Pre-Pottery Neolithic Site Research Articles

New Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites and cult centres in the Urfa Region

The present study assesses the sites and the corresponding artefacts that were recently discovered during cultural inventory studies in the Urfa region in south-eastern Turkey. The studies were conducted at PPN sites located at Herzo Tepe, Basaran Höyük and Kocanizam, Taslı Tepe and ̇Inanlı Tepe within the borders of Viransehir and Siverek boroughs; the already known site at Sefer Tepe is also re-examined. The sites extend in a north-south direction and were founded within a 3–5km distance, and they exhibit unique characteristics for this region. Recently discovered sites are compared to already known PPN sites in the region to reveal similar features and characteristics. In particular, the article elaborates similarities and discrepancies between sites with T-shaped pillars and sites with circular structures. The recently discovered sites demonstrate that the pillar tradition is predominant in the region and that the settlements have a distinct layout.

Performance and Participation: Multi-sensual analysis of Near Eastern Pre-Pottery Neolithic Non-Domestic Architecture

A series of non-domestic structures have been found at Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) sites across the Near East, but have not been comprehensively analysed to determine how they were used and perceived by inhabitants of the site. A multi-sensual embodied analysis of the non-domestic structures at Göbekli Tepe, Nevalı Çori, and Jerf el-Ahmar show that these structures were very open and undifferentiated, and would have facilitated sharing of highly charged experiences rather than fostering and materializing hierarchical relationships. Analysis of the physical reality of inhabiting these spaces permits a contextual and nuanced model of the capacity of the structures to be constructed, elucidating the types of relationships that would be created and maintained within these spaces.

Textiles from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Site of Tell Halula (Euphrates Valley, Syria)

A team from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, led by Miquel Molist, has been working on the Tell Halula prepottery Neolithic site on the right bank of the Euphrates since 1991. The excavation has allowed the discovery of remains of textiles, basketry and mats that are of special interest due to their antiquity. This article describes these textiles, most of which are connected with funeral rituals. The bodies were placed in small wells dug into the compacted clay floors inside the dwellings. Studying the spinning and weaving processes that gave rise to these items is extremely difficult because of the lack of instrumenta textilia that might throw light on the technology employed, which can only be postulated on the basis of the few samples of organic matter that have been preserved.

The absolute chronology of East Chia Sabz: a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Western Iran

East Chia Sabz is a PPN site located in the Seimareh Valley, western Iran. 14C dating results indicated that the site was occupied from the early 9th millennium to the early 7th millennium BC. As we have very little information about early Neolithic sites in Iran in comparison with the other regions of the Near and Middle East, the site of East Chia Sabz will provide a new benchmark for investigating the Neolithisation process in Iran. It is important to note that further investigation of Chia Sabz will certainly provide more secure information about how and when the Epipaleolithic transition to the Neolithic started in the region. This paper will present the recent excavations at the site, and then, based on the 14C dates, will discuss the site’s importance in western Iran.

Crop introduction and accelerated island evolution: archaeobotanical evidence from ‘Ais Yiorkis and Pre-Pottery Neolithic Cyprus

Charred plant remains from the Cypriot Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Krittou Marottou ‘Ais Yiorkis, situated in the foothills of the Troodos Mountains and dated to ca. 7500 cal. b.c., demonstrate the early introduction of two-grained einkorn (Triticum monococcum sensu lato). Grain measurements of two-grained einkorn from ‘Ais Yiorkis are compared to those from Aceramic and early Neolithic sites elsewhere in Cyprus, in northern Syria and central Europe. The grains appear to be larger than domestic grains of a later date from the Levantine mainland. Recent work by Purugganan and Fuller (Evolution 65:171–183, 2011) demonstrates a slow evolutionary rate in increasing grain size relative to the rates of evolution in wild species subject to natural selection. When the measurements of two-grained einkorn wheat from ‘Ais Yiorkis are compared with these same allochronic data the results indicate an accelerated rate in attaining larger grain size on Cyprus than on the mainland. The possibility of a domestication ‘event’ or rapid fixation of larger grain size characteristic of domesticated cereal crops in the context of an initially small island population is suggested by the colonisation by farmers of Cyprus in the Cypro-Pre-Pottery Neolithic.

So Fair a House

Archaeologists have proposed that quite a number of structures dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and B in southwest Asia were nondomestic ritual buildings, sometimes described specifically as temples or shrines, and these figure large in some interpretations of social change in the Near Eastern Neolithic. Yet the evidence supporting the identification of cult buildings is often equivocal or depends on ethnocentric distinctions between sacred and profane spaces. This paper explores the case of Gobekli Tepe, a large Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Turkey that its excavator claims consisted only of temples, to illustrate weaknesses in some kinds of claims about Neolithic sacred spaces and to explore some of the problems of identifying prehistoric ritual. Consideration of the evidence suggests the alternative hypothesis that the buildings at Gobekli Tepe may actually be houses, albeit ones that are rich in symbolic content.

Plant use in three Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites of the northern and eastern Fertile Crescent: a preliminary report

The beginnings of agriculture throughout the Fertile Crescent are still not completely understood, particularly at the eastern end of the Fertile Crescent in the area of modern Iran. Archaeobotanical samples from Epipalaeolithic/PPNA Kortik Tepe in southeastern Turkey and from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites of Chogha Golan and East Chia Sabz in south western Iran were studied in order to define the status of cultivation at these sites. Preliminary results show the presence of abundant wild progenitor species of crops at the Iranian sites before 10600 cal. b.p., and very few wild progenitor species at Kortik Tepe dated to 11700–11250 cal. b.p. The Iranian sites also indicate size increase of wild barley grain across a sequence of 400 years through either cultivation or changing moisture conditions.

KIBRIS ADASI'NDA ÇANAK ÇOMLEKSIZ NEOLİTİK DONEMDE GÖRÜLEN ÖLÜ GÖMME UYGULAMALARI

The oldest human remains known from Cyprus, dating back to the 8th millennium cal. BC, were uncovered at Parekklisha-Shillourokambos, in the southern coastal zone of the island, and at the western site of Kissonerga-Mylouthkia. Various mortuary practices including collective and single burials as well as primary and secon­dary deposits have been recognized. Other burials dating to the 8th millennium were found at Kalavasos-Tenta, in southern Cyprus. Many primary burials were also discovered at the later sites (7th - early 6th millennium cal. BC) of Khirokitia Vouni, not far from Kalavasos-Tenta, and at Cap Andreas-Kastros in north-eastern Cyprus. The comparison between funerary practices at the various Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites (8th and 7th - early 6th millennia) reveals an evolution to primary, single burials of both adults and subadults. Furthermore, the com­parisons of funerary practices observed at Cypriot sites dating back to the 8th millennium with those described for the PPNB mainland sites highlight

Gazelle exploitation in the early Neolithic site of Motza, Israel: the last of the gazelle hunters in the southern Levant

We studied the faunal remains from the Early and Middle PPNB site of Motza, Judean Mts., Israel, in order to gain insight into the economic basis prior to livestock husbandry, with a focus on gazelle hunting. Taphonomic analysis showed that bone preservation at the site was excellent. The subsistence economy in Motza was based on a broad spectrum of hunted species, with mountain gazelle ( Gazella gazella) as the dominant prey, similar to many Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites in the southern Levant. We studied gazelle exploitation patterns, in order to learn about the interaction of humans with this species prior to ungulate domestication. Analysis of the demography of the gazelle herd, which included aging and sexing, revealed no age preferences and no selective culling. Moreover, the PPNB gazelle population of Motza does not exhibit allometric changes in morphology, that are allegedly correlated to increased hunting pressure on gazelle populations prior to livestock domestication.

Early Neolithic woodland composition and exploitation in the Southern Levant: a comparison between archaeobotanical remains from WF16 and present-day woodland at Hammam Adethni

Excavations at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of WF16 in the Southern Levant produced an archaeobotanical assemblage constituted by plant macro-fossils and wood charcoal. As with all such assemblages, its species composition will most likely provide a biased reflection of those within the Neolithic woodland that had been exploited owing to cultural selection and differential preservation. As a means of facilitating its interpretation, a survey was undertaken of a relatively undisturbed patch of gallery woodland associated with a permanent water course at Hammam Adethni, approximately four kilometres south-east of WF16. The substantial overlap of the species within this woodland and those in the archaeobotanical assemblage suggests that this present-day woodland provides an analogue for that of the Neolithic and may therefore indicate what other plant resources the inhabitants of WF16 may have exploited, but which have left no archaeological trace. The interpretation of the results is supported by a comparative study of wood charcoal from present-day Bedouin hearths in Wadi Faynan.

Evidence for Holocene environmental changes in the northern Fertile Crescent provided by pedogenic carbonate coatings

Holocene environmental changes in the northern Fertile Crescent remain poorly understood because of the scarcity of local proxy records in the region. In this study we investigated pedogenic (soil-formed) carbonate coatings on stones at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site Göbekli Tepe as an indicator of local early-mid Holocene environmental changes. The 14C ages and stable isotopic composition of carbon and oxygen in thin (0.2–0.3 mm thick) pedogenic carbonate lamina indicate two main periods of coating formation: the early-Holocene (ca. 10000–6000 cal yr BP) and the mid-Holocene (ca. 6000–4000 cal yr BP). During the first period, there was an inverse relationship between δ 13C and δ 18O curves: a decrease in δ 13C values coincide with an increase in δ 18O values. For this period a trend towards higher temperatures is suggested. In the mid-Holocene, the mean rate of coating growth was 2–3 times higher than in the early Holocene. Both δ 13C and δ 18O reached their maximum values during this time and the direction of changes of the δ 13C and δ 18O curves became similar. The combination of data suggests that this period was the most humid in the Holocene and on average warmer than the early Holocene. At ca. 4000 cal yr BP secondary accumulation of carbonate ceased, presumably reflecting a shift to a more arid climate.

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.

Sexual symbolism in the Early Neolithic of the Southern Levant: pestles and mortars from WF16

WF16 is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in the Southern Levant that has produced an important collection of ground stone artefacts. These include one explicit and one ambiguous representation of a phallus – the latter may be a human head and shoulders. The authors note the visual similarity of certain pestles from WF16 to phalli and suggest that such artefacts and their use may have been imbued with sexual metaphor. As such, the most potent references to sex, reproduction and fertility in the early Neolithic may not be the exotic figures claimed to be ‘Mother Goddesses’ but located in the most mundane of domestic artefacts.

Prepottery Neolithic Sites in Eastern Syria

Abstract : This note presents the initial evidence of two small sites ofPPN A and later affinity near the Jaghjagh River on the Khabur Plain. Relations to industries from Mureybit, Qermez Dere, and Nemrik are discussed.

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.

Dhra', Excavation Project, 2002 Interim Report

This is an interim report on the second season of fieldwork and post-excavation analysis on the Pottery Neolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Dhra', near the southern end of the Dead Sea in Jordan. Excavations to date have produced rich assemblages of pottery and lithics. In addition sets of features that can be attributed to each phase have been identified. Those from the PPNA are generally better preserved than those of the Pottery Neolithic period, which mainly survive as a series of negative features. Analysis of the environmental background to the site, and more detailed research on certain aspects, including micromorphology and microwear have begun. Preliminary results of this work are presented, indicating the significance of the site for each period.

Fish Processing During the Early Holocene: A Taphonomic Case Study from Coastal Israel

Study of fish bones recovered from coastal archaeological sites requires careful taphonomic analysis in order to determine whether the fish bone assemblage is naturally or culturally derived, and how fish may have been processed by humans. We analysed a grey triggerfish (Balistes carolinensis) assemblage from Atlit-Yam, a submerged Pre-Pottery Neolithic site (8140–7550bp) off the Mediterranean coast of Israel, using multiple taphonomic criteria and quantitative analyses. The clumped distribution of remains, the high bone scatter frequency, the presence of a few burnt bones, the bones' state of fragmentation, the absence of a correlation between bone density and bone frequency, the low species diversity and wide range of body sizes represented, all point to a culturally derived assemblage. The high percentage of identifiable elements, the occurrence of most skeletal elements, and the virtual absence of branchial region bones, are compatible with fish gutted for immediate or later consumption, and incompatible with the expected of refuse. Cranial bones and first dorsal spines of large individuals were missing, apparently a result of size-dependent butchering methods. The emergent picture is of a pile of fish gutted and processed in a size-dependent manner, and then stored for future consumption or trade. This scenario suggests that technology for fish storage was already available, and that the Atlit-Yam inhabitants could enjoy the economic stability resulting from food storage and trade with mainland sites.

Plant remains from Asikli Höyük, a pre-pottery Neolithic site in central Anatolia

Cereal crop plants at Asikli Hoyuk included einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum), emmer wheat (T. dicoccum), free-threshing wheat (T. cf. durum), hulled two-rowed barley (Hordeum distichum) and naked barley (H. vulgare var. nudum). As for pulses, bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia), lentil (Lens culinaris) and probably pea (Pisum sativum) were grown. Hackberry (Celtis tournefortii) fruits were gathered intensively. In addition, fruits of pistachio (Pistacia cf. atlantica) and almond (Amygdalus spec.) were collected from the wild.

The Analysis of Mammalian bones from Basta, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Jordan : problems and potential

Recent excavations at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic В site of Basta (area of Petra, Jordan) have yielded a large number of animal bones (about 100 000 specimens) which date to the 7th millennium B.C. and represent mainly refuse from slaughter and consumption. Archaeozoological analyses have revealed some unexpected preliminary results : the economy at Basta was above all based on caprine husbandry ; hunting activities concentrated on gazelle, onager, African wild ass and a variety of other ungulates. The faunal assemblage exhibits the existence and exploitation of various different biotopes with their specific faunas in the vicinity of the settlement : flat, semi-arid steppes, hilly regions, wadis with fringe forest and mountainous areas. The results achieved can fill some gaps in the data, concerning our knowledge about the process of domestication, the earlier distribution of some species of ungulates and the economy in an early village-site in this southern part of the Levant.

シリア東北部ハブール川上流域の先史遺跡調査

The headwaters of the Khabur river, northeast Syria, consist of a large fertile basin, which enjoys rich water resources. Previous archaeological investigations in the basin have been largely restricted to Chalcolithic and early Civilization sites, leaving earlier sites almost entirely unexplored. As part of the French-Japanese survey project led by Bertille Lyonnet (CNRS), two seasons' surveys were conducted in 1990 and 1991 in order to shed new light upon the earlier prehistory of the Khabur basin.The surveys produced numerous prehistoric sites dating to as early as Lower Palaeolithic. The prehistoric sites in the basin show an interesting chrono-spatial distribution pattern. Particularly common are sites belonging to the Middle Palaeolithic and the Pottery Neolithic, while no Upper-and Epi-Palaeolithic sites have so far been identified. Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites are situated on higher wadi terraces or hill slopes, and Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites are on the terraces along the Khabur. Pottery Neolithic sites are, on the other hand, found in various environments such as the lowland steppes, river/wadi terraces and hill slopes. Explanation for this phenomenon should be sought in a combination of many factors including change in land-use, subsistence, environments, and even post-depositional disturbance that might have occurred in the prehistory.