Another piece in the puzzle – A new PPNA site at Bir el-Maksur (Northern Israel)

Abstract

Cet article livre les résultats de la fouille de sauvetage effectuée à Bir el-Maksur, un site du Néolithique pré-céramique A (PPNA) situé en Basse Galilée, dans le nord d’Israël, où a été mise au jour une vaste occupation avec de riches assemblages. Malgré l’absence de structures architecturales claires, les nombreux artefacts permettent de reconstituer une variété d’activités : le traitement de ressources végétales et fauniques et leur consommation, une production lithique in situ et des procédés pyrotechniques à grande échelle. Une sépulture secondaire complexe de deux individus, accompagnés de ce qui pourrait être des objets funéraires (principalement outillage de mouture), indique aussi l’existence d’activités socioculturelles plus complexes. Les fouilles et les assemblages retrouvés sont présentés avec une analyse des activités associées et de leur signification. Le Néolithique représente un mouvement vers de nouvelles sphères économiques et sociales, mais il est important de combler les lacunes dans notre connaissance actuelle des modes de peuplement liés à ce mouvement. Notre objectif est donc de reconstituer la fonction de Bir el-Maksur et replacer ce site dans le cadre chrono-culturel du PPNA. À cet égard et malgré les processus taphonomiques, ainsi que la superficie restreinte de la zone étudiée, ces fouilles apportent des données nouvelles significatives sur l’occupation de la Basse Galilée au cours de cette période importante.

Kaizer Hill (Modi‘in), a pre-pottery neolithic a quarry site – the terraced slopes

“…Tools: Overall, most of the tools show little investment and can be considered as ad-hoc tools, a feature quite commonly observed in PPNA assemblages in general (e.g., [38]) and…”

“…The reconstruction is based on the different observations described above. Two other elements were of substantial importance: a) the presence of similar waste products (in particular the 'spalls') in both Natufian and Neolithic assemblages with bifaces (e.g., [10,24,27,38,43]); b) the experiments which we carried out in order to mimic the Kaizer Hill axes production. We believe that the following description of the biface reduction sequence was a known procedure among the Neolithic communities and could be found in other PPN biface assemblages at large.…”

“…Our inventory of this preliminary stage is characterized by short, rather than elongated, lateral spalls due to the size of the tool blanks (see an overshot artifact bearing this technological feature, Fig 44:2). Elongated lateral spalls were reported from the PPNA quarry site of Bir el-Maksur, where abundant and large flint nodules were available [38,44] (Fig 45). Actually, one can assume that lateral spalls (as well as the transversal spalls described below) probably represent several stages of the biface modification and even biface rejuvenation.…”

Variability and complexity in calcite-based plaster production: A case study from a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B infant burial at Tel Roʻim West and its implications to mortuary practices in the Southern Levant

“…Except for the vegetal matter that appears to be an intentional addition, it is unclear whether or not the other materials have been added purposefully or inadvertently. For instance, fired clay aggregates (ceramic-like) features were reported in association with plaster production and even used as a proxy for identifying plaster production at Neolithic sites (Goren and Goring-Morris, 2008;Malinowski, 2012;Malinsky-Buller et al, 2013).…”

“…BP (Grosman et al, 2016;Friesem et al, 2019). Given the absence of evidence for plaster in PPNA sites (see Malinsky-Buller et al, 2013 for indirect evidence for lime plaster production based on presence of fired clay aggregates), it is not clear whether PPNB plaster technology is a direct continuum of a Natufian technological tradition or has been reinvented during the PPNB almost two millennia later (Friesem et al, 2019). Nevertheless, the material properties and the production technique of Neolithic mortuary plaster differs from the Natufian one.…”