Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period Research Articles

Geochemical Analyses to Make the Invisible More Concrete: Cycles of Building Use and Roof Hatches at the Early Neolithic Site of Aşıklı Höyük

ABSTRACT This study focuses on understanding the use of space at Aşıklı Höyük in central Turkey through the geochemical analyses of five overlying floors of a quadrangular mudbrick building dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period. The research allows us to follow the process on a micro-scale, from the design and construction of the structure to its abandonment. We aim to perceive the role of plastered floors to gain insights into the producers and users of the building and those who kept it alive and maintained it. We will treat floors as one of the main actors of these spaces and zero in on entangled relationships by addressing a range of other aspects in the building. The analyses enable the identification of use patterns. Based on our results, we attempt to provide suggestions about the location of the roof hatches and hence the main access of the inhabitants to the external world.

Isotopic and proteomic evidence for communal stability at Pre-Pottery Neolithic Jericho in the Southern Levant

As one of the key, long-term occupied sites in the Southern Levant, Jericho was one of the most important early Neolithic centres to witness social and economic changes associated with the domestication of plants and animals. This study applies strontium (87Sr/86Sr), oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotope analyses to the enamel of 52 human teeth from Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) layers of Jericho to directly study human diet and mobility and investigate the degree of consolidation and the flexibility of social organization of Jericho society in the PPN period. The results indicate only two non-local individuals out of the 44 sampled inhabitants identified by strontium isotope analysis and are consistent with the presence of a largely sedentary community at PPN Jericho with no evidence for large-scale migration. We also construct strontium spatial baselines (87Sr/86Sr map) with local 87Sr/86Sr signatures for the sites across the Southern Levant based on systematic compilation and analysis of available data. In addition, we apply proteomic analysis of sex-specific amelogenin peptides in tooth enamel for sex estimation of the sampled individuals (n = 44), the results of which showed a sex-biased ratio (more male than female detected in this sample pool) in Jericho society during the PPN period, which may be due to the limited sample size or selective ritual practices like particular burial zones used for specific groups. We also pretreated a batch of human bone samples recovered from PPNB Jericho for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses for dietary investigations. However, the extracted collagen showed poor preservation and no valid δ13C or δ15N data were obtained.

MODERN VISUALIZATION BY DIGITALLY MODELING NEOLITHIC CRAFTED HUMAN SKULLS

Abstract. Our digital modeling in 3D aims to visualize Neolithic crafted skulls found in the Near East for their preservation and study taking into account both the possibilities of skull deformation in vivo as well as crafting them postmortem. Decapitation and burying or caching human skulls is met already in Palaeolithic contexts. Postmortem cranial crafting by drilling and carving, or modelling with plaster and asphalt using human skulls as basis was practiced in the Near East during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and Late Neolithic period. The first examples of plastered human skulls were discovered at Jericho in the 1950s, then belonging to Jordan, after which to Israel and now to the Palestinian territories. Similar skulls were later found in various sites in the Near East. The examples digitally reconstructed here include skulls from Göbekli Tepe and Köşk Höyük found in Turkey, from the cave at Nahal Hemar at the Dead Sea in the Judean mountains of Israel and skulls from Jericho in the Palestinian territories. Both drawings and photographs were used in digitally reconstructing the skulls in 3D. The Blender software allowed us to sculpt the complex shape of the skull from a base mesh. Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) rendering sped up rendering thanks to Nvidia graphics cards. UV mapping was carried out for importing the texture. The visualization enabled us to make further anthropological observations. Beside the generally acknowledged Neolithic "skull cult" we also wish briefly to discuss other reasons for the phenomena and practices.

HARBETSUVAN TEPESİ SÜRTME TAŞ ALETLERİ

Güneydoğu Anadolu'da son dönemlerde yapılan çalışmalar Çanak Çömleksiz Neolitik Dönem’e ışık tutmaktadır. Şanlıurfa'da gerçekleştirilen Yüzey Araştırmaları ve Kazı Çalışmaları Çanak Çömleksiz Neolitik Dönem’e ait merkezlerin bu bölgede yoğun olduğunu göstermektedir. Göbekli Tepe başta olmak üzere Karahan Tepe, Sayburç, Nevali Çori, Ayanlar Höyük, Şanlıurfa-Yeni Mahalle, Harbetsuvan Tepesi, Sefer Tepe, Kurt Tepesi, Hamzan Tepe ve Taşlı Tepe bunlardan bir kaçıdır. 2014 yılında keşfedilen Harbetsuvan Tepesi Şanlıurfa il sınırları içerisinde Şanlıurfa'nın 53 km doğusunda Tek Tek Dağları olarak bilinen kalkerli platolar arasında yer almaktadır. Çanak Çömleksiz Neolitik Döneme tarihlendirilen Harbetsuvan Tepesi'nde; T-biçimli dikilitaşlar ve mimarı yapı kalıntıları gün yüzüne çıkarılmıştır. Bunun yanı sıra çok sayıda çakmaktaşı alet, öğütme taşları, havanelleri, taş kaplar, hayvan kemiği ve çeşitli süs eşyası gibi buluntular ele geçmiştir. Çalışmamızda; 2017, 2018 ve 2019 yıllarında gerçekleştirilen kurtarma kazılarında ele geçen sürtme taş buluntuları üzerinde incelemeler yapılmıştır. Sürtme taş aletler boyut ve şekil olarak farklılıklar göstermektedir. Bazı buluntular sağlam olarak ele geçmiştir. Sürtme taş aletler; havanelleri, alt ve üst ezgi taşları, balta, keser, kesercik, keskicik, sapan taşları, biley taşı, delici, taş kaplar, bezeli taş plakalar, mermer tıkaç, kireç taşı misketler, bazalt vurgaç, yuvarlak pencere taşı ve sürtme yöntemi ile şekillendirilmiş bazalt ve bazalt parçaları, düzeltili ve işlentili taşlardan oluşmaktadır.

Probable Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH) in Pre-Pottery Neolithic Cyprus

The site of Khirokitia in Cyprus (7th-early 6th millennium BC) yielded one of the largest series of human remains for the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near Eastern region (MNI = 243). The paleopathological study of this series allowed us to diagnose a probable case of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) affecting a male aged between 30 and 49 years, who also suffered from osteoarthritis. DISH has rarely been identified among prehistoric populations, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near Eastern region; the case described here is currently the only one known for the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. It provides new elements to our knowledge of the health status of the early Neolithic populations.

Amino acid 15 N analysis reveals change in the importance of freshwater resources between the hunter-gatherer and farmer in the Neolithic upper Tigris.

The inhabitants of several sites in the Upper Tigris Valley, such as Hakemi Use, domesticated animals and cereals during the Pottery Neolithic period, while the inhabitants in this valley were hunter-gatherers in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, consuming freshwater and terrestrial food resources. However, there is considerable uncertainty surrounding whether or not changes in dietary food composition accompanied the shift in food production away from foraging. In order to reveal the impact of the development of agriculture on the human diet over the Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic periods in this region, we analyzed the isotopic compositions of amino acids from the farmers at the Hakemi Use Pottery Neolithic site, and compared them with those from the Pre-Pottery hunter-gatherers in the close region. Herein, we report the nitrogen isotopic compositions of amino acids, as well as both carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of bulk collagen, from human and faunal remains collected from Hakemi Use. Whereas freshwater resources were consumed by hunter-gatherers in this region during the Pre-Pottery period, the δ15 N values of glutamic acid (δ15 NGlu ) and phenylalanine (δ15 NPhe ) suggest that freshwater food resources were rarely consumed by inhabitants following the development of agriculture. Despite living in similar settings by the Tigris as its inhabitants during the Pre-Pottery period, the farmers of the Pottery Neolithic period depended less on freshwater resources for their diets relative to the hunter-gatherers of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period.

A new Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Southeastern Turkey: Ayanlar Höyük (Gre Hut)

Ayanlar Höyük (Gre Hut), located 30km west of Şanlıurfa, was discovered during surface surveys conducted in 2013. Ayanlar Höyük dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period, is a large- scale mound like Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe, covering an overall surface area of 14 hectares. It was learned recently that three artefacts dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period which are held by Şanlıurfa Museum were brought from Ayanlar Höyük. The artefacts in Şanlıurfa Museum and the finds recovered from Ayanlar Höyük during a surface survey have been identified as having characteristics similar to those from Körtik Tepe, Göbekli Tepe, Nevali Çori and Karahan Tepe. Con­sequently, Ayanlar Höyük should be dated between the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period B (EPPNB) and the mid-Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period B (MPPNB).

A new Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Southeastern Turkey: Ayanlar Höyük (Gre Hut)

Ayanlar Höyük (Gre Hut), located 30km west of Şanlıurfa, was discovered during surface surveys conducted in 2013. Ayanlar Höyük dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period, is a large- scale mound like Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe, covering an overall surface area of 14 hectares. It was learned recently that three artefacts dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period which are held by Şanlıurfa Museum were brought from Ayanlar Höyük. The artefacts in Şanlıurfa Museum and the finds recovered from Ayanlar Höyük during a surface survey have been identified as having characteristics similar to those from Körtik Tepe, Göbekli Tepe, Nevali Çori and Karahan Tepe. Con­sequently, Ayanlar Höyük should be dated between the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period B (EPPNB) and the mid-Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period B (MPPNB).

Linking a rural sanctuary with ancient metallurgy at Kataliondas Kourvellos (Cyprus)

Kataliondas Kourvellos is located at the base of an unusual rock knob, in the lower Troodos foothills, about 20 kilometers south of Nicosia. Recent excavations by the University of Geneva revealed that the site was occupied both in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, at the end of the 8th millennium BCE, and in the Cypro-Classical period, in the 4th century BCE.During the Cypro-Classical period, the site seems to have functioned as a rural sanctuary, but the purpose of its location there is not clear: among other explanations, one could be its link with the mining, smelting, and/or trade of metal resources (the lower Troodos foothills have been exploited since the Bronze Age for their copper and other mineralogical resources).

Woman's Share in Neolithic Society: A View from the Southern Levant

Early farming groups set into motion substantial, even revolutionary, socioeconomic changes during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (ca. 10,500–6,000 cal. B.C.E.) in the southern Levant of Southwest Asia. Social organizational structures capable of addressing new opportunities and challenges would have been integral to these developments. This contribution focuses on the archaeological evidence from which our understanding of the gendered aspects of this new social order can be gleaned. Specifically, evidence for sex-based labor patterns, the relative status of men and women, and gendered ideology are discussed by synthesizing current data from human skeletal remains, mortuary contexts, architecture, and figurative art. Available evidence does not support the hypothesis that Pre-Pottery Neolithic societies were organized hierarchically in terms of gender.

Early Holocene woodland vegetation and human impacts in the arid zone of the southern Levant

Palynological archives dating from the Pleistocene–Holocene transition are scarce in the arid zone of the southern Levant. Anthracological remains (the carbonized residues of wood fuel use found in archaeological habitation sites) provide an alternative source of information about past vegetation. This paper discusses new and previously available anthracological datasets retrieved from excavated habitation sites in the southern Levant dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) period. The available evidence indicates the existence of distinct arboreal floras growing in different ecological niches, which occupied areas that today are either treeless or very sparsely wooded. The anthracological data provide independent confirmation of the hypothesis that early Holocene climate in the southern Levant was significantly moister than at present. Clear North–South and East–West precipitation and associated woodland composition gradients are evidenced. Far from deducing widespread anthropogenic degradation of the regional vegetation, it is suggested that woodland expansion in the semi-arid interiors of the Levant may be attributed to the intensive management of Pistacia woodlands for food, fuel and pasture.

Cultivated einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum L. subsp. monococcum): the long life of a founder crop of agriculture

The first cultivated wheat, cultivated einkorn (Triticum monococcum L. subsp. monococcum), was domesticated in South-East Turkey during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. It then spread to the Middle-East, the Balkans and Caucasus, Turkmenistan, Central and Mediterranean Europe, North-Africa, and finally to Western and Northern Europe. In all these regions, it played an important role in the development of agriculture and was cultivated for several centuries before being replaced by free-threshing wheats. Today, cultivated einkorn is only present in isolated, mountainous areas of a few countries. However, there is renewed interest for this crop due to the nutritional qualities of its grain, its adaptation to low-input agriculture and high level of resistance to pests and diseases that represent advantages for organic farming. Cultivated einkorn is also a valuable reservoir of genes for wheat improvement. Its utilization, limited by its hulledness, low yield and especially by a poor knowledge of its diversity and its low crossability with bread and durum wheat, is expected to increase in the future, particularly with the need for wheat breeding to face newly emerging diseases through the use of genetic resistances. Considering these perspectives, the present review attempts to analyse the current and historical importance of einkorn cultivation and utilization in wheat breeding, tracing back to its origin and diffusion. The main traits of resistance to pest and diseases, and the nutritional qualities and technological characteristics of the grain are described. Einkorn genetic resources diversity exploration is reviewed and successful examples of introgression of useful einkorn traits into cultivated wheat are reported. Lastly, perspectives of einkorn cultivation development in low-input agriculture and use for wheat enhancement are discussed.

Erratum to: A Microfacies Toolkit for Revealing Linkages Between Cultural Discontinuities and Exceptional Geogenic Events: the Tell Dja’de Case Study (NE Syria)

High-resolution multi-archive studies have been promoted to reveal abrupt discontinuities that would express rapid social reactions (days to decades) to sudden exceptional geogenic phenomena (climatic, volcanic, tectonic, geomorphic, or cosmic). We expose here how we have adopted this approach for examining the causal linkages between a series of cultural discontinuities encountered through the cultural deposits of Da’de (Syria) and cosmic airbursts. Cosmic events, known to be rare, erratic, and unpredictable, are traced by exceptional debris that formed from aerosols when violently compressed during entry through the earth atmosphere of hypervelocity cosmic collider. They consist of singular organo-mineral materials in the form of volatile-rich hydrocarbon fuel with resistant metal-rich carbonaceous composites and colorful polymers. The archaeological sequence comprises Da’de phases 0 to III that represent a nearly continuous accumulation for 1,000 years during the Pre-pottery Neolithic period (ca. 9,900–8,900 years bp) and two short-term occupation phases during the pre-Halaf (Da’de IV) and early Bronze Age periods (Da’de V). Study of the exceptional debris in virgin soils and occupation deposits at Da’de has allowed to distinguish an intact debris assemblage that pulverized at the ground following an airburst (type 1 natural singular signal) with the ones that have been processed by humans (type 2 anthropic singular signal). Type 1 singular organo-mineral materials were found intact at the contact of the virgin soil with the earliest Pre-pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) occupation layers (Da’de phase 0, area [SB]), at the top part of the virgin soil with the PPNA occupation layers (Da’de phase Ia, area [B]) and just under the lower slabs of the EB III/IV burials (Da’de phase V, area [SB]). This has allowed to establish a strict contemporaneity between cosmic airbursts and remarkable historical events: initial settlement at phase 0, establishment of the magnificent communal building at phase 1, EBIII/IV cemetery after a long period of abandonment. Evidence for the collection of the singular materials (type 2) and meticulous processing of the related hydrocarbon fuel in occupation floors, earthen construction, coloring materials, and objects have been traced from the initial settlement (phase 0) through the successive cultural periods. This correlation has revealed a long-lasting transmission of the value of memorial natural resources which were only available from time to time in the surroundings. The close timing between changes in the use of the singular organo-mineral materials (preparation techniques, types of by-products) and cultural phases has enabled us to identify social discontinuities which correlate to distinctive geogenic events and search of the related exceptional resources. Based on the long-term record from Da’de, cosmic airbursts are suggested to be considered as a new class of dual-discontinuous signal of historical dimension, which have led to sudden (days to months) geogenic shifts in the availability of singular fuel resources and, simultaneously, to rapid cultural responses in their exploitation and use, depending on reactivity of local landscapes to the induced changes at short time scales (decades).

Squaring the Circle. Social and Environmental Implications of Pre-Pottery Neolithic Building Technology at Tell Qarassa (South Syria)

We present the results of the microstratigraphic, phytolith and wood charcoal study of the remains of a 10.5 ka roof. The roof is part of a building excavated at Tell Qarassa (South Syria), assigned to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (PPNB). The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) period in the Levant coincides with the emergence of farming. This fundamental change in subsistence strategy implied the shift from mobile to settled aggregated life, and from tents and huts to hard buildings. As settled life spread across the Levant, a generalised transition from round to square buildings occurred, that is a trademark of the PPNB period. The study of these buildings is fundamental for the understanding of the ever-stronger reciprocal socio-ecological relationship humans developed with the local environment since the introduction of sedentism and domestication. Descriptions of buildings in PPN archaeological contexts are usually restricted to the macroscopic observation of wooden elements (posts and beams) and mineral components (daub, plaster and stone elements). Reconstructions of microscopic and organic components are frequently based on ethnographic analogy. The direct study of macroscopic and microscopic, organic and mineral, building components performed at Tell Qarassa provides new insights on building conception, maintenance, use and destruction. These elements reflect new emerging paradigms in the relationship between Neolithic societies and the environment. A square building was possibly covered here with a radial roof, providing a glance into a topologic shift in the conception and understanding of volumes, from round-based to square-based geometries. Macroscopic and microscopic roof components indicate buildings were conceived for year-round residence rather than seasonal mobility. This implied performing maintenance and restoration of partially damaged buildings, as well as their adaptation to seasonal variability.

The Neolithic Southwest Asian Founder Crops

This article reviews the available information on the founder grain crops (einkorn wheat, emmer wheat, barley, lentil, pea, chickpea, and flax) that started agriculture in Southwest Asia during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, some 11,000–10,000 years ago. It provides a critical assessment for recognizing domestication traits by focusing on two fields of study: biology and archaeobotany. The data in these fields have increased considerably during the past decade, and new research techniques have added much to our knowledge of progenitor plants and their domesticated derivatives. This article presents the current and accumulated knowledge regarding each plant and illustrates the new picture that emerged on the origin of agriculture.

URFA ÇEVRESINDEKI KERPIÇ KUBBELI YAPıLARıN ARKEOLOJIK AÇıDAN DEĞERLENDIRILMESI

The custom of constructing false-domed mud-brick structures is a living tradition in a considerably large area from northern Syria to Urfa; in the past, such structures have attracted the attention of travellers exploring the region and are depicted in the travel books. Since the beginning of the 20th century, these domed mud-brick structures have been considered as a model in evaluating building remains with circular ground plans exposed through excavations carried out in the same region. Even though some scholars have consid­ered domed houses as a continuing tradition from the Neolithic Period to the present, an overall assessment of the evidence indicates that besides the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and Halaf Period, these occur rather randomly with no indication of continuity. This study, in the framework of the Turkish Academy of Sciences TUBA-TUKSEK Project on the domed domestic architecture of the Suruc Plain, has revealed that the history of the present rural false-domed buildings is not very remote in time and that further investiga­tion is needed in order to clarify their origins. Even though there have been numerous references to these build­ings, no thorough documentation has previously been made. The primary objective of this paper is to present a detailed assessment of the domed mud-brick structures of the Suruc region and to question the validity of correlating evidence with present day rural archi­tecture. The domed building tradition in mud-brick, observed in Suruc, is studied in its technical, architectur­al, and structural features in order to define the ways it can be used as data in studies. During our study, a special emphasis has been given to documenting those structures that are partially or totally in ruin, so as to document the transformation process of these modern houses into archaeological deposits, rap­idly forming mounds of their own.

ILISU BARAJI İNŞAAT SAHASI YÜZEY ARAŞTIRMASINDA BELİRLENEN ARKEOLOJİK ALANLAR

The Ilisu Dam on the Tigis River, is being constructed to the west of the Ilisu village in the eastern part of the district of the town of Dargecit, within the province of Mardin. The surveyed area forms part of the natural route connecting Northern Mesopotamia with the Upper Tigris region. This route follows the Tigris River between the Mardin Mountains and the Eastern Taurus zone. During the survey an area of 1300 hectares was intensively researched and 20 sites with a total of 50 find spots were recorded. According to the surface material, the area was used intensively during the Early Neolithic period; a site with several obsidian and flint implements, cores and flakes point to a settlement with workshop dating back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. The Early Pottery Neolithic is represented at seven sites by monochrome hand-made pottery. The hand made monochrome Chalcolithic pottery was collected from five sites. A lack of Early Bronze Age sherds point to a gap during the third millenium BC while five larger sites with Middle Bronze Age assemblages including the Monochrome Standard Ware, the Red Brown Wash Ware and the Habur Painted Ware demonstrate cultural contacts with the Upper Tigris region and Northern Mesopotamia. After a second gap during the Late Bronze Age, hand-made Early Iron Age pottery was found at four sites and Neo Assyrian pottery was found at six sites, pointing to a dense occupation during the Iron Age. The Hellenistic and Roman periods are represented by a few sherds from two large sites. Sites dating to Medieval and later periods form the largest component in the settlement record. The region has a rich archaeological potential and demands salvage excavations before the dam is constructed.

ILISU BARAJI İNŞAAT SAHASINA RASTLAYAN DİCLE VADİSİNİN TUNÇ VE DEMİR ÇAĞLARI'NDAKİ YERLEŞİM SİSTEMLERİ VE KÜLTÜR TARİHİ

The field surveys carried out at the construction area of the Ilisu Dam, located on a small plain formed by the Tigris River between the Mardin Massive and the Eastern Taurus zone, revealed 65 ancient places used since the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (Okse vd 2006). Surface material dating to the 3rd-1st millennia BC is obtained from 15 sites. The surveyed area is 1600 ha in extend, situated on both banks of the river. The Early Bronze Age material is collected at three sites on the eastern bank - one large, one middle-sized and one small site close to each other. The sparseness of settlements is comparable with the contemporary settlements of the Upper Khabur and Upper Tigris regions. The material is composed by incised and painted Ninevite-V ware, orange ware, Dark Rimmed Orange Bowls and the Jezirah Grey Ware belonging to the Northern Mesopotamian culture dating to the 3rd millennium BC. One shard belonging to the Early Transcaucasian Ware points to the presence of the Northern Highland Culture during the last centuries of the millennium. The Middle Bronze Age material is found on two large and one middle-sized site on the western bank and one large and two middle-sized sites on the eastern bank, pointing to a dense settlement pattern of villages and hamlets/farmsteads, most probably based on rain-fed agriculture. The surface finds include the Monochrome Standard Ware, the Red Brown Wash Ware and the Khabur Painted Ware. Comparable settlement systems with similar ceramic assemblages determine the cultural parallelism of the region with the Upper Tigris and the Upper Khabur regions during the 19th-16th centuries BC. Late Bronze Age is represented by Mitannian and Middle Assyrian wares collected at one large and one small site on the eastern bank. This pattern points to a dramatic decrease in sedentary population within the surveyed region during the Mitannian and Middle Assyrian supremacy in the 15th-11th centuries BC. The hand-made Early Iron Age Pottery of Eastern Anatolia and the Upper Tigris region is collected on two large and two middle-sized sites on the western bank and on one large, two middle-sized and two small sized sites on the eastern bank. The frequency of sites and characteristics of material culture is comparable with the dense seasonal settlements of pastoralists in the Upper Tigris region as well as in Eastern Anatolia, so, the mobile pastoralists of the Northern Highlands seem to have lived also in the Mardin region during the weak period of the Assyrian Kingdom between the 11th-9th centuries BC. New Assyrian standard pottery is found on one large, two middle-sized and three small sites on the western bank and two large and six small sites on the eastern bank. This pattern points to a dense occupation determining a rural settlement hierarchy of farmsteads belonging to villages, similar to those established in Northern Jezirah during the 9th-6th centuries BC. The Late Iron Age is not represented by surface finds, since the material culture did not change so much in rural sites during the Late Babylonian and Persian Periods.

Chronology of the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic Settlement Tell Qaramel, Northern Syria, in the Light of Radiocarbon Dating

Archaeological excavations at the Syrian settlement of Tell Qaramel have been conducted since 1999. They are concentrated on remnants of the Protoneolithic and early stages of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. The settlement has revealed an extremely rich collection of everyday use of flint, bone, and mostly stone objects, such as decorated chlorite or limestone vessels; shaft straighteners used to stretch wooden arrow shafts, richly decorated in geometrical, zoomorphic, and anthropomorphic patterns; as well as different kinds of stones, querns, mortars, pestles, grinders, polishing plates, celts, and adzes.Excavations brought the discovery of 5 circular towers. Some 57 charcoal samples were collected during the excavations and dated in the GADAM Centre in Gliwice, Poland. The stratigraphy of the settlement and results of radiocarbon dating testify that these are the oldest such constructions in the world, older than the famous and unique tower in Jericho. They confirm that the Neolithic culture was formed simultaneously in many regions of the Near East, creating a farming culture and establishing settlements with mud and stone architecture and creating the first stages of a proto-urban being.

Soils and soil sediments at Göbekli Tepe, southeastern Turkey: A preliminary report

AbstractA pedological investigation at Göbekli Tepe, a Pre‐Pottery Neolithic (PPN) site in the northern Fertile Crescent (southeastern Turkey), was undertaken to gain a better understanding of its chronology and paleoenvironments. A catena at the southern slope of the central mound suggests that complex pedosedimentary processes took place at the surface of the mound after the abandonment of the site. Soil formation resulted in a markedly dark Ah horizon and a Bk horizon with secondary carbonate accumulations; both hold promise as sources of chronological and paleoecological information. Three fossil Ah horizons from the PPN period were found within the fill. One of them provided a 14C age of 8880 ± 60 yr B.P. (on humic acids) that may approximate the time of abandonment. 14C dating of the oldest microlamina of pedogenic carbonate gave two new dates: 7450 ± 80 yr B.P. for a PPNB context and 6405 ± 70 yr B.P. for a post‐PPNB context. These dates have to be considered as well‐estimated minimum ages of the contexts. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.