El Khiam

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El Khiam or El Khiam Terrace is a site in the Judean Desert in the West Bank , about 25 km southwest of Jericho and 10 km southeast of Bethlehem . It is located on a limestone terrace of Wadi Haritun / Khareintun. The sequence of layers extends from the Chalcolithic to the Aurignacia . It is the eponymous site for the Khiamien , the transition from Natufien to Sultanien ( PPN A ) in the southern Levant between 9750 and 9550 BC cal, after the end of the Younger Dryas .

Excavations

The French diplomat René Neuville made a test cut here in 1933 and identified two phases of settlement, layer A ( Tahunia  I) and B (Tahunia II) (numbering from top to bottom). However, due to illness, he was not present at the dig himself. The excavation was carried out in strata parallel to the surface (artificial layers) that were a groundbreaking deep. However, the surface slopes down significantly towards the wadi.

Jean Perron visited the site in 1949 at the invitation of Neuville, cleaned up and studied the profile of the test cut. Perron placed the deeper layer B in the Natufien , while A3 should belong to Tahunia I and A2 to Tahunia II. Layer A1 belonged to the Chalcolithic Ghazulia , layer A2 contained, among other things, Amuq and Byblos points , but also polished stone axes and ceramics, layer A3 Helwan points , Jericho points and geometric microliths . In 1962, Joaquín Gonzalez-Echegaray excavated an area of ​​36 m², but not everywhere except for the natural ground. The excavator dated the find layers in the "Proto-Tahunia" and "Tahunia".

The excavator divided the finds into three layers. However, this division was soon criticized, and finds were mixed up due to the construction of shelters.

Finds

The majority of the finds are made of flint. An obsidian blade with an unclear stratigraphy (collection / probe Perrot, perhaps layer A) was probably made from Anatolian obsidian . Limestone figurines resemble those from Nahal Oren , Netiv Hagdud , Mureybit, and Gilgal .

Economy

Animal bones were rare overall. Goats or ibex are the most common species (90% of identifiable bones), followed by Gazella montana (7%); Donkeys, wild boars and wild cattle are rare. Because of the small average size of the caprids (goat-like) and the large number of fetuses , Ducos assumes that they, like the gazelles, are predominantly female animals, which were probably hunted in late winter or early spring. Fewer fetuses were found in shift 3, which may indicate a change in the time of use.

The PPN settlement is therefore probably a hunting station that was only visited in late winter / spring.

Dating

From layer Ib (area IIb) there is a 14 C datum of 2990 ± 250 BP uncal. before (bone, Lv-358).

The site gives its name to the Khiam tips of the pre-ceramic Neolithic, arrowheads notched on both sides with a directly or inversely concave retouched base. They are found throughout the Levant , but also in south-eastern Turkey ( Nemrik , Qermez Dere ). In El Khiam they occur in layer 4.

literature

  • Pierre Ducos: פייר דוקו, הערכה מחודשת של הפאונה מהשכבות הניאוליתיות ממחסה הסלע אל-חיאם במדבר יהודה/ A Re-Evaluation of the Fauna from the Neolithic Levels of El-Khiam . In: Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society /מתקופת האבן, כרך כ"ז תשנ"ז, 1997, Pp. 75-81.
  • Jean Perrot: Le Terrasse del Khiam . In: R. Neuville (Ed.): Le Paléolithique ét le Mésolithique du Desert de Judée . In: Archives de l'Institute de Paléontologie Humaine , 24, 1951, pp. 134-178.
  • Joaquín Gonzalez-Echegaray, Leslie G. Freeman: A re-evaluation of El Khiam (Desert of Judea) . In: Aula Orientalis , 7, 1989, pp. 36-37.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A. Nigel Goring-Morris, Anna Belfer-Cohen: The Southern Levant (Cisjordan) During the Neolithic Period . In: Ann E. Killebrew, Margreet Steiner (Ed.): The Oxford Handbook of the Archeology of the Levant: ca.8000-332 BCE . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, doi: 10.1093 / oxfordhb / 9780199212972.013.011 .
  2. ^ Avi Gopher: Arrowheads of the Neolithic Levant - A seriation Analysis . Eisenbrauns 1994
  3. ↑ Joaquín Gonzalez-Echegaray: Excavaciones en la Terraza de "El Khiam" (Jordania) . In: Bibliotheca Praehistorica Hispana , 5, Madrid 1966
  4. ^ Ofer Bar-Yosef: The "Pre pottery Neolithic" period in the Southern Levant . In: Jacques Cauvin, Paul Sanlaville (eds.): Préhistoire du Levant, Colloques Internationaux du CNRS . Editions du CNRS, Paris 1981, pp. 555-569.
  5. ^ Gary A. Wright, AA Gordus: Source Areas for Obsidian recovered at Munḥata, Beisamoun, Hazorea and El-Khiam . In: Israel Exploration Journal , 19/2, 1969, pp. 79-88.
  6. ↑ Ofer Bar-Yosef, Avi Gopher, Eitan Tchernov, Mordechai E. Kislev, Netiv Hagdud: An Early Neolithic Village Site in the Jordan Valley . In: Journal of Field Archeology , 18/4, 1991, p. 422, JSTOR 530405
  7. ↑ a b Pierre Ducos: פייר דוקו,הערכה מחודשת של הפאונה מהשכבות הניאוליתיות ממחסה הסלע אל-חיאם במדבר יהודה/ A Re-Evaluation of the Fauna from the Neolithic Levels of El-Khiam . In: Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society /מתקופת האבן, כרך כ"ז תשנ"ז, 1997, 77
  8. ↑ Pierre Ducos:פייר דוקו, הערכה מחודשת של הפאונה מהשכבות הניאוליתיות ממחסה הסלע אל-חיאם במדבר יהודה/ A Re-Evaluation of the Fauna from the Neolithic Levels of El-Khiam . In: Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society /מתקופת האבן, כרך כ"ז תשנ"ז, 1997, 78
  9. ↑ Pierre Ducos:פייר דוקו, הערכה מחודשת של הפאונה מהשכבות הניאוליתיות ממחסה הסלע אל-חיאם במדבר יהודה/ A Re-Evaluation of the Fauna from the Neolithic Levels of El-Khiam . In: Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society /מתקופת האבן, כרך כ"ז תשנ"ז, 1997, 81
  10. ↑ James M. Weinstein: Radiocarbon Dating in the Southern Levant . In: Radiocarbon 2/3, 1984, p. 329
  11. ↑ Ofer Bar-Yosef, Avi Gopher, Eitan Tchernov, Mordechai E. Kislev, Netiv Hagdud: An Early Neolithic Village Site in the Jordan Valley . In: Journal of Field Archeology , 18/4, 1991, p. 412, JSTOR 530405
  12. ^ Marie-Claire Cauvin: Fleches à encoches de Syrie: Essai de classification et d'interpretation culturelle . In: Paléorient , 2/2, 1974, pp. 311-322
  13. ↑ Michael Rosenberg, Aslı Erim-Özdoğan: The Neolithic in Southeastern Anatolia . In: Gregory McMahon, Sharon Steadman (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE) . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2012, doi: 10.1093 / oxfordhb / 9780195376142.013.0006 , p. 127
  14. ^ Avi Gopher: Arrowheads of the Neolithic Levant: A seriation Analysis . Eisenbrauns 1994, p. 34