Southern Levantine Research Articles

Investigating Pottery Neolithic socio-economic “regression” in the Southern Levant: Characterising obsidian consumption at Sha'ar Hagolan (N. Israel)

This paper details the characterisation of 34 obsidian artefacts from Sha'ar Hagolan in the Jordan Valley, a major Pottery Neolithic Site of the southern Levantine Yarmukian culture (6400–6000calBCE). Employing an integrated approach that melds sourcing data from EDXRF spectroscopy with the artefacts’ techno-typological characteristics, we contrast Sha'ar Hagolan's lithic traditions with those of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic southern Levantine sites in the context of alleged socio-economic disruptions in the Pottery Neolithic. The results indicate that community's obsidian consumption habits largely followed deep-time regional traditions (with only the slightest decrease in relative quantities), i.e. the use of Cappadocian raw materials (Göllü Dağ and Nenezi Dağ) to make pressure blades, and occasional projectiles, with only a small proportion of eastern Anatolian products (Nemrut Dağ). While the Sha'ar Hagolan material seems to embody continuity of southern Levantine cultural tradition, other broadly contemporary assemblages attest to the initiation of new procurement networks, and novel modes of consumption that reflect the increasing degree of cultural heterogeneity of the period. Finally, the distribution of obsidian across the site does not support the idea that social distinction at Sha'ar Hagolan was part-based on the preferential access to these exotic resources.

Rethinking Emireh Cave: The lithic technology perspectives

The Emiran is the earliest technocomplex within the Levantine Upper Palaeolithic sequence. It was defined after biased lithic assemblages from el-Wad and Emireh caves by Dorothy Garrod. The term Emiran was further adopted and was incorporated into a broader definition known as the Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) that is commonly used as a proxy for identifying human migrations during the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic interphase. More specifically it is conceived to represent the first arrival of modern humans to the Levant from Africa/Arabia, as well as being the forbearers for post-Mousterian entities in south and central Europe.In this study, we reanalyzed the same lithic assemblage from Emireh Cave that was published by Garrod in 1955 as the typical Emiran site. Our technological study shows the assemblage contains at least three distinctive knapping methods: Levallois, broad-base blades (non-Levallois), and narrow-base blade/lets. In addition, there is a substantial number of endscrapers that could not be technologically defined. We suggest the assemblage indeed contains an 'Emiran' component, including Emireh points, but it also bears Mousterian, Ahmarian and Aurignacian components. Thus, the Emireh cave lithic assemblage is assorted.We propose that the scenario at Emireh Cave in which Emiran and other industries are included in the same layer is likely to be the case in other southern Levantine sites where Emireh points were noted (i.e. el-Wad, Kebara, Qafzeh). It is suggested that the mixture is due to the ephemeral nature of the Emiran occupation at these sites.

On early metallurgy and textile-production technologies in the southern Levant: a response to Langgutet al.(2016)

In a recent article published in this journal, Langgutet al.(2016: 973) proposed five Late Chalcolithic (c. 4300–4000 BC) wooden shafts to be “the earliest Near Eastern wooden spinning implements”. Here we discuss these unique finds in light of their cultural and technological contexts, and suggest an alternative interpretation according to which these wooden shafts, one with a lead macehead lodged on its upper end, were components of the cultic practices of the southern Levantine Ghassulian culture.

The Philistine Cemetery of Ashkelon

From 2013 to 2016, the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon excavated an Iron Age IIA cemetery immediately adjacent to the ancient city. This research uncovered over 200 individuals buried in simple pits, built tombs, and cremation jars. The discovery represents a fundamental contribution to the history of the Philistines, as it demonstrates, for the first time, a typical burial practice for Philistine adults in the Iron Age. As such, it becomes a type-site against which other southern Levantine discoveries can be compared and provides new information about Iron Age death and burial in the eastern Mediterranean.

Estimating population size, density and dynamics of Pre-Pottery Neolithic villages in the central and southern Levant: an analysis of Beidha, southern Jordan

An understanding of population dynamics is essential for reconstructing the trajectories of central and southern Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) villages. The aim of this investigation was to derive more empirically and statistically robust absolute demographic data than currently exists. Several methodologies were explored, including those based on dwelling unit size and the number of dwellings; residential floor area per person; population density; and allometric growth formulae. The newly established storage provisions formulae based on the affordance of sleeping individuals within structures was found to be the most viable method. Estimates were adjusted to reflect potential structural contemporaneity calculated from building use-life and phase length estimates based on archaeological, ethnographic and experimental research, and Bayesian chronological modelling of radiocarbon dates. The application of methodologies to the PPNB site of Beidha in southern Jordan is presented. The analysis highlights inconsistencies with current theory relating to population density at Beidha. In particular, the results suggest that nuclear families probably did not form the predominant dwelling unit type during Subphases A2 and B2. In addition, population density was estimated at anywhere between 350 and 900 people per ha. This range far exceeds the ethnographically derived density values commonly utilized for reconstructing PPN village populations (c. 90 to 294 people per ha).

New insights on Early Bronze Age IV pottery production and consumption in the southern Levant: The case of Khirbat Iskandar, Jordan

This work reports the results of a multi-analytical approach, including optical microscopy (OM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX), aiming to define the mineralogical and petrographic composition of 35 ceramic samples dated in the Early Bronze Age IV (EB IV) from the archaeological site of Khirbat Iskandar (Jordan). OM analyses distinguished six petrographic fabrics and identified numerous inclusions, such as limestone, angular calcite, silica-rich and volcanic rock fragments as well as elongated fragments of bivalve shells. XRPD and SEM-EDX analyses revealed morphological and compositional features, which led to the identification of calcite, quartz, dolomite, hematite, and gehlenite. The concurrent presence of calcite and traces of gehlenite suggested a firing temperature within the range of 750–850°C.Although numerous studies have been published on EB IV ceramic repertoires in the southern Levant, few of them concern different phases within the period. Khirbat Iskandar is a key-site for EB IV as it provides a multi-phase occupational sequence, possibly stretching the entire length of the period, that makes the site a regional stratigraphic benchmark for the study of a still enigmatic period in southern Levantine archaeology. Therefore, a comparative study of two-phases of ceramics from Area B at the site can further provide a unique contribution to the study of pottery production, consumption, and exchange during the late Early Bronze Age in the southern Levant.

The Empire and the “Upper Sea”: Assyrian Control Strategies along the Southern Levantine Coast

The emergence of the Neo-Assyrian Empire marked the beginning of a new phase in the political history of the Mediterranean Sea. The Assyrian kings, being land-based rulers and deprived of their own...

The Basilica, Bouleuterion, and Civic Center of Ashkelon

Five seasons of excavation (2008–2012) undertaken by the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon in the area of the forum of Roman Ashkelon (ancient Askalōn), a major seaport on the southern Levantine coast, have revealed a continuous sequence of occupation and building activity from the Hellenistic to the Crusader periods. Of primary interest are two monumental Roman phases: a first-century C.E. basilical structure that housed the city’s bouleuterion and a Severan enlargement and renovation of this building. Most of the Severan phase has been revealed, as well as substantial portions of the earlier basilica/bouleuterion phase and a monumental Hellenistic complex. This article provides an overview of these architectural phases, the evidence for their date, suggestions for reconstruction, and a conspectus of the preand post-Roman use of this area of the city. As some of the few systematically excavated examples of these building types in the southern Levant, these structures shed light on the principal monuments and the urban development of an important seaport at the height of its prosperity, and the evidence for the dismantling of the bouleuterion in late antiquity provides a glimpse into the end of Roman civic organization in an important city of the east.1

Landscapes, depositional environments and human occupation at Middle Paleolithic open-air sites in the southern Levant, with new insights from Nesher Ramla, Israel

Middle Paleolithic human occupation in the Levant (250–50 ka ago) has been recorded in roofed (cave and rockshelter) and open-air sites. Research at these different types of sites yielded different perspectives on the Middle Paleolithic human behavior and evolution. Until recently, open-air Middle Paleolithic sites in the Levant were found in three major sedimentary environments: fluvial, lake-margin and spring. Here we describe a unique depositional environment and formation processes at the recently discovered open-air site of Nesher Ramla (Israel) and discuss their contribution to understanding site formation processes in open-air sites in the Levant. The site is 8-m-thick Middle Paleolithic sequence (OSL dated to 170–80 ka) that is located in a karst sinkhole formed by gravitational deformation and sagging into underground voids. The sedimentary sequence was shaped by gravitational collapse, cyclic colluviation of soil and gravel into the depression, waterlogging, in situ pedogenesis and human occupation. Original bedding and combustion features are well-preserved in the Lower archaeological sequence, a rare occurrence in comparison to other open-air archaeological sites. This phenomenon coincides with episodes of fast sedimentation/burial, which also allowed better preservation of microscopic remains such as ash. The Upper archaeological sequence does not exhibit bedding or preservation of ash, despite presence of heat-affected lithic artifacts, which makes it similar to other open-air sites in the Levant. We suggest that rate of burial is the major factor that caused the difference between the Upper and Lower sequences. The differences in the burial rate may be connected to environmental and vegetation changes at the end of MIS 6. We also identified an interplay between sediment in-wash and density of human activity remains, i.e. during episodes of low natural sediment input the density of artifacts is higher relative to episodes with high rate of sediment in-wash. The detailed analysis of natural and anthropogenic processes at Nesher Ramla suggests a much wider spectrum of processes than previously reported for southern Levantine Paleolithic sites. Nesher Ramla shares certain depositional and post-depositional characteristics with both cave and open-air sites and provides a better insight into processes which control both types of sites.

Caprine husbandry and initial pig management east of the Jordan Valley: Animal exploitation at Neolithic Wadi Shu’eib, Jordan

Husbandry of domesticated caprines emerged as a central component of southern Levantine subsistence systems by the end of the 10th millennium cal. BP and remained so through the mid-9th millennium cal. BP when pigs and cattle were first heavily exploited in the Northern Jordan Valley. New zooarchaeological analyses of a chronologically significant assemblage from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement of Wadi Shu’eib— located at a crucial geographical interface between the Jordan Valley and the Jordanian highlands— provide additional information on local PPN developments in goat and sheep husbandry strategies, as well as new insights into the timing and processes involved with nascent pig and cattle management. Goat husbandry served as the foundation of animal-based subsistence at Wadi Shu’eib. Sheep were relatively unimportant overall at the settlement, but intensification in the exploitation of larger-bodied animals during the PPNC suggests a shift in harvesting strategies that promoted the survivorship of adult rams or, more controversially, the exploitation of new sheep stock. The high abundance of pigs present at Wadi Shu’eib throughout the Neolithic, combined with the exploitation of large-bodied suids and a focus on adult kill-off during the Late PPNB, followed by the exploitation of small-bodied pigs and intensive slaughter of young pigs during the PPNC, suggests nascent management of pigs was underway by the 9th millennium cal. BP some five hundred years earlier than previously thought for the Southern Levant.

Holocene-era submerged notches along the southern Levantine coastline: Punctuated sea level rise?

The study presented here reports on erosional notches, pits, and potholes observed at present sea level and submerged at a series of sites along the southern Levantine coastline. For such submerged features to be formed and preserved, there must be a period of relative sea level stagnation, followed by drowning. This process can occur in response to sea level change, tectonic or isostatic offsets. The specific coastline hosting these features is not considered tectonically or isostatically affected, and therefore, for much of the Mediterranean, is viewed as a eustatic sea level reference point. While similar features have been observed elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean, confining their ages has been difficult due to the much older ages of the host rocks, in many cases encompassing multiple glacial cycles. Here, for the first time they are located in relatively young host rock (<65,000 years) confining their production age to the most recent glacial cycle. These features might suggest that a step-like, more punctuated process of sea-level rise occurred along this coastline, providing a window into what might be expected in the future as warming trends continue and the sea level responds.

Studying Ancient Anthropogenic Impacts on Current Floral Biodiversity in the Southern Levant as reflected by the Philistine Migration.

Human migrations across geographic boundaries can facilitate the introduction of new husbandry practices and dispersal of plants and animals, resulting in changes in biodiversity. As previously demonstrated, the 12th century BCE Philistine migration–to the southern Levantine littoral, involved the transportation of pigs from Europe, engendering long term genetic displacement of local Near Eastern haplotypes. Building on this, and combining biogeographical methods of Floral List comparisons with archaeological data, we have elucidated the Philistine impact on Southern Levantine floral ecosystems. We demonstrate that previously unexploited local plants were incorporated into the Philistine milieu, and new species were introduced–from Europe, the Aegean, Egypt and Mesopotamia –resulting in the earliest locally cultivated sycamore, cumin, coriander, bay tree and opium poppy. This research has highlighted the impact of past cultures on the formation of floral ecosystems and their long-term effects on contemporary local biological diversity.

A Numerical Modelling Study on the Potential Role of Tsunamis in the Biblical Exodus

The reliability of the narrative of the Biblical Exodus has been subject of heated debate for decades. Recent archaeological studies seem to provide new insight of the exodus path, and although with a still controversial chronology, the effects of the Minoan Santorini eruption have been proposed as a likely explanation of the biblical plagues. Particularly, it has been suggested that flooding by the associated tsunamis could explain the first plague and the sea parting. Recent modelling studies have shown that Santorini’s tsunami effects were negligible in the eastern Nile Delta, but the released tectonic stress could have triggered local tsunamigenic sources in sequence. This paper is aimed to a quantitative assessment of the potential role of tsunamis in the biblical parting of the sea. Several “best case” scenarios are tested through the application of a numerical model for tsunami propagation that has been previously validated. The former paleogeographic conditions of the eastern Nile Delta have been implemented based upon recent geological studies; and several feasible local sources for tsunamis are proposed. Tsunamis triggered by submarine landslides of 10–30 km3 could have severely impacted the northern Sinai and southern Levantine coasts but with weak effects in the eastern Nile Delta coastline. The lack of noticeable flooding in this area under the most favorable conditions for tsunamis, along with the time sequence of water elevations, make difficult to accept them as a plausible and literally explanation of the first plague and of the drowning of the Egyptian army in the surroundings of the former Shi-Hor Lagoon.

Distinctive or diverse? Conceptualizing ancient Israelite religion in its southern Levantine setting

Distinctive or diverse? Conceptualizing ancient Israelite religion in its southern Levantine setting

The Nile Delta as a Center of Cultural Interaction Between Upper Egypt and the Southern Levant in the 4th Millennium BC

The societies occupying the Nile Delta in the 4th millennium BC were not cut off from the neighboring regions of Upper Egypt and the Southern Levant. The Nile River, which served as a transport route between southern and northern Egypt, and the geographical proximity of the Southern Levant to the Nile Delta were probably both factors that allowed contact to occur between the regions. Whilst a significant number of Southern Levantine and Upper Egyptian imports have been found at Lower Egyptian cultural sites, the quantity of Lower Egyptian items from the same period found in the Southern Levant and in southern Egypt is more limited. This state of affairs did not occur by chance, which suggests that the scarcity of northern Egyptian finds outside Lower Egypt can probably be attributed to the nature of trade and the position of the Nile Delta in this period.Although our knowledge of the contact of the Delta with Upper Egypt and the Southern Levant is constantly expanding, many issues still remain unclear, including that of trading patterns. Archeological research currently being conducted in northern Egypt (mainly at Tell el-Farkha, Tell el-Iswid, Sais and Buto) has provided us with new material that adds to our understanding of the field. From the most recent excavation results, it would appear that from the very beginnings of its existence, the Tell el-Farkha site in the eastern Delta was as an important exchange center where the influence of the east and the south came together.The aim of this paper is to portray the interaction occurring between the Delta, Upper Egypt and the Southern Levant in the 4th millennium BC on the basis of material found at the excavation site of Tell el-Farkha in the eastern Nile Delta and to explain the role of the Nile Delta in political and cultural relations between these regions.

GODS, CAVES, AND SCHOLARS: Chalcolithic Cult and Metallurgy in the Judean Desert

The origins of southern Levantine Chalcolithic copper metallurgy have been debated for decades. Typological and metallurgical examinations of the copper artifacts from the Nahal Mishmar hoard and elsewhere have indicated a dichotomy between simple tools, made of pure copper by open casting, and elaborate items made by the “lost wax” technique of copper alloys with antimony and arsenic. While the former were considered local production of the northern Negev sites, the latter were prestige objects either considered as imports from the remote sources of arsenic-antimony copper, or local to the southern Levant. In the present paper the results of an ongoing research project are presented based on the analysis of ceramic mold remains that were still attached to a large number of copper implements from Israel. In a previous publication, the Ein Gedi area in the Judean Desert of Israel was suggested as the place of origin of all copper objects produced by this lost wax method. Some new results and simulations of...

Population aggregation, residential storage and socioeconomic inequality at Early Bronze Age Numayra, Jordan

One of the critical questions related to population aggregation and the development of urbanism centers on how and why people came together to form and maintain large settlements, overcoming challenges of feeding, organizing, and governing large populations. As one key component of life in large communities, storage practices represent a crucial building block and one of, if not the, most important economic and social foundations for population aggregation and urbanism in all areas of the world. Archaeologists have assumed that small-scale urbanism required enhanced social, economic, and political complexity, often reflected in non-residential storage practices. Focusing on the Near Eastern Bronze Age, this paper offers a detailed assessment of residential storage practices at Numayra, a fortified settlement inhabited from c. 2850–2550 Cal. BC during the southern Levantine Early Bronze Age III. The southern Levantine Early Bronze Age was a small-scale urban society that emerged with population aggregation, some civic administration, and varying degrees of political and economic inequality. Drawing upon detailed evidence for residential storage at the site, we evaluate arguments for social, political and economic inequality at the site and more broadly in the region. This paper examines residential storage practices at Numayra, where 192 storage features and well-preserved artifactual materials suggest that people might have used storage practices simultaneously as both leveling and competitive mechanisms. Numayra’s storage evidence demonstrates that the ways in which people stored and shared food and other storable goods changed over the course of the settlement’s history, providing a nuanced and localized micro-history of storage behaviors in a small, fortified community. This research contributes a detailed understanding of the dynamic relationship between population aggregation and socioeconomic inequality, and explores how we can understand the pathways to and mechanics of population aggregation and urban lifeways at any scale.

TWO EB III RED POLISHED JUGSFROM PALACE B IN KHIRBET AL-BATRAWYAND JUGS WITH RESERVED ALTERNATE-HATCHING DECORATION (RAHD)FROM PALESTINE AND TRANSJORDAN

The Early Bronze Age III (around 2700-2350 BC) represents the zenith of the Southern Levantine cities of the 3rd millennium BC, both in terms of growth and social complexity. Between the numerous valuable items (high-quality stone objects, metal weapons, Egyptian or Egyptian-style luxury pieces, jewels) gathered by local élites inside temples and palaces, or preserved as heirlooms in grave goods, a specific typology of ceramic vessels seems to be linked to these prestigious contexts: red-burnished/polished jugs, with a reserved decorated band on the girth in form of diagonal burnished hatching. Two jugs recently recovered from the EB IIIB Palace B of Khirbet al-Batrawy (North-Central Jordan) have allowed an evaluation of this decorative motif with its related retrieval contexts

The Effect of Dynamic Topography Changes On the Coastal Area Along the Southern Levantine Sub-Basin off Egypt

The Effect of Dynamic Topography Changes On the Coastal Area Along the Southern Levantine Sub-Basin off Egypt

Fine-scale distribution of juvenile Atlantic and Mediterranean loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) in the Mediterranean Sea

Loggerhead turtles nesting in the Mediterranean Sea exhibit remarkable genetic structuring. This paper tests the hypothesis that young loggerhead turtles from different rookeries do not distribute homogeneously among the major Mediterranean foraging grounds, due to a complex pattern of surface currents. We extracted long fragments of mitochondrial DNA from 275 stranded or bycaught juvenile turtles from six foraging grounds (Catalano-Balearic Sea, Algerian basin, Tyrrhenian Sea, Adriatic Sea, northern Ionian Sea and southern Levantine Sea). We used a Bayesian mixed-stock analysis to estimate the contributions from rookeries in the Mediterranean, the North-west Atlantic and Cape Verde to the studied foraging grounds. Differences were found in the relative contribution of juvenile turtles of Atlantic and Mediterranean origin to each foraging ground. A decreasing proportion of Atlantic juveniles was detected along the main surface current entering the Mediterranean, with a high prevalence of turtles from eastern Florida in the Algerian basin and lower numbers elsewhere. In regard to the turtles of Mediterranean origin, juveniles from Libya prevailed in central and western Mediterranean foraging grounds other than the Algerian basin. Conversely, the Adriatic Sea was characterised by a large presence of individuals from western Greece, while the southern Levantine Sea was inhabited by a heterogeneous mix of turtles from the eastern Mediterranean rookeries (Turkey, Lebanon and Israel). Overall, the distribution of juveniles may be related to surface circulation patterns in the Mediterranean and suggests that fisheries might have differential effects on each population depending on the overlap degree between foraging and fishing grounds.