant. Research Possibilities and Limits as seen from LPPNB Ba'ja.

Christoph Purschwitz

Institut für Vorderasiatische Archäologie, Freie Universtät Berlin and ex oriente, Berlin, Germany.

Abstract:

Preliminary modes and patterns of flint raw material acquisition and selection will be presented based on the analysis of chipped lithics collections of the LPPNB site of Ba'ja. These insights, as turned out also from other PPNB sites belonging to the mega-site-phenomenon well illustrates that the use of abiotic resources help to understand the social and economic complexity of an Early Neolithic society, including identifying the various lithic identities. Unfortunately most lithic analysis focuses on the manufacturing and consumption of blank and tools from the site and neglect their geological, territorial and environmental background. Possibilities and limits of approaches restricted to questions generated from site findings will be discussed and the need of more geoarchaeological surveys will be advocated.

33. Hafting and maintaining sickles in the southern Levant during the 6^th and 5^th millennia

Jacob Vardi and Isaac Gilead

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.

Abstract:

The morphological characteristics of the sickle blades, common in many post-Epi palaeolithic assemblages of the southern Levant, reflect both hafting and maintaining sickle working edges. It is our opinion that diachronic differences of these traits also reflect changes in the practice of cereal crop agriculture.

During the 6^th and 5^th millennia BC the techniques of producing and maintaining sickle blades changed considerably. While the fabrication of sickle blades of the Early Pottery Neolithic cultural entities (e.g., Yarmukian, Lodian) required more time investment since each sickle blade was shaped by pressure retouch, the late Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic ones show that the production systems of the sickle blades changed. In many cases the reduction sequence became standardized and blade blanks were produced en masse. The shaping of blank blades into sickles became less time consuming. In most cases the working edges were not shaped prior to harvest and the fine denticulation common to sickle blades of the second half of the 5^th millennium BC, is actually edge rejuvenation. This shows the close relation between the intensity of retouch and accumulation of gloss, i.e., the abrasion of sickle blades.

The fabrication of the sickle blades, their hafting, and their maintenance was affected by numerous environmental and anthropogenic factors such as field density. The mass production of sickle blades in the Ghassulian sites of the Beer Sheva area calls for a re-appraisal of the role cereal crop agriculture played in the subsistence economy of the southern Levant in general and of the semi-arid regions in particular. Their quantities coupled with their morphological features, such as working edges that were not modified before use, point to a more efficient production process of harvesting tools which can also be related to changes in the practice of grain crops agriculture during the Chalcolithic period compared with the late Pottery Neolithic.

34. Large Scale Larnite-Marble Quarries and Bifacial tools production sites, from the southern Judean Desert

Jacob Vardi

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to present a novel discovery of mass production quarries and workshops that focused in the fabrication of typical Neolithic and Chalcolithic bifacial tools found in the southern Judean Desert.  The largest production site was discovered at 2009 on the slopes of one of Har Parsa (hoof Mt.) ridge hills. This site, similar to several other quarries and workshops discovered earlier can be described as a huge refuse site with some evidence to the onsite knapping activity. Several waste concentrations situated of the hill top represent knapping areas. These extend for several dozens of square meters however the total dumping area of Har Parsa is estimated at ca. 10000 square meters.  The hill slopes are virtually littered by knapping waste. The number of unfinished bifacials that were discarded at different stages of modification is estimated by thousands.

Apart for the mere discovery of large bifacial production site in the southern Levant the uniqueness of that site is by the use of a totally new type of raw material unknown in the study of lithic tools so far. The Larnite Marble is common in the Hatrurim geological formation that is composed by metamorphic rocks. It has a unique chemical structure which is very similar to Portland cement. In comparison to flint as well as to several types of basalt it has a high relative density of 3.15 gr. Per cm³ which makes it heavier than flint (~2.5 gr. per cm³) and perhaps more durable to perform the tasks to which bifacial tools were designated. However, currently the use of that type of raw material is a true novelty. In addition since it was not reported from any of the Neolithic or Chalcolithic sites of the southern Levant and the final destination of the end products is unknown.

35. The Göllüdağ survey (2007-2011).

Nur Balkan-Atlı

Prehistory Section. Istanbul University. Turkey.

Abstract:

Since 2007, a survey directed by the Istanbul University has concentrated on the considerable density of obsidian sources and archaeological remains found on the slopes of the Göllüdağ and Nenezidağ volcanoes. Detailed mapping of the obsidians outcrops and distribution of archaeological material are now available using a GIS. The main results obtained on the frequentation of the area during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods will be presented.