Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T22:42:09.325Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An 11 600 year-old communal structure from the Neolithic of southern Jordan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Steven J. Mithen ,
Bill Finlayson ,
Sam Smith ,
Emma Jenkins ,
Mohammed Najjar  and
Darko Maričević
Steven J. Mithen
Affiliation:
University of Reading, Whiteknights, P.O. Box 217, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AH, UK (Email: s.j.mithen@rdg.ac.uk)
Bill Finlayson
Affiliation:
Council for British Research in the Levant, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH, UK
Sam Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Geography, Oxford Brookes University, Headington Campus, Gipsy Lane, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
Emma Jenkins
Affiliation:
School of Applied Sciences, Bournemouth University, Christchurch House, Talbot Campus, Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB, UK
Mohammed Najjar
Affiliation:
The British Institute, P.O. Box 519, Jubaiha 11941, Amman, Jordan
Darko Maričević
Affiliation:
University of Reading, Whiteknights, P.O. Box 217, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AH, UK (Email: s.j.mithen@rdg.ac.uk)
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

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.

Keywords

LevantWadi FaynanNeolithicPPNAmonumentalitycommunal structurescomplexity
Type
Debate
Information
Antiquity , Volume 85 , Issue 328 , June 2011 , pp. 350 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2011

References

Astin, T. & Mansfield, C. 2007. Geophysical investigation, in Finlayson, B. & Mithen, S. (ed.) The early prehistory of Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan: archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of WF16 (Wadi Faynan series 1; Levant supplementary series 4): 447–59. Oxford: Council for British Research in the Levant & Oxbow.Google Scholar
Aurenche, O. & Kozlowski, S. K. 2001. Le croissant fertile et le ‘Triangle de'Or’, in Breniquet, C. & Kepinski, C. (ed.) Etudes Mésopotamiennes: recueil de textes offert á Jean-Louis Huot (Bibliothéque de la Délégation Archéologique Française en Iraq 10): 33–43. Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations.Google Scholar
Barker, G. 2006. The agricultural revolution in prehistory: why did foragers become farmers? Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O. & Gopher, A. (ed.). 1997. An Early Neolithic village in the Jordan Valley. Part I: the archaeology of Netiv Hagdud. Cambridge (MA): Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O., Gopher, A. & Goring-Morris, N. 2010. Gilgal: Early Neolithic occupations in the lower Jordan Valley: the excavations of Tamar Noy. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Carruthers, D. & Dennis, S. 2007. The mammalian faunal remains, in Finlayson, B. & Mithen, S. (ed.) The early prehistory of Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan: archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of WF16 (Wadi Faynan series 1; Levant supplementary series 4): 372–86. Oxford: Council for British Research in the Levant and Oxbow.Google Scholar
Cerón-Carrasco, R. 2007. The marine molluscs, with a note on an echinoid fossil and the terrestrial snails, in Finlayson, B. & Mithen, S. (ed.) The early prehistory of Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan: archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of WF16 (Wadi Faynan series 1; Levant supplementary series 4): 362–6. Oxford: Council for British Research in the Levant and Oxbow.Google Scholar
Critchley, P. 2007. The stone beads, in Finlayson, B. & Mithen, S. (ed.) The early prehistory of Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan: archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of WF16 (Wadi Faynan series 1; Levant supplementary series 4): 356–61. Oxford: Council for British Research in the Levant and Oxbow.Google Scholar
Edwards, P. C., Meadows, J., Metzgar, M. C. & Sayei, G. 2002. Results from the first season at Zahart adh-Dhra’ 2: a new Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site on the Dead Sea plain in Jordan. Neo-Lithics 1/02:11–16.Google Scholar
Finlayson, B. 2007. The worked bone, in Finlayson, B. & Mithen, S. (ed.) The early prehistory of Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan: archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of WF16 (Wadi Faynan series 1; Levant supplementary series 4): 319–22. Oxford: Council for British Research in the Levant and Oxbow.Google Scholar
Finlayson, B. & Mithen, S. (ed.). 2007. The early prehistory of Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan: archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of WF16 (Wadi Faynan series 1; Levant supplementary series 4). Oxford: Council for British Research in the Levant and Oxbow.Google Scholar
Finlayson, B., Kuijt, I., Arpin, T., Chesson, M., Dennis, S., Goodale, N., Kadowki, S., Maher, S., Smith, S., Schurr, M. & Mckay, J. 2003. Dhra' excavation project, 2002 interim report. Levant 25:1–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garfinkel, Y. 1989. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of Gesher. Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 22:145.Google Scholar
Kennedy, A. 2007. The plant macrofossils, in Finlayson, B. & Mithen, S. (ed.) The early prehistory of Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan: archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of WF16 (Wadi Faynan series 1; Levant supplementary series 4): 420–8. Oxford: Council for British Research in the Levant and Oxbow.Google Scholar
Kenyon, K. & Holland, T. 1981. Excavations at Jericho, Volume 3: the architecture and stratigraphy of the Tell. London: British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Kromer, B. & Schmidt, K. 1998. Two radiocarbon dates for G¨obekli Tepe, south-east Turkey. Neo-Lithics 3/98:8–9.Google Scholar
Kuijt, I. & Goring-Morris, A. N. 2002. Foraging, farming and social complexity in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the south-central Levant: a review and synthesis. Journal of World Prehistory 16:361–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lechevallier, M. & Ronen, A. (ed.). 1994. Le Gisement de Hatoula en Judée Occidentale, Israel. Paris: Association Paleoriént.Google Scholar
Makarewicz, C., Goodale, N., Rassman, P., White, C., Millers, H., Haroun, J., Carlson, E., Pantos, A., Kroot, M., Kadowaki, S., Casson, A., Williams, J. T., Austin, A. E. & Fabre, B. 2006. El-Hemmeh: a multi-period Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in the Wadi el- Hasa, Jordan. Eurasian Prehistory 1(2): 183–220.Google Scholar
Mithen, S. 2003. After the ice: a global human history 20 000-5000 BC. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.Google Scholar
Mithen, S. J. & Finlayson, B. 2007a. WF16 and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A of the southern Levant, in Finlayson, B. & Mithen, S. (ed.) The early prehistory of Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan: archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of WF16 (Wadi Faynan series 1; Levant supplementary series 4): 470–86. Oxford: Council for British Research in the Levant and Oxbow.Google Scholar
Mithen, S. J. 2007b. The radiocarbon dates, in Finlayson, B. & Mithen, S. (ed.) The early prehistory of Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan: archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of WF16 (Wadi Faynan series 1; Levant supplementary series 4): 460–9. Oxford: Council for British Research in the Levant and Oxbow.Google Scholar
Mithen, S. J., Austin, P., Kennedy, A., Emberson, H., Lancaster, N. & Finlayson, B. 2007. Early Neolithic woodland composition and exploitation in the southern Levant: a comparison between archaeobotanical remains from WF16 and present-day woodland at Hammam Adethni. Environmental Archaeology 12(1): 49–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mithen, S. J., Finlayson, B., Najjar, M., Jenkins, E., Smith, S., Hemsley, S., Maricevic, D., Pankhusrt, N., Yeomans, L. & Al-Amarat, H. 2010. Excavations at the PPNA site of WF16: a report on the 2008 season. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 53:115–26.Google Scholar
Noy, T., Legge, A. & Higgs, E. 1973. Recent excavations at Nahal Oren, Israel. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 39:75–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, K. 2002. The 2002 excavations at Göbekli Tepe (south-eastern Turkey) – impressions from an enigmatic site. Neo-lithics 2/02:8–13.Google Scholar
Schmidt, K. 2005 ‘Ritual centres’ and the Neolithisation of Upper Mesopotamia. Neo-lithics 2/05:13–21.Google Scholar
Schmidt, K. 2006. Sie bauten die ersten Tempel: das rätselhafte Heiligtum der Steinzeitjäger: die archäologische Entdeckung am Göbekli Tepe. München: Beck.Google Scholar
Shaffrey, R. 2007. The ground stone, in Finlayson, B. & Mithen, S. (ed.) The early prehistory of Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan: archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of WF16 (Wadi Faynan series 1; Levant supplementary series 4): 323–55. Oxford: Council for British Research in the Levant and Oxbow.Google Scholar
Simmons, A. & Najjar, M. 2000. Preliminary report of the 1999-2000 excavation season at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement of Ghwair 1, southern Jordan. Neo-lithics 1/00:6–8.Google Scholar
Simmons, A. 2002. Preliminary report on the Tell Wadi Feinan Neolithic testing project. Neo-lithics 1/02:19–21.Google Scholar
Smith, S., Wade, A., Black, E., Brayshaw, D., Rambeau, C. & Mithen, S. 2011. From global climate change to local impact in Wadi Faynan, in Mithen, S. & Black, E. (ed.) Water, life & civilisation: 218–44. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press & UNESCO.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stordeur, D. & Abbes, F. 2002. Dur PPNA and PNB: mise en lumiere d'une phase de transition a Jerf el Ahmar (Syrie). Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 99:563–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stordeur, D., Helmer, D. & Wilcox, G. 1997. Jerf el-Ahmar, un nouveau site de l'horizon PPNA sur le moyen Eurprate Syriean. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 94:282–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stordeur, D., Brenet, M., Der Aprahamain, G. & Roux, J.-C. 2000. Les batiments communautaires de Jerf el Ahmar et Murebet, horizon PPNA (Syrie). Paleorient 26(1): 29–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkins, T. 2010. New light on Neolithic revolution in south-west Asia. Antiquity 84:621–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yartah, T. 2004. Tell ‘Abr 3, un village du néolithique précéramique (PPNA) sur le Moyen Euphrate: première approche. Paléorient 30(2): 141–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar