nicolas SAMUELIAN | INRAP, Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (original) (raw)

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Nanterre info, 2019

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Défense Passive De Bello collections n°165, 2019

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Http Www Theses Fr, 2013

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The paper reports on two field seasons at the Natufian site of Eynan (Mallaha) in 1998 and 1999. ... more The paper reports on two field seasons at the Natufian site of Eynan (Mallaha) in 1998 and 1999. It also intends to give a summary of the main results of on-going researches on the objects found in the excavations, mainly flint, obsidian, fauna, bone tools,grinding devices and objects which may bear some symbolic meaning. Field work was limited to the Final Natufian layer lb in order to produce as extensive an exposure as possible. Progress wes made in the excavation of already known architectural features and new ones were encountered. Buildings, usually not very deeply dug, are limited by semi-circular buried stonewalls. They are of a variety of size.
Some of them are provisionally understood as houses but others may have been made for a different purpose. Each building went through a succession of phases which are indicated by complicated stratigraphies of superimposed floors and structures. A variety of fireplaces are noticed. Current work tries to clarify what kind of activity each of them was intended for. For the first time at the site Final Natufian burials were excavated in relation to architectural features. Inhumations are individual and most probably purposefully connected with buildings. Funerary activities may have included some building but this has to be confirmed. Also noteworthy is the variety of ways in which the dead may have been buried as opposed to the disposition of the body in the graves which is relatively standardized. Of interest is the presence of one case of porotic hyperostosis of the parietal bones. Some individuals suffered from dental abcess and caries and one of them had experienced removal of the right central upper incisive. Ongoing analysis of the flint industry emphasizes the variety of chaînes opératoires at work on the site and the diversity in methods by which flakes were derived. At themoment this situation seems best explained by a superposition in time of ad hoc procedures intended at different purposes. A tentative comparison with other Natufian sites is offered as a first step which needs further developments. Thirty five obsidian pieces were recorded probably indicating that this material ispart of the Natufian assemblage rather than going with the scanty Early PPNB attested otherwise. A small sample of fauna recovered on the floor of a house seems to indicate year
round occupation. Gazella gazella is the commonest species but wild pigs and cervids are relatively frequent. Comparisons with other Final Natufian faunas warn against hasty climatic reconstructions.Bone tools are numerous. Typological and technological studies demonstrate that they are deeply embeded in the former Natufian tradition. Grinding slabs and mullers were submitted to detailed morphological analysis. The former display a variety in shape and dimensions which suggests an array of ways of use for more than one purpose. Finally, «small finds» are described in detail as part of a corpus to be
elaborated. Among them a few greenstone ornaments are worth noting since, together
with obsidian, this material cannot be found in the vicinity of the site.
To conclude, we still do not have at hand decisive data which could allow us to definitely state that final Natufian inhabitants experienced a fully sedentary life at Eynan. Nevertheless a striking continuity with the use of the site by former Early and Late Natufian people is evidenced.

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