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Parmi les sites néolithiques fouillés entre 1976 et 1979 dans la région méridionale du Sinai dans le cadre de recherches sur les origines des sociétés agricoles et des sociétés contemporaines, trois ont livré des restes humains : Ujrat el Mehed (17), Abu Madi ( 1 ), Wadi Tbeik (2). Certains aspects des sépultures, qui se trouvaient toutes dans la z...
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... individuals were revealed, six adults and one child. Four were identified as males and two as females. Five skulls were on top and two below them (one was totally crushed and its fragments scattered). All skulls were concentrated on the eastern side of the pit, in a disorganized manner i.e., some on their sides, other on the face, base or vault ( fig. 3). The post-cranial bones were scattered all over the floor of the pit, most of them without any anatomical order. Only under skulls nos. 1 and 2, a fully articulated set of single lower limb bones, together with the sacrum and the last three lumbar vertebrae, were found. Two skulls were found articulated with the mandibles, one of them ...
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... anatomical order. Only under skulls nos. 1 and 2, a fully articulated set of single lower limb bones, together with the sacrum and the last three lumbar vertebrae, were found. Two skulls were found articulated with the mandibles, one of them also with the upper six cervical vertebrae. Some of the long bones were "interwoven" among the skulls ( fig. 3). A large amount of small fragments was recovered, including portions of tibiae, fibulae and femora (12 different shafts were identified), broken shafts of radius and ulnae, seven shafts of humeri, a few fragments of scapula, a considerable number of rib fragments, seven carpal bones, a calcaneus, three tali, three broken clavicles, a ...
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... picture : first, the selected postcranial bones were laid on the paved floor. In the second phase, the skulls were placed on top of the long bones layer. Some of the long bones were inlaid among the skulls (figs. 2,3,4). It is not yet clear why in certain cases all the bones and skulls were concentrated at one corner of the pits' floor ( fig. 3). In Abu Madi I, the deceased was buried in fully flexed position on his right side ( fig. 6). In Wadi Tbeik, the deceased was laid on his right side too, however in a semi-flexed position ( fig. ...
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... the size of the area of excavation, the total number of individuals revealed in the site of Ujrat el Mehed ( 17) is in accordance with skeletal population size in other PPNB sites in the Levant ( fig. 13). However, the number of individuals in the Wadi Tbeik site is far too low. These differences have probably to do with the different nature of the two sites, as previously discussed by one of us (20). Undoubtedly, the most striking demographic phenomenon is the deficit of young children (10 %) and the complete absence of newborns. ...
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... (figs. 20,21) (although not standardized for age) : 1) generally, there is a low density of wear features; 2) pits are rare; 3) linear features (striations, scratches and gouges) are more dense than pits, striations being dominant; and 4) there is exposure of dentinal tubules ( fig. 22). are more dense than pits. Caries are relatively rare (fig. 23); only two suspected cases have been noticed. Similar rates are found among contemporaneous people in the fertile region of the Levant -12 % of individuals according to Smith (36). Ante-mortem tooth loss through disease is also very rare ( fig. 24). despite the fact that most of our skeletal sample are of adults. Smith (37) reported on ...
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... late Epipalaeolithic populations of North Africa that are considered contemporaneous with the Natufian are different from the Sinai Neolithic group and therefore could not have been the ancestral population. In more detail, (fig. 30), Sinai teeth are considerably smaller when compared to the Afalou or Wadi Haifa dentition and much alike those of the Natufians. The gracile appearance of the Sinai skeletons stand in sharp contrast to the robusticity of the North African skeletons from Jebel Sahaba-site 117, site 8905(77), Wadi Haifa (78) in Nubia, or ...
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... l l enni um B.C., comprising 20 tumuli (cairns), which was excavated by U. Avner and one of the authors (I.H.). In each tumulus a box-like pit was dug into the ground and lined with stones. Human bones were placed in it in a secondary burial (skulls and selected post-cranial bones). In one grave six skulls were arranged around a standing stone ( fig. 31). It seems as if secondary burial of the 'nest' type continued to be practiced in the arid region of the Levant long after it was abandoned by the farming ...
Citations
... While only one of these pits contained arrowheads. shell beads, unworked shells and a few other objects, four contained skulls and long bones of 16 adult skeletons in secondary burials (Hershkovitz et al. 1994). An additional skeleton was uncovered in a pit dug in the center of a rounded room and filled with reddish-purPle clay. ...
... While only one of these pits contained arrowheads, shell beads. unworked shells and a few other objects, four contained skulls and long bones of 16 adult skeletons in secondary burials (Hershkovitz et al. 1994). An additional skeleton was uncovered in a pit dug in the center of a rounded room and filled with reddish-purple clay. ...
... PPNB occupations documented at that time ranged from 25 to 500 m² in size (estimated) and usually comprised beehive-type clusters of relatively small round stone structures, while subsistence was basically focused on hunting activities (e.g. Bar-Yosef 1984, 1985Goring Morris 1993;Carmi et al. 1994;Hershkovitz et al. 1994;Ronen et al. 2001;Kuijt and Goring-Morris 2002). ...
Nahal Efe is one of the largest and best-preserved Pre-Pottery Neolithic B sites in the Negev, with architectural remains preserved up to more than one metre high. Extensive excavation has revealed a cluster of semi-subterranean, relatively large, sub-circular stone buildings located on different levels. The chipped stone assemblage recovered in one of these buildings (Unit 2) has been studied, showing a strong Negev accent. Lithic artefacts were locally produced and display the main characteristics commonly found at many other desert sites. However, lithic production also shows a series of traits that have been traditionally used to characterize lithic industries at the large Neolithic sedentary farming villages of the Mediterranean woodland region. This hybrid character is what seems to characterize the chipped lithic production at Nahal Efe during the Middle PPNB, thus reflecting the specific nature and particularities of a region that at that time constituted the border land between hunter-gatherers and the expanding farming communities. Finally, the lithic industries at Nahal Efe, characterized by their complexity, heterogeneity and hybrid accent, would be compatible with a semi-permanent or permanent village rather than with a short-lived ephemeral occupation or specialized seasonal camp, thus highlighting the status of Nahal Efe and its important role at a regional scale around 8000 cal. BC.
... At Nahal Hemar, three skulls ornamented with asphalt motifs and one burned skull were found [12,31]. In Ujrat el Mehed (southern Sinai), adult skulls were removed from the post-cranial skeleton, similarly to other Neolithic Levantine sites [32]. Other special Figure 7. CT scan of Homo 2. In the sagittal section (A), note that the superior part of the plastered nose (thin arrow) ends at the level of the supraorbital ridge (thick arrow). ...
Three plastered skulls, dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, were found at the site of Yiftahel, in the Lower Galilee (Israel). The skulls underwent refitting and restoration processes, details of which are described herein. All three belong to adults, of which two appear to be males and one appears to be a female. Virtual cross-sections were studied and a density analysis of the plaster was performed using computed tomography scans. These were utilized to yield information regarding the modeling process. Similarities and differences between the Yiftahel and other plastered skulls from the Levant are examined. The possible role of skull plastering within a society undergoing a shift from a hunting-gathering way of life to a food producing strategy is discussed.
... There is also little evidence for grave goods, apart from single finds reported from various sites (and see later discussion). At Hatoula, where there are both Khiamian and Sultanian PPNA burials (Le Mort 1994; Le Mort, Hershkovitz, and Spiers 1994), most burials are complete -with but one instance (H04) just a single slzull -tightly flexed or contracted on the stomach or back (but rarely on the side), and often with stones placed on the joints, for example, Sultanian H08, comparable to Natufian practices (Le Mort, Hershlzovitz, and Spiers 1994). "Pillowed" heads have been observed in five (out of nine) burials at Hatoula (Le Mort 1994) (as m7ell as at Wadi Faynan 16; see later discussion), again a feature observed first in the Natufian. ...
Introduction How can one begin to address the questions pertinent to the ongoing discussion on religion, property, and power at early Neolithic Çatalhöyük? It seems that a productive avenue is to stand back and consider how Çatalhöyük integrates within the broader perspective of Southwest Asian (Near Eastern) Neolithization processes. Nevertheless, such an effort with regard to every aspect of human existence is a mighty endeavor, and certainly well beyond the scope of a single article, not to mention the humble competence of its authors. Given the special nature and prominence of burials at Çatalhöyük, we have chosen to focus specifically on that aspect of community behavior. We shall provide a background based on data from earlier periods within the broader region of Southwest Asia (the Near East), and most especially the southern Levant. Burial practices are generally considered to reflect aspects of the symbolic/spiritual worldview of the populations involved. It has often been suggested that with the advent of sedentism and the beginnings of agricultural production (plant and animal domestication) there were significant changes in social organization and cohesion. Yet from the very beginning of our essay, we can state that the description of burial practices from the Late Epipaleolithic Natufian (as well as the scarce earlier evidence) through the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) (and even Pre-Pottery Neolithic B [PPNB] and later) in the southern Levant indicates “business as usual,” in the sense that we can observe the same marked variability (of the same components more or less) continuing unchanged all through the period considered as revolutionary, encompassing changing paradigmatic worldviews. We shall attempt to relate to this issue of variability in the discussion following the presentation of the data.
... In southern Sinai, for example, secondary burials of the PPNB complex probably reflect the more nomadic lifeway of the hunters and gatherers there. The site of cUjrat al-Mehed may be a tribal burial place for nearby habitation sites without burials (Hershkovitz et al. 1994). ...
The impressive list of the achievements of the Neolithic of the southern Levant encompasses village life, crop domestication, ceramic technology, and life-like plaster sculpture. Together, these "revolutions" (V. Gordon Childe) make the period one of the most attractive and compelling objects of archaeological inquiry. Moreover, the study of the Neolithic takes place at the busy intellectual cross-roads of biblical archaeologists, prehistorians, biologists, and even climatologists. While the conversation between all these disciplines seems sometimes out of reach-for example, prehistorians often have a distaste for pottery, while biblical archaeologists typically care little for lithics- recent researchers have begun to create a wholistic portrait of this fascinating period which contributed so much to the future of Asia, Europe, and Africa. Ted Banning defty reviews the complexities of chronological terminology, surveys the critical Neolithic sites-including Jericho, Sha˓ar ha-Golan, Wadi Rabah, Munḥata, Beidha, and ˓Ain Ghazal-and portrays the latest findings of paleoenvironmental studies. Banning then offers synopses of Neolithic technology, economy, settlement pattern, social organization, and ideology and caps off his review with a discussion of controversies and research directions. A thread of awe for the inspiring triumphs of the Neolithic peoples of Palestine runs through Banning's succinct characterizations of lithics, pyrotechnology, architecture, and burial practices.
... While all of these species seem to have been worked with the same methods during the PPNB (7th-6th millennia ) and the 4th millennium , there are two differences: The shells were made into different artefacts, and in the nawamis these shells were found in burial contexts. Despite the fact that shells had been widely used as grave goods during the Natufian and possibly even earlier (Bar-Yosef, 1991), this is not the case in the PPNB sites, even though burials were recovered (mainly at Ujrat el Mehed) (Hershkovitz et al., 1994). ...
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.
Ancient domestic architecture in the Levant is predominated by curvilinear structures, ex-hibiting circular, elliptical or apsidal fl oor plans that may have been derived from Pre-Neolithic tent hut constructions. Curvilinear houses were either mono-or pluricellular, aboveground, semi-subter-ranean or subterranean. Multiple fi eld surveys and excavations in the entire Levantine region, grosso modo between the North of Egypt and Anatolia, revealed substantial evidence for the presence and diffusion of settlements featuring curvilinear architecture. Furthermore, this paper focusses on the discovery of a rounded, presumably elliptical, residential building at al-Lahun in Jordan, which sub-stantiates the existence of a permanent Early Bronze I (EB IB) settlement located in the immediate vicinity of a contemporary necropolis.
During the last two decades, considerable interest has been expressed in the development of lime and lime plaster products in the Near Eastern Pre‐Pottery Neolithic B. The occurrences of lime products in numerous Levantine sites have raised questions concerning their methods of production, their role in the development of craft specialization, and their social and economic implications. Lime plaster was the first product that entailed the intentional chemical alteration of materials and the complete control over their properties. This was probably the reason for the wide spectrum of uses to which it was put, amongst which “daily” architectural functions appear to coexist with the symbolic or spiritual applications of this material.
Amongst the variety of plaster products which appeared in the PPNB, it seems that the practice of skull plastering and sculpture production was the most “socially oriented” one, lacking any apparent relation to daily, functional use. In the present study two modeled skulls and a collection of plaster sculptures from Jericho were examined by means of thin section petrographic analysis, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and Fourier‐transform infrared spectrometry. The results of the mineralogical and chemical analyses, when compared to data obtained from similar artifacts from other sites, demonstrate pronounced intersite variability in the methods of production of the skull and sculpture modeling. The full implications of this issue are discussed in detail in the paper.
Across the arid expanses of the Arabian peninsula and even at the margins of its limited upland farmlands in Northern Yemen
and the Asir, pastoralism has proved an enduring and effective economic strategy through the later Holocene. Goats, camels,
and cattle are the principal herd animals, with mixed strategies of goats and sheep, goats and camels, and to a lesser extent
cattle and goats. Strategies have changed through time and across geographic and socio-political territories with the herding
of particular animals such as cattle or camels conferring not only specific economic benefits and constraints but also playing
significant roles in the establishing and differentiation of people’s social identities and statuses. While it is not entirely
clear when a fully pastoral commitment, that is, one that emphasized production of secondary animal products, appeared in
Arabia, it is evident that there long remained groups with partial economic dependence on herd animals and still exploiting
the rich interior game (e.g., gazelle, ibex) and coastal-estuarine resources (principally fish and shellfish). To the important
questions of when and from where domesticated animals entered the Arabian peninsula therefore must be added the question of
what constitutes a transition to true pastoralism in the ancient Arabian record. With new evidence from Southern Arabia, it
is now possible to address these issues there.
KeywordsFauna-Grazing-Manayzah-Pastoralism-Shi’b Kheshiya-Southern Arabia
