Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Research Articles

Architecture, sedentism, and social complexity at Pre-Pottery Neolithic A WF16, Southern Jordan

Recent excavations at Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) WF16 in southern Jordan have revealed remarkable evidence of architectural developments in the early Neolithic. This sheds light on both special purpose structures and "domestic" settlement, allowing fresh insights into the development of increasingly sedentary communities and the social systems they supported. The development of sedentary communities is a central part of the Neolithic process in Southwest Asia. Architecture and ideas of homes and households have been important to the debate, although there has also been considerable discussion on the role of communal buildings and the organization of early sedentarizing communities since the discovery of the tower at Jericho. Recently, the focus has been on either northern Levantine PPNA sites, such as Jerf el Ahmar, or the emergence of ritual buildings in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the southern Levant. Much of the debate revolves around a division between what is interpreted as domestic space, contrasted with "special purpose" buildings. Our recent evidence allows a fresh examination of the nature of early Neolithic communities.

A revised chronology for the adoption of agriculture in the Southern Levant and the role of Lateglacial climatic change

This paper re-examines the chronology and environmental context for the transition to agriculture in the Southern Levant, seen as the likely starting point for the adoption of agriculture in Europe and the Near East. The role in this process of abrupt late Quaternary climate change has been discussed widely, but limitations on the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental chronologies have led to varying interpretations. Here we attempt to clarify the situation by first testing the available radiocarbon database for the archaeological transitions from the Natufian through to the PPNA. We apply internationally accepted radiocarbon quality assurance procedures and find that a significant number of the published dates fall bellow acceptable standards. The cleaning process significantly clarifies and constrains the reported time ranges for the Natufian, Late Natufian and PPNA. We then apply the new IntCal09 calibration curve and Bayesian calibration methods, using the archaeological phasing to constrain the data and calculate the most likely timing of the transitions between each phase. We then compare the onset and duration of archaeological phases to data representing the key Northern Hemisphere climatic transitions, using the new GICC05 Greenland Ice core timescale and the timing of transitions between wet and dry phases in the southern Levant from published high precision isotopic analyses of Speleothem data. The results of this exercise present the currently best available chronology for these events and suggest that during the second part of the Lateglacial interstadial, drying of the southern Levant may have triggered the transition to the Late Natufian, when hunter-gatherer communities resorted to a more mobile lifestyle. The Late Natufian culture appears to have disappeared from the southern Levant during the Younger Dryas, as drying intensified. There is then a gap in well dated evidence for human occupation until a reappearance of humans at the onset of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period at the beginning of the Holocene. Thus the onset of the Holocene can be hypothesised to be the driver behind the onset of the Neolithic in this region.

Original Synthetic Report: Study of Neolithic human graves from Tell Qaramel in North Syria

Abstract - In this report we present the study of human skeletons and the mortuary practice in Tell Qaramel site in northern Syria during the period of the Pre Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA). The samples came from 12 graves which present both individual and collective burials and contain altogether 20 skeletons. All burials discovered are of adult individuals who were buried without cranium, or cranium alone, and in few cases buried with the entire skeleton. Analysis of these skeletal remains provides the most obvious proof of the cut head process and the circumstance according to which it is done. In some cases many cut marks on the second cervical vertebra are be noted indicating very likely that the separation of the head was made by a flint tool directly after the death. While in other cases the body seems buried until the flesh was decayed and then the burial is opened and only the skull is taken. Our results are compared with those of previous studies relating to Neolithic in northern and southern Syrian sites and in other sites in other regions of Middle Orient and North Africa in the aim to show the general evolution of the mortuary practice during the different periods of Neolithic and to show the religious and social beliefs governing burial rites at these periods. Key words: Tell Qaramel site, Syria, PPNA, PPNB, cut marks, mortuary practice.

Moving Heaven and Earth: Landscape, Death and Memory in the Aceramic Neolithic of Cyprus. Paula Louise Jones.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsMoving Heaven and Earth: Landscape, Death and Memory in the Aceramic Neolithic of Cyprus. Paula Louise Jones.Alan H. SimmonsAlan H. Simmons Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research Volume 356November 2009 A journal of the American Schools of Oriental Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/BASOR25609350 Views: 7Total views on this site Journal History This article was published in the Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research (1921-2021), which is continued by the Bulletin of the American Schools of Overseas Research (2022-present). Copyright 2009 The American Schools of Oriental ResearchPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Considering Living-Beings in the Aceramic Neolithic of Cyprus

This paper seeks to provide an alternative perspective on the portrayal of animals as exclusively ‘resources’ in the existing archaeological literature; it also re examines the relationships between humans and non-human animals in the Early Aceramic Neolithic of Cyprus. Archaeological data from two sites, Mylouthkia and Shillourokambos, form the focus of discussion. Through an exploration of potentials and contextualisation of these data, it considers the significance of human perception and experience in the creation of living worlds, the particularities of relationships between living-beings, and the roles of our ‘significant others’.

Notes on the Cult Buildings of Northern Mesopotamia in the Aceramic Neolithic Period

B efore the series of discoveries of monumental Upper Mesopotamian communal ritual structures, the question of the construction of cult buildings during the Aceramic Neolithic period remained unresolved. The research conducted at the existing Aceramic Neolithic sites in Northern Syria, Iraq, and especially Southeastern Turkey dating to the tenth through the eighth millennia b.c. (fig. 1) provides evidence for the existence of public cult buildings during the period under discussion. The reports and publications on excavations at Hallan Cemi, Jerf el-Ahmar, Tell ‘Abr 3, Dja‘de el-Mughara, Nevali Cori, Cayonu Tepesi, and Gobekli Tepe are extremely informative. 1 Analysis of the reports and other publications provides an opportunity to trace the development of the general principles of the erection of cult structures in early Neolithic settlements in Northern Mesopotamia.

The role of foxes in the Natufian economy

The Natufian culture of the Levant represents a sedentary, terminal Pleistocene hunter-gatherer society. Excavations of Natufian hamlets yield rich faunal assemblages in which a significant rise in small carnivore frequencies is noted (mainly red fox, Vulpes vulpes). Fox frequencies remain high in the succeeding Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA). We use Late Natufian fox remains from the site of el-Wad Terrace (Mount Carmel, Israel) as a case-study to discern the depositional history and exploitation of foxes in the Natufian. Our analysis shows that it is likely that foxes were consumed for food and thus should be considered in analyses of Natufian diets. Moreover, it seems that foxes were not captured by the same methods nor using similar foraging opportunities as other fast small game species (eg, hares). We hypothesise that foxes were captured close to the sites which they approached for food. Thus, the constant rise in fox abundance from the early Epipalaeolithic to the PPNA could potentially reflect a p...

Revisiting Neolithic Caprine Exploitation at Suberde, Turkey

This paper addresses the nature of sheep and goat exploitation at the Aceramic Neolithic site of Suberde, Turkey. Although previously interpreted as a Neolithic hunters' village, new demographic and measurement data indicate that the sheep and probably goats at Suberde represent the earliest appearance of managed populations in the Beyşehir region of central Anatolia. Kill-off data indicate that the caprines were carefully selected for slaughter within a narrow age range, while measurement data provide evidence for size diminution, a feature commonly seen in domestic populations. There is no evidence, however, to indicate that caprine management included the intensive culling of young males, a feature which is often considered to be characteristic of herding economies. This divergence from the expectations of various ethnographic models of pastoral management may represent highly localized “experimental” caprine management strategies in the earliest Neolithic settlements of central Anatolia.

Domestication of emmer wheat and evolution of free-threshing tetraploid wheat

We describe here the initial steps of cultivation of wild emmer in the Levant, i.e., the western part of the Fertile Crescent, as well as genetic changes caused by spontaneous mutations, leading to its domestication and to the development of free-threshing tetraploid wheat, Triticum turgidum. Review of archaeological findings from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) (10,300-9,500 BP; uncalibrated) indicates that wild emmer was first cultivated in the southern Levant. Domesticated emmer (with a nonbrittle spike) appeared several hundred years later in the early PPNB (9,500-9,000 BP), and for a millennium or more was grown in a mixture with wild emmer in many Levantine sites. After the appearance of domesticated emmer, types with naked, free-threshing grains emerged in the late PPNB (9,000-7,500 BP). We support the model in which domestication occurred independently in several sites across the Levant. According to this view, the genes for non-brittleness were transferred to numerous wild emmer genotypes thro...

Tzur Natan, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Site in Central Israel and Observations on Regional Settlement Patterns

Abstract: The results of salvage investigations conducted at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) site of Tzur Natan are described. The site is located on the western fl anks of the Samarian Hills bordering the central coastal plain (Shephelah). The excavations revealed no architectural features but numerous cupmarked bedrock installations. The small fi nds included fl int and groundstone artefacts, as well as a small faunal assemblage. The vast majority of the fl int tools can be attributed to the PPNA, although there may also be a small Middle Epipalaeolithic Geometric Kebaran element present. Notable are the numbers of bifacial tools, some sickle blades, but few projectile points. Local settlement patterns are discussed in light of several other recent investigations of PPNA sites in the region. In addition to a few larger permanent settlements with architecture, such as Hatoula and Nahal Oren, at the western edges of the Judean, Samarian and Carmel hills, there are numbers of more ephemeral sites, also located on the fl anks of the hill zone. These have little or no architectural remains but quantities of cup-marked installations and groundstone are found in addition to lithic tool assemblages. These smaller sites perhaps focused primarily on (seasonal?) processing of (vegetal?) resources, as well as the production and use of bifacials. Some sickle blades are found but projectile points are rare or absent. Few, if any, PPNA sites are documented actually within the coastal plain. This settlement pattern contrasts markedly with the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic and the PPNB, but may refl ect some continuity from the Late Natufi an.

From the PPNA to the PPNB : new views from the Southern Levant after excavations at Zahrat adh-Dhra' 2 in Jordan

Results from excavations at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) site of Zahrat adh-Dhra' 2 (ZAD 2) in Jordan promise to resolve ambiguity over the introduction of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic В (PPNB) period in the southern Levant. Zahrat adh-Dhra ' 2 is the first southern PPNA site to date exclusively to the late PPNA period (9 600-9 300 BP/ 9 200-8 300 cal ВС). The settlement is a small mound containing a single phase of curvilinear architecture. It has yielded a range of characteristic PPNA material culture items and practices, including evidence of cranial removal, a varied ground stone industry with cup-hole mortars, geometrically incised plaques and pebbles ; and a lithic assemblage which includes bladelet cores, a preponderance of bladelets, borers, Beit Та 'amir sickles, Hagdud truncations, picks, edge-ground axes, and tranchet axes. It lacks typical PPNB features such as naviform blade core technology, and notched and tanged projectile points. It also bears evidence for a subsistence economy based on hunting, gathering and the cultivation of cereals and possibly legumes (so-called "pre-domestication cultivation"). ZAD 2 casts doubt upon the authenticity of a prominent chronological scheme which places the southern Levantine Early PPNB phase dating from (9 600-9 200 BP/ also 9 200-8 300 cal ВС). Details of the radiocarbon dates obtained for ZAD 2 and their relationship to the stratigraphie order of the site are given here. Nevertheless, a marked plateau on the early Holocene part of the radiocarbon calibration curve renders it difficult to sequentially order calibrated dates within the 9 600-9 200 BP period, and thus to distinguish between the alternative chronological schemes. In the future, Bayesian modeling of date sequences from individual sequences may assist in this regard. Bayesian modeling of the ZAD 2 dates was undertaken here in order to estimate a likely occupational span for the site. This analysis suggests that the occupation of ZAD 2 can be constrained to the period 8 800-8 450 cal ВС. Yet more recently discovered than ZAD 2, a new phase at the site of'Motza in Israel promises to further elucidate the question of the EPPNB in the southern Levant. With these fresh perspectives newly at hand, we review evidence from several southern Levantine sites previously claimed as exemplars of the southern EPPNB. We also examine their relation to Syrian Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites ; in particular Dja 'de al-Mughara and the new work at Tell Aswad in the Damascus Basin which has radically altered our understanding of that site and weakened its pivotal importance as a reference point for the southern Levantine PPNA and EPPNB. We conclude that, according to the debate as it has been played out in the uncalibrated chronology, the EPPNB phase originated in north Syria around 9 600 BP and the southern Levantine PPNB began around 9 350/9 300 BP.

Archaeobotanical evidence for early Neolithic diet and subsistence at M'lefaat (Iraq)

The archaeobotanical assemblage of the Aceramic Neolithic site of M'lefaat, dated to the beginning of the 10th millennium uncal. BP, is dominated by legumes, especially Vicieae, Lathyrus/Vicia, Vicia ervilia and Lens, and by grasses, such as Hordeum spon- taneum/distichon, Aegilops cylindrica/tauschii/spehoides ssp. speltoides and Triticura boeoticum/Secale. Other taxa such as Gypsophila pilosa type and Bellevalia type, also count for a significant part of the assemblage. Taxa associated with a riverine environment dominate the charcoal assemblage. The archaeobotanical results of other contemporary steppic sites of the northern Fertile Crescent. (Qermez Dere, Abu Hureyra, Mureybet and Jerfel Ahmar), were compared to those of M'lefaat. The results are quite similar : legumes, especially Vicia and Lens, and grasses, especially Hordeum spontaneum/distichon and Triticum boeoticum/Secale, dominate. A distinctive trait of the M'lefaat assemblage is the abundance of Aegilops. Although it is impossible to rule out domestication or cultivation, there is no positive evidence for this at the site. Archaeobotanical results from M'lefaat and other steppic sites suggest that wetter conditions and a moist-steppe vegetation and/or forest-steppe, with good grasses, were in place 10,000 BP.

Zahrat Adh-Dhraʿ 2: A New Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Site on the Dead Sea Plain in Jordan

Previously, archaeological exemplars of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period that heralded the advent of agrarian societies in the Levant were very rare east of the Jordan River. Those that were known did not include any examples of the larger hamlets, usually buried under alluvial fans, which are known from the Jordan Valley. This situation has changed significantly in the past few years, with the discovery of three PPNA hamlets in the arid southern reaches of the Dead Sea Basin in Jordan. This paper introduces the small mound of Zahrat adh-Dhra c 2 (ZAD 2), the most recently discovered of the trio. ZAD 2, dating to 9,500 radiocarbon years, lies east of the Lisan Peninsula on the southeastern shore of the Dead Sea. The well-dated site contains architectural units comprising stone-built oval huts bonded with mortar. It has a rich lithic assemblage of local flint, but it has also yielded several exotic materials attesting to long-distance exchange, and significant botanical remains including cereals, legumes, and nuts.

Köşk Höyük: Anadolu Arkeolojisine Yeni Katkılar

Excavations at Kosk Hoyuk have produced important informations about the Central Anatolian Prehistoric period. The Architecture is predominantly Anatolian in plan and material, and evidence from Kosk Hoyuk has contributed to an understanding of metallurgy from the period: small pieces of copper ore, found in front of an oven in level I, were processed into small pieces but were probably deemed unworthy for further processing or smelting. Besides the Anatolian type of the burial practices at the site, the discovery of plastered skulls, characteristic of Near Eastern Aceramic Neolithic, makes Kosk Hoyuk unique. Pottery is monochrome or painted, some bearing relief or incised decoration. The vessels with relief decoration, which form an important group among the finds, were produced by local potters. Relief decoration was used to render natural representations of local fauna, which must have been considered sacred. Material culture dating to the transitional period between the Late Neolithic to the Chalcolithic Period (end of 6th millennium, beginning of the 5th millennium BC), has helped to shed light on a period known from only a few settlements.

Life in neolithic farming communities: social organization, identity, and differentiation

Part I: Introduction. 1. Social Configurations of the Near Eastern Neolithic: An Introduction I. Kuijt. Part II: Sedentism, Early Villages and Households in Transition. 2. Early Sedentism in the Near East - A Bumpy Ride to Village Life A. Belfer-Cohen, O. Bar-Yosef. 3. Hallan Cemi and Early Village Organization in Eastern Anatolia M. Rosenberg, R.W. Redding. 4. Households in Transition: Neolithic Social Organization within Southwest Asia B.F. Byrd. Part III: Organization of Social Relations: Mortuary Ritual, Social Differentiation, and Settlement Systems. 5. The Quick and the Dead: The Social Context of Aceramic Neolithic Mortuary Practices as Seen from Kfar Hahoresh N. Goring-Morris. 6. Keeping the Peace: Ritual, Skull Caching and Community Integration in the Levantine Neolithic I. Kuijt. 7. Ritual and Social Structure at Neolithic Ain Ghazal G.O. Rollefson. 8. Is Size Important? Function and Hierarchy in Neolithic Settlements F. Hole. 9. Villages on the Edge: Regional Settlement Change and the End of the Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic A. Simmons. Part IV: Social Relations and Material Culture: Symbolism and Meaning. 10. The Symbolic Foundations of the Neolithic Revolution in the Near East J. Cauvin. 11. Catal Huyuk in Context Ritual at Early Neolithic Sites in Central and Eastern Turkey M.M. Voigt. 12. The Pottery Neolithic Period: Questions about Pottery Decoration, Symbolism and Meaning E. Orrelle, A. Gopher. Part V: Conclusion. 13. NearEastern Neolithic Research.

Découverte d'un Néolithique précéramique ancien chypriote (fin 9e, début 8e millénaires cal. BC), apparenté au PPNB ancien/moyen du Levant nord

Abstract The recent discovery of Parekklisha–Shillourokambos, an Aceramic Neolithic settlement dating to the late 9th and the 8th millennia cal. BC, pushes back the appearance of the Neolithic in Cyprus by a millennium. This insular early Aceramic Neolithic culture has much in common with the PPNB in the northern Levant, which now appears to have spread from its point of origin earlier than previously supposed, and it occurred even before animal husbandry had brought about morphological changes in hearded caprovids. From the middle of the 8th to the early 7th millennium BC, the Cypriot Neolithic slowly evolved into what would become known as the Aceramic Neolithic Khirokitia culture.

Radiometric Dates from Eighth Millennium B. P. Israel

he basic sequence of the Neolithic period in the southern Levant was formulated by Kenyon following her extensive excavations at Jericho in the 1950s (1957; 1960; 1981). She suggested two prepottery phases, which she designated Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB). These phases were followed by a settlement gap that lasted a few centuries. Later, two successive pottery phases developed: Pottery Neolithic A (PNA) and Pottery Neolithic B (PNB). The earlier part of this sequence-PPNA and PPNB-was accepted from the 1960s through the 1980s without serious criticism (Perrot 1968; BarYosef 1981; Moore 1982; Stager 1992). Jericho also produced a number of radiometric dates for the two earlier settlements. There are some 20 dates for the

The Prehistoric Archaeology of Jordan. Donald A. Henry, ed.

Thirteen papers providing a comprehensive review of Jordanian prehistory, from the Lower Paleolithic to the Late Neolithic. Many come from recently completed research projects, prior to their final publication: The Lower Paleolithic ( Corraine Copeland ); The Middle Paleolithic ( Donald O. Henry ); The Early and Middle Epipaleolithic ( Brian F. Byrd ); The Natfian ( Jonathan R. Sellars ); The Aceramic Neolithic ( Gary O. Rollefson ); The Late Neolithic ( Zeidan Kafafi ); The Azraq Basin 24,000-7,000BP ( Andrew N. Garrard ); Northeastern Badia ( Alison V. G. Betts ); A view from the west ( Ofer Bar-Yosef ); The Arabian Peninsula ( Juris Zarius ); The Paleolithic and Neolithic of Syria ( Yoshihiro Nishiaki ).

Defining the Cypriot Aceramic Neolithic: The Lithic Evidence

Evidence from Akrotiri Aetokremnos shows that hunter-gatherers visited Cyprus before the Neolithic period, but the first colonization of the island took place during the Aceramic Neolithic (7000-5500B.C.) phase. This phase is known for the distinctive groundstone bowls, tools, and ornaments found at sites such as Khirokitia Vouni. Kalavassos Tenta. and Rizokarpaso Cane Andreas Kastros. rather than their "mediocre" chipped stone assemblages (Knapp 1994: 405), but classification and study of the latter artifacts can provide insights into the settlement dynamics of prehistoric Cyprus. This paper reports on the lithic assemblage from several possible Aceramic Neolithic (AN) sites from the Malloura Valley in central Cyprus. We identify several traits which may be diagnostic of an AN assemblage.

Preliminary Report on the Chipped Stone Assemblage from the Aceramic Neolithic Site of Ayia Varvara Asprokremnos, Cyprus.

The chipped stone assemblage from the previously unpublished site of Ayia Varvara Asprokremnos demonstrates both similarities and differences in the proportions of various tool and core types from other Aceramic Neolithic assemblages in Cyprus. These differences suggest that our interpretations of the Aceramic Neolithic period in Cyprus need to be expanded in order to account for diversity exhibited by the chipped stone industry, which until recently has been largely ignored in the study of the early prehistory of the island.