Neolithic Structures in the Jordanian Arid Zones

für Reinhard Dittmann Übergangszeiten Altorientalische Studien für Reinhard Dittmann anlässlich seines 65. Geburtstags Herausgegeben von Kai Kaniuth, Daniel Lau und Dirk Wicke marru 1 Zaphon Illustration auf dem Einband: Collage aus Reinhard Dittmann, Eine Randebene des Zagros in der Frühzeit. Ergebnisse des Behbehan-Zuhreh Surveys. BBVO 3 (Berlin 1984), Tab. 2b. 3a, und Reinhard Dittmann, Betrachtungen zur Frühzeit des Südwest-Iran. Regionale Entwicklungen vom 6. bis zum frühen 3. vorchristlichen Jahrtausend. BBVO 4/1–2 (Berlin 1986), Tab. 99 Übergangszeiten. Altorientalische Studien für Reinhard Dittmann anlässlich seines 65. Geburtstags Herausgegeben von Kai Kaniuth, Daniel Lau und Dirk Wicke marru 1 © 2018 Zaphon, Münster (www.zaphon.de) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Printed in Germany Printed on acid-free paper ISBN 978-3-96327-002-4 Inhaltsverzeichnis Kai Kaniuth / Daniel Lau / Dirk Wicke Vorwort ..................................................................................................................... vii Schriftenverzeichnis von Reinhard Dittmann ......................................................... xiii Reinhard Bernbeck Intrusions – On the Relations of Materiality and Suffering ........................................1 Susan Pollock The Animals from Tepe Sohz ....................................................................................25 Zeidan A. Kafafi Neolithic Structures in the Jordanian Arid Zones: A Synthesis ................................39 Christine Winkelmann / Andrew McCarthy A Foot in the Door – An Anthropomorphic Figurine Fragment from Prastio Mesorotsos and the Beginning of Sedentism in Cyprus ...............................59 Susanne Kerner The Times are a-changing – Gesellschaftliche Veränderungen vom Spätchalkolithikum zum Beginn der Frühen Bronzezeit in der südlichen Levante ...........................................................................................71 Helga Vogel ‚Gewaltszenen‘ in der urukzeitlichen Glyptik – Möglichkeiten und Grenzen ihrer Interpretation ...............................................................................85 Philip L. Kohl Silence and Noise in the Archaeological Record – When Archaeological Understandings may not be Underdetermined ........................................................109 Thomas E. Balke Einige Überlegungen zum frühdynastischen „Kudurru“ FMB 27 – Versuch einer paläografischen Annäherung und Bestimmung ................................119 x Inhaltsverzeichnis Morteza Hessari A New Proto-Elamite Seal Impression from Tappeh Sofalin, Central Iranian Plateau ............................................................................................131 Petr Charvát An Akkadian-style Seal Impression from Ur ..........................................................137 Gebhard J. Selz Intimate Relations – Reconsidering Backgrounds of the Mesopotamian Mistress of the Animals (Ἡ Πότνια Θηρῶν) ..................................143 Hans Neumann Keilschrifttexte aus kleineren deutschen Sammlungen II – Die historischen Texte aus der Sammlung des Instituts für Altorientalistik und Vorderasiatische Archäologie der Universität Münster ..........................................................................................153 Daniel Lau Von Assur nach Anatolien und zurück – Gedanken zur Bedeutung eines altassyrischen Motivs......................................................................................159 Martin Gruber The Topography of the Temenos at Ur and Its Changes from the Third Dynasty to the Kassite Period .........................................................171 Guido Kryszat Towards the Understanding of Old Assyrian Šarra-mātā/ēn and Šarru-mātim ......195 Thomas Götzelt Scales and Loops – Musings about the Bronze Age Kangurttut Burial Ground ....207 Thomas Richter / Heike Dohmann Ein sumerisches Lehrgedicht: Sterben und Tod ......................................................219 Manfried Dietrich Kirtus Liebeslied für Ḥurriya ..................................................................................245 Andreas Schachner Tešubs Stiere – Zwei neue Darstellungen von Stieren aus Ḫattuša und Umgebung ....................................................................................257 Arnulf Hausleiter The Representation of Bulls on Glazed Iron Age Pottery from Northern Mesopotamia ...................................................................................267 Inhaltsverzeichnis xi Ellen Rehm Die glänzende Sonne – Spiegel als Weihgaben für Schamasch? ............................279 Alessandra Gilibert Teʾumman’s Last Supper – Literary Motifs in Ashurbanipal’s Garden Party and the Scholarly Origin of Assyrian Narrative Art ................................................289 Dirk Wicke Neuassyrische Schuppenpanzer und ein Neufund aus Ziyaret Tepe .......................309 Bruno Jacobs Überlegungen zur Konstruktion der Oberdeichsel an neuassyrischen Streitwagen ...............................................................................329 Kai Kaniuth The Transition from Neo-Babylonian to Achaemenid Glazed Brick Decoration ...................................................................343 Uwe Finkbeiner Beirut: Von den Phöniziern zu den Römern – Ein Stück Geschichte im Profil ......361 Stefan R. Hauser Weinreben und das frühe Christentum in Assur ......................................................369 Claudia Beuger Im Land des Drachen – Überlegungen zu frühen Christen im Khalifan-Distrikt ................................................................................................387 Georg Neumann Im wilden Kurdistan oder der Fluch der Kelišin-Stele ...........................................399 Friedhelm Pedde Vom Sindh ins Swat-Tal – Erinnerungen an eine Reise nach Pakistan ..................417 Index .......................................................................................................................437 Farbtafeln ................................................................................................................445 Neolithic Structures in the Jordanian Arid Zones: A Synthesis Zeidan A. Kafafi, Irbid Introduction The Neolithic period in the Near East lasts from the second half of the 9th to the fifth millennium BC, and its sites are distributed over a great variety of different geographical and environmental zones. This era is rich in archaeological remains that show most of the fundamental developments in the human history. In Jordan, three major geographical zones were settled in this time, easily noticeable as one travels from west to east: the Afro-Asian Rift (Jordan Valley, Dead Sea and Wadi Araba), the mountain ranges (Irbid, Ajloun, Balqa and Al Sharah) and the Badia (Harra, Hamad, the two great oases of Azraq and Al Jafr and the Hisma region including Wadi Rum) (Fig.1). The Jordanian Badia occupies the steppe landscape on the fringes of the land useful for dry farming, broadly defined by the 200 mm isohyet. These parts of the arid zones of Jordan, which make up 80% of the whole area of Jordan and the Wadi Araba, have produced a huge amount of archaeological remains dated to all prehistoric periods, including the Neolithic period. Because of its environmental conditions, the Badia was settled mostly by nomads and semi-nomadic groups. Nevertheless, in order to understand the type of land use of the Badia, we must consider this geographical zone from a regional perspective and have to understand the microclimatic changes through the seasons. History of Research The Prehistory of Jordan was mostly unstudied before the mid-1970s. Only a small number of unsystematic surveys (Field 1960; Kirkbride 1958; Zeuner 1957) and very few excavations, such as at Beidha, Wadi Dhobai and Teleilat Ghassul (Kirkbride 1967; Waechter/Seton-Williams 1938; Koeppel et al. 1934; Mallon et al. 1934) had been conducted. The archaeological excavations at the Natufian/Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site of Beidha were the only systematic and intensive work at a Jordanian prehistoric site before the 1970s. Starting in the early 1980s a large number of projects were conducted throughout 40 Zeidan A. Kafafi Jordan. These yielded a huge amount of information about the prehistory of Jordan, especially the Neolithic period. During the last years several archaeological surveys and excavations have been conducted at several areas and sites covering most of the geographical zones, the Black Desert, the Azraq Basin, the Wadi Bayer, the Wadi Rum, eth-Thlaithiwat, es-Sahm Al-Abyad (Müller-Neuhoff 2014; Abu-Azizeh 2013; Fujii 2013; Gebel/Mahasneh 2013; Tarawneh/Abudanah 2013) (Müller-Neuhof 2012; 2013a; Richter et al. 2012; Rollefson 2013; Rollefson/Rowan/Perry 2011; Rollefson/ Rowan/Wasse 2013; Wasse/Rowan/Rollefson 2012), and Wadi Faynan. These prehistoric studies focused mostly on the Black desert region (Harra) but neglected the Ard es-Suwwan (Hamad) region (Betts 2013; Garrard/Byrd 2013). The Wadi ‘Araba region, especially the Wadi Faynan area, have been subject to intensive investigations by scholars who have revealed archaeological remains, especially Neolithic houses dated from the PPNA through the Pottery Neolithic periods, at several sites such as Wadi Faynan 16 (Finlayson et al. 2000). Due to the pressure of space, here I will focus only on the eastern desert region and exclude the Wadi ‘Araba region. Previous studies conducted at the Badia regions concluded that this part of Jordan had been inhabited during the prehistoric periods, including the Neolithic, by communities that were rather small and mobile, such as nomadic hunter-gatherers and pastoralists and often left no architectural remains (Betts 1998; 2013; Wasse/Rowan/ Rollefson 2012). Moreover, they concluded that the archaeological remains belonging to such communities and excavated in the Badia were sparse and difficult to find, since they are almost limited to small areas. Betts (2013: 3) ascertained that during the Early Neolithic period the Harra was used for hunting, and added that around the seventh millennium BC the first herded domestic sheep and goats appeared in this region. It has been deduced that the communities during the seventh millennium BC led to a nomadic pastoralist style of life. The Late Neolithic period (c. 7000–5000 BC) sites uncovered in the Badia regions are completely different in type and archaeological material than those of earlier Neolithic periods. This indicates that a number of changes in subsistence strategies took place in the Badia during the sixth and perhaps the first half of the fifth millennium BC. It has already been suggested that the first move towards herding in the Badia, especially in the al-Azraq and Wadi Jilat happened during the LPPNB (c. 6500– 6000 BC) (Garrard et al. 1996; Martin 1999). Actually, the diversity of the exposed Late Neolithic sites in the Badia may reflect a combination of hunting/gathering and livestock management at the same time. The change of economy is likely to have been accompanied by a development of the social system. In other words, two settlement patterns must have evolved and coexisted, that is camp-sites and small villages. The first belonged to mobile communities, the second to semi-nomad settlers (herders and pastoralists), who built themselves houses. Neolithic Structures in the Jordanian Arid Zones: A Synthesis 41 The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Houses (c. 9500–8600 BC) Our current knowledge of PPNA settlements in Jordan is still marginal compared to the preceding and following periods. The identified sites are different in size and function. Some of them appear to reflect the seasonal remains of small groups of mobile hunter-gatherers, while others show evidence of more permanent occupation and possibly of food production. Several Neolithic camp sites were investigated in the arid zones of Jordan. One of them is Jebel Qweisa, a Khiamian site, located in the Hisma area and dated to the second half of the ninth millennium BC. Jebel Qweisa is a small rock-shelter, discovered and probed during the Wadi Judaid Basin survey in 1979 (Henry 1982; 1988; 1995). The shelter is situated at the base of a steep sandstone cliff at 1200 m a.s.l. and has a northern exposure overlooking the Wadi Judaid basin. The archaeological sounding at the site exposed Neolithic and Chalcolithic remains. Helwan points and the Hagdud truncations led the excavator to date the earlier occupational level at the site to the Early PPNA (Khiamian, c. 10100–9500 BP). It has been argued that the site served as a short-term exploitation camp, such as a hunting station (Henry 1995: 349. 351−352). Nevertheless, permanent farming sites were also encountered in what are now the arid zones, such as at Wadi Feinan in the Wadi Araba region. Stone walls forming semi-circular structures were found in Trench 1 at the site of Wadi Faynan 16 and represent two separate phases of building. This construction was accompanied by several large pits, and midden material accumulated through time between these two structures (Finlayson et al. 2000: figs. 5 and 6). The excavators evaluated these structures as non-domestic housing and as evidence for separated zones of activities on site. In Trench 2 at the same site, the excavations revealed three fragmentary dry-stone walls (Finlayson et al. 2000: 17; fig. 7). These were built very close to a circular feature that represents Wadi Feinan 16. These exposed walls invited the excavators of the site to agree that the sub-circular structure found in Trench 1 was not isolated, but was located within a group of walls encompassing the north side of the site. Early PPNB Houses (c. 8600–8200 BC) In contrast to the PPNA, the following PPNB period is well represented by Neolithic structures, only the earliest phase, the EPNNB (8600–8200 BC) is very poorly known. The site of Wadi Jilat 7.1 is situated on the southern bank of the Jilat gorge, a tributary of the Wadi Dhobai in the southwest of the Azraq Basin. This area was subject to archaeological research during the 1930s (Waechter et al. 1938). Jilat 7.1 is identified with Waechter’s site “Wadi Dhobai C” and covers an area of 2250 m2. Three clusters of structure were visible before excavations were resumed in the 1980s (Garrard 2013: 28–29; Garrard et al. 1986). Two 4 m2 soundings were excavated at the site in 1984 and three larger trenches were dug in 1987 and 1988 (Garrard et al. 1994). The Early PPNB deposits were encountered in two artificial cuts dug into the bedrock. Two radiocarbon dates were obtained from these accumulations as follows: 8390 +/– 80 BP (OxA-2413) uncalibrated and 5840 +/– 100 BP (OxA-1799) uncali- 42 Zeidan A. Kafafi brated and unacceptably late. The uncovered structure (Fig. 1) consisted of one rectangular building, having rounded corners and measuring 3 × 3.5 m. The house was constructed of rubble stones and upright slabs (Garrard et al. 1994: 75; fig. 1c). Rectangular houses with rounded corners were also seen at Beidha. Fig. 1 Jilat 7.1 (Photo by Andrew Garrard). Middle PPNB Houses (8200–7500 BC) The Jafr Basin occupies the southern edge of the Jordanian Plateau with an area measuring approximately 15,000 km². The Basin is bordered by a hilly limestone terrain that forms a watershed against Wadi al-Hasa to the north, Wadi al-Hisma to the south, Wadi es-Sirhan to the east, and Wadi ‘Araba to the west (Fujii 2013: 51, fig. 1). At present the local vegetation is very poor and the annual mean of rainfall is less than 50 mm (150 mm in the western hilly area). In addition to several pioneering visits to this region, the most extensive archaeological investigation has been conducted by a Japanese team led by Sumio Fujii which began in 1997 and has continued till the present. The Japanese expedition recorded and excavated two PPNB settlements: Abu Tulayha and Wadi Ghuwayr 17; in addition to four PPNB barrage systems, four PPNC/LN cemeteries, four Chalcolithic cemeteries and many Early Bronze Age cairns (Fujji 2013: 53–54). Wadi Abu Tulayha occupies a very large area of the Ma’an Plateau in southern Jordan. Neolithic sites were first encountered in the Wadi during a survey conducted in 2001–2002 by the Japanese expedition (Fujii 2009; Fujii/Abe 2008). Archaeological excavations at the Neolithic site of Abu Tulayha started in 2005 and continued until 2008. The Neolithic remains include houses, three stone-built barrages, built at the southern edge of the Wadi, and a large cistern situated approximately 100 m upstream of the barrage system (Fujii 2009a: 20). Based on the results of radiocarbon dates obtained from Abu Tulayha, Fujii initially dated the excavated structures to the very beginning of the Middle PPNB or possibly to the end of the Early PPNB (Fujii 2009b: 206). However, in a recently published article Fujii wrote “it is our present interpretation that the settlement was used on a seasonal basis for a few centuries spanning from the end of the MPPNB to the beginning of the LPPNB, although available evidence suggests that there were a few interruptions in the occupational history of the outpost” (Fujii 2013: 56). The site consisted of two structural units: (1) A settlement that measures c. 100 m long and c. 10–15 m in width. (2) A series of water catchment facilities, which were constructed along a small playa and wadi system located approximately 60–80 m to the south of the settlement. It consists of a very large cistern and two wadi Neolithic Structures in the Jordanian Arid Zones: A Synthesis 43 barriers. Structure “M” (Fig. 2) is a very large semi-subterranean construction and functioned as a cistern for supplying drinking-water to the inhabitants of the site. In our opinion the site should date to the Middle PPNB (Fujii 2009b: 192– 197). Since the aim of this research is to discuss the Neolithic houses in the arid zones I will not present “Structure M” here. The settlement area consists of many semi-subterranean structures/houses having different dimensions and plans. They form eleven agglomerated complexes with a central large building at its Fig. 2 Structure “M” (Photo by S. Fujii). core (Fujii 2013: 56). This beehive-like plan of construction (Fig. 3) reminds one of Middle PPNB houses excavated at Beidha and Shqaret Musy’id in the vicinity of Petra. The site ‘Ayn Abu Nukhayla is located in Wadi Rum. The site derives its name from a spring that literally translates as spring of the father of the young palm. The site was first discovered by A. S. Kirkbride and L. Harding (1947) and Fig. 3 Beehive-like constructions at Wadi Abyu Tulayha (Photo by S. Fujii). then sounded by D. Kirkbride (1978). Excavations were resumed in 2000 by D. O. Henry (Henry and Beaver 2014). The structures uncovered at the site were described as rock-lined structures nested into a honey-comb pattern. In addition, the excavators believed that the site served as an intensive settlement of some permanence, and the excavated archaeological material pointed to the cultivation of cereals. D. O. Henry (2014: 3) argues that “the site was inhabited at a time when herding and farming had just come to supplement the hunting and gathering of wild foods”. Based on the study of its projectile points ‘Ayn Abu Nukhayla was first dated to the latest phase of the PPNB (Kirkbride 1978), a date recently challenged by D. O. Henry on the basis of radiocarbon dates ranging between 9250 and 8700 cal BP (Henry 2014: 3–4). He enforced his point-of-view by stratigraphic correlations of the site with artefact seriation and identified three architectural phases: Phase I: finds beneath the earliest wall construction Phase II: earliest building efforts using upright slabs for constructing walls Phase III: major shift in building techniques to horizontal slab constructions Henry added that Phases I and II are more similar to each other than to Phase III, but Phase III represents the major and final phase of occupation at the site. “The use of lime plaster for floors and on walls is a relatively common feature of PPNB architecture in parts of the Levant. The absence of lime plaster at ‘Ain abu Nukhayla, how- 44 Zeidan A. Kafafi ever, is ambiguous given the nearest potential source of limestone, not to mention the nearest source of sufficient firewood for producing lime from limestone” (Henry 2014: 5). Twelve structures were excavated at ‘Ayn Abu Nukhayla, showing a significant level of differentiation. Some of the walls were still standing to a height ranging from 1 m (Locus 3) to 0.30 m (Locus 4) (Fig. 4). Phase III constructions vary in size and plan, with both curvilinear and rectilinear structures, and most of the rectilinear houses corners are rounded. Such structures were also known from Beidha (Kirkbride 1978; Byrd 2005). Phase II structures are represented by Locus 22 (Fig. 5), as defined by the excavaFig. 4 MPPNB Structures of ‘Ayn Abu tors. It is very large, measuring c. 3.6 m from Nukhayla (after Henry 2014). northwest to southeast, and was built from very large upright stone slabs. The walls are only very slightly curved and the corners are rounded. This building did not have a stone floor. A stone platform extending out from the southeast wall was visible, and a partition wall was added to Locus 22 during Phase III. Structures belonging to Phase III were encountered in almost all the excavated areas at the site. Two blocks were recorded from this phase. Block I consisted of six houses (Loci 1–5 and 11). The houses were built of curved walls with rounded corners, with irregular shapes, the shortest axis of the houses measuring 2.6 m (Locus 1) and the longest 5 m (Locus 11). Some have internal partitions (Locus 3) others have stone floors (Locus 4) (Beaver 2014: 50). Block II consisted of six structures and is located towards the southern edge of the site. Some of the structures (Locus 20) belonging to this block had a floor paved with stones of different sizes and varied from rounded pebbles to flat angular stones (Beaver 2014: 58). A stone-lined pit has been encountered at the western end of the southern wall of Locus 20 Fig. 5 ‘Ayn Abu Nukhayla Locus 22 (after Henry 2014). (Fig. 6). Neolithic Structures in the Jordanian Arid Zones: A Synthesis 45 To sum up, the exposed architecture of ‘Ayn Abu Nukhayla is characterized by: 1. Irregularly shaped ground plans, not constructed according to plan. 2. Some of the houses have internal partitions. 3. Floors, when detected, were either built of small cobble-stones or of compacted sediments. Fig. 6 ‘Ayn Abu Nukhayla Locus 20 4. No stone-built doorways to the buildings (after Henry 2014). were recognized. 5. The houses of Phase III were built to a beehive “honeycomb” arrangement. Late PPNB Houses (7500–7000 BC) Dhuweila, 40km west of Azraq is a small, low rubble mound overlooking a wide open area of silt and mudflat (Fig. 7). The vicinity of the site is rich in water resources especially in winter and spring. To the south of the site is a qa’ (a seasonally flooded area), and to the north is Wadi Dhuweila in which runoff water collects in small pools identified by the locals of this area as ghudran (Betts 1998: 37–58). The excavators argue that the site was first used as a hunters camp during the late seventh millennium BC (uncalibrated) (Stage 1: Phases 1–5). After a time of abandon- Fig. 7 Location of Late Neolithic Black Desert sites (after Rollefson et al. 2014: Fig. 1). 46 Zeidan A. Kafafi ment it was reoccupied by hunters, in the later sixth millennium BC (uncalibrated) (Stage 2: Phases 6–9) it was used as a seasonal camp (Betts 1998: 37. 42). The seasonal camp of Dhuweila Stage 1 (Phases 1–5) was dated to the LPPNB (Betts 1998: 37. 42) . The structural remains of this stage (Phase 1), consisted of a series of pits cut into the Fig. 8 Dhuweila Stage 1, Wall AM (after natural ground down to the solid basalt Betts 1998: 246 pl. 3). bedrock and stone-lined at the rim (Fig. 8). Those pits were filled with ashy sand mixed with fragments of flint and animal bones. Thin walls built against the down-slope side of the hill in Phase 2 belonged to an inter-seasonal reconstruction. The irregularly curved walls were constructed of basalt cobbles in two different techniques: some walls were built of courses three or four stones thick while others were constructed of single upright slabs or large boulders (Betts 1998: 44). The excavator of Dhuweila mentioned that the occupation levels of Stage 1 were ashy, full of faunal material and chipped stone waste. Fired and fire-cracked stones were encountered in large quantities, and the pits excavated in Phase 5 of Stage 1 were sealed by a layer of an ashy soil fill with broken angular pebbles or by a mud-plaster-surface (Betts 1998: 47–48). The uncovered structures at the site Dhuweila of the LPPNB with their unclear plan were finally interpreted as windbreaks. Late Neolithic Houses in the Arid Zones During the Late Neolithic, pastoralism started to be fully developed and began to be a subsistence strategy. Nevertheless, the archaeological sites excavated at Badia proved that those pastoralists were in contact with the contemporaneous farming communities living either in the highland or in the Jordan Valley of Jordan. Recent fieldworks conducted at several areas of the Black Desert such as at the Wisad Pools, Wadi Qattafi and Jebel Qurma have shown that the conditions during the latter phase of the 7th and through the 6th millennium allowed pastoralists to occupy substantial dwellings recurrently, in other words on a seasonal basis (Rollefson et al. 2014). Those dwellers built themselves houses or shelters, which we present below. Late Neolithic Houses at Dhuweila/Black Desert The excavator of Dhuweila assumed that the site was re-occupied during the Late Neolithic period, but no major reconstruction was carried out. The main structure belonging to this period is an irregularly curved one, built of basalt stones (Fig. 9). This curvilinear structure has a pavement of basalt slabs and cobbles built inside the southwestern side of it, just across steps, which led up into a passage. The passage was also paved and a circular grinding stone was set into the pavement ringed Neolithic Structures in the Jordanian Arid Zones: A Synthesis 47 Fig. 9 Stage 2 Constructions (after Betts 1998: Figs. 3.16–17). by rough cobbles. The finds, such as the grinding stone, indicated that most activities were practiced within the main structure. Late Neolithic Achitecture at Jebel Naja (BDS 2321)/Black Desert This site was first explored and sounded by A. Betts (2013: 13–31). It is situated on the western side of the Harra in an area overlooking the alluvial fan of Wadi al-Qattafi. It consists of a cluster of corrals and terraces (Fig. 10). The excavator believed that the uncovered structures varied in date and were re-used over a long period, adding that the earliest traces of occupation at the site belonged to the Middle Palaeolithic, while large MPPNB through Late Neolithic flint assemblages, especially concave truncation burins, were recovered. However, based on a radiocarbon date (6455–6080 cal BC, and the type of arrow-heads found at the site, Betts (2013: 13) concluded that the most 48 Zeidan A. Kafafi Fig. 10 Jebel Naja Late Neolithic Shelters (after Betts 2013: Fig. 2:3). intensive use of the site must belong to the Late Neolithic when it would have been visited regularly by Neolithic groups. The area is suitable for grazing during winter and spring, and water was available during those two seasons in the ghudran formed in the Wadi Qattafi bed after heavy rain. This might have encouraged people to build shelters to protect themselves from the winter wind. The Late Neolithic site Jebel Naja is one of a large number of similar sites built around the edge of the Harra zone, where mudflats provide extensive grazing. Those sites, including Jebel Naja, were not permanently occupied, but were probably used as herding camp sites. Late Neolithic Houses at Wisad Pools/Black Desert Wisad Pools is a geomorphological complex consisting of a series of natural basins situated in a wadi only about 1–1.5 km long. It is located approximately 100 km east-southeast of the Azraq Basin (Fig. 7). The site was first identified in 2002 by G. Rollefson and A. Wasse (Wasse/Rollefson 2005), followed by surveys and mapping in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and excavations in 2011 and 2013 (Rollefson et al. 2011: 35–43; 2013: 11–23). A large number of structures (over 300) are estimated to be situated in this area (Rollefson 2014: 291). However, the main goal of the excavations conducted at Wisad Pools was to dig a tailed tower tomb (W-85), which is a c. 4–5 m structure in the centre of a courtyard set off by thick basalt stones, from which thirteen stone piles extended towards the west. Neolithic Structures in the Jordanian Arid Zones: A Synthesis 49 Fig. 11 8 W-80 Wisad (Photo by G. Rollefson). W-80 is a mound that still rises to a height of 2 m above the natural surface, and measures c. 8–9 m in diameter (Fig. 11). Large basalt stones were removed from inside and outside the tomb to clarify the borders of this construction. According to the excavators the wall of the tomb was poorly built. It has been suggested that the construction might have served as a Late Neolithic corbelled dwelling, functioning as a large windbreak to protect people as they undertook activities during their stay at the site (Rollefson et al. 2013: 11), which had collapsed during the 7th millennium cal BC. The final plan of W-80 shows that in the southwestern part there was a short wall creating an alcove measuring c. 1.5 m in diameter, covered by a floor that had been paved three times by basalt slabs and one time with a layer of gypsum plaster. A large curvilinear room measuring c. 4 m E-W and approximately 2.90 m from the south wall to the section, was found to the east of the alcove (Fig. 11, room B). A bench or platform measuring 0.40 m wide and paved with cobbles had been built alongside the southern wall. Outside of this construction is a forecourt built of upright basalt slabs forming a semicircular shape. A semicircular feature measuring c. 2.2 m E-W and 2.7 m N-S built partially of upright basalt slabs and probably functioned as a “porch” to separate the dwelling house and the forecourt. It has a doorway with jambs still standing to 0.40 m in height. Based on the absence of any traces of a roof for this porch, it has been argued that it was used as a working area. In addition, a passage-way (vestibule) was built in an area leading from the doorway into the other parts 50 Zeidan A. Kafafi Fig. 12 6 W-66a Wisad (Photos by G. Rollefson). of the house (Rollefson et al. 2013: 13). The archaeological excavations conducted at Wisad Pools revealed further structures, one of them designated as W-66a (Fig. 12). This installation consists of a low circular or sub-circular single room construction. It has a gypsum plaster floor measuring c. 4.25 m northwest to southeast with an elliptical plaster basin. In addition, a large basalt pillar measuring 1.02 m × 0.44 m × 0.30 m was built in the centre of the room. This pillar might have served as a central support for corbelling stones. The interior plan of this Late Neolithic house is polygonal rather than curvilinear as it appeared from the outside. At some of the corners of the segments of the polygonal house, smaller flat slabs were stacked to strengthen and increase the stability of the corbelling. The room had a doorway with a roof only about a meter in height, forcing the inhabitants to crawl to get inside it (Rollefson et al. 2013: 36–39). The excavators argue that this type of house “appears to be a model that dwellers of the Black Desert found to be effective shelters that would span several thousand years of use and modification” (Rollefson et al. 2013: 42). The four plaster episodes in the northwest alcove indeed show that the site was visited repeatedly and the silt layer separating the plaster layers indicates periods of absence. Late Neolithic Houses at Maitland “Mesas”/Black Desert Alexander Wasse, Yorke Rowan and Gary Rollefson recorded around 30 mesas spread on both banks of the Wadi Qattafi (Fig. 13) located c. 60 km east of North Azraq and 20 more on the eastern side of Wadi Umm Nukhayla in Jordan’s Black desert (Wasse et al. 2012: 15). Fieldwork at the mesas started with surveys in 2008 and 2010, followed by an Neolithic Structures in the Jordanian Arid Zones: A Synthesis 51 Fig. 13 Location of the Wadi Qattafi Mesas (after Wasse et al. 2012: Fig. 1). excavation season in 2012. A large number of structures consisting of huts, animal pens, a tower tomb and chipping stations have been recorded during the surveys. These were dated to the Epi-Palaeolithic, Middle and Late PPNB, and Late Neolithic (Wasse et al. 2012: 17; Rollefson et al. 2014: 294). The excavations conducted in 2012 focused on Mesa 4 and were intended to investigate the function and exact dates of structures at that site. Two main areas were excavated , the first one located on the summit, the second on the southwest slopes. One of the structures, SS11 (Figs. 14–16), an oval, corbelled dwelling, measuring 2 × 3 m, was selected for its well-built doorways. It is . One opens to the south and the other towards the east into a courtyard measuring 15 m in diameter, which might be an animal enclosure. The northern, eastern and southeastern walls of this installation were built of basalt slabs placed vertically on their edges. The western wall has massive slabs placed horizontally rather than on edge. The upright slabs were stabilized by small basalt wedges at their bases. The excavations also revealed a small corbelled storage room measuring 1.88 × 1.45 × 0.45 m built in the corner between the southeast side of the house wall and the southern wall of the courtyard (Wasse et al. 2012: 21). The northeastern side of the construction has a secondary wall, probably to protect the structure from surface wash or rock-fall. I would like to mention here that recent excavations at the site of eh-Sayyeh, located at the confluence of both Wadis az-Zarqa and Dhuleil, have produced a similar type of construction to the oval shaped house SS11 excavated at Mesa 4 (Bartl and Kafafi forthcoming). 52 Zeidan A. Kafafi Fig. 14 Aerial view of LN house SS-11, Phase I at Maitland’s Mesa (with kind permission of G. Rollefson). Fig. 15 View to the west towards the eastern side of SS11, showing the doorways into the various parts of the structure. Fig. 16 Single-cell and Double-cell “ghura hut” from the top of Maitland’s Mesa. (One of very many). Dating unknown. Neolithic Structures in the Jordanian Arid Zones: A Synthesis 53 Additional small corbelled buildings were uncovered near Structure SS11 on the southwest slope of Mesa 4. These houses may constitute a village dating to the Late Neolithic period. In addition to the Late Neolithic houses found at the mesas on both sides of Wadi Qattafi, single-cell and double-cell huts of unknown date were visible on the top of Maitland’s mesa (Fig. 16). There, Late Neolithic Houses in the Black Desert indicate that the area was heavily occupied during this period. The excavated houses were all of one type, curvilinear in plan and either having a rounded, elliptical or oval shape. They were built of basalt, having mostly corbelled roofs, with short and/or low doorways. We argue that this type of structures fits very well with the arid environment. The large number of houses documented on the Mesas located on both sides of Wadi Qattafi indicates the presence of a village/villages during the Late Neolithic period. Conclusions The following table demonstrates that only a single example of a seasonal pastoralist camp, Jebel Qweisa, was found at the Hisma region. But the archaeological excavations conducted in the four Badia geographical zones prove that these arid zones continued to be inhabited during the PPNB by pastoral communities spreading all over this geographical zone. The single EPPNB example, Jilat 7.1, shows that the people started to build rectilinear structures built mostly of upright stone slabs. The manner, e.g. the type and floor plan as well as the techniques of building houses was completely different in the MPPNB than in the preceding EPPNB. They became larger in number, agglomerating together in a way forming beehive-like constructions. Most of the structures were subterranean and had several functions. Examples of beehive-like houses were encountered at several sites in the Badia such as at Wadi Abu Tulayha in the Jafr Basin and at ‘Ayn Abu Nukhayla in Wadi Rum. Similar types of houses were also found in the Petra region, such as at Beidha and Shqaret Musy’id. It might be argued that during the MPPNB the inhabitants of the Jafr Basin and Jabal el-Sharah, represented by the Petra region, were in contact. Moreover, it might also be argued that the large number of houses uncovered at both ‘Ayn Abu Nukhayala and Wadi Abu Tulayha, with water harvesting installations found at the later sites point to permanent inhabitation and practicing some kind of cultivation in addition to pastoralism. From the LPPNB and PPNC, only very few structures were discovered, and only one example was given from the site of Dhuweila. It seems that during the Late Neolithic period the Black Desert was intensively occupied by groups which gathered at sites and built themselves houses of basalt stone boulders either to settle inside them or to protect themselves from the wind. Several sites dating to this period were found alongside the wadis in the Black Desert. A rectangular Late Neolithic house with rounded corners has been published only from Wadi Rum (Kafafi 2013). 54 Zeidan A. Kafafi Region Black Desert Period Curvilinear Single House Beehive-Like Khiamian/ PPNA EPPNB MPPNB LPPNB Dhuweila Dhuweila PPNC LN Dhuweila, Jebel Naja, Dhuweila, Wisad Jebel Naja Wisad Pools, Mesa 4 Pools, Mesa 4 Azraq Basin Khiamian/ PPNA EPPNB Wadi Jilat 7.1 MPPNB LPPNB PPNC LN Jafr Basin Khiamian/ PPNA EPPNB MPPNB Abu Tulayha Abu Tulayha LPPNB PPNC LN Hisma/ Rumm Khiamian/ PPNA Jebel Qweisa (camp) EPPNB MPPNB Ayn Abu Nukhayla Ayn Abu Nukhayla LPPNB PPNC LN Wadi Sabit Fig. 17 Table showing the distribution of Types of Neolithic Houses in the Jordanian Arid Zones. Acknowledgments Sincere thanks are due to the following friends and colleagues: Gary Rollefson, Bill Finlayson, Andrew Garrard and Sumio Fujii for providing the included illustrations. 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