The Biblical Archaeologist - Vol.58, N.1.

64 Pages·1995·29.28 MB·English

by  American Schools of Oriental Research

LeL
0
oo
o
oi the Ancient World from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean VoL5 8 No.1 March1995
Pevspeci eft
VW
.7.
? : .T(cid:127) :Wyk". " (cid:127) (cid:127) "
21s
4t.
BiblicaAl rchaeoloist
? i i il l ii
Perspectiveos n the AncientW orldf romM esopotamitao the Mediterranean Volume5 8 Number1
A Publicationo f the AmericanS choolso f OrientalR esearch March1 995
2
Herderso r Homesteaders?
A NeolithiFc armin WadZi iqlabJ,o rdan
E. B. Banning
Around 8000 BCE, the early farming villages of the Neolithic revolu-
tion disappeared. Explanations have been offered-from invasions, to
socio-political dysfunction-but still the question remains: where did
IL the villagers go? Through systematic sampling of steam terraces,t he
Wadi Ziqlab Project is exposing Late Neolithic campsites and other
small sites that hold the promise of putting the heirs of the first vil-
lagers back on the map.
14 Searchingf or Benchmarkisn the BiblicalW orld:
page 2 TheD evelopmeonftJ osephA . Callawaays FieldA rchaeologist
GeraldL . Mattingly
Collected as carefully as his stratigraphic data, Callaway's correspon-
dence opens a revealing vista on his archaeological life. Letters show
that Albright, Wright,a nd Kenyon regarded him as an exemplary field
archaeologist. Apart from his field work, Callaway left a legacy of con-
tributions to the dialogue between archaeological and biblical
research.
26 New Lighto n KingN armera ndt he ProtodynastiEc gyptian
;cl;4 Presencien Canaan
ThomasE . Levy,E dwinC .M.v an den Brink,Y uvalG orena, nd
DavidA lon
Immortalized on a stunning palette, Narmer, the last king of Egyptian
4-P VI? Dynasty 0, has surfaced in the southern Negev in the form of his serekh
(royal emblem) incised on the shoulder of an Egyptian storejar. Clear
stratigraphy bolsters the value of this early manifestation of relations
between Egypt and the southern Levant.
37 Origina ndE arlyH istoryo f theQ umraSne ct
page 14 LawrenceH . Schiffman
The HalakhicL etter( MMT) details debates over sacrificial law and rit-
ual purity that fueled the schism that produced the Qumran sect.
Originating among disaffected Sadducees, the letter derives from an
early point in the sect's history. When the Hasmonean high priesthood
failed to respond, the dissident group withdrew into the wilderness
~yt 'rr:? l.rr J ?: i-s- by the shores of the Dead Sea.
:1.
: ,I
R ;J~ 49 Notes,N ews,a nd Reviews
.? ~F
rr : L ?al. r! W Flying Amphoras! Bob Hohlfelder investigates the mysterious "Cave
sy~ii ~ ;? of the Amphoras'"o ff the coast of Cyprus. Plus, excavations at Qadir
H6ytik and a review of the new edition of Finegan'sc lassic TheA rchae-
ology of the New Testamnent.
rx~,l
ON THEC OVERT: he recently discovered royal emblem (serekh sign) of Narmer
incised on a storejar sherd excavated from the Halif Terrace,I srael,i s superim-
posed upon the verso of the Narmer Palette. Narmer, last king of the Egyptian
page 49 Dynasty O,p repares to strike a captive from the Delta region.
American Schools of Oriental Research
OF
o
mvx$
II
1995-1996
Boardo f Trustees
P.E . MacAllisterC, hairmaonf theB oani
RobertJ ohnston,V ice-Chairman
Kevin G. O'Connell, Vice-Chairmoafn t heB oanrd
Eric M. Meyers,P resident
R.T homas Schaub,F irstV ice-PresidePnut,i blications
Joe D. Seger,V ice-PresideCntA, P
Donald Wimmer,V ice-PresideCnto rpomtion
W.H . Holden Gibbs,V ice-PresideFnitn anceT, reasurer
LydieT .S hufro,V ice-PresidePnut,b licR elations
ErnestF rerichs,V ice-President-at-Large
James E Ross,S ecretary
Classo f 1995 Classo f 1996 Classo f 1997
David Albright ErnestF rerichs Charles Harris
PaulaB urger W. H. Holden Gibbs JeffreyK urzweil
JerryC ooper RobertJ ohnston George Landes
Kevin G. O'Connell JamesM uhly P.E . MacAllister
R.T homas Schaub JonathanR osen James E Ross
Gough T.T hompson RichardS cheuer Joe D.Seger
LydieS hufro GeraldV incent
Trustees Trustees
Corporation Honorary
PaulY .H oskisson AlexanderA braham
JohnM cRay FrankM oore Cross
WalterR ast Norma Kershaw
Donald Wimmer Philip King
C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky
OverseasI nstitutesa nd CommitteTe rustees Goerge Landes
ElizabethC arterB, aghdad Leon Levy
GiraudF oster,C AARI MartinM eyerson
MichaelF uller,D amascus JohnW arrington
ArtemisJ oukowskyA, COR
AffiliateI nstitutionaTl rustees
J.M axwell Miller,A IAR
RandolphB .O ld, ACOR Stephen L. Dyson, ADA
Andrew Oliver,C AARI Holland Hendrix,S BL
Joy Ungerleider-MayersontA, IAR David I Owen, AOS
Board
Advisory
Gus VanB eek
Eugene Grant
Alfred Gottschalk
Eileen Guggenheim-Wilkinson
ElizabethM oynihan
LawrenceS tager
36 BiblicaAl rchaeologis5t8 :1 (1995)
From the Editor
BiblicalArchaeologist
Riddles and conundrums are especially appealing at certain stages in one's PeMrsepseocptiovteaosm ni ttaho e t Ahen McieednitWt erorraldnf reoamn
life. Certainly, they fascinate in pre-adolescent years, as my daughter's pesky Editor David C. Hopkins
riddling attests. The operation of riddles depends upon a gap in knowledge, a Art Director Bucky Edgett,L uckyP roductions
missing piece of data that must be supplied deductively. Thus, because of ar- Book Review Editor James C. Moyer
EditorialA ssistant Mary PatrinaB oyd
chaeology's intrinsic properties, it is as filled with riddles as it is beset by igno- EditorialC ommittee
rance. Archaeologists work at an enduring stage of riddling. JefferyA . Blakely Douglas A. Knight
Here's a delightful one: How can second century BCE amphoras constitute Elizabeth Bloch-Smith Mary Joan Leith
the roof of a cave beneath the sea? Bob Hohlfelder's brief note in this issue of BA Betsy M. Bryan Gloria London
J. P Dressel Jodi Magness
provides a solution: Spilled out of a lacerated, ancient hull, the pottery knitted Ernest S. Frerichs Gerald L. Mattingly
together over time through the natural processes of reef formation. Erosion then Ronald S. Hendel Gaetano Palimbo
undermined the reef, turning what was once a superficial deposit into the ceil- RichardS . Hess Paul Zimansky
Kenneth G. Hoglund
ing of a subterranean grotto. Recreational divers off the southwest coast of Subscriptions Annual subscription rates are $35
Cyprus can see it for themselves. for individuals and $45 for institutions. There is
Most archaeological riddles are not so satisfyingly solved. What sets Abu a special annual rate of $28 for those over 65,
Gosh, Beidha, and Jericho apart from Ain Ghazal, Ramad, and Wadi Shu'eib? physically challenged, or unemployed. Biblical
Archaeologiisst also available as part of the bene-
The former three (and many others) collapsed in the middle of the Pre-Pottery fits of some ASOR membership categories.
Neolithic B period. What accounts for the disappearance of these centuries-old Postage for Canadian and other international
large farming villages? Perhaps the term "disappearance"i s misleading--a bade dsernests teos AisS aOnR ad Mdeitmiobnearls $h5i.p P/Sayumbsecnrtisb sehro uld
typical riddling device. Instead of "vanish,"t he term is better understood as a Services, PO. Box 15399A, tlanta,G A 30333-0399
socio-cultural transformation from more nucleated to more dispersed settle- (ph: 404-727-2345;B itnet:S CHOLARS@
ment patterns. If settlement sites were more dispersed, then they are more diffi- EMORYUI)V. ISA/Mastercard orders can be
phoned in.
cult to locate. Ted Banning's Wadi Ziqlab Project takes aim at this conundrum
with both survey and excavation tools. Along the terraces of this dry stream cBaalclikn igs sSuPe Cs uBsatocmk iesrsu Seesr vciacne sb aet o 8b0t0a-i4n3e7d- b66y9 2o r
bed, invisible on the surface and buried in alluvium, are remains of the camp- writing SP Customer Services, PO Box 6996,
sites to which the heirs of the abandoned villages scattered. Alpharetta,G A 30239-6996.
Turning from pre-history to the earliest historical era, epigraphic discoveries Postmaster Send address changes to Biblical
pose riddles concerning the interaction between the emergent Egyptian civi- ASerrcvhiaceeos,l PogOis.A tB,S oOx 1R5 M39e9mA, btlearnsthai,p G/SAu 3b0sc3r3i3b-e0r3 99
lization and its Canaanite flank: Can you catch catfish in the Negev desert? If Second-class postage paid at Atlanta, GA and
additional offices.
the "catfish"i s the stylized serekho f early Egyptian King Narmer, then the exca-
vators of the Tell Halif terrace have answered affirmatively.T om Levy and his Copyright ? 1995b y the American Schools
of Oriental Research.
collaborators pose for themselves the more complex riddle of the significance of
Correspondence All editorial correspondence
Narmer's royal emblem for charting the region's cultural evolution. should be addressed to BiblicaAl rchaeologis4t5, 00
Like the flying amphoras of Hohlfelder's cave, tell-based stratigraphy regu- Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington,D C
larly offers up impossible riddles: from "floating" walls to inverted fills. Among 2B0o0o1k6s- f5o6r9 r0e( pvhie:w 20 s2h-o8u8l5d- 8b6e9 s9e;fn atx t:o 2 0D2r-.8J 8a5m-8e6s 0C5.) .
American archaeologists, Joseph Callaway was an early master of stratigraphic Moyer,D epartment of Religious Studies, South-
excavation. The stratigraphic perplexities aside, Callaway's most enduring west Missouri State University 901 South Na-
legacy may be his reasoned pursuit of the dialogue between archaeological tional, Box 167S, pringfield, MO 65804-0095.
Advertising Correspondence should be ad-
data and biblical text. Callaway believed that the excavation of the ancient Pales- dressed to Leigh Anderson, Scholars Press, PO.
tinian tells was "a laboratory of scientific Bible study." Box 15399,A tlanta,G A 30333-0399 (ph:4 04-727-
2327; fax:[phone])A. ds for the sale
Riddles at the intersections of biblical and archaeological disciplines, how- of antiquities will not be accepted.
ever, expose their nightshade side-their role in political games of in-
group/out-group knowledge and control. Employment, publication, funding BiblicaAl rchaeologi(sItS SN 0006-0895)i s published
possibilities all are at stake in the riddling enterprise. The same holds true for quarterly (March,J une, September,D ecember)
by Scholars Press, 819H ouston Mill Road NE,
archaeology's role in cultural-resource management. While archaeological rid- Atlanta,G A 30329,f or the American Schools of
dles include the playful ("flying amphoras") and the methodologically perplex- Oriental Research (ASOR),3 301 North Charles
ing (socio-cultural change), they can also be very serious business, hardly a Street, Baltimore,M D 21218P. rinted by Cadmus
JournalS ervices, Baltimore,M D.
stage through which we will soon pass.
O
OF
C47
)
2 0C,1 ",
S
David C. Hopkins
Editor
Ilkig
lit
_.dar.Fr 3 ? BECdB~~CPLe~ ~ ~ ? ~~~g it~. ~ C~
c '-;"tar:-
eq.
~ ~r- NIT O vi
-70, Vz Y ~ ?nr:*`l"
ZA::
IVA:
Y7,
j 4 7r, :*l
41, %,=' pq ~
Homesteaders?
or
A NeolithicF armi n WadiZ iqlab,J ordan
By E. B. Banning
EIGHTT HOUSANYDE ARASG O, relatived eartho f sites belonging to The Neolithico f the Southern
ABOUT
somethingd ramatich ap- the eighth millennium BP1w as that Levant
pened to the largev illages that these early farmersh ad not really
had dotted the landscapef or more vanished.I nstead,t hey adopted a Whether orn otN atufian(c a.
than a millenniumi n what is now very differents ettlements trategy 12,000 to 10,500B P) sites
the region of IsraelJ, ordana, nd accompaniedw ith the potterya nd representt he firsth orticul-
southwesternS yria.T he people had other sweeping technological turals ettlementso r the first villages
developed a commitmentt o agricul- changest hat often lead archaeolo- of intensiveh untersa nd gatherers,
ture and animal husbandrya, nd their gists to proclaimt he dawn of a new the Natufianss et the stage for the
aceramicc ulture stretchedf rom culture.E xcavationsin and arounda developmento f largev illages with an
southernJ ordant o the foothills of the small site in northernJ ordann ow increasingr elianceo n cerealg rains
Taurusm ountains.F orr easons that give us some insightsi nto this possi- and legumes that could be cultivated.
still puzzle archaeologistst,h ese peo- bility,a nd allow glimpses into the By about9 000 BP therew ere many
ple virtuallyd isappearedf rom the kinds of social and economicc hanges such villages acrosst he southern
archaeologicarl ecord( Kenyon which may have prompteda switch Levant,o f which CAinG hazala nd
1979:43M; oore 1973:37-4R1;o llefson from a nucleatedt o a much more Jerichoa re well known examples,a nd
and K6hler-Rollefso1n9 89;R ollefson dispersed settlementp attern. their inhabitantsw ere cultivating
1989)S. ites such as Abu Ghosh,B asta,
Beidha,a nd Jerichow ere abandoned, Above:T hew ell-preservedst ructurea t the southerne nd of Tabaqaat l-BOm(aA reasD 35
some of them forever. and E35)h as a clay-linedsi lo in one wall of its mainr oom,l ateru sedf or a flexed burial,
One possible explanationf or the and a smallerr ooma ccessedf romo utside.P hotographb y
T.D abney.
Anti-Lebanon
mountains
ains
Mediterranean iann
*ORamad
Sea
K Giladi * * Hagoshrim
Beisamoun*
Munhatta golan
Rehub
Neve Ur (cid:127)in
.ebel
Wadi Ziqlab Druz
sBeth
Abu Hamid
.al-Farah T.Abu Suwan
Wadi Rabah 0 Jabal Abu Thuwwab
* Wadi Shu'eib
Bashan St
Lydda * t 'Ain Ghazal Dhuweila
Ghrubba
Jeric T.G hassul
,
Murraba'at Dead
Sea
Wadi Jilat
0 Wadi Ghazeh
Dhra'
0 10 20 30 40km
0 10 20 30mi
A Map of the southern Levant.The Wadi
Ziqlab researcha rea in western Jordan
encompasses a wadi system that drainst he
U"':. ....P~ ,, :. (cid:127) ..-(cid:127) i(cid:127): ... plateau region into the Jordan RiverV alley.
With its abundant water and other natural
1, ? '." resources,W adiZ iqlab attracted prehistoric
settlers during the Neolithic period. Other
Neolithic sites pepper this region of the
NearE astD. rawingb y E.B anning.
(cid:127)i :,,. .i:.:?-: (cid:127): .".(cid:127)'::(cid:127),!(cid:127) ;. , .'i='i (cid:127) (cid:127):. :" ,.; ,~ . .. . . i !~ ! (cid:127) ~ ~
, " . . '. .N". ,,~.~. '. ~. .. (cid:127). : , ~ . ~., ~ ,,(cid:127)<~:Y : (cid:127)?,,;,' ~(cid:127). .: ,..~., .1l l(cid:127) (cid:127)l(cid:127)(cid:127)lll(cid:127) ~(cid:127)~: (cid:127)(cid:127) ~~tr
? i ,f' (cid:127)' "' (cid:127)i (cid:127) :: i. :-;: (cid:127) .if, ".,?(cid:127) " (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127):<:.- .:,o!.,: (cid:127),." ""=., ;:?(cid:127) -. . 4., ::, , ;:-" ,(cid:127).? ..,."o " "'."".:: . " :(cid:127).,:(cid:127) . :,::I ?;":: ..w. ". : .(cid:127) '. (cid:127):" (cid:127) ".: -.:.:' .,,I.. (cid:127)?(cid:127): . :<" , "".,.,, '": /.(cid:127). : ..a a ;."i, , p ' .- :.,.;? (cid:127),.. :., "."[." ...(cid:127).... . . .",.",. -?(cid:127)" ..'.>. ?:, (cid:127),". ". i.. . ..(cid:127) ti..' ' ..'(cid:127).-.:. _ ., ..' " , x::, ".(cid:127)., .; t,,; "(cid:127) . ", ,(cid:127) .,. ,. '.? , " :."?. . < .,; - (cid:127) ", ..".:(cid:127)(cid:127) (cid:127),(cid:127):,%:iW". - := :'(cid:127)., : Vt.;: &.;(cid:127); -:(cid:127) '(cid:127) ;i (cid:127)'(cid:127) :!' ', . 4 View of the latest Neolithic building
discovereda t WZ2 00 to date,i n AreaD 31.
Two corners have bench-like features, while
the farthest corner has a feature incorpo-
rating a cracked grinding stone and a
ceramicd isk.P hotographb y T Dabney.
BiblicaAl rchaeologi5s8t :1 (1995) 3
I?Ib
9-'---.---.-ii? M'
5 ? -' :j~t t
-~?- -' "- - -
'A4 V: ?r- f - -- j?j?C1~ <'i?'t c -.??ii?~~~'-~ "~ r~ -
-V . ,P. ??,v 1 ?? - .0
'.:~~~ 4~;:;:.~L~Mil~TI r = -: :,;;-:?~ :J Ill?~ t? !-? :~I : ~ ?~:? I ~ I ~~i37 ~~g ;OWNi~~t
..- .--- ~u-ur 41W
IF. fi ?~
P'-?0" 'p
ij"~'t'K~~ NCr P iltft- ; re' - -
'4.
'?k' _ k~1?2.I~c~~
A J 4 ?- T~~r? -P A:et-'fxtN; k WW> :&,rPQ. :; 1m44 0fi ~lww o~rCk~Fg ~ ~ f =?~:. ;s ? t
t 4F - 4r
%-W I-N i
I "k
fs i ~ aJP-.1 wr , ". T V*'
~;?;~4'3rr! YIr ti~ i~f?3z?;;X ? LIL3 41_~-7- e4J V_4I.0' -
?Fw.
(?r~I
Hydrophytlv egetationin t he lower-parotf Wadi-AbZui yada, few kilometesros utho f the moutho f WadZi iqlabis, p robablmy uchli ke
thevegetation that once occurredn earT abaqaat l-BCnma,-Photogrbayp Sh Monckton.
domesticatedw heat and barley.D ur- goods and body treatments uggest solidarityi n the face of an unprece-
ing the ArchaicN eolithic or Pre- that therew ere status differencesa, t dented populationd ensity.Y ett here
PotteryN eolithic B (PPNB,c a. least in death,t wo millenniae arlier are no known temples-the Jericho
9500-8200 BP),d omesticated sheep or (Wright1 978:215-1P9P) NBv illages temples are actuallyh ouses-and
goats became the pre-eminents ource seem to have been remarkablye gali- therei s little variationi n the size or
of animal proteinf or villages with tarian.G ary Rollefsono, ne of the design of domestica rchitedturteh at
populationst hat some archaeologists excavatorso f "AinG hazal,n otes that might suggest centralizedc ontrolo r
have estimatedi n the thousands. someib urialss how a relatively hierarchy. Nor Aret here centralized
Eveni f we assume that largep arts of shoddy treatmentt hat suggests that storagef acilitiest hatw e would ex-
these sites were occupiedb yrgardens, these individualsw ere held in low pect if redistributionh ad-anyi mpot-
animal pens and open spaces,r ather esteem.M ost PPNBb urials,h owever, tancei n the economy.E achh ouse
than houses,m ost of these settle- are extremelyc onsistent:m ale and had its own small storageb ins,w here
ments must have boasted at least five female,t hey are headless,t ightly any are preserveda t all, and, as Kent
hundredi nhabitantsa nd had com- flexed skeletonsw ith few or no grave Elarinery(1 972)s uggests,n iaclear
plicatedr equirementsf or organizing goods,p laced in pits beneatht he fine familie may have had full control
their economicl ife and settling plasterf loors of theirh ouses (Rollef- over theiro wn economic destinies.
disputes. son, Banninge t al. 1984:161-6R6;o llef- Relativelys uddenly around 8000
If this populationc oncentration son, Kafafie t al. 1990:113T).h e sktills, BPa, lmost all of these familiesa ppear
involvedg reaterp oliticalc omplexity which were saved and often deco- to have packedu p and left.O ne
than thato f theirN atufianp redeces- rated,m ay have served in a cult that questioni s "why?"W hile archaeolo-
sors,w e are short of evidence to also included plasterp ortraitb usts gists once attributedt he abandon-
demonstratei t, WhilekNatufiabnu ri- and statues.T his could have been ment to a predatoryi nvasiono f
als with theirv ariatiofisi n grave one of the means of buildings ocial pottery-usingp eople from the north
4 BiblicaAl rchaeologist.58(:119 95)
(e.g. Kenyonm1979:43t)o, day most and K6hler-Rollefson 1989:37).O thers villages and the shrinking or 'impov-
would look to some combination of have looked to climatic change (Per- erishment' of others represented a
natural and economic forces. Some rot 1968:404;M oore 1973:37-38)a, nd substantial shiftin settlement sys-
have pointed out that densely occu- some to the possibility that the vil- tems. Specifically; it could have repre-
pied villages with their new juxtapo- lagers' social system was simply not sented a switch from population
sition of humans, animals and trash, up to the challenge of keeping the aggregates with heavy costs in orga-
and their far-reaching ocial connec- peacizea mong hundreds of families nizatioih and conflict resolution to
tions, provided new opportunities for that competed for land, wateir,w ood, dispersed settlement systems cohsist-
the transmission of diseases that and other resources. ing of farmsteads, tiny hamlets, no-
L.-
'cm
""
Flints ickleb lades were the most abundanto f the relativelyr aref ormalizeds tone tools on the site. Mosto f the lithicsr epresenteda n
expedientt echnology,c onsistingo f casuallym ade-andq uicklyd iscardedf lakes.P hotographsb y T Dabney.
could have devastated their-inhabi- Another question is "where-did madic camps, or some combination
tants (Rolston 1984).S ome, including they go?" Few people woutildn ow of these.
Rollefson, reflect our own concern suggest that invaders simply wiped Probably the most popular theory
with envirofimental destruction to- them out. One possibility is that dis- at present is that, an increase in
(cid:127)with
suggest that over cutting forest, over- eases vastly decreased their numbers. the importance of herding, most
grazing by goats, and general mis- If so, the victims must not have been peoplv adopted the mobile settle-
management of their lands made buried in the normal way as we can- ment pattern of the pastoral nomad.
large Neolithic villages untenable in not point to any surge in the number Some sites in the eastern desert of
most parts of the southern Levant of graves. If economic forces were an Jordan, such-as Dhuweila (Betts 1988),
(Moore 1973;R ollefsonand Simmons important factor,h owever,it seems do seeim to show that PPNB hunting
1987; K6hler-Rollefson 1988; Rollefson likely that the abandonment of most camps, probably associated with the
BiblicaAl rchacIlorist (1995) 5
5(cid:127)8:1
Af
Arii
VK.
Ad'
A long-roomedh ouse with a circularp,l aster-linedh earthn eari ts southerne nd in AreasG 34,G 33,a nd H34a t WZ2 00.
Photograph by T Dabney
gazelle traps called 'desert kites, may have been involved in the disap- (Muheisen, Gebel et al. 1988),a re
evolved by the Late Neolithic into pearanceo f PPNB sites.O nly at CAin extremely scarce, and some of the
pastoral campsites. In the better wa- Ghazal,R amad,a nd WadiS hu'eib,s o ones that seem to date to the seventh
tered highlands of western Jordan far,d o we have reasonablyc onvinc- millennium, such as 'Ain al-Jarba
and Israel, however, only the growth iig evidence for continued occupa- (Kaplan 1969;A nati, Avnimelech et al.
in the frequency of sheep and goat tion of early Neolithic villages (de 1973),T ell Wadi Fidan (Adams 1991),
bones (Kbhler-Rollefson 1988,1992; Contenson1 969,1971,1981,19R85o;l lif- Ghrubba (Mellaart 1956),T ell Qiri
Kohler-Rollefson, Gillespie et al. 1988) son and Simmons1 987;R ollefsona nd (Ben-Tora nd Portugali 1987),a nd
and the perception that later Kohler-Rollefson19 89)E. vent here, Tululiot al-Batashi (Kaplan 1955;K a-
Neolithic sites are insubstantial or the villages that followed may have plan 1958),m ay have been only farms
"impoverished" (Kenyon 1979:41-43) diminished in importanceo r become or small hamlets. Only a few, such as
point to pastoralism. Yet the large only seasonallyo ccupied.B eisamoun Jebel Abu Thuwwab (Kafafi 1988)
numbers of sickle blades that occur (Lechevallier1 978)a nd Yiftahel and WadiR abah( Kaplan1 958)a, p-
at most of these sites, if recent re- (Garfinke1l 987)m ight also point to pear to have been larger,a lthough not
search on the blades' function is continuityb etween the ninth and nearly as large as many of their
correct (Anderson-Gerfaud 1983,1988; eighth millennia BPT. hey have archi- PPNB predecessors.
Unger-Hamilton 1985,1989),s uggest tectureo f PPNB type associatedw ith If there was a shift to a dispersed
that mixed farming continued to lithics and rares herds that could be settlement system about the time that
reign supreme. LateN eolithic or Rollefson'Ps PNC pottery began to become important
Some of the relatively few known (PreP otteryN eolithic C).O thers ites in the tool kits of the southern Lev-
sites of the Late Neolithic suggest with radiocarbond ates in the eighth ant, this has major implications for
that a shift in settlement strategy millennium BP,s uch as CAinR ehub our ability to find and recognize sites
6 BiblicaAl rchaeologi5st8 :1( 1995)
of this key period in Near Eastern of settlement arida bandonmentf rom more than 150 landslides in early 1992
prehistoryN. ot only would the sites the Neolithic onward (Banning1 985). have had an even more devastating
be smallera nd less obtrusive,e spe- It became obvious during this effect on site visibility.
cially if they were campsites,b ut they survey that systematicw alking across Some of the places where it was
might well be located in habitatst hat the surfaceo f the landscapew as an impossible for surfaces urvey to lo-
PPNB farmerss corned as locations excellentw ay to locate relativelyo b- cate unobtrusives ites, were, further-
for their villages.T hey could even be trusive IronA ge, Late Roman,a nd more,p otentially prime real estate.
predominantlyi n places that modem medieval villages. However many Alluvial terracesa nd colluvial de-
archaeologicals urveys systematically sites that were small, unobtrusiveo r posits at the bottom of valleys,i n
overlook. of poor visibility were missed. In particularn, ever showed evidence for
particularl,a rge parts of the survey human occupationp rior to the
The WadiZ iqlabP roject area that were covered with foresto r Romanp eriod unless a stream or
had alluvial or colluvial soils would road cut accidentallyc ut througha
he WadiZ iqlabP rojecbt egan almost never reveals ites unless they site. Yett hese stream-sidel ocations,
in 1981a s a regional survey to were either recent or had standing which were close to permanent
investigatec hanges in rural architectureJ. ohn Field,t he project's springs and some of the best sources
land use throught he distributions-of geomorphologist,h as found that in of flint, would once have been on the
settlementsa nd agriculturali nstalla- some stretcheso f WadiZ iqlabm ore naturalm igrationr outes,f or both
tions.O ne of the questions the pro- than a meter colluvium overlies Late humans and their prey,b etween the
ject addressed was the apparentc ycle Romana nd medieval deposits,w hile warm JordanV alleya nd cooler up-
A finger-naiol r spatula-impressevde ssel found smasheda bove a cobble surfaceu sed aftert he abandonmento f the long structurein
AreasG 33,G 34,a nd H34.P hotographb y T Dabney
! ' i
-"".
cenimeer
BiblicaAl rchaeologis5t8 :1 (1995) 7