Recent excavations at Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) WF16 in southern Jordan have revealed remarkable evidence of architectural developments in the early Neolithic. This sheds light on both special purpose structures and "domestic" settlement, allowing fresh insights into the development of increasingly sedentary communities and the social systems they supported. The development of sedentary communities is a central part of the Neolithic process in Southwest Asia. Architecture and ideas of homes and households have been important to the debate, although there has also been considerable discussion on the role of communal buildings and the organization of early sedentarizing communities since the discovery of the tower at Jericho. Recently, the focus has been on either northern Levantine PPNA sites, such as Jerf el Ahmar, or the emergence of ritual buildings in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the southern Levant. Much of the debate revolves around a division between what is interpreted as domestic space, contrasted with "special purpose" buildings. Our recent evidence allows a fresh examination of the nature of early Neolithic communities.forager-farmer transition | Near East T he Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) is the earliest Neolithic in Southwest Asia (circa 11,600 to 10,200 y ago) situated between hunting and gathering and sedentary farming societies. It is generally considered as the key period in the shift to management and production of resources, wherein increasingly sedentary communities start to produce food to extend the period of occupation at a site, with one of the main economic developments in the PPNA being the cultivation of wild cereals. Social changes are as significant as economic ones, enabling communities to both increase in size and live together for longer periods, and, arguably, it is these social changes that drive the economic developments. Architecture is an important facet of the early Neolithic, providing evidence for an increasingly sedentary lifestyle; changing social structures; and, in the growth of communities, a motive for the development of food production.Three basic assumptions tend to be made regarding PPNA settlements: (i) that the presence of stone or mud architecture indicates sedentism; (ii) that most buildings are domestic and can be described as houses forming small permanent villages; and (iii) that any buildings not fitting this pattern are "special," with some communal function, frequently assumed to be ritual as opposed to a domestic norm, including the tower at Jericho (1), monumental stone-pillared structures at Göbekli Tepe (2), and communal buildings at Jerf el Ahmar and Mureybet (3). On the basis of our recent discoveries at WF16, we argue that these normative assumptions must be questioned. Can we really identify basic domestic structures in these early settlements, and do they exist in opposition to the nondomestic? This has profound implications for how we understand PPNA social organization.Strong arguments have been made that the PPNA is part of a long, sl...

The authors present a new type of communal and monumental structure from the earliest Neolithic in western Asia. A complement to the decorated stone pillars erected at Göbekli Tepe in the north, ‘Wadi Faynan 16 Structure O75’ in the southern Levant is a ritualised gathering place of a different kind. It serves to define wider western Asia as an arena of social experiment in the tenth millennium BC, one in which community seems to take precedence over economy.

F8, Context 298 , Structure F8, Evaluation Trench 2Cut into redeposited gravel, with the skull protruding through the fl oor of a PPNA structure and stratigraphically sealed by two PPNA fl oors and associated occupation. A NE-SW orientated arrangement of articulated and disarticulated bones with disarticulated skull placed on a 'pillow' stone. Fragile especially in the upper part of the inhumation. At least two adults and a juvenile appear to be present. Chipped stone artefacts including bladelets, a microlith and an awl. F39910, Structure F3992, Evaluation Trench 3 With its skull probably protruding through the fl oor of a PPNA structure and positioned on a 'pillow' stone; stratigraphically sealed by a PPNA fl oor. A NE-SW orientated crouched inhumation on its right side with the skull facing NW. The skull was disarticulated but in position by appearing to have been stretched from the body and then placed on a 'pillow' stone. Appears to be a complete but fragile adult skeleton. Chipped stone artefacts.O3 , Structure O31 Cut through the infi ll and wall of a disused PPNA structure and sealed by defl ated overburden. Undetermined. Fragmentary remains, appearing to consist of only two hand or foot bones, one long bone and several ribs O4 , Midden O60 Cut into PPNA midden deposits and sealed by defl ated overburden. Probably a crouched inhumation; a mortar fragment had been set on an edge appearing to form one side of the burial. Fragmentary -only some hand and feet bones survive. Fragment of a mortar stoneCut through the wall of a PPNA structure and sealed by defl ated overburden. A NE-SW orientated crouched inhumation, lying on its back with legs bent to the right and head facing to the left. Appears to be a complete, well preserved juvenile skeleton. Fragment of a possibly worked animal bone.O7 , Structure O31 Cut through PPNA infi ll inside the structure and sealed by a PPNA fl oor. A N-S orientated crouched inhumation on its left side, facing east. Appears to be a complete but poorly preserved adult skeleton. A hammerstone, an El Khiam point and a chipped stone pick.O8 , Area O108 Cut through the infi ll of a disused PPNA structure and sealed by defl ated overburden. A semi-crouched inhumation, orientated E-W with its head at the east end facing NE. A fragmentary and poorly preserved juvenile skeleton appearing to have the lower right arm, complete left arm, hand and unfused epiphyses missing. A green stone bead. O9 , Structure O65Cut through the wall of a PPNA structure and sealed by defl ated overburden. A crouched inhumation on its right side, orientated E-W and facing north with its left hand under the skull. A fragmentary juvenile skeleton appearing to have only the skull, arms, hands and feet present. Four chipped stone artefacts and a caprine pelvis. O10 , Structure O84Cut through the infi ll of a disused PPNA structure and sealed by defl ated overburden. A N-S orientated crouched inhumation on its right side with its head to the south facing east. Fragmentary remains with, at least, both scapulae, left...

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A pre-requisite for understanding the transition to the Neolithic in the Levant is the establishment of a robust chronology, most notably for the late Epi-Palaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) periods. In this contribution we undertake a dating analysis of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of WF16, southern Jordan, drawing on a sample of 46 AMS 14C dates. We utilise Bayesian methods to quantify an old wood effect to provide an offset that we factor into chronological models for a number of individual structures at WF16 and for the settlement as a whole. In doing so we address the influence of slope variations in the calibration curve and expose the significance of sediment and sample redeposition within sites of this nature. We conclude that for the excavated deposits at WF16 human activity is likely to have started by c. 11.84 ka cal bp and lasted for at least c. 1590 years, ceasing by c. 10.24 ka cal bp. This is marked by a particularly intensive period of activity lasting for c. 350 years centred on 11.25 ka cal bp followed by less intensive activity lasting a further c. 880 years. The study reveals the potential of WF16 as a laboratory to explore methodological issues concerning 14C dating of early Neolithic sites in arid, erosional environments.