Chronology of the Jafr Prehistory and Protohistory: a Key to the Process of Pastoral Nomadization in the Southern Levant

Abstract

La question de l’établissement d’une séquence chronologique est primordiale dans le cadre de l’archéologie de la Badia du Levant Sud, afin de permettre de définir une typo-chronologie des différentes structures rencontrées dans les périphéries désertiques. Les sites du Bassin d’al-Jafr, dans le sud de la Jordanie, permettent d’apporter des éléments de réponse significatifs sur cette question. Les recherches effectuées dans cette région ont montré que l’occupation post-pléistocène a commencé au cours du PPNB par le développement d’établissements agro-pastoraux dans le Wadi Abu Tulayha et à Wadi Ghuweir 17, suivi par la première Phase d’occupation pastorale nomade dans ce secteur, représentée par les nécropoles ou les sanctuaires ouverts du PPNC/Néolithique récent à Harra al-Juhayra et Qa’ Abu Tulayha West. Ce processus a abouti à la mise en place de sociétés véritablement nomades de l’âge du Bronze ancien, attestées par les champs de cairns funéraires du Wadi Burma et Tal’at ’Ubayda. À travers une synthèse de ces données issues des recherches entreprises dans le Bassin d’al-Jafr, une séquence chronologique de l’occupation pastorale préhistorique et protohistorique de ce secteur est proposée à titre provisoire dans cet article, permettant d’aborder la question du processus de développement du phénomène pastoral nomade à une échelle géographique plus large.

Out of the harra: desert kites in south‐eastern Jordan. New results from the South Eastern Badia Archaeological Project

“…Nevertheless, the total absence of these structures in the hamada (limestone plateau) of south‐eastern Jordan remained puzzling for a long time, especially in view of their existence in the neighbouring arid regions of the Negev and Sinai. It became all the more perplexing as the intensification of the archaeological research started to evidence an important late prehistoric (Late Neolithic‐Chalcolithic‐Early Bronze Age) human occupation in this area (Quintero, Wilke & Rollefson ; Tarawneh ; Tarawneh & Abudanah ; Abu‐Azizeh , , ; Wasse & Rollefson ; Fujii ).…”

Monumental landscapes of the Holocene humid period in Northern Arabia: The mustatil phenomenon

“…Secondly, ‘cultic’ sites, often described as shrines and sanctuaries, have been recorded across the arid southern Levant (e.g. Avner, 1984 ; Eddy and Wendorf, 1999 ; Fujii, 2013 , 2014 ; Rosen, 2015 ). These are varied, but often consist of rectangular structures with a ritual/monumental character.…”

“…In wider terms, recent archaeological research in Jordan has also identified the expansion of human groups into new areas on the margins of the Levant in the 7 th and 6 th millennium BC and the development of nomadic pastoralism (e.g. Fujii, 2013 ; Rollefson et al, 2014 ; Rowan et al, 2015 ). This provides important context for developments further south, on the Arabian Peninsula.…”

“…Likewise, cairns, date from the Neolithic to at least the Iron Age ( Abu-Azizeh et al, 2014 ; Guagnin et al 2017b , 2020 ). In southern Jordan, cairns associated with platforms and other rectangular structures arranged in specific spatial arrangements were dated to the Neolithic periods, with the oldest cairn dating to 5341–5049 BC ( Abu-Azizeh et al, 2014 ; see also Fujii, 2013 ). Likewise, three cairns at Jubbah have been dated to 6372–6060 BC, 5306–5216 BC and 5301–5061 BC respectively ( Guagnin et al, 2017b , 2020 ).…”

High mitochondrial diversity of domesticated goats persisted among Bronze and Iron Age pastoralists in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor

“…Central Asia is a critical region for examining the spread of domesticated plants and animals across the vast expanse of Eurasia, which led to widespread transformations in human subsistence and socio-political structures [20]. In Central Asia, regionally varied pastoralist lifeways developed in continental environments much different from the diverse landscapes of the Near East, where the earliest forms of mobile pastoralism appears to have first emerged in the late seventh-early sixth millennium BC, when specialized herders began residing in semipermanent settlements located in the more marginal semi-arid eastern steppes of the Levant and possibly practiced residential mobility on a seasonal basis [21][22][23][24]. There are two hypothesized routes for the transmission of subsistence herding into Central Asia and farther afield.…”