Identifying the geographic area with best conditions for discovering lime burning: Could the lime industry have been born in the Dead Sea region?

Abstract

Archaeological studies suggest that the lime industry originated in the Near East during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB; 10,500–8400cal BP). This paper describes an attempt to define a more confined area where this pivotal event could have taken place, by searching for areas where lime technology is likely to have been best known during the preceding Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA; 11,600–10,500cal BP) period. The assessment has been undertaken by comparing the conditions for discovering lime burning in different parts of the Southern Levant during the PPNA. Lime burning is the first step in the lime production process. The assessment has been supported by two test-burning experiments by the Dead Sea. The investigations conclude that lime technology was best known in the Jordan Valley and by the Dead Sea, which is consistent with the distribution of Neolithic lime finds to date.