The Desert Neolithic Settlement at Ayn Abu Nukhayla CHAPTER 16 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Towards a Typology of Stone Beads in the Neolithic Levant
Journal of Field Archaeology 38(2):129-142. , 2013
This study is an attempt to develop a comprehensive typology of the earliest stone bead assemblages in the southern Levant from Late Natufian and Neolithic sites. I propose this typology as a tool for studying stone beads almost a century after Horace Beck published his monumental bead typology. Beads are often neglected artifacts in archaeological excavations, but a bead typology can contribute to definitions of relative chronology and to a broader understanding of social and economic aspects of certain prehistoric societies.
Ornaments of the earliest Upper Paleolithic: New insights from the Levant
Proceedings of the …, 2001
Two sites located on the northern Levantine coast, Ü çag ızlı Cave (Turkey) and Ksar 'Akil (Lebanon) have yielded numerous marine shell beads in association with early Upper Paleolithic stone tools. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates indicate ages between 39,000 and 41,000 radiocarbon years (roughly 41,000 -43,000 calendar years) for the oldest ornament-bearing levels in Ü çag ızlı Cave. Based on stratigraphic evidence, the earliest shell beads from Ksar 'Akil may be even older. These artifacts provide some of the earliest evidence for traditions of personal ornament manufacture by Upper Paleolithic humans in western Asia, comparable in age to similar objects from Eastern Europe and Africa. The new data show that the initial appearance of Upper Paleolithic ornament technologies was essentially simultaneous on three continents. The early appearance and proliferation of ornament technologies appears to have been contingent on variable demographic or social conditions.
What social groups were involved in Neolithic craft production? What was the nature of early forms of craft specialization, long before urban economies evolved? One way to look at this is to investigate manufacture of Neolithic prestige goods. Seasonal camps in Wadi Jilat (eastern Jordan) revealed unusually detailed evidence for manufacture of stone beads: debris, blanks, finished beads, and tools for drilling, sawing and abrasion. The material is 'Dabba Marble', a metamorphic rock of which the major source is nearby. This article describes lapidary technology at Jilat 13 and Jilat 25, equivalent in age to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C (PPNC). Mineral-chemical characterization data on Dabba Marble are presented. These sites raise issues about early craft specialization. These beadmakers seem to have been master craftsmen/women. We suggest that these sites illustrate a particular form of 'site specialization', namely sites located in remote territories and focused on special materials and intensive production of prestige goods. However, these craft activities were also embedded in hunting, herding and, perhaps, ritual, as suggested by figurines and pillars.
Ornaments in the earliest Upper Paleolithic: New results from the Levant.
Two sites located on the northern Levantine coast, Ü çag ızlı Cave (Turkey) and Ksar 'Akil (Lebanon) have yielded numerous marine shell beads in association with early Upper Paleolithic stone tools. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates indicate ages between 39,000 and 41,000 radiocarbon years (roughly 41,000 -43,000 calendar years) for the oldest ornament-bearing levels in Ü çag ızlı Cave. Based on stratigraphic evidence, the earliest shell beads from Ksar 'Akil may be even older. These artifacts provide some of the earliest evidence for traditions of personal ornament manufacture by Upper Paleolithic humans in western Asia, comparable in age to similar objects from Eastern Europe and Africa. The new data show that the initial appearance of Upper Paleolithic ornament technologies was essentially simultaneous on three continents. The early appearance and proliferation of ornament technologies appears to have been contingent on variable demographic or social conditions.
The Exploitation of Shells as Beads in the Palaeolithic and Neolithic of the Levant
2005
Shells are first purposefully collected in the Middle Palaeolithic, but their first systematic exploitation to serve as beads is in the Upper Palaeolithic. Small gastropods, especially Columbella rustica and Nassarius gibbosulus are usually chosen, some of them naturally abraded ready-to-use beads. This tradition continues throughout the Epi-Palaeolithic. The Natufian culture marks a change expressed in both larger quantities and diversity of species, and an increased preference for Dentalium. The economic changes from hunter-gatherers to farmers that characterize the Neolithic period are also expressed in new strategies of shell exploitation. Those include larger numbers of species that are collected, their use for making artifacts and not only simple shell beads, and their apparent use in exchange systems whose purpose is to provide food. In addition, more diverse methods are used for working the shells, resulting in such "prestige" items as Mother-of-Pearl pendants. Dozens of shell species are made into beads during this period, especially in the desert areas where Red Sea species are collected. The Mediterranean zone is distinguished by smaller assemblages dominated by Glycymeris and Cerastoderma.
Neolithic Shell Bead Production in Sinai
Journal of Archaeological Science, 1997
Five marine shell assemblages, consisting of over 5000 shells and shell fragments from Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (9200–7800BP) sites in the Sinai peninsula have been studied. The aims of this study were (1) to compare assemblages among the sites and, within the two larger and stratified sites (Ujrat el Mehed and Wadi Tbeik), among levels; and (2) to try to determine the place of marine shells within the socio-economic structure of the PPNB period in southern Sinai. Red Sea shell beads processed in southern Sinai may have been exchanged for cereals from PPNB agricultural communities within the Mediterranean zone.
Wright, K. I. 1993. Early Holocene ground stone assemblages in the Levant. Levant, 25(1): 93-111.
Ground stone assemblages increase in number, size and diversity in the Neolithic of the Levant. The sIgnificance of this development is discussed in relation to the development of sedentary villages~' the origins of agrt'culture and pastoralism~' and the elaboration of craftsmanship. An increase in the frequency of grinding tools relative to pounding tools characterizes the early Neolithic sites by comparison to Natufian and earlier assemblages. Regional variations in Neolithic assemblages refleci differences in mobility and subsistence economies in the woodland and arid zones. An apparent decline in the diversity of certain "food processing" tools may be characteristic of Late Neolithic sites and this pattern is consistent with the hypothesis that more mobile subsistence economies were developing. Evidence from the PPNB and Late Neolithic also suggests that ground stone technology played a key role in the development of other crafts, including ceramics. of Antiquities of Jordan; the Institute of Archaeology, Yarmouk University; the University of Sheffield; and the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, for support of many kinds. I am indebted to several scholars who generously granted me permission to analyze unpublished collections: