Early Farmers and their Environment: Archaeobotanical Research at Neolithic and Chalcolithic Sites in Jordan

Submitted by John Meadows BEc BA (Hons) MSc

A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Archaeology Program School of Historical and European Studies Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences La Trobe University, Victoria 3086 Australia

July 2005

Table of contents

List of tables v List of figures vi Abstract xi Acknowledgements xii Statement of authorship xiii Introduction 1

I.1 Thesis structure 2 I.2 Thesis outline 3

Section 1 Background

Chapter 1 Chronology 23

Chapter 2 Environment 31

2.1 The modern precipitation regime and its implications for agriculture 31 2.2 Holocene climate change 32 2.2.1 Palynology 32 2.2.2 Stable isotope data 38 2.2.3 Palaeohydrology 40 2.2.4 Sedimentology 42 2.3 Summary 43 Chapter 3 Archaeology 44

3.1 Period I: 9200–8300 cal BC 44 3.1.1 Summary of evidence at ca 9000 cal BC 51 3.2 Period II: 8200–7600 cal BC 52 3.2.1 Summary of evidence at ca 8000 cal BC 58 3.3 Period III: 7500–6500 cal BC 58 3.3.1 Summary of evidence at ca 7000 cal BC 69 3.4 Period IV: 6400–5500 cal BC 70 3.4.1 Summary of evidence at ca 6000 cal BC 77 3.5 Period V: 5500–4500 cal BC 78 3.5.1 Summary of evidence at ca 5000 cal BC 82 3.6 Period VI: 4500–3700 cal BC 82 3.6.1 Summary of evidence at ca 4000 cal BC 84

i Section 2 Data

Chapter 4 Fieldwork 86

4.1 Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2 86 4.2 Wadi Fidan 1 (JHF001) 87 4.3 Tell Rakan I (WZ120) 88 4.4 ash-Shalaf 89 4.5 Pella Area XXXII 90 4.6 Teleilat Ghassul 91 4.7 Summary 93 Chapter 5 Sorting 94

5.1 Sample selection 94 5.2 Definition of archaeobotanical remains 95 5.3 Identification criteria 96 5.4 Quantification 98 Chapter 6 Patterns 99

6.1 Analysis of archaeobotanical data 99 6.2 Teleilat Ghassul data analysis 102 6.2.1 Research questions 102 6.2.2 Processing method and sample composition 104 6.2.3 Minimum mesh size and sample composition 105 6.2.4 Sampling strategy (1997 vs 1999 data) 106 6.2.5 Spatial patterns 107 6.2.6 Diachronic patterns 115 6.2.7 Criteria for data manipulation 131 6.2.8 Summary of statistical patterns at Teleilat Ghassul 133 6.3 Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2 134 6.3.1 Ubiquity analysis 134 6.3.2 Correspondence Analysis 135 6.4 Wadi Fidan 1 (JHF001) 138 6.5 Tell Rakan I (WZ120) 140 6.6 ash-Shalaf 142 6.7 Pella Area XXXII 143 6.8 Summary 144

ii Section 3 Interpretation

Chapter 7 Reconstructions 145

7.1 Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2 145 7.1.1 Subsistence data 145 7.1.2 Wild food plants 146 7.1.3 Potential cultivars 146 7.1.4 Environment 149 7.1.5 Economy 150 7.1.6 Summary 151 7.2 Wadi Fidan 1 (JHF001) 151 7.3 Tell Rakan I (WZ120) 152 7.4 ash-Shalaf 154 7.5 Pella Area XXXII 155 7.6 Teleilat Ghassul 156 7.6.1 Site formation processes 157 7.6.2 Spatial and functional patterns 158 7.6.3 Changes in agricultural practices 160 7.6.4 Environmental change 162 7.6.5 Economic development 163 7.7 Summary 163 Chapter 8 Snapshots 166

8.1 Subsistence strategies at 9000 cal BC 166 8.2 Subsistence strategies at 8000 cal BC 168 8.3 Subsistence strategies at 7000 cal BC 169 8.4 Subsistence strategies at 6000 cal BC 171 8.5 Subsistence strategies at 5000 cal BC 172 8.6 Subsistence strategies at 4000 cal BC 174 8.7 Summary 176 Chapter 9 Implications 179

9.1 Domestication and diffusion 179 9.2 Environmental determinism: climate change versus human impact 183 9.3 Adaptation versus repeated failure 188 Conclusions 192

iii Appendices

Appendix A Chronologies of Huleh pollen diagrams 195

A1 The new Huleh diagram (Baruch and Bottema 1991; 1999) 196 A1.1 Radiocarbon results from the Baruch and Bottema core 196 A1.2 Previous revisions of the Baruch and Bottema radiocarbon chronology 196 A2 The Huleh and marine core pollen sequences 200 A3 Reservoir age and reservoir effects 202 A3.1 Reservoir age in the Huleh Basin 202 A3.2 Estimating reservoir ages at Huleh in the past 203 A3.3 Basin geometry 206 A4 Detrital mineral carbonate 207 A5 A suggested timescale for the Holocene section of the Huleh core 208 A6 The Huleh diagrams and other palaeoenvironmental records 209 A7 Summary 211 Appendix B Experiment to compare the results of manual and machine flotation 213

B1 Background 213 B2 The experiment 213 B3 Discussion 214 Appendix C Catalogue of wild/weed taxa 218

Appendix D Scanning Electron Microscopy 231

D1 Background 231 D2 The experiment 232 D3 Discussion 232 Appendix E A homemade sample splitter 234

Appendix F Olive stone measurements 236

F1 Background 236 F2 Prehistoric olive exploitation in the southern Levant 237 F3 Olive remains at Teleilat Ghassul 238 F4 Discussion 240 F5 Summary 241 References 243

iv List of tables

Table 1.1 Plateaus in the radiocarbon calibration curve, early Holocene 268 Table 1.2 Periodisation used in this thesis 268 Table 2.1 Summary of palaeoenvironmental data, 10,000–4000 cal BC 269 Table 3.1 Summary of subsistence data from sites dated 9000–4000 cal BC 270 Table 4.1 Archaeobotanical samples processed, ZAD2 (1999-2001) 272 Table 4.2 Archaeobotanical samples processed, Wadi Fidan 1 (1999) 273 Table 4.3 Archaeobotanical samples processed, Tell Rakan I (1999) 273 Table 4.4 Archaeobotanical samples processed, ash-Shalaf (1998-99) 274 Table 4.5 Archaeobotanical samples processed, Pella Area XXXII (1996-97) 274 Table 4.6 Archaeobotanical samples processed, Teleilat Ghassul (1999) 275 Table 5.1 Identified plant remains, Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2, by context (1999-2001) 278 Table 5.2 Identified plant remains, Wadi Fidan 1 (1999) 282 Table 5.3 Identified plant remains, Tell Rakan I (1999) 283 Table 5.4 Identified plant remains, ash-Shalaf (1998-99) 287 Table 5.5 Identified plant remains, Pella Area XXXII (1996-97) 289 Table 5.6 Identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999) 291 Identified plant remains in coarse flot and fine flot fractions, Table 6.1 359 48 machine-processed samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999) Table 6.2 Context types, analysed archaeobotanical samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999) 360 Table 6.3 Ubiquity of plant taxa, ZAD2 (1999-2001) 361 Table 6.4 Archaeobotanical remains by context, ash-Shalaf (1998-99) 362 Table 6.5 Archaeobotanical results, Wadi Fidan Site A (Colledge 1994) 363 Table 7.1 Measurements of barley grain fragments, ZAD2 (1999-2001) 364 Table 7.2 Identification of food plant taxa, by site 365 Table A1 Radiocarbon results from the new Huleh pollen diagram 366 Table A2 Dates of zone boundaries (uncal BP) under alternative correction methods 367 Table A3 Revised chronology of the Holocene section of the Huleh pollen diagram 367 Table B1 Comparison of recovery rates, manual and machine flotation 368 Table B2 Taxa identified in manual subsamples but not in machine subsamples 370 Table B3 Taxa identified in machine subsamples but not in manual subsamples 370 Table C1 Identification of wild/weed taxa, by site 371 Table D1 Observed damage to seeds before SEM use, under SEM, and after SEM use 374 Table E1 Results of sample splitter experiment 375 Table F1 Olive stone measurements, Teleilat Ghassul (1994-99) 376 Table F2 Summary statistics, olive stones, Teleilat Ghassul (1994-99) 378 Table F3 Summary statistics, olive stones, various sites in the southern Levant 378

v List of figures

Figure I.1 Map of Jordan, showing locations of sites sampled 379 Figure I.2 Location of trenches, Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2 380 Figure I.3 Location of trenches, Tell Rakan I 381 Figure I.4 Location of trenches, ash-Shalaf 382 Figure I.5 Location of trenches, Pella 383 Figure I.6 Location of trenches, Teleilat Ghassul 384 Figure 1.1 Radiocarbon calibration curve, 10,000–6500 cal BC 385 Figure 1.2 Radiocarbon calibration curve, 6500–3000 cal BC 385 Figure 1.3 Global climate and residual radiocarbon trends, 10,000–4000 cal BC 386 Radiocarbon determinations (with error terms of ±100 or less) Figure 1.4 387 from early Holocene archaeological sites in the Levant Calibrated probability distributions of 45 actual radiocarbon dates Figure 1.5 388 from early Neolithic sites in the Levant Calibration of 45 simulated radiocarbon results, corresponding to samples Figure 1.6 389 with calendar ages spaced at 40-year intervals, 8520–6760 cal BC Figure 3.1 Calibrated radiocarbon results from possible Period I sites in Jordan 390 Figure 3.2 Calibrated radiocarbon results, Jericho PPNA strata and Netiv Hagdud 391 Figure 3.3 Calibrated radiocarbon results from Period II sites in Jordan 392 Figure 3.4 More calibrated radiocarbon results from Period II sites 393 Figure 3.5 Calibrated radiocarbon results, Jordanian Period III sites 394 Figure 3.6 Calibration of Period IV radiocarbon results 395 Figure 3.7 Calibrated radiocarbon results, Period V sites in Jordan 396 Figure 3.8 Calibrated radiocarbon results, Period VI sites in Jordan 397 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.1 398 all subsamples used in processing-method experiment, by method Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.2 399 all subsamples used in processing-method experiment Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.3 all subsamples used in processing-method experiment, by method, 400 machine-processed subsamples by phase Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.4 subsamples used in processing-method experiment: manual subsample 401 counts corrected for over-representation, by method Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.5 48 machine-processed samples: coarse flot data only vs coarse and fine 402 flot data, by minimum mesh size Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.6 coarse flot data from 24 samples vs coarse and fine flot data from 24 403 samples, by minimum mesh size

vi Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.7 404 48 machine-processed samples, coarse flot and fine flot data Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.8 405 48 machine-processed samples, coarse flot data only Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul Figure 6.9 (1997-1999), 90 machine-processed samples, coarse flot data, 406 Axes 1 and 2, by season Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul Figure 6.10 (1997-1999), 90 machine-processed samples, coarse flot data, 407 Axes 3 and 4, by season Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul (1997- Figure 6.11 408 1999), 90 machine-processed samples, coarse flot data, Axes 3 and 4 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.12 409 early Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 2, by excavation area Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.13 410 early Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 2 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.14 411 early Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 2, by context type Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.15 early Chalcolithic samples, wheat glume bases and spikelet forks omitted, 412 Axes 1 and 2, by excavation area Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.16 Early Chalcolithic samples, wheat glume bases and spikelet forks omitted, 413 Axes 1 and 2, by context type Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.17 414 middle Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 3, by excavation area Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.18 415 middle Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 3 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.19 416 middle Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 3, by context type Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.20 417 middle Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 3, by excavation area Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.21 418 middle Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 3 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.22 419 middle Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 3, by context type Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.23 420 later Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 2, by excavation area Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.24 421 later Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 2 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.25 422 later Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 2, by context type Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.26 423 later Chalcolithic samples, Axes 1 and 2, by excavation area

vii Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.27 later Chalcolithic samples, data from occupation surfaces only, 424 Axes 1 and 2, by area Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.28 later Chalcolithic samples, data from occupation surfaces only, 425 Axes 1 and 2 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.29 426 Area Q samples, Axes 1 and 2, by context type Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Figure 6.30 427 Ghassul (1999), Area Q samples Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.31 428 Area E samples, Axes 1 and 2, by trench Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.32 429 Area E samples, Axes 1 and 2, by context type Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.33 430 Area E samples, Axes 1 and 2 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.34 431 all areas and phases, Axes 1 and 2, by excavation area Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul (1999), Figure 6.35 432 all areas and phases, Axes 1 and 2, by phase Canonical Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples and taxa, Figure 6.36 Teleilat Ghassul (1999), all taxa, all samples, constrained axes, area and 433 phase used as explanatory variables Canonical Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples and taxa, Figure 6.37 Teleilat Ghassul (1999), food plant taxa, all samples, constrained axes, 434 area and phase used as explanatory variables Canonical Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples and taxa, Figure 6.38 Teleilat Ghassul (1999), wild/weed taxa, all samples, constrained axes, 435 area and phase used as explanatory variables Figure 6.39 Ubiquity of plant taxa, ZAD2 (1999-2001) 436 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, ZAD2 (1999-2001), Figure 6.40 437 Axes 1 and 2, by structure Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, ZAD2 (1999-2001), Figure 6.41 438 Axes 1 and 2, by context Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, ZAD2 (1999-2001), Figure 6.42 439 Axes 2 and 3, by context Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, ZAD2 (1999-2001), Figure 6.43 440 Axes 2 and 3 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, ZAD2 (1999-2001), Figure 6.44 441 Axes 1 and 2 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Wadi Fidan 1 Figure 6.45 442 (1989-90, 1999), Axes 1 and 2, by season Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Wadi Fidan 1 Figure 6.46 443 (1989-90, 1999), Axes 1 and 2

viii Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Tell Rakan I (1999), Figure 6.47 444 Axes 1 and 2, by context and phase Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Tell Rakan I (1999), Figure 6.48 445 Axes 1 and 2 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, ash-Shalaf (1998-99), Figure 6.49 446 Axes 1 and 2, by context Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, ash-Shalaf (1998-99), Figure 6.50 447 Axes 1 and 2 Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Pella Area XXXII late Figure 6.51 448 Neolithic and Chalcolithic (1996-97), Axes 2 and 4, by context and phase Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Pella Area XXXII late Figure 6.52 449 Neolithic and Chalcolithic (1996-97), Axes 2 and 4 Figure 7.1 Measurements of barley grain fragments, ZAD2 (1999-2001) 450 Age vs depth, Baruch and Bottema (1999) core: 2-sigma ranges, Figure A1 451 uncorrected radiocarbon results from humin fractions Age vs depth, Baruch and Bottema (1999) core: 95% confidence intervals Figure A2 451 of calibrated uncorrected radiocarbon results from humin fractions Age vs depth, Baruch and Bottema (1999) radiocarbon results: 2-sigma ranges, radiocarbon results from organic fractions, before and after Figure A3 452 correction by the stable isotope method of Cappers et al (2002), using an initial activity of 60 pMC for aquatic plants Proposed chronology of the Holocene section of the Baruch and Bottema Figure A4 453 core, assuming a constant rate of sedimentation since 10,200BP/1487cm. Sample splitter vs riffle box performance: ratio of lentil to fenugreek in Figure E1 454 one half of a split sample, 10 trials of each device Scatter plot of length vs width, Teleilat Ghassul olive stones (1994-99), Figure F1 455 by phase Scatter plot of length vs width, Teleilat Ghassul olive stones (1994-97), Figure F2 455 late-very late Chalcolithic only, by area

ix x Abstract

Archaeobotanical investigations at six Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in Jordan provide the basis for a discussion of the relationship between the adoption of food production and environmental change, both climate-induced and anthropogenic. It is argued that the nature of archaeobotanical data and the present status of archaeological research in the region mean that we cannot discriminate between various theoretical explanations of the connection between environmental change and changes in subsistence behaviour.

The thesis looks critically at ways in which archaeobotanical data are collected and interpreted. Multivariate statistical methods are used to investigate the effects of fieldwork decisions, such as sample selection and flotation technique employed. Behavioural explanations are proposed to account for patterns in the data not explained by these effects or by taphonomic processes.

The thesis also critically examines the periodisation of Levantine archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data, concluding that the former can usually be assigned to the correct millennium (on the calendrical scale), while the latter are more loosely dated. The new archaeobotanical data presented here, and existing archaeological evidence, are therefore developed into snapshots of subsistence behaviour at intervals of 1000 years from 9000 to 4000 cal BC. Within the same framework, a synthesis of other palaeoenvironmental evidence is proposed, including a reassessment of the regional pollen record.

The thesis concludes that causal relationships between changes in subsistence behaviour and the environment cannot be securely identified, due to chronological imprecision and the plausibility of alternative interpretations of archaeobotanical and palaeoenvironmental data.

xi Acknowledgements

This work would not have been possible without the help of many people. Special thanks are due to the directors of the field projects I took part in: Phillip Edwards, Steve Falconer, and Pat Fall (ZAD2); Tom Levy, Russell Adams, and Mohammed Najjar (JHF001); Ted Banning (WZ120); Hans-Dieter Bienert and Dieter Vieweger (ash-Shalaf); and Stephen Bourke (Pella and Ghassul). Archaeobotanical advice, literature, unpublished data, or access to laboratory facilities and reference materials were provided by Susan Allen, Amy Bogaard, Michael Charles, Sue Colledge, Glynis Jones, Amanda Kennedy, Mordechai Kislev, Reinder Neef, Mark Nesbitt, and George Willcox. Denise Fernando and Rob Glaisher of La Trobe University’s Advanced Electron Microscopy Facility assisted in the production of the images in Appendix C. I would also like to thank Ilya Berelov, Jaimie Lovell, Lachlan Mairs, and Ghattas Sayej for sharing their ideas with me. The Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation, Sydney, funded aspects of the laboratory analysis through the Catherine Southwell-Keely Travel Grant (1999). Other funding was provided by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, through the Humanities Research Grants scheme. Finally, my principal supervisor, Phillip Edwards, deserves particular thanks for his patience, encouragement, and constant support.

xii Statement of Authorship

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma. No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgment in the main text of the thesis. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution.

John Meadows

December 2004

xiii xiv Introduction

This project attempts to use the results of archaeobotanical investigations at several Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in Jordan to answer questions about how subsistence strategies were modified in response to environmental change, and how the environment was affected by the adoption of food production as a subsistence strategy. Growing environmental awareness over the last two decades provoked speculation about causal connections between environmental change and the origins of agriculture (McCorriston and Hole 1991; Moore and Hillman 1992), and between the environmental impact of farming and the abandonment of sites (Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1989) and the spread of agriculture (Rindos 1980). Sceptics questioned the explanatory power of environmental determinism (Wright 1993) and the environmental impact of primitive farming practices (Butzer 1996).

Between 1998 and 2001, I took part in excavations at six sites (Figure I.1), dating from the Pre- Pottery Neolithic A until the late Chalcolithic (ca 9000–4000 cal BC), and systematically collected and identified plant macrofossils. The archaeobotanical data provide evidence of both the inhabitants’ subsistence strategies and of the natural environment in which these sites existed. In some cases, it is possible to observe changes in both subsistence behaviour and the natural environment during the course of a site’s occupation.

This thesis is the first detailed study of archaeobotanical remains from the east Jordan Valley1, and the first extended study of Jordanian archaeobotanical remains since Colledge’s (1994) thesis. This material spans a period in which two of the most important changes in prehistoric subsistence behaviour occurred: the start of food production, with the initial cultivation of wild annual plants, and the beginning of arboriculture, with the domestication of the olive. Both developments took place either within the study region or elsewhere in the Levantine corridor. As well as discussing this intrinsically important plant material, the thesis takes up two issues of broader interest in Levantine prehistory: the implications for archaeological chronologies of the extension of the radiocarbon calibration curve to the beginning of the Holocene (Stuiver et al 1998), and the radiocarbon chronologies of the most influential pollen diagrams in the region, from Huleh and the Ghab (Baruch and Bottema 1999; Yasuda et al 2000). The thesis also includes the results of experiments in archaeobotanical field and laboratory methods, which are relevant beyond the region. It concludes that available data are inadequate to test current theories about the environmental impact of early farming and the role of climate change in changes in subsistence behaviour.

1 A brief overview was given by Neef (1997).

1 I.1 Thesis structure

The thesis is divided into three sections. The first of these sets out the background against which the new data are to be considered. I begin by developing a chronological framework (1. Chronology), based on the extension of the dendrochronological radiocarbon calibration curve to the beginning of the Holocene (Stuiver et al 1998). This framework consists of six snapshots of environment and subsistence, at 1000 calendar year intervals, from 9000 to 4000 cal BC. I then review and interpret the various strands of palaeoenvironmental evidence, and propose a coherent synthesis (2. Environment). Thirdly, I discuss archaeological evidence within the same framework, with particular attention to subsistence data (3. Archaeology).

The second section of the thesis is largely empirical in character. It explains the processes by which the new data were collected, beginning with a chapter describing the excavations, with particular emphasis on methodological issues (4. Fieldwork). An aspect of the fieldwork, an experiment to compare the effect the two flotation methods employed, is described in an appendix (Appendix B). I then discuss the laboratory work of sorting and identifying plant remains (5. Sorting). Identification criteria and images of the various taxa identified are included in an appendix (Appendix C). The third chapter in this section discusses exploratory statistical analyses of the different assemblages (6. Patterns).

The final section is wholly interpretative. It begins with a site-by-site interpretation, proposing a preferred version of events that accounts for the patterns identified in the new data from each site (7. Reconstructions). In a second chapter, these interpretations are compared to the palaeoenvironmental and archaeological record described in the opening chapters, and snapshots of subsistence behaviour at 1000-year intervals are proposed (8. Snapshots). Finally, the thesis considers some more abstract concepts, commenting on ways in which the new data may or may not contribute to theoretical development (9. Implications).

A final chapter reviews the lessons learned in the course of this research (Conclusions). The thesis is primarily an archive of what was done, and why. Questions that appeared answerable at the outset have inevitably been postponed, while issues that did not appear to be particularly significant have proven to be far more interesting. Several publications that were eagerly awaited from the beginning have yet to appear, and will doubtless soon overshadow much of this work. Unexpected results have been published, meanwhile, resolving some questions and raising others.

2 I.2 Thesis outline

1. Chronology

Before the first ‘recommended’ radiocarbon calibration curve (Stuiver and Reimer 1986) was adopted in 1986, the Bronze Age and subsequent periods in the Levant could be dated on the calendrical scale by correlation with Egyptian and Mesopotamian historical chronologies. Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites, however, could be dated only on the radiocarbon timescale. The first calibration curve did not extend beyond the Chalcolithic, and its 1993 extension into the early Holocene (Stuiver et al 1993) depended on a single dendrochronological record2. Until the mid- 1990s, computer software to calibrate radiocarbon results was not widely available. Consequently, until recently nearly all discussion of the Neolithic used uncalibrated radiocarbon dates, and tacitly assumed that the radiocarbon timescale, though not exactly equivalent to the calendrical scale, was linear enough to sustain debate about the duration of archaeological periods and the synchroneity or asynchroneity of events. The appearance of the 1998 data set (Stuiver et al 1998) in accessible form (eg Bronk Ramsey 1995; 1998; 2001) demonstrated that this assumption was unjustified, and potentially misleading, as Bruins and Mook (1989) and Évin (1995) had predicted.

Most radiocarbon measurements on which the traditional chronologies were based are relatively imprecise, by today’s standards (errors over ±100 years are common). Calibration of these results produces 95% confidence intervals that usually span one of the plateaus in the early Holocene calibration curve. Consequently, archaeological assemblages can usually only be dated to one or more of the calibration plateaus, and comparison of data from different sites is limited to the same chronological resolution. Each assemblage can reasonably be attributed to a notional ‘snapshot’ date of 9000, 8000, 7000, 6000, 5000, or 4000 cal BC.

2. Environment

Palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental data are more loosely dated than are archaeological data. At best, the palaeoenvironmental record is dated by radiocarbon, although even this technique is sometimes misleading3. Nevertheless, various approaches (including palynology, sedimentology, and palaeohydrology) support a consistent picture of climatic trends in the early-middle Holocene. Independent lines of evidence suggest that the climate of the Levant was significantly wetter in the early Holocene than it is today (the ‘early Holocene climatic optimum’), but that modern conditions had set in by ca 5000 cal BC. Brief arid episodes probably occurred, although these are

2 Which turned out to be wrong by about a century (Stuiver and van der Plicht 1998, xiii). 3 Appendix A illustrates these difficulties by proposing a radical revision to the radiocarbon chronology of the main pollen record in the southern Levant, the new Huleh diagram (Baruch and Bottema 1999).

3 not recognisable in all studies and are difficult to date. Such episodes may have disrupted agricultural systems and settlement patterns, but a environmentally-deterministic explanation of major cultural developments appears to be overly simplistic. A combination of climatic deterioration and over-exploitation of the local environment may well have accelerated the abandonment of individual sites.

3. Archaeology

The Neolithic of the southern Levant is usually divided into aceramic (Pre-Pottery Neolithic) and ceramic (Pottery or Late Neolithic) periods, with the transition occurring at ca 7500BP (ca 6500 cal BC). The aceramic Neolithic is subdivided into the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) and Pre- Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB), and latterly the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C (PPNC)4. The distinction between PPNA and PPNB is one of material culture: the transition is marked by major changes in settlement patterns, architecture, and lithic technology, and probably in subsistence economy. The PPNC, however, is regarded primarily as a period of time (Rollefson and Simmons 1986), rather than a new material culture.

Further subdivisions of the aceramic Neolithic period have been proposed, but remain the subject of debate. The PPNA has been split into Khiamian and Sultanian phases, but this division is increasingly under question. In the southern Levant, the PPNB is usually divided into Middle and Late phases, although this may be due to radiocarbon chronology rather than to any abrupt change in material culture. It is unclear whether there was an Early PPNB phase in the southern Levant (see Edwards et al forthcoming).

The Late Neolithic has been divided geographically as well as chronologically, and definitions of material cultures are constantly debated (Gopher and Gophna 1993; Banning 2003). A simple scheme is followed here: the Jericho IX, or Pottery Neolithic A, culture, is equated chronologically with the Yarmoukian (ca 6000 cal BC), whereas the Jericho VIII or Pottery Neolithic B culture is equated with ceramic traditions such as the Wadi Rabah and Tel Tsaf (ca 5000 cal BC). What defines these cultures is the style of pottery decoration employed; other attributes of material culture are essentially indistinguishable. Some Pottery Neolithic sites overlie the final phases of existing PPN sites; others were new foundations, and some of these in turn became multi-period sites.

The adoption of copper smelting is a hallmark of the Chalcolithic, but it was probably a relatively late development; the Neolithic-Chalcolithic horizon is defined by ceramic typology. This transition occurred between 5000 and 4500 cal BC, depending on the status of various pottery

4 The PPNA and PPNB were defined during the excavations of Jericho in the 1950s; the PPNC was defined in the 1980s, during the excavation of ’Ain Ghazal (Rollefson and Simmons 1986).

4 traditions (Wadi Rabah and Tel Tsaf, for example), which here are regarded as Neolithic. Regional variants of the Chalcolithic include the classic Ghassulian of the Jordan Valley, and the Beersheva culture of the Negev. Chronological divisions of the Chalcolithic have been proposed, based on radiocarbon chronology and ceramic typology (Joffe and Dessel 1995; Blackham 2001; Bourke 2001). Such divisions are not well established, and are not debated here.

Archaeological investigations inevitably recover evidence of various facets of life: art, technology, subsistence behaviour, architecture, ritual, mortuary practices, demography, disease and mortality, and so forth. In life, these are all intertwined, and archaeology should aim at a holistic understanding of the various strands of evidence. In archaeological practice, each of these fields is usually the province of specialists. Archaeological specialisation has increased over time, particularly since the 1960s, and it has become increasingly difficult to keep pace with the growth of sub-disciplines and of the body of specialist knowledge. The background evidence reviewed in this thesis is primarily concerned with aspects of subsistence behaviour, and even this review is necessarily superficial.

The earliest evidence of regular food production, as opposed to food procurement by gathering, hunting, and fishing, appears at PPNA sites (ca 9000 cal BC)5. Probably the most thoroughly- investigated of these, in the southern Levant, is the Palestinian site of Netiv Hagdud (Bar-Yosef et al 1997), where, alongside abundant evidence of hunting (Tchernov 1994), a large assemblage of wild cereals and pulses was recovered (Kislev 1997). It is argued that at Netiv Hagdud and other PPNA sites wild cereals and pulses were the staple foods, and that these were deliberately cultivated, but were not morphologically domesticated (Chapter 7).

By the Middle PPNB (ca 8000 cal BC), several domestic field crops were grown: wheat, barley, lentils, peas, beans, chickpeas, bitter vetch, and flax (linseed). This has been described as a ‘package’ of founder crops (Zohary 1996, 156). Domestic cereals can be distinguished morphologically from their wild ancestors, but it is seldom possible to draw such distinctions with the pulses. In contrast to the predominance of gazelle in most PPNA faunal assemblages, MPPNB sites show a marked reliance on goats. This may, in part, be due to changing settlement patterns, but ‘incipient domestication’ of wild goats is also proposed (Horwitz 2003). Morphological changes following animal domestication are likely to have occurred gradually, and herding may have begun long before it is recognisable archaeologically.

5 The proposed Epipalaeolithic domestication of rye (Secale cereale) at Abu Hureyra (Hillman et al 2001) has not been widely accepted. The issue is not the age of the three grains in question, which were individually radiocarbon-dated, but whether they were correctly identified as domestic rye, rather than their wild ancestor (Secale montanum); archaeobotanists are divided on this question. The burden of proof lies with the proponents; here it is considered unlikely that the grains were domestic, because of the absence of comparable evidence from other Epipalaeolithic sites.

5 Herding was well established by the Late PPNB (before ca 7000 cal BC). Bone assemblages from sites of this (and later) periods typically contain over 90% herded animals (sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs). It is unlikely that all of these animals were domestic, but the introduction of sheep to the southern Levant, as well as morphological changes in the other species, provides clear evidence of domestication. This development was not, apparently, accompanied by major changes in the plant economy. Reliance on gathered plant foods may have declined.

In the PPNC (after ca 7000 cal BC), it has been suggested, transhumant pastoralism was practised for the first time, by part of the population of farming villages (Köhler-Rollefson 1988; 1992). It is not clear whether this involved the use of ‘secondary products’ (wool and milk), or whether herds were kept primarily as a meat supply. A meat-only strategy is unproductive, compared to a dairy-only strategy or marginal farming, and may therefore have been adopted only as a last resort (Russell 1988), but herd mortality patterns suggest little reliance on secondary products (Martin 2000; Wasse 2002). It has also been suggested that nomadic pastoralism was developed independently by arid zone hunter-gatherers (Henry et al 2000, 3). Again, no changes in the plant economy are known, but practically no archaeobotanical data have been attributed to the PPNC. As the PPNC has only recently been recognised, it is likely that some earlier excavations identified PPNC material as Late PPNB.

Almost nothing is known about the subsistence economies of Late Neolithic sites in the southern Levant (before 6000 cal BC – after 5000 cal BC). Where the evidence has been preserved and collected, the staple food plants were the same domestic species. It does appear that wild olives were exploited for the first time, however. Settlement patterns changed: compared to the large, densely-built settlements typical of the PPNB and PPNC, Late Neolithic sites tend to be small and dispersed. Lithic technology was also more expedient, hinting at a decline in craft specialisation, and probably to the growing self-sufficiency of smaller settlements. Some Late Neolithic sites in the southern Levant (eg Pella) are poorly understood because they are the first phase of multi- period tell sites, and have not been properly exposed. At others (eg ’Ain Ghazal), the Late Neolithic is the final phase of occupation, and has consequently suffered the most recent damage. The same is true of some of the shallow, single-period sites (eg ash-Shalaf, Chapter 4). Much better evidence has been recovered from sites in Syria (eg Ramad, Ras Shamra), where there is little sign of major changes in subsistence strategies.

Late Chalcolithic sites (ca 4000 cal BC) frequently provide evidence of olive exploitation, and it has been argued that olives were domesticated during this period (eg Neef 1990). Evidence of the cultivation of other fruit crops during the Chalcolithic (eg grapes, dates, figs) is tenuous. The exploitation of sheep, goats, and cattle for dairy products has been suggested, on the basis of new ceramic forms (eg Gilead 1995, 171).

6 4. Fieldwork

I conceived the idea for this project at a symposium held in Jordan in 1997, which discussed and visited a number of large PPNB sites then under excavation (Bienert et al in press). The number and scale of these excavations suggested that archaeobotanical material from early farming sites in a variety of environmental settings would soon become available, providing an opportunity to test the Rollefsons’ theory that anthropogenic degradation of the environment was responsible for the abandonment of ’Ain Ghazal (Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1989).

At that stage, I was already involved with the University of Sydney teams working at the later (Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic) sites of Pella and Teleilat Ghassul (Bourke 1997a; 1997b; Bourke et al 2000). Affiliation with La Trobe University in 1998 led to my participation in the Archaeology and Environment of the Dead Sea Plain project, which included the excavation of an earlier (PPNA) site, Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2 (ZAD2; Edwards et al 2001; 2002). The Australian projects therefore provided access to archaeobotanical material dated to ca 9000 cal BC (ZAD2) and ca 6000–4000 cal BC (Pella and Teleilat Ghassul). Some material from the intervening period was obtained by collaboration with teams from University of California, San Diego (Wadi Fidan 1, or JHF001: Late PPNB), the University of Toronto (Tell Rakan I, or WZ120: Late PPNB–Early Bronze Age), and the German Protestant Institute in Amman (ash-Shalaf: Late Neolithic).

4.1 ZAD2

ZAD2 is a single-period PPNA site covering ca 0.2ha of the Dead Sea Plain, east of the town of al-Mazra’a. Nine radiocarbon results from La Trobe University/Arizona State University project, Environment and Archaeology of the Dead Sea Plain, date the site to ca 9000 cal BC or shortly afterwards, probably somewhat later than the nearby PPNA site of Dhra’ (Chapter 3). Despite the present aridity of the area and the salinity of the soil, the site was littered with evidence for the processing of plant foods (groundstone mortars, querns, and rubbers), and the excavations produced little evidence of hunting, particularly compared to the site at Dhra’. I participated in the 1999 and 2001 excavation seasons, collecting and processing ca 100 archaeobotanical samples, from ca 40 archaeological contexts. The samples were from hearths, middens, and floor deposits excavated in three curvilinear structures (Figure I.2). Although only a small proportion of the site was excavated, that proportion was sampled thoroughly, and archaeobotanical assemblage from the second season was similar to that from the first. The combined assemblage is therefore regarded as representative of the surviving plant remains at ZAD2.

4.2 Wadi Fidan 1 (JHF001)

This site, at the edge of the Wadi Arabah in southwestern Jordan, was first sounded in 1989-90 (Adams 1991). A larger area was excavated in 1999 under the auspices of the Jebel Hamrat Fidan

7 project (Levy et al 1999a). JHF001 was thought to be a Late PPNB site (corresponding to the 7000 cal BC snapshot date), but no artefactual analyses or radiocarbon results have been published. There are at least two phases of densely-clustered rectilinear stone buildings, both of which probably belong to the PPNB, covering an area of ca 1ha. I was not involved in the excavation, and only 12 archaeobotanical samples were collected by the excavators. The preservation of plant remains in these samples was reasonably good. The contextual provenance of the 12 samples is poorly known, however, and they probably do not provide a representative assemblage. These samples are, nevertheless, similar in composition to four samples from the 1989-90 sounding (Colledge 1994; 2001).

4.3 Tell Rakan I (WZ120)

Tell Rakan I is situated on a terrace of the Wadi Ziqlab, in northwestern Jordan, near its confluence with the Jordan Valley. The multi-period site was exposed in section by the construction of fishponds, and was discovered during a 1992 survey by the University of Toronto (Banning et al 1994). Two radiocarbon samples were then taken from the lowest archaeological stratum visible in the section; their results are consistent with its attribution to the Late PPNB. A single season of excavation took place in 1999 (Figure I.3). Six 3×3m trenches were dug at one edge of the tell. These cut through Early Bronze Age, Chalcolithic, Pottery Neolithic, and Pre- Pottery Neolithic levels, and 32 sediment samples were taken from a variety of phases and contexts. The preservation of plant remains was relatively poor throughout the sequence.

4.4 ash-Shalaf

The Late Neolithic site of ash-Shalaf is situated on a terrace of the Wadi ash-Shallalah, 10km northeast of Irbid in northern Jordan. It was discovered during survey work around the nearby Early Bronze Age site, Khirbet Zeraqun (Bienert and Vieweger 1999). The German Protestant Institute in Amman carried out excavations at ash-Shalaf in 1998 and 1999 (Figure I.4). The site contained a single phase of poorly-preserved architecture, covering ca 0.2ha. Almost all the decorated pottery from the site was in the Yarmoukian tradition, indicating a likely date of ca 6000 cal BC, but no radiocarbon results are available. During the excavations, 29 small archaeobotanical samples were collected. Ploughing appears to have eliminated most plant remains, and additional sampling would probably not have enriched the assemblage.

4.5 Pella Area XXXII

Pella is a multi-period tell site at the edge of the Jordan Valley in northwestern Jordan, with important standing remains from the Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods. These, and the equally-significant Bronze Age and Iron Age remains within the tell, hinder access to earlier phases of occupation, which are buried under 5–15m of later deposits. The extent of Late

8 Neolithic and Chalcolithic occupation at the 15ha site is therefore difficult to assess. Two 5×5m trenches on the southern edge of the tell (XXXII D and F; Figure I.5) excavated by a team from the University of Sydney reached the natural subsoil during the 1994, 1995, and 1996-97 seasons of excavation, exposing and sampling the earliest phases (Bourke 1997a). Subsequent seasons (1999; 2001; 2003) have focussed on later periods. My original plan, to use the 1999 season to sample a Yarmoukian site in the adjoining modern village of Tabaqat Fahl, was ultimately abandoned, due to problems gaining access to the site.

Archaeobotanical remains recovered during the 1994 and 1995 seasons were collected and analysed by Chantelle Hoppè (Hoppè 1996 unpublished). I took part in the 1996-97 season and analysed some archaeobotanical remains under a contract with the excavators (Meadows 1998a unpublished). The new data presented in this thesis are from the analysis of additional fractions of these samples. Large volumes of earth (ca 50L per sample) were processed, but the number of samples analysed is not great (2 Late Neolithic, 11 Chalcolithic). Given the limited area exposed, the assemblage is unlikely to be representative.

4.6 Teleilat Ghassul

Teleilat Ghassul is the type-site for the Ghassulian Chalcolithic material culture, which was identified here during excavations by the Pontifical Biblical Institute in the 1920s and ’30s. The Ghassulian was the final phase of occupation, in which the site reached its greatest extent (25ha), at ca 4000 cal BC (Bourke 2002). The accumulation of 5m of earlier cultural deposits was documented through further excavations by the PBI (North 1960), the British School of Archaeology at Jerusalem, and the University of Sydney (Hennessy 1969; 1989).

The University of Sydney resumed work at the site in 1994 and 1995, when plant remains were collected and analysed by Chantelle Hoppè (Bourke 1997b; Hoppè 1996b unpublished). I participated in the 1997 and 1999 seasons of excavation (Figure I.6). Forty-one archaeobotanical samples from the 1997 season were analysed under a contract with the University of Sydney (Bourke et al 2000; Meadows 1998b unpublished). The data presented here relate to samples collected during the 1999 season (Bourke 2002). On the basis of the 1997 results, the normal sample volume was reduced from 50L to a notional 20L, to allow a larger number of samples to be analysed. Some samples were subdivided, with most sediment processed by flotation machine, and a 4L subsample being processed manually (Appendix B). This was done to allow more accurate comparison of assemblages collected manually (eg ZAD2) with those collected by machine flotation (eg WZ120). Due to the large number of samples collected and analysed, and the different sampling strategies and processing methods employed, the assemblage is regarded as a representative sample of the surviving archaeobotanical remains at Teleilat Ghassul.

9 5. Sorting

Not all the processed samples from the richer sites (ZAD2 and Teleilat Ghassul) were ultimately analysed, as it appeared that representative assemblages had been obtained, and that further analysis would thus have been redundant. All samples from the other sites that could be attributed to the periods under consideration (Neolithic and Chalcolithic) were sorted. All light fractions (‘flots’) were eventually sorted under a low power (×7–×40) stereoscopic microscope at La Trobe University, mainly in 1999 and 2000, although some preliminary sorting took place in the field and at the University of Sheffield.

With few exceptions, only charred plant remains were regarded as archaeological. Uncharred specimens were treated as modern contaminants. Wood charcoal and plant vegetative organs (leaves, stems, and roots) were generally not identified. Due to the absence of appropriate expertise and facilities in Australia, preliminary identification of other plant macrofossils (seeds, fruits, nutshells, cereal chaff, etc) was based on previous experience with Jordanian material, at the University of Sheffield (Meadows 1996 unpublished; Meadows 2001a). Preliminary identifications also relied on published illustrations of archaeobotanical material, principally by van Zeist and colleagues (1982; 1984a; 1984b), as well as Colledge (1998b), Kislev (1987; 1997), and Willcox (1996).

Preliminary identifications were confirmed by the use of comparative collections of identified modern plant material at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London and at the University of Sheffield, and the use of an archaeobotanical collection at the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin. I also consulted with Sue Colledge, Reinder Neef, and George Willcox, three of the most active archaeobotanists working in the Levant. These meetings did not suggest systematic differences in identification criteria. Nevertheless, illustrations of each identified taxon are provided in Appendix C6.

Naturally, not all specimens that are potentially identifiable could be identified. Those that could not be identified to at least the family level were placed in neutral taxa (eg Type X). With variable preservation, it was also necessary to identify specimens to different taxonomic levels. Specimens were not identified beyond the taxonomic level at which only one taxon was realistically likely; for example, the taxon Lolium sp. includes specimens that can only belong to the genus Lolium, but which may conceivably belong to any of a number of species (eg L. perenne, L. persicum etc). Specimens that could belong to the genus Lolium, but might also belong to another grass genus, were identified as ‘grass indeterminate’ (Poaceae indet). Specimens that realistically can only belong to one of two taxa were sometimes placed in cross-over categories (eg ‘emmer/einkorn’ or

10 ‘glume wheat indet.’ for specimens that were clearly a glume wheat, and not a free-threshing wheat, but which lacked some diagnostic features of emmer or einkorn). More doubtful identifications were designated ‘cf.’.

Unless specified, samples were fully sorted. Some large samples were subdivided, using a sample splitter devised for the purpose (Appendix E). The identified specimens were tabulated according to the minimum number of whole organs represented (eg the number of seeds, grains, or chaff elements; some exceptions are discussed in Chapter 5).

6. Patterns

Various approaches to the analysis of archaeobotanical data have been proposed (Hastorf and Popper 1988), each of which has advantages and drawbacks. Each approach acknowledges that the surviving plant remains are unrepresentative of the species and plant parts used in antiquity, and of the biodiversity that existed around the site. At open-air sites, uncharred plant material decays rapidly, leaving evidence only of species that were exposed to fire. Generally, only seeds, nutshells, fruit stones, wood and some chaff elements are dense enough to survive charring in identifiable form. Species that were not used by people and those whose soft tissues (eg leaves) were used before seed-set tend to be invisible to the archaeobotanist.

Every approach implicitly assumes, however, that an assemblage is representative of the range, frequency, and abundance of surviving plant remains. This assumption, if true, implies that two assemblages from the same site will be similar. Here, this proposition can be tested at three sites: Wadi Fidan 1, where four samples from the 1989-90 sounding were analysed by Colledge (1994), and Pella and Teleilat Ghassul, where assemblages from the 1994 and 1995 seasons were studied by Hoppè (1996 unpublished). The new data from Ghassul can also be compared to my earlier work (Meadows 1998b unpublished; Bourke et al 2000), and to an unpublished assemblage collected by Neef in 1987. In reality, there are differences between archaeobotanists’ approaches to sampling, sample processing and selection, and identification and quantification criteria, reflecting their professional development7.

In fact, the composition of an archaeobotanical assemblage is, to a significant degree, the artefact of the methods by which it was obtained, beginning with excavation strategy. The first priority in data analysis, therefore, was to understand how the composition of assemblages was influenced by factors within the archaeobotanist’s control: sampling strategy, sample processing, sample selection policy, and sample analysis. Teleilat Ghassul afforded the best opportunity to vary these

6 Not all of these images are of publication standard, unfortunately, due to an unforeseen technical problem with the Scanning Electron Microscope used. This is described in Appendix D. 7 Colledge, Hoppè, and I studied with Glynis Jones and Michael Charles at the University of Sheffield. Neef trained at Groningen with Willem van Zeist, whose approach reflected his background in palynology.

11 decisions, and therefore to gauge their impact. The chapter therefore begins with a discussion of methodological issues addressed at Ghassul. Lessons learned at Ghassul are then applied to the analysis of data from the other five sites.

A key tool is the use of multivariate statistical techniques, primarily Correspondence Analysis (CA). Small tables of data can be adequately scrutinised by inspection, but large assemblages are more difficult to comprehend. CA is a seriation method, which orders samples and taxa on various axes (Shennan 1997, 342). These tend to reflect the influence of the filters affecting sample composition, such as methodological differences, as well as underlying trends, such as environmental change. CA output consists of scores, for each taxon and sample, with respect to several ordination axes calculated to account for inertia (the sum of departures of each sample and taxon from the average of that variable, weighted according to the contribution of the variable to the total assemblage). Sample and taxa scores are then plotted on two-dimensional scatter graphs. CA relates taxa and samples to the same ordination axes, which allows taxon patterning to be explained by sample patterning, and vice versa. By comparing the patterning obtained using different subsets of the same assemblage, it is possible, for example, to distinguish between spatial and diachronic patterns.

Within the Ghassul 1999 data, the clearest gradient is that which contrasts samples processed by flotation machine with those processed manually. Comparison between the Ghassul 1999 data and the 1997 and 1994-95 assemblages also provides clear contrasts, due mainly to decisions taken in the laboratory: the selection of samples to be sorted, the identification criteria employed, and particularly the decision taken in earlier seasons to sort only the coarse flot fraction (plant remains >1.0mm in diameter). Having identified these effects, it was possible to look for patterns in the incidence of different plant taxa according to variables such as context type, area, and phase. Again, the Ghassul data provided the best opportunity to investigate the complexities of plant preservation, as it is the only site of the six at which both a broad areal exposure and a deep occupational sequence were sampled. Lessons learned at Ghassul were applied to assemblages from sites with long occupational sequences but limited areal exposure (Tell Rakan I and Pella).

Two of the smaller assemblages (ZAD2 and Tell Rakan I) were also examined using ubiquity analysis, on the basis that the presence or absence of taxa is more significant than their abundance (Popper 1988). Ubiquity analysis negates, to a degree, the under- and over-representation of various taxa in archaeobotanical assemblages, relative to their environmental or economic significance (but see Kadane 1988). It requires a large number of samples, providing a good coverage of the site, to yield meaningful results. Samples also have to be independent of each other; multiple samples from the same context should first be merged. A single-period site, such as ZAD2, which was intensively sampled, provides an opportunity to compare the incidence of plant remains by ubiquity and abundance.

12 Correspondence Analysis is of limited use when there are few variables (<20 samples or taxa). This was true of three assemblages (Wadi Fidan 1: 12 samples; Pella: 13 samples; ash-Shalaf: 12 taxa). Any statistical treatment of these assemblages is probably unjustified, however. A more descriptive approach was taken with these sites, informed by the patterns found in the richer and more diverse assemblages.

7. Reconstructions

7.1 ZAD2

An interpretation proposed in 2001 (Meadows 2004), based on ubiquity analysis of the archaeobotanical data, is augmented by patterns detected using Correspondence Analysis. Ubiquity analysis showed that larger samples were more diverse, but did not show consistent differences in the composition of samples from the three residential structures. Four taxa predominated: Pistacia sp. nutshell fragments, Ficus sp. seeds, and fragments of cereal grains and pulses. Each of these was found in at least 70% of contexts sampled. Other taxa, which may or may not have been food plants, were found in under 25% of contexts.

Most cereal grain fragments could not be identified further, but those that could were nearly all of barley. Barley chaff fragments were found in more than half the contexts sampled. The size of some barley grains, the presence of various taxa that would be regarded as weeds at later sites, and the location of the site (beyond foraging range of the modern habitat of wild cereals) pointed to the likelihood that barley, at least, was cultivated. The frequency with which fig and Pistacia remains were found, however, indicated that foraging remained a fundamental element of subsistence behaviour. This was interpreted not as a contradiction, but as the inevitable consequence of the cultivation of wild cereals, due to the limited time available to harvest the ripening crops (Meadows 2004).

Some spatial and diachronic patterning was detected by CA. Although samples from the uppermost levels in each structure were indistinguishable, the composition of samples from deeper strata, where plant remains were better preserved, was consistently different between the three structures sampled. There was also a vertical vector, suggesting diachronic change. This may be due to post-depositional taphonomy, as poorly-preserved upper-strata samples were relatively richer in pulse and nutshell fragments, probably because these are more robust. Nevertheless, a weak environmental change vector is also detectable, with steppe species found mainly in the lower and middle strata and desert species in the upper strata.

13 7.2 Wadi Fidan 1 (JHF001)

The Wadi Fidan 1 results were unsuited to statistical analysis, even when data from four samples taken in 1989-90 (Colledge 2001, table 6.11) were added. Both assemblages were dominated by glume wheat chaff (glume bases and spikelet forks). In both assemblages, there was evidence of einkorn, emmer, and probably barley cultivation, but the number of grains recovered was low. Pulses were rare, with evidence of lentil in the 1999 samples and of another pulse in both seasons. Both assemblages included fig and Pistacia, which were presumably collected from the wild, with more evidence of fig in the 1999 season. Few weed seeds were identified in either season, so that differences in species lists are insignificant.

The presence of straw components (culm nodes and bases) suggests local cultivation of cereals. It is likely that domestic emmer, einkorn, and barley were cultivated locally, and perhaps also two or three pulses. Domestic barley chaff was found in more than half the samples, but pulse fragments in only three of the 12 1999 samples. Six samples included fragments of Pistacia nutshell, and eight contained fig seeds, suggesting that gathered food resources were still relatively important in the Late PPNB. By contrast, gathered food plants were rare in a fourth millennium assemblage from an adjacent site, Wadi Fidan 4 (Meadows 2001a). Emmer wheat and barley were still cultivated in the area, and pulses were still relatively unimportant.

7.3 Tell Rakan I (WZ120)

The preservation of plant remains at WZ120 was poorer than at the Jordan Valley sites throughout the long occupational sequence. Limited access meant that few samples were taken from each phase of occupation, and that not every sample could be attributed to a single occupational phase. Only 30 loci (contexts) were sampled from the Late PPNB, Pottery Neolithic, and Chalcolithic strata. Many of the loci excavated contained artefacts from several periods, and the archaeobotanical samples are probably also mixed.

The fact that olive and grape were confined to the later phases demonstrates that some diachronic patterning survives, however. The five earliest samples (R5 022–026), attributed to the PPNB, were also quite different to subsequent samples, suggesting a greater reliance on barley and perhaps on pulses than in later periods, and a greater use of gathered plant foods (fig and Pistacia). The PPNB samples lacked Lolium, the most common seed taxon in later samples. As Lolium appears in irrigated fields (George Willcox pers comm 2003), this might imply that PPNB fields were not irrigated. Its appearance in the Late Neolithic may reflect climatic deterioration.

From the Yarmoukian onwards, emmer wheat was the most important food plant, and the incidence of barley was much lower than at the other sites. Olive stone fragments were found occasionally in Yarmoukian and other Late Neolithic samples, but more frequently in samples

14 attributed to the Chalcolithic. The first grape pips appeared in Chalcolithic samples, although these may have been intrusive. The wild/weed taxa, such as Asteraceae indet., Scorpiurus sp., Malva sp., Chenopodiaceae indet., Ornithogalum type, Avena sp., and Phalaris sp., are often found on early farming sites and were probably weeds of cultivation. The diachronic patterns detected by ubiquity analysis were also apparent in CA output, which contrasted the early R5 samples with all later samples on one axis, and samples containing olive and/or grape with earlier samples on the second axis. The uneven distribution of fruit taxa, with fig and Pistacia concentrated in the earliest samples and olive and grape in the latest, was responsible for most of the statistical variation in the assemblage.

7.4 ash-Shalaf

Only 29 small samples were collected at ash-Shalaf, and these were very poor. This appears to reflect a real absence of identifiable plant remains, not inadequate sampling. The site was on a slope, was shallow, and had suffered much damage from recent ploughing. Of 333 identifications, 251 were from a single context, L19; most of these (182) were of small-seeded legumes, probably Astragalus. This taxon may have been a shrub collected for fuel. Food plants identified at ash- Shalaf included glume wheat (emmer and/or einkorn), barley, lentil, and perhaps Pistacia. The occasional incidence of several potential weed taxa and more frequent finds of glume wheat chaff are consistent with local cultivation of field crops, but the evidence is not compelling.

7.5 Pella Area XXXII

The two Late Neolithic and 11 Chalcolithic samples from the 1996-97 seasons were fairly uniform in composition. Emmer wheat and hulled barley, lentils, olives, and occasional free- threshing wheat were the main food plants represented, with Lolium, small-seeded legumes, and glume wheat chaff as the main by-products of crop processing. Free-threshing wheat was not found in the late Chalcolithic, but otherwise the plant economy was unchanged. A wide range of wild/weedy taxa was identified, including frequent finds of sedges (Cyperaceae). The dominance of Lolium may also indicate wet fields.

The assemblage (N = 5786) was the second-largest in the study. The volume of sediment processed (500L) was significant, but all the samples came from a small area of the site. Hoppè (1996a unpublished) analysed ten Late Neolithic samples and 15 Chalcolithic samples in the 1994-95 seasons. These were also dominated by glume wheat and barley grains, with frequent lentils and olive stone fragments, and occasional bean, pea, vetch, and chickpea. There was no straw or barley chaff, and very little wheat chaff. In both assemblages, the wheat: barley ratio was high, the early stages of crop processing were hardly represented, and differences between Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic samples were minimal.

15 7.6 Teleilat Ghassul

The Teleilat Ghassul data, on the other hand, demonstrate subtle but persistent differences between the earlier and later Chalcolithic plant economies. These changes are difficult to isolate, because there is also an element of spatial patterning at work, and the earlier and later Chalcolithic strata were sampled in different areas. A diachronic pattern can thus be represented as a spatial pattern, and vice versa. Consistent trends were identified, however.

The most important of these, perhaps, is that olives appear to have been domesticated during the Chalcolithic. Metrical evidence from Ghassul of olive domestication (Meadows 2001b) is reviewed and updated (Appendix F). Earlier Chalcolithic farming was based on the cultivation of emmer, two-row barley, and lentils, with other pulses, free-threshing wheat, and six-row barley as secondary crops. Later Chalcolithic farming still relied on emmer, but six-row barley was as important as the two-row variety, and other pulses were as important as lentils.

More dramatic changes were visible in the wild/weed assemblage. The incidence of several taxa decreased steadily over time, including Malva sp., Lolium sp., and the Cyperaceae, whereas Bromus sp., Scorpiurus cf. muricatus, the Liliaceae, and some rarer taxa were far more common in the later Chalcolithic. These trends probably reflect changes in agricultural practices, in response to population growth. Assuming that most were weeds of cultivation, it can be argued that the early Chalcolithic assemblage reflects cultivation of gardens in relatively damp areas of the wadi bed, whereas the later Chalcolithic assemblage implies an expansion of agriculture into more marginal land. As rainfall at Teleilat Ghassul was insufficient to support agriculture, this expansion would have been limited to low-lying areas that could have been irrigated, perhaps using floodwater farming, as suggested at Chalcolithic sites in the Negev (Levy 1983; 1992).

8. Snapshots

There were probably no domestic plant varieties at 9000 cal BC. Food production, if practised at all, consisted of pre-domestication cultivation of wild cereals and perhaps pulses, and only supplemented foraging. Such cultivation began as the natural habitats of cereals and pulses expanded, following climatic amelioration. Most known settlements were located on the more arid margins, however; the woodland zone was perhaps still populated by mobile foragers.

By 8000 cal BC, domestic plant species were farmed throughout the Levant, and goats were apparently herded. Nevertheless, gathered plant foods and hunting remained important to subsistence. In Jordan, settlement patterns changed markedly from 1000 years earlier, but not as a result of environmental stress, as the climate seems to have ameliorated further.

At ca 7000 cal BC, Jordanian plateau sites practised a mixed farming and herding subsistence strategy, in which hunted and gathered food resources were relatively insignificant. New sites

16 were founded in the highlands and in the lower wadis, and existing sites continued to grow. Sites in eastern Jordan have been associated with mobile pastoralism (seasonally transhumant or nomadic) as a separate subsistence strategy, but the available evidence suggests these sites relied solely on foraging, or, like plateau sites, on mixed farming and herding.

Around ca 6000 cal BC, the larger sites on the Jordanian plateau were abandoned. Many small sites, which also apparently practised mixed farming and herding, were founded in this period, but these were not necessarily the successors of the larger sites. It is doubtful that the changing settlement pattern can be attributed to climate change. Sites in the eastern desert continued to be occupied. Some were apparently pastoral, and others were based on hunting and gathering. Elsewhere in Jordan, foraging was unimportant.

The staple plant foods at 5000 cal BC were the same domestic field crops introduced at ca 8000 cal BC, but for first time wild olives were widely exploited. Otherwise, hunting and gathering were unimportant. As the climate deteriorated, settlement was concentrated in the Jordan Valley and its lateral wadis.

By ca 4000 cal BC, the domestication of olives and perhaps the use of draught animals encouraged the establishment of new sites in the foothills and uplands, in areas with sufficient rainfall to support agriculture without irrigation. Existing settlements in the Jordan Valley grew, perhaps due to the development of floodwater farming.

9. Implications

Subsistence data from prehistoric southwest Asia are generally discussed in the context of the transition from foraging to farming. Food production began in this region, and later spread from here into Europe, north Africa, and central Asia. Several thousand years later, southwest Asia also produced the original complex societies. Both phenomena have provoked much discussion about when, where, how, and why subsistence economies in this region were transformed, with emphasis variously put on climate change, environmental degradation, technological innovation, population growth, social dynamics, exchange networks, and the role of belief systems. Whatever the role of social and ideological factors, the data presented here are more relevant to palaeoenvironmental and palaeoeconomic approaches, such as behavioural ecology and evolutionary archaeology.

9.1 Domestication and diffusion

The new data do not alter the current consensus on the timing of field crop domestication, nor do they resolve debates about the location of initial domestication events (eg Zohary 1999; Lev- Yadun et al 2000; Nesbitt 2002; Willcox 2002). The intensive exploitation of wild barley (which was probably cultivated) at Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2, as at Netiv Hagdud, fits with the absence of

17 evidence of crop domestication in the PPNA (ca 9000 cal BC). No new data were obtained for the following snapshot date, ca 8000 cal BC, when it appears that plant domesticates were widely grown, and that wheat had replaced barley as the preferred crop in Jordan. According to the chronological framework adopted here, however, the apparently-simultaneous adoption of farming throughout the Levant is the inevitable result of the imprecision of radiocarbon-based site chronologies, and is not evidence of single or multiple domestication events. This imprecision means that competing theories about the rate and direction of domesticate diffusion within the Levant cannot currently be tested.

The new olive stone measurements (Appendix F) apparently confirm earlier suggestions (Neef 1990; Meadows 2001b) that domestic olives were cultivated in the southern Levant by the late fifth millennium cal BC. This does not prove that olives were not domesticated earlier elsewhere. Future work may, for example, produce earlier evidence of olive domestication in the northern Levant than in the Jordan Valley, although (as with the Neolithic founder crops) the precision with which olive domestication can be dated is inherently limited. In this case, the limiting factor is not the shape of the calibration curve, but the fact that individual olive stones cannot be identified as wild or domestic8.

Apart from olives and the Neolithic founder crops (wheat, barley, lentils, peas, beans, chickpeas, bitter vetch, and flax), no other plant domesticates were attributed to Neolithic or Chalcolithic levels. The absence of grape and near-absence of date at Teleilat Ghassul tend to suggest that these species were not domesticated before the fourth millennium cal BC. Possible finds of grape in Chalcolithic contexts at Pella and Tell Rakan I may be intrusive.

9.2 Environmental determinism: climate change and human impact

Excavations in the early 1980s at ’Ain Ghazal, near Amman, began to demonstrate the impact on the environment of early food production strategies. Previously, it had often been assumed that the apparently widespread abandonment of sites after the PPNB reflected climatic deterioration. Both theories are environmentally deterministic. Environmental determinism underpins many attempts to explain changes in prehistoric subsistence practices, most notably the origin of food production (Wright 1993).

It is unclear whether the pre-domestication cultivation began before or after the Pleistocene- Holocene transition; any judgment rests on how the Abu Hureyra data (Hillman 2000) are interpreted. No relevant new data were obtained in this study, and no archaeobotanical evidence is available from sites in the southern Levant dated to the Younger Dryas episode. It is clear,

18 however, that ZAD2, which apparently depended on pre-domestication cultivation, was established under more favourable climatic and environmental conditions than prevail at present, or than existed during the Younger Dryas episode.

Climatic amelioration apparently continued, with an‘early Holocene optimum’ prevailing until the sixth millennium cal BC. Agriculture and herding were thus adopted under relatively benign conditions, and cannot be seen as responses to general climatic deterioration. Shorter episodes of desiccation, such as the proposed 6250 cal BC event, which may be undetectable within the coarse temporal resolution of the palaeoenvironmental data (Chapter 2), may nevertheless have contributed to the abandonment of sites. Only during the sixth millennium does an entire region appear to have been abandoned, as settlement shifted from the Jordanian plateau to the Jordan Valley. This shift may be related to climate change, but there is a frustrating lack of well-dated archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence in this period.

Environmentally-deterministic approaches to the abandonment of individual sites can instead question the sustainability of subsistence behaviour, as at ’Ain Ghazal (Rollefson and Köhler- Rollefson 1989; 1993). The thesis was intended to test this type of explanation against archaeobotanical data. Two of the sites, Pella and Tell Rakan I, were not abandoned during the Neolithic or Chalcolithic. Data from two other sites, Wadi Fidan 1 and ash-Shalaf, were too sparse to show trends in sample composition. At ZAD2 and Teleilat Ghassul, however, it was possible to observe such changes, and to discuss these in terms of human impact on the environment.

At ZAD2, some steppe taxa were apparently replaced by desert taxa over time (Chapter 6). This may indicate human impact on the environment, as there is no evidence of climatic deterioration in the early ninth millennium cal BC (Chapter 2). The incidence of cereal and pulse fragments also apparently increased over time. An increasing emphasis on pre-domestication cultivation (on the Dead Sea Plain), and a decreasing reliance on gathered plant resources (from the steppe zone to the east of the site) could account for the apparent ‘desertification’. Whether or not pre- domestication cultivation was environmentally sustainable, however, the archaeobotanical data may not have been derived from the final occupational phases, which are not preserved. It is thus impossible to show that ZAD2 was abandoned due to the impact of pre-domestication cultivation.

At Teleilat Ghassul, there were clear diachronic trends in the wild/weed assemblage, which seemed to indicate a more arid environment by ca 4000 cal BC. Again, climatic deterioration cannot be held responsible for the site’s abandonment at the start of the fourth millennium cal BC; if anything, conditions seem to have ameliorated (Chapter 2). Changes in the local environment

8 The earliest domestic olives will probably not be found in a cache (ie in a sample large enough to show that the olives are wild or domestic, as at Kfar Samir; Kislev 1994-95). Olive stones found individually can be dated, but their domestic status cannot be determined.

19 might therefore be attributed to human impact. As at ZAD2, however, the final phase of occupation at Teleilat Ghassul was probably not sampled. It is suspected that the site was first exposed when any overburden was removed by flash flooding in the early 20th century, and that much of the final occupational phase (immediately preceding the abandonment of the site) was lost at the same time (Stephen Bourke pers comm 2003). Consequently, if there was an abrupt change in local vegetation just before the site was abandoned, it is not reflected in the archaeobotanical assemblage.

Instead, if human impact on the environment was a factor in the site’s abandonment, the question is whether trends in the wild/weed assemblage during the fifth millennium should be regarded as evidence of human impact (ie whether the early Chalcolithic economy was itself unsustainable), or whether a sustainable subsistence strategy in the early Chalcolithic was replaced by one that was temporarily able to support a larger population in the later Chalcolithic, but which was ultimately unsustainable. Neither possibility seems to fit the data, which suggest that farming became more productive and diversified during the Chalcolithic (Chapter 7). A third alternative, which these data cannot refute, is that the environmental impact of human activity elsewhere (upstream of Teleilat Ghassul) ultimately led to the site’s abandonment. Deforestation and overgrazing in the uplands would have increased the risk of flash flooding and decreased spring flows, reducing the viability of farming at Ghassul.

9.3 Adaptation vs repeated failure

Butzer (1996) proposed that since the Early Bronze Age, subsistence economies in the Mediterranean had depended on an environmentally-sustainable ‘agrosystem’, which combined seasonally-transhumant herding (with an emphasis on secondary products) with cereal, pulse, olive, and grape cultivation. Until this system was developed, Butzer argued, early food production strategies were a matter of ‘trial and error’, with results that were frequently ‘exploitative’ and ‘ephemeral’. Other authors (notably Rindos 1980) have stressed the potential instability of early farming, due to evolutionary trends in domesticate species and demographic pressure. Others (Winterhalder and Goland 1997) have drawn attention to the changed nature of subsistence risks once food production is adopted, and the inevitable delay before social mechanisms to mitigate those risks have been developed. According to these views, therefore, early food producers should have experienced frequent subsistence crises, leading to rapid changes in settlement patterns and subsistence strategies.

Nevertheless, the trajectory of subsistence behaviour from the beginning of food production to the development of the Mediterranean ‘agrosystem’ can be viewed as a record of adaptation as well as maladaptation. Russell (1988) found a satisfactory fit between the predictions of models based in optimal foraging theory and the archaeological record: early farming settlements were sited

20 only in ‘optimal’ locations (Sherratt 1980); pastoralism was adopted once these niches had been filled, and extensive rain-fed agriculture was adopted after pastoralism. Food production began in a relatively pristine environment, under a more benign climate than exists at present. Notwithstanding Russell’s (1988, 160) suggestion that the ‘defensive’ wall surrounding PPNA Jericho ‘makes sense’ in cost/benefit terms, given the optimality of the location, what is striking is the lack of evidence of territorial conflict in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic, suggesting that competition for optimal sites was rare.

Attempts have been made to model the productivity of early farming: Russell’s (1988) estimates of labour costs and energetic returns in traditional farming were applied by Akkermans (1993) to Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, in Syria. Subsistence based on domestic cereal production is likely to have been hazardous, if not impossible, except at optimal locations. Indeed, as Russell (1994) stressed, in early farming the critical decision was not what to grow, or how to grow it, but where to cultivate. The question of whether cultivation of the Neolithic ‘package’ of founder crops, combined with mixed herding, was environmentally sustainable, is therefore a question of what the impact of early farming was at these ideal locations. Given the longevity of sites such as Pella and Tell Rakan I, that impact may have been overstated.

The development of arboriculture, plough cultivation, and seasonally-transhumant pastoralism in the late Chalcolithic provided new means of storage and risk mitigation, and may have improved labour scheduling, as well as opening a new niche in the ecosystem. Rain-fed agriculture and arboriculture on upland terra rossa soils became viable, and the region’s overall carrying capacity increased. Nevertheless, the viability of downstream sites at more ‘optimal’ locations, such as Teleilat Ghassul, may have diminished as a consequence.

Conclusions

The archaeological record of subsistence behaviour in the southern Levant during the period 9000–4000 cal BC can be reviewed at arbitrary 1000-year intervals without spurious precision or too great a loss of information (Chapter 1), although such a scheme inevitably constrains the types of explanations that can be tested. The chronological resolution of early Holocene palaeoenvironmental data is often poorer than that of archaeological phenomena (Chapter 2). The overall pattern of climate change (Table 2.1) may obscure brief climatic shocks, which could have caused site abandonment or changes in subsistence practices. Causation cannot be argued if we cannot determine the sequence of events, however. Abrupt climatic events are most likely to have been responsible for the abandonment of sites during the Late Neolithic, when, unfortunately, the archaeological record is sparsest (Chapter 3).

The aim of my fieldwork was to obtain new archaeobotanical data covering the entire Neolithic and Chalcolithic (Chapter 4). For various reasons, however, the new data presented here (Chapter

21 5) maintain the existing focus on the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (ca 9000 cal BC) and the Chalcolithic (ca 5000–4000 cal BC). Careful data analysis can help to explain the composition of these assemblages in terms of site formation processes (Chapter 6), but ultimately it is the taxonomic level to which plant remains can be identified that limits the scope of palaeoenvironmental reconstructions and palaeoeconomic inferences (Chapter 7).

Snapshots of subsistence behaviour in Jordan (Chapter 8) suggest that no more than two trajectories can currently be distinguished. In western Jordan, as elsewhere in the Levant, cultivation of wild cereals was replaced by farming of the full suite of Neolithic ‘founder crops’ by ca 8000 cal BC, and hunting gave way to an almost-complete reliance on herding by ca 7000 cal BC. Olives were widely exploited from ca 5000 cal BC onwards, and domesticated by 4000 cal BC. In eastern Jordan, however, farming, foraging, and pastoralism may have survived as separate strategies throughout much of the period under discussion.

Demonstrating the impact of subsistence behaviour on the environment remains problematic (Chapter 9). Often, several explanations can account for the same observations, and there are rarely good-quality data from the final occupational strata of abandoned sites. The archaeological record may give a misleading impression of sustainability: short-lived strategies and sites tend to be archaeologically invisible. It does not appear, however, that early farming was inevitably marked by chronic subsistence crises or environmental disasters.

22 1. Chronology

The aim of this thesis is to discover changes in subsistence practices between the beginning of food production (at ca 9000 cal BC) and the rise of complex societies (after ca 4000 cal BC). Although much has been written on both topics, subsistence adaptations in the five millennia between these events have been neglected. Such adaptations might be identified by comparing evidence of subsistence behaviour at intervals of one thousand calendar years, from 9000 cal BC to 4000 cal BC. These ‘snapshots’ should show the appearance, persistence and disappearance of subsistence strategies.

Is a chronological framework necessary? The millennial framework proposed is arbitrary, and raises further questions. Firstly, why begin at 9000 cal BC, and not at another date? Secondly, is the interval of one thousand years too long? Could subsistence adaptations appear and disappear between snapshots, and thus be missed altogether? Thirdly, is the interval too short? Are there enough data for six snapshots, and can these data be correctly assigned to one date and not another? Fourthly, why not use the traditional material culture periodisation?

Given that the central aim of the project is to study change over time, some form of chronological control over data is unavoidable. Periodisation (the division of a long timespan into shorter periods, whose archaeological records can then be contrasted) is, inevitably, an arbitrary exercise, which obscures patterns at different time scales to the one employed. The framework used should therefore be chosen according to the type of problem being investigated (Blackham 2002, 5)9.

The main rationale behind the millennial framework is the shape of the radiocarbon calibration curve, which effectively determines the precision with which it is possible to date archaeological phenomena10. The earliest sites that have yielded any evidence of food-production date to a plateau in the calibration curve that lasted a few centuries either side of 9000 cal BC, and cannot be dated more precisely than this (below and Chapter 3). Subsequent calibration plateaus also constrain the number of snapshots possible, given the precision of existing radiocarbon measurements, at least until ca 6500 cal BC. After this date, the calibration curve is relatively smooth, but currently there are few radiocarbon and subsistence data until ca 4000 cal BC. This

9 No chronological framework can be completely satisfactory or permanent. New data will become available and new cultural facies will be defined. The Maison d’Orient scheme (eg Évin 1995) begins in the Geometric Kebaran (period 0), and runs to the end of the Obeid (period 9). The scheme is more appropriate to northern Syria and Iraq than to the southern Levant, and its recent revision (Aurenche et al 2001) is problematic, as the different periods overlap. 10 All statements about the calibration curve refer to the most recent version, INTCAL98 (Stuiver et al 1998). Unless otherwise stated, radiocarbon results have been calibrated using the OxCal 3.5 calibration program (Bronk Ramsey 1995; 1998; 2001) and the INTCAL98 data set.

23 means that although, theoretically, snapshots could be created at shorter intervals than 1000 years, in practice it is difficult to date the evidence more precisely than to the right millennium.

A material culture, such as the Yarmoukian, consists of a recognisable suite of artefacts occurring repeatedly in a particular region11. Eventually, one material culture replaces another, producing in a regional cultural sequence; that is, a system of relative dating. The name given to a material culture may then represent a period of time, as well as a suite of artefacts. The framework proposed here is reasonably consistent with current material culture periodisations in Jordan (Rollefson 1998; Kafafi 1998; Joffe and Dessel 1995).

With the advent of radiocarbon (14C) dating in the early 1950s, it became possible to assign ‘absolute’ dates to prehistoric archaeological phenomena, and therefore to material cultures, whose ages were previously known only in relative terms. The term ‘absolute’ has to be qualified, however, as radiocarbon dating is inherently probabilistic. A radiocarbon date consists of a measured radiocarbon age ‘before present’ (ie before 1950), and an error term (one standard deviation) reflecting the precision of the measurement12. As the probability distribution of errors in a radiocarbon measurement follows the normal (Gaussian) curve, there is a 68.2% chance that the sample’s true radiocarbon age is within one standard deviation of the measured age, and a 95.4% chance that it falls within two standard deviations (the 2-sigma range)13.

In Jordan, research questions about the historic periods (Hellenistic and later) and the proto- historic periods (Bronze and Iron Age) may demand better precision than has traditionally been obtained by the radiocarbon method14. The study of later prehistory, however, relies heavily on the use of radiocarbon dating, which was first employed, with dramatic effect, during Kenyon’s re-

11 Gopher and Gophna cite Renfrew’s definition of an archaeological culture: ‘a ‘constantly recurring assemblage of artefacts’ in a definable space/time framework’ (Gopher and Gophna 1993, 303). This thesis does not attempt to redefine particular archaeological cultures (referred to as ‘material cultures’ to emphasise that they are associations of artefacts in the archaeological record, not ethnic groups). The term ‘tradition’ is used here more narrowly than ‘culture’, referring only to ceramic typology. The Wadi Rabah material culture, for example, is said to include pottery in the Wadi Rabah tradition. 12 A radiocarbon determination is a measurement of the concentration of 14C in the sample, relative to a 14 modern standard (equivalent to the C content of atmospheric CO2 in 1950), which can be expressed as a percentage (pMC, or percent modern carbon). This measurement is converted into a ‘conventional radiocarbon age’ by the formula t = -8033 ln ASN/AON, where ASN and AON are the normalised sample and standard activity respectively (Stuiver and Polach 1977, 356). This formula uses Libby’s 5568 year half-life for 14C, and assumes that the activity (rate of decay events, which depends on the concentration of remaining 14C) of both the sample and the modern standard has been normalised for isotopic fractionation (the ratio of the two stable isotopes, 13C and 12C). 13 This means, for example, that if 20 radiocarbon measurements (each with an error term of ±100 years) are made on a sample having a true radiocarbon age of 9200 BP, we would expect the measured conventional radiocarbon ages of 19 of the samples to fall between 9400±100BP and 9000±100BP, and for 13 or 14 determinations to fall between 9300±100BP and 9100±100BP. 14 This situation may change as radiocarbon calibration and statistical modelling methods are employed (eg Bruins and van der Plicht 2001), as laboratory precision continues to improve, and as chronologies derived from historical sources are questioned.

24 excavation of Jericho in the 1950s. The origins of farming and village life were shown to be thousands of years earlier than previously thought (Kenyon 1979, 27)15.

It soon became clear, however, that radiocarbon dating often underestimated the actual age of samples. By compiling a composite tree-ring sequence going back over 10,000 years, and by radiocarbon dating wood samples of known age, scientists have produced a calibration curve, which allows conventional radiocarbon ages to be converted to calendar ages (Becker 1992). The calibration curve shows that there has been a gradual decline in the 14C content of atmospheric 14 CO2 during the Holocene, which means that the initial C content of early Holocene samples was greater than that of the modern standard. A higher initial activity means that more time has elapsed than is implied by the conventional radiocarbon age16. The relationship between radiocarbon and calendar years is not linear, however. One millennium on the radiocarbon scale may have lasted 900 calendar years, another 1500. Where possible, calendar dates should be used (Bruins and Mook 1989; Évin 1995).

Following radiocarbon literature conventions (Mook 1986), this thesis uses two date formats:

• BP: uncalibrated radiocarbon years before 1950. When a particular radiocarbon result is discussed, the laboratory code and an error term of one standard deviation are also quoted; for example, 9959±100BP (OxA-2567). Some authors subtract 1950 from BP dates and cite dates in radiocarbon years ‘BC’ or ‘BCE’, apparently assuming that the present era began at 1950BP (Banning 2000, 267). Such dates are often annotated ‘bc’, rather than ‘BC’ (eg Garrard 1999), to emphasise that they are not calendar dates, a practice that has been described as ‘indefensible’ (Chippindale 1990, 186). ‘Uncalibrated BC’ dates will not be used here, except in direct quotation

• cal BC: calibrated (calendar) years BC. Calendar dates are only expressed according to the Gregorian calendar, except in direct quotation17. When a radiocarbon result is calibrated, the calendar date range quoted is the 95.4% confidence interval, obtained by the maximum

15 Kenyon dated the PPNA walls and tower at Jericho to ‘soon after 8000 BC’ (ie soon after 9950BP; Kenyon 1979, 26), whereas Garstang, who excavated Jericho in the 1930s, believed that the ‘very lowest Neolithic layer… was probably not later than 5000 BC’ (Garstang and Garstang 1940, 47). 16 A conventional radiocarbon age also underestimates the calendar age of a sample because it uses Libby’s estimate of the half-life of 14C (5568 years), rather than the current best estimate (5730 years; Stuiver and Polach 1977). In other words, both the constant (based on the half-life) and the denominator (assumed initial activity) in the formula t = -8033 ln ASN/AON are underestimated, so that the conventional radiocarbon age is generally less than the calendar age of a sample. There are samples, however, usually from aquatic environments, whose initial activity was less than that of the modern standard, causing the radiocarbon age to exceed the calendar age. 17 In palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental studies, and in New World archaeology, it is common to convert radiocarbon ages to ‘cal yr BP’ (calendar years before present) dates (eg Stuiver et al 1991).

25 intercept method (Stuiver and Reimer 1986), with the endpoints rounded outwards to the nearest decade (Mook 1986); for example, 10,000–9220 cal BC (OxA-2567: 9959±100BP)18.

The dendrochronologically-dated section of the INTCAL98 calibration curve (Stuiver et al 1998) extends to the beginning of the Holocene epoch19. Between ca 10,000 and 4000 cal BC (ca 10,200BP–5200BP), 6000 calendar years are represented by approximately 5000 radiocarbon years. The relationship is complex, however. As well as minor ‘wiggles’ lasting a few decades, the curve includes several distinct changes of gradient.

The timespan is here divided into two major periods, ca 10,000–6500 cal BC and ca 6500–4000 cal BC. The first period (Figure 1.1) spans about 3500 calendar years, but only 2500 radiocarbon years (ca 10,200–7700BP). There are radiocarbon ‘plateaus’, which are significantly longer in calendar years than on the radiocarbon timescale, between 10,000 and 9300 cal BC (ca 10,200– 9900BP), 9200 and 8300 cal BC (9700–9200BP), 8200 and 7600 cal BC (8900–8650BP), 7500 and 7100 cal BC (8400–8100BP), and 7000 and 6500 cal BC (8000–7700BP). The plateaus are separated by short, steep sections lasting no more than a century in calendar years, but two or three times as long on the radiocarbon timescale. By contrast, the curve is relatively smooth between about 6500 and 4000 cal BC (ca 7700–5200BP). Although there are frequent ‘wiggles’, no lasting changes of gradient can be identified (Figure 1.2).

The shape of the calibration curve is a function of ∆14C, the changing ratio of 14C to 12C isotopes in atmospheric CO2. Short-term variation is caused mainly by fluctuations in the magnetic properties of solar winds, which affect the production of 14C by cosmic rays hitting the upper atmosphere (Stuiver et al 1991). The 14C/12C ratio may also be affected by changes in ocean circulation, since large quantities of dissolved CO2 are stored in the deep ocean. The spike in atmospheric 14C at the beginning of the Holocene is attributed to the interruption of ocean circulation by the large volume of glacial meltwater entering the oceans ca 13,000 years ago (Delaygue et al 2003).

Stuiver et al (1991, 6) found little evidence in favour of an oceanic explanation for changes in ∆14C during the Holocene. Instead, the gradual decrease in atmospheric 14C levels since before 15,000 cal BC ‘can be explained by geomagnetic dipole change’20, whereas sunspot cycles, which

18 Unlike conventional radiocarbon ages, calibrated radiocarbon results do not have normal probability distributions. It is misleading to cite the midpoint of a calendar date range, plus or minus an error term. 19 Its extension into the Pleistocene is based on radiocarbon dating of corals and organic material in laminated sediments, which introduces additional uncertainties regarding both the calendar ages of these samples and their radiocarbon ages (after correction for reservoir effects). 20 Weaker geomagnetic dipole intensity in the Pleistocene led to much higher 14C production in the upper atmosphere than at present, resulting in elevated concentration of 14C in the atmosphere (∆14C>500‰). A change in the geomagnetic field (before 15,000 cal BC) apparently caused 14C production to abruptly fall to modern levels, but ∆14C only gradually declined towards zero, as the enhanced atmospheric 14C decayed (Stuiver and Braziunas 1993, 150).

26 affect the magnetic fields of solar winds, seem to account for the shorter ‘wiggles’ in the calibration curve. Cycles of sunspot activity do not appear to be correlated with climate change (ibid, 10; 14–16; 18–21). Nevertheless, neither geomagnetism nor sunspot activity appears to explain trends in ∆14C prior to about 7000 cal BC:

‘Whereas century-type variations (in ∆14C) of the later part of the 14C record presumably relate mainly to solar forcing…climatic (oceanic) forcing may well have prevailed during the earlier (pre-7000BC) part of the record’ (Stuiver and Braziunas 1993, 148).

The short, steep sections of the calibration curve between the early Holocene plateaus may reflect brief interruptions in oceanic circulation, which would have allowed the 14C content of

21 atmospheric CO2 to increase sharply . While abrupt changes in oceanic circulation in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene are probably due to rapid discharges of cold, fresh meltwater in the North Atlantic, it is unclear whether the timing of such discharges reflects abrupt climate changes. There may be time lag of about 500 years from the start of the Holocene to the first sharp increase in ∆14C (Figure 1.3). Early Holocene spikes in ∆14C do not appear to be synchronous with global climate events. The major early Holocene climate event recorded in Greenland ice cores occurred just before 6000 cal BC, where the residual ∆14C curve is relatively smooth (perhaps because the icecaps had already retreated by that date)22.

Nor would we expect any correlation between ∆14C and archaeological phenomena. Changes in population, settlement patterns, subsistence behaviour, and other aspects of material culture should not be correlated with ‘wiggles’ or ‘bends’ in the calibration curve. If archaeological material accumulates at a constant rate, a radiocarbon sample’s true calendar date is as likely to fall in a century on a steep section of the curve (eg 7600–7500 cal BC) as in a century on a flatter section (eg 7700–7600 cal BC).

Radiocarbon results, however, may be clustered by the ‘bends’ in the calibration curve. On calibration plateaus, samples with quite different calendar ages have similar radiocarbon ages. On steep sections, samples with similar calendar ages may have quite different radiocarbon ages. If

21 The mechanism is explained by Delaygue et al (2003), among others. A rapid build-up of 14C in the atmosphere (increased ∆14C) while ocean circulation was interrupted means that contemporary tree-ring samples would have had higher initial activity than slightly earlier material, and would therefore appear to be much younger (in radiocarbon years). Once circulation resumed, ∆14C would have gradually returned to its long-term trend value, reducing the initial activity of subsequent tree-rings and thus the apparent age difference between them and earlier rings with higher initial activity, and creating a plateau in the calibration curve. 22 In the late Glacial (ca 13,500–9500 cal BC) the ∆14C curve is correlated with the global temperature record from Greenland ice cores, however (Stuiver et al 1998, 1055 and figure 14). Warmer phases are associated with increased exchange between the mixed layer (surface water to 75m depth) and the deep ocean, which removes recently-formed 14C from the atmosphere, creating a plateau in the calibration curve; colder phases cause interruptions to this exchange, causing sharp increases in the 14C content of the ABM (atmosphere, biosphere, and mixed layer; ibid, 1055–6).

27 archaeological material accumulates at a constant rate, therefore, more samples will date to uncalibrated centuries when the curve is relatively flat (eg 8800–8700BP, >300 calendar years) than when it is steep (eg 8600–8500BP, <100 calendar years).

The shape of the calibration curve may therefore give the misleading impression that activity intensified in periods corresponding to radiocarbon plateaus. This effect has the potential to influence the periodisation of material cultures. Figure 1.4 shows the 1-sigma ranges of 197 published radiocarbon determinations from Levantine early Neolithic sites (selected on the basis of having error terms of ±100 years, or less). There are fewer determinations around 9100BP, 8500BP, and 7700BP, at the end of radiocarbon plateaus, than in the centuries before and afterwards. This is probably due to the shape of the calibration curve, rather than to any collapse of settlement systems, at least in the first two instances23.

The steps in the early Holocene calibration curve have a further effect. When a radiocarbon result is calibrated, its 95% confidence interval tends to span most of a radiocarbon plateau, but to be truncated by a steep section (Figures 1.5, 1.6). The result is that, in practice, Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites tend to be dated to five periods corresponding to the five plateaus of the early Holocene calibration curve. Multi-period sites exist, but within one period it is difficult to define separate phases on the basis of radiocarbon results24. In the early Holocene, therefore, any periodisation based on radiocarbon dating has to respect the five plateaus in the calibration curve (Table 1.1).

The first plateau falls outside the range of this thesis. The second includes the notional 9000 cal BC snapshot. The 8000 cal BC snapshot falls in the third plateau. The fourth and fifth plateaus meet at around 7000 cal BC, presenting two options: combining the relevant data to produce a notional 7000 cal BC snapshot, or separating them and producing snapshots at ca 7300 and 6800 cal BC. The gap between these plateaus is practically non-existent (in calendar years), but calibrated dates can usually be assigned to one plateau or the other. At present, there are not enough data from PPNC sites for this phase to be treated separately to the Late PPNB, but at some point in future such a comparison may be possible.

Between 6500 and 3500 cal BC, the calibration curve does not impose its own periodisation. The timespan can therefore be divided arbitrarily. The simplest way to divide the period 6500–3500

23 A steep section in the calibration curve between 10,000 and 9700BP (ca 9300–9200 cal BC) may account for the lack of radiocarbon results in this interval at Abu Hureyra, which had been interpreted as evidence that the site was abandoned (Moore 1992; Nesbitt 2002, 125). 24 It is possible, using programs such as OxCal (Bronk Ramsey 1995; 1998), to combine radiocarbon results with stratigraphic information in order to date archaeological phenomena more precisely, but large numbers of well-chosen samples are necessary. The availability of such software has sometimes created problems, as authors have tried to define archaeological periods by summing calibrated probability distributions of radiocarbon dates (eg Aurenche et al 2001; Savage 1998; cf. Millard and Wilkinson 1998). As Steier et al (2001, 379) have observed, summed probability distributions will often be delimited by ‘wiggles’ in the calibration curve, which ‘may be erroneously interpreted as a hint for a true discontinuity in a culture’.

28 cal BC is to impose the same framework as that used for 9500–6500 cal BC; in other words, to derive observations at 6000, 5000 and 4000 cal BC. The 6000 cal BC date falls within the timespan of Jericho IX/Pottery Neolithic A and Yarmoukian material cultures, which are often held to be contemporaneous. The 5000 cal BC date may coincide with the Jericho VIII/Pottery Neolithic B, the Qatifian culture, the Ghrubba culture, the Wadi Rabah culture, and the beginning of the Chalcolithic, none of which is adequately dated25. The final date fits well with Joffe and Dessel’s (1995) chronology of the ‘Developed Chalcolithic’.

Far fewer Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites have produced the long sequences of radiocarbon dates than have been published for Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites, particularly in the southern Levant. To an extent, this reflects a lack of recent excavations, and hence also of subsistence data, which raises the question of whether an interval of 1000 years between snapshots is too short. Material cultures in this period have been defined on the basis of the plastic medium of painted pottery, which is inevitably more variable than the lithic typology used to define sub-phases of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Without pottery, the Late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic sub-cultures might be treated as a single entity.

Gopher and Gophna noted several reasons for the chronological ‘chaos’ of the Pottery Neolithic:

• key sites were excavated decades ago, without adequate sampling or plans for publication

• field methods were inappropriate, resulting in lost data or poorly stratified assemblages

• quantitative data were often unpublished, leading to a reliance on ceramic typology

• a lack of terminological rigour allowed phenomena with different levels of cohesion to be classified as ‘cultures’ ( ‘tradition’ and ‘complex’ being used as synonyms of ‘culture’)

• a high proportion of Pottery Neolithic sites are find spots, rather than excavated, stratified sites (Gopher and Gophna 1993, 301–303).

Although some of the same problems apply in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, more of the PPN sites have been excavated within the last twenty or thirty years. Too often, Pottery Neolithic sites are either the final phase of occupation at PPN sites, or the earliest phase at multi-period tell sites, and consequently have not received the attention they deserve.

The chronological framework to be used in this thesis is shown in Table 1.2. It is important to remember that this is, at best, a useful compromise. It is not intended to be definitive, merely to allow available data to be used in such a way that the research questions can be addressed.

25 Lovell et al (2004) have argued that at Tell Abu Hamid the Ghrubba, Wadi Rabah, and early Chalcolithic material cultures follow one another. Banning’s (2003) review demonstrates that the material culture sequence in the Late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic of the southern Levant remains the subject of debate.

29 Garrard (1999) recently tried to illustrate changing subsistence practices in the Neolithic of southwest Asia by assigning archaeological sites to notional intervals of 1000 radiocarbon years, and discussing the subsistence data from each site, to show the appearance, persistence and disappearance of subsistence strategies. Garrard’s Neolithic periods were roughly equivalent to Periods I, II, and III, and therefore also coincided with the PPNA, Middle PPNB, and Late PPNB/PPNC material cultures.

The intrinsic problem with Garrard’s method, as with the scheme proposed here, is the intertwining of chronology and material culture. There is a certain circularity of reasoning involved. The material culture of the PPNA, for example, will partly reflect the subsistence behaviour of the people who produced it. By treating the PPNA as a period26 as well as a material culture, one automatically associates a subsistence strategy with a particular timespan, and disassociates it from subsequent periods. Snapshots that contrast subsistence data from the various material culture ‘periods’ will tend to show more chronological discontinuity in subsistence behaviour than snapshots at truly arbitrary time intervals.

In practice, due to the shape of the radiocarbon calibration curve, an arbitrary framework that is independent of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic material culture periodisation is probably not achievable, given the existing radiocarbon record. Palaeoenvironmental data (such as pollen diagrams), although largely independent of archaeological phenomena, are at best dated by the radiocarbon method. The chronological resolution of the climatic record is therefore no better than that of the archaeological record. The chronological framework proposed here, which is based mainly on the limitations of the radiocarbon method, is thus the most practical option available.

26 ie treating all PPNA sites as essentially contemporaneous, and earlier than all PPNB sites

30 2. Environment

Since the end of the Pleistocene, the climate of the southern Levant has probably never been cold enough to seriously inhibit plant growth. The main climatic constraint on plant growth and vegetation zonation has been the availability of moisture. Investigations of climate change during the Holocene therefore focus on changes in precipitation patterns. Typically (eg Goodfriend 1999), these are interpreted as movements in isohyets (lines joining points in the landscape with equal annual precipitation). Given the predominant north-south rainfall gradient, southward movement of isohyets means increased rainfall, and northward movement implies reduced rainfall at any location. Changes in rainfall patterns result in the extension or contraction of various plant communities, and therefore of the ecological niches of economically-useful species. Decreased average precipitation is also correlated with reduced rainfall predictability, a key variable affecting subsistence strategies. Nevertheless, many, if not most, prehistoric agrarian settlements in Jordan are close to permanent springs, tempering the effect of inter-annual rainfall variability.

Compared to colder, wetter regions, there are few locations in the Levant where organic remains are preserved, and little palaeoenvironmental research has been done. In some respects, archaeology itself provides the best record of environmental change. Nevertheless, an investigation of the interaction between economy and environment cannot ignore existing ‘off- site’ evidence of environmental and climate change. Sanlaville (1996) and Blanchet et al (1998) have attempted to synthesise the available evidence. These syntheses are supplemented by more recent results (eg Goodfriend 1999; Rossignol-Strick 1999), and will need to be modified as new studies are completed (eg Edwards et al 2002). The different lines of evidence cannot always be readily integrated, however, due to differences in scale of the phenomena studied and in particular because the chronological resolution of palaeoenvironmental indicators is poor. Nevertheless, a scheme will be proposed here on the basis of the currently-available results.

2.1 Modern precipitation and its implications for agriculture

Precipitation in Jordan (mostly rainfall, with occasional snow at higher elevations) varies dramatically over short distances, due to topography. The Jordan Valley lies in a rain shadow and is relatively arid, but the Jordanian Highlands are higher than the hills of the West Bank, and intercept the remains of rain clouds drifting eastwards from the Mediterranean. Small areas of the highlands, around ’Ajlun and Salt, collect more than 500mm of rainfall per annum, and can support forest. A larger area, a strip running along the ridge from (roughly) Irbid in the north to Shoubak in the south, receives enough rainfall (over ca 350mm per annum) to support open woodland, although nearly all of this land is today used for extensive agriculture. To the east, south, and west of this strip is a band of steppe vegetation, today used mainly for grazing, with

31 average annual rainfall over ca 150mm. Beyond this zone is the desert, with some areas in southern Jordan receiving only 50–100mm of rainfall per annum. Extensive (nomadic) pastoralism is still practised, with settlements only at oases and springs (al Eisawi 1996, passim).

Throughout the country, a Mediterranean climate prevails, with hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters. Most precipitation occurs in the first three months of the year, and from May to October rainfall is practically unknown. A marked north-south rainfall gradient exists, offset only in part by the effect of higher elevations in the southern highlands (eg Shoubak, which is at a similar altitude to ’Ajlun, receives under 300mm of precipitation per annum). As rainfall decreases along this gradient, so does it become less predictable.

Agriculture in Jordan is based either on the predictability of annual rainfall, in areas with sufficient precipitation to support extensive dry farming (rain-fed cereal crops), or on the availability of permanent surface water, which permits localised irrigation agriculture. In marginal areas, some floodwater farming is still practised, in natural basins into which runoff water can be channelled after storms. Extensive irrigation systems, using exotic water (comparable to the Nile Valley and Mesopotamian civilisations) are impossible; Jordan has neither the rivers nor the topography. Only the Jordan River drains an area of higher rainfall than the Jordanian plateau, and it enters the country below sea level.

2.2. Evidence of Holocene climate change

Sanlaville (1996) developed a synthetic Levantine palaeoclimate curve for the late Pleistocene and Holocene, combining various strands of evidence: palynology, stable isotope records, palaeohydrology, and sedimentology. The curve measured how favourable the climate was for human habitation, relative to today’s climate, which effectively meant whether it was more or less humid than it. The magnitude and timing of changes were not defined precisely, and the synthesis inevitably smoothed over local variations that may have been critical in site establishment and abandonment. Nevertheless, new data, particularly those published in a special 1999 issue of Quaternary Science Reviews, largely support Sanlaville’s conclusions. This review reconsiders the main sources of palaeoclimatic data, with particular regard to the timing of any changes. A summary is provided in Table 2.1.

2.2.1. Palynology

Sanlaville’s (1996) palaeoclimatic synthesis borrowed heavily on the analysis by Rossignol-Strick (1995) of pollen from several marine cores in the eastern Mediterranean, a project that subsequently expanded in scope (Rossignol-Strick 1999). A marker horizon of sapropel (sludge formed by the accumulation of incompletely-decomposed marine micro-organisms), dated to the period 9000–6000BP (ca 8300–5000 cal BC), was found across the eastern Mediterranean. Each

32 marine core sampled the sapropel, and some also sampled earlier and later deposits. Pollen from marine cores reflects changes in terrestrial vegetation over a large catchment area, and a coherent regional sequence has emerged from comparison of the various pollen diagrams.

This sequence has three phases:

• a ‘Chenopodiaceae phase’, dated to ca 11,000–10,000BP, identified with the cold and arid Younger Dryas episode at the end of the Pleistocene

• a transitional zone between 10,000 and 9000BP, equivalent to the Preboreal chronozone at the beginning of the Holocene, marked by a sharp rise in deciduous oak, and

• a ‘Pistacia phase’, from 9000 to 6000BP, coinciding with the sapropel formation and identified with the early Holocene ‘climatic optimum’.

The same sequence was identified in terrestrial pollen diagrams from several sites between Greece and Iran, although radiocarbon dates from these diagrams did not necessarily agree with those from the marine cores. The latter, on samples of marine organisms (foraminifera) embedded in the sediments, could be correlated, by comparison of trends in oxygen isotope ratios, with those from cores whose chronology was fixed by the presence of volcanic ash layers of known age. Moreover, the marine chronology suggested a coherent bioclimatic sequence throughout the eastern Mediterranean, rather than divergent local patterns. The marine chronology was therefore preferred to dates from terrestrial pollen cores whenever the two were inconsistent (Rossignol- Strick 1995, 893–4, 901).

In the marine core sequence, the Pleistocene/Holocene transition was marked by the rapid development of oak woodland, presumably in response to increasing temperatures and humidity. Deciduous oak species responded more rapidly than evergreen species, wherever the two taxa were distinguished, suggesting a significant element of summer precipitation27. The increased incidence of grass pollen in this phase also indicated spring/summer rainfall. The decline of deciduous oak and the rise of Pistacia and evergreen oak after 9000BP were interpreted as evidence of drier summers and milder winters, but the entire early Holocene period was marked by a more humid climate than prevails today (Rossignol-Strick 1995, 913). A brief arid episode just after ca 8000BP (ca 7000 cal BC) was suggested by a spike in Artemisia and a sharp drop in pine in the Tenaghi Philippon II diagram from northern Greece (ibid, 906), although this is not reflected in most other diagrams28. The marine pollen record is discontinuous after 6000BP.

27 Most terrestrial diagrams distinguish between evergreen and deciduous oak; the marine diagrams do not. 28 This appears to be the origin of Sanlaville’s (1996, figure 4) épisode sec between 8000 and 7600BP. The proposed global cold and arid episode at ca 8.2–7.8ka cal BP (Stager and Mayewski 1997) is about a millennium later than Rossignol-Strick’s estimated dates for the dry episode (subzone Y3) at Tenaghi

33 The terrestrial pollen record of the Levant is problematic, and worthy of a far more detailed investigation than is possible here. Several attempts have been made to reconstruct Holocene vegetation history using pollen diagrams from the Huleh and Ghab marshes (formerly lakes), in northern Israel and northwest Syria respectively. The most recently-published pollen diagrams are by Baruch and Bottema (1999) and Yasuda et al (2000). Other sites in the Levant have produced pollen diagrams for the late Holocene, notably the Sea of Galilee (Horowitz 1971; Baruch 1990) and the Dead Sea (Baruch 1990), but the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and the period covered by this thesis are only represented continuously in the Ghab and Huleh diagrams29.

According to the earlier diagrams (Niklewski and van Zeist 1970; Horowitz 1971; Tsukada in van Zeist and Bottema 1991, 105), the Ghab and Huleh pollen records showed different vegetation trends at the start of the Holocene (Baruch and Bottema 1991, 17; Baruch 1994, 110; Rossignol- Strick 1995, 909). The last millennia before 10,000BP were marked by unusually high AP (arboreal pollen, a proxy for humidity) values at Huleh, and very low values at Ghab; after that date, the situation was reversed. The issue inevitably turned on the reliability of the radiocarbon dates used to interpret the palynological sequence. In each case, the Pleistocene/Holocene transition was anchored to a one or two 14C dates, and rejection of the dates from either site allowed the two records to be synchronised.

The new diagrams from Ghab and Huleh appear to show a synchronous vegetational and climatic sequence, a fact that led Yasuda et al (2000, 129) to conclude that the new series of radiocarbon dates from Ghab did not have to be corrected for the hard-water effect. In fact, it will be argued here, the uncorrected radiocarbon chronologies of both new diagrams are highly misleading. Attempts by Cappers et al (1998; 2002) to correct the new Huleh core chronology for the hard- water effect appear to have been unsuccessful (Appendix A).

In their first revision of the Huleh radiocarbon chronology, Cappers et al (1998) assumed that the reservoir age (the apparent radiocarbon age of dissolved carbonates in lake water) was constant at about 1800 years30. This was at one end of the range, 85±5 pMC, traditionally used to estimate the initial activity of lake water in Europe (Fontes 1992, 245)31. Cappers et al (1998, table 1) did not

Philippon. These were obtained by interpolating between the modern surface and the zone Rossignol-Strick identified as the Younger Dryas episode, and are necessarily inexact. 29 There are also several pollen diagrams spanning this period from sites in Turkey and Iran (eg van Zeist and Bottema 1991). 30 The way this is expressed in the calculations is that aquatic carbon is assumed to have an ‘initial activity’, A0, of 80% of that of contemporary atmospheric carbon (80 pMC; Cappers et al 1998). 31 The authors also proposed correcting one of the radiocarbon dates from the original Ghab diagram (Niklewski and van Zeist 1970), using a reservoir age of 1300 radiocarbon years (A0 = 85pMC; Cappers et al 1998, 163). The 1300±500 year correction suggested by Geyh (1994) for groundwater in the Syrian Desert is probably based on the same convention. Reservoir ages in lake water are highly variable, however. For example, modern surface water entering Bangong Lake in Tibet has an apparent age of between 2600 and 12,300 radiocarbon years, depending on source (Fontes et al 1996, table 1).

34 consider the two uppermost radiocarbon dates in the Huleh diagram (GrN-22394: 3080±70BP; GrN-22395: 3280±70BP; Baruch and Bottema 1999, figure 2), which were also rejected by the palynologists (ibid, 78). The remaining radiocarbon results were ‘corrected’ by up to 1800 radiocarbon years, according to Cappers et al’s estimate of the percentage of the organic fraction derived from aquatic (submerged) plants.

The second revision (Cappers et al 2002) proposed that, when the Huleh radiocarbon results were corrected by extrapolation to the surface, ‘the A0 = 80% for the submerged plants apparently is still too high; according to this model the true value is closer to 60%’. The extrapolation method assumes steady and uninterrupted sedimentation, and a constant reservoir age. Initial activity of 60 pMC means a reservoir age of 4100 radiocarbon years. The correction proposed under the extrapolation method was a constant 1700 radiocarbon years (Ac = 81 pMC), implying that about half the carbon in the organic fractions dated came from the atmosphere (through photosynthesis by emerged plants), and half from lake water (through photosynthesis by submerged plants).

Neither revision of the Huleh radiocarbon chronology reconciles the terrestrial pollen record (Baruch and Bottema 1999) with that found in marine sediments (Rossignol-Strick 1995; 1999). The peak influx of Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia pollen, which Rossignol-Strick identified with the Younger Dryas episode, is found in zone 1 of the new Huleh diagram. This was dated to before 15,580±220BP (GrN-22399), revised by Cappers et al (2002) to 13,900BP. The sharp increase in deciduous oak pollen in zone 2 at Huleh can be equated to the deciduous oak phase in the marine cores between 10,000 and 9000BP, but it appears to have ended by 11,540±100BP (GrN-14986), corrected by Cappers et al to 10,960BP (1998) or 9800BP (2002).

Deciduous oaks are pioneering species and profligate producers of pollen. As forests mature, a decline in deciduous oak pollen is to be expected. Such a decline, identified as zone 3 in the Huleh diagram, was equated with the Younger Dryas episode by the palynologists (Baruch and Bottema 1999, 81). Although grass pollen (including cereal-type pollen) increased in zone 3, there was no increase in Chenopodiaceae or Artemisia. Instead, Pistacia began to appear regularly. Pistacia is a miserly pollen producer; in modern samples, 7-8% Pistacia pollen indicates that it is the dominant tree (Rossignol-Strick 1995, 896–8; Horowitz 1971, 262). The sharp decline in AP in zone 3 at Huleh is therefore probably the result of Pistacia replacing deciduous oak, not of a decline in woodland per se32. The marine cores have a long Pistacia phase, between ca 9000 and 6000BP. This appears to correspond to Huleh’s zone 4.

32 Zone 3 appears to be an artefact of the radiocarbon results, as it was placed between the two samples (GrN-14986: 11,540±100BP; GrN-17068: 10,440±120BP) closest in date (before correction) to the conventional chronology of the Younger Dryas (ca 11,500–10,300BP).

35 Zone 5 at Huleh is marked by a decline in Pistacia and a sharp increase in Olea (olive), to levels ‘considerably higher than can be expected under natural conditions’, suggesting ‘waves of expansion’ of olive cultivation (Baruch and Bottema 1999, 82). Even Cappers et al’s ‘corrected’ dates for the start of this zone, 7700BP (ca 6500 cal BC) or 7000BP (ca 5900 cal BC), are extremely early for olive cultivation, as the archaeological examples adduced by Baruch and Bottema serve to emphasise. The later of these dates is still ca 1000 years earlier than the first archaeological evidence of olive exploitation in the southern Levant (Appendix F). Either zone 5 reflects a dramatic expansion in wild olive populations, or the radiocarbon results are misleading. The marine cores are of limited use here; the upper age limit of the sapropel sampled for pollen appears to be ca 6000BP (ca 5000 cal BC). As no ‘olive zone’ was identified by Rossignol-Strick, it is plausible that Huleh’s zone 5 began after that date, a suggestion that is at least consistent with the archaeological evidence for olive cultivation33.

It is assumed here that zone 1 in the new Huleh diagram corresponds to the Younger Dryas, zone 2 to the beginning of the Holocene, zone 4 to the early Holocene climatic optimum, and zone 5 to the fifth millennium cal BC onwards. Appendix A explains how the Huleh radiocarbon results can be reconciled with this chronology.

If this revision is correct, then Yasuda et al’s (2000) interpretation of the new Ghab core chronology is probably also wrong, since it is said to support Baruch and Bottema’s (1999) interpretation of Huleh. Yasuda et al also interpolated between two (uncorrected) radiocarbon results to show that the part of the new Ghab diagram with the highest ratio of Chenopodiaceae to Artemisia (in zone 2) could be contemporary with Rossignol-Strick’s Chenopodiaceae phase; that is, with the Younger Dryas (Yasuda et al 2000, 129). This betrays a misunderstanding of the marine diagrams, in which Chenopodiaceae (typical of desert conditions) and Artemisia (typical of steppe) vary together (Rossignol-Strick 1995, 898). The Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae ratio, which has aptly been used as a bioclimatic indicator at the steppe/desert margin (van Campo and Gasse 1993), would not identify the Younger Dryas in a pollen diagram from the Mediterranean zone, and has not been used for that purpose by other palynologists.

The high ratio of Chenopodiaceae to Artemisia in zone 2 is due to the unusually low values of Artemisia; the chenopod pollen influx declines from the beginning of zone 1. The Pleistocene/Holocene transition probably occurs at the base of zone 1 in the new Ghab diagram,

33 The later zones in the Huleh diagram are not discussed here, as they extend beyond the period of interest, but chronological problems at Huleh do not end with zone 5. Cappers et al (1998) proposed an additional correction based on ‘extrapolation’ (linear regression) of some of the later dates, which appeared to be too old. Dates that appeared too young with respect to the regression line were not altered. Even so, the two uppermost radiocarbon dates at Huleh could not be fitted to the regression line, and Baruch and Bottema instead relied on the chronology of a core from the Sea of Galilee to interpret the pollen zonation (Baruch and Bottema 1999, 78).

36 as both Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia decline steadily from that point, and deciduous oak increases dramatically. The Younger Dryas episode may not be represented at all. There is no decline in arboreal pollen (AP) during zone 2, which Yasuda et al (2000, figure 4) identified as the Younger Dryas. This stands in contrast to every comparable pollen diagram in the region34, including Baruch and Bottema’s interpretation of the Huleh pollen record and the earlier (Niklewski and van Zeist 1970) diagram from Ghab.

A transition does take place, however, from zone 2 to zone 3, with a steep decline in deciduous oak and sharp rises in evergreen oak, pine, and olive. So sudden is the transition that Yasuda et al (2000, 131) suggest that there was a sedimentary hiatus (‘the sediment of the PPNA period is almost missing’), and that the oak decline and olive increase is the result of anthropogenic forest clearance and olive cultivation. The occasional cereal-type pollen grain from zone 2 onward is also interpreted as evidence of agriculture. The declines of pine after zone 3, and of deciduous oak after zone 4, are seen as evidence of ‘severe forest clearance’. If these are anthropogenic signals, they are not indicators of climate change. Only declines in an aquatic taxon and increases in marsh taxa in zone 5 are interpreted as evidence of a drier episode ‘at 5000 14C yr BP’ (Yasuda et al 2000, 133), when the remaining arboreal vegetation was olive or evergreen oak. Pistacia occurs regularly in zones 2, 3, and 4 of the new Ghab diagram, but in very low numbers35.

The radiocarbon samples in both Ghab diagrams were ‘freshwater mollusc shells’ (Yasuda et al 2000, 129), whose carbon content is derived entirely from dissolved inorganic carbonate (and therefore includes the full reservoir age)36. The single radiocarbon date from zone Z1 of the earlier diagram (GrN-5810: 10,080±55BP) appears to be about 700 radiocarbon years too old (Rossignol-Strick 1995, 908), but larger corrections are necessary to reconcile the new Ghab diagram with the marine pollen record. A tentative interpretation of the new Ghab diagram proposed here places zone 1 at the beginning of the Holocene, zone 2 in the early Holocene climatic optimum, and zone 3 from about 5000 cal BC onwards.

With such uncertainty regarding the chronology of the new Ghab and Huleh diagrams, it is pointless to attempt a detailed reconstruction of regional vegetation changes in the early Holocene, as van Zeist and Bottema (1991) and Hillman (1996) have done, using the earlier diagrams, for the late Pleistocene37. Instead, it will simply be assumed that at 9000 and 4000 cal

34 See, for example, the diagrams from Ioannina, Xinias and Tenaghi Philippon in Greece, Lake Van in Turkey, and Lake Zeribar in Iran, reproduced by Rossignol-Strick (1995). 35 A Pistacia zone was identified by Rossignol-Strick (1995, figure 10) in the early Holocene section (Z1- Z3) of Niklewski and van Zeist’s (1970) Ghab diagram, as well as maxima in Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia in the preceding zone, Y5. 36 At Bangong Lake, Fontes et al (1996) found no difference between the radiocarbon ages of freshwater molluscs and precipitated inorganic carbonate from the same levels. 37 If the revision proposed here is correct, however, van Zeist and Bottema’s (1991) 12,000BP vegetation map may be a good reconstruction of vegetation during the early Holocene climatic optimum.

37 BC the boundaries of vegetation zones were roughly where they would be today, in the absence of human interference, but that the more mesic zones expanded during the intervening millennia. Sites that today are on the boundary between the Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian (steppe) vegetation zones, for example, were within the Mediterranean zone throughout the early Holocene climatic optimum.

This is not to say that the climate was more favourable than it is today throughout the early Holocene. Oscillations in the level of the Dead Sea, abrupt changes in stable isotope ratios, and episodes of erosion indicate that the early Holocene optimum was probably interrupted by one or more brief periods of relative aridity, severe enough to temporarily affect subsistence options. One of the reasons that sites were abandoned may be exactly this type of climatic event, almost undetectable within the relatively coarse temporal resolution of pollen cores.

Such events are registered in annual laminae, such as lake varves and ice cores. An ‘abrupt early to mid-Holocene climatic transition’ (Stager and Mayewski 1997) has been detected, at about 6000 cal BC, in palaeoclimatic records from Greenland ice cores (sodium influx), Lake Victoria (diatoms and pollen) and the Antarctic ice sheet (sodium influx). This was interpreted as a global- scale cooling event, lasting no more than 200 years (ibid, 1835). Blanchet et al (1998, 194) regard this event as analogous to, but briefer and less intense than, the Younger Dryas episode at the end of the Pleistocene38. The same event was detected by Alley et al (1997) at ca 8.25ka cal BP (ca 6250 cal BC) in four Greenland ice cores, based on changes in ice accumulation rates, oxygen isotope ratios, and chloride, calcium, and methane concentrations. Deviations in these indices from typical early Holocene values are only half as great as deviations between early Holocene values and those of the Younger Dryas, but an average temperature drop of 6±2˚C is suggested.

2.2.2. Stable isotope data

Oxygen and carbon stable isotope ratios in various materials are influenced by climate, and several studies (reviewed by Goodfriend 1999) have attempted to use δ18O and δ13C in dated samples to characterise palaeoclimates. The oxygen isotope ratio measures the concentration of the heavier isotope in water; warmer water tends to have a higher 18O/16O ratio. In marine cores, therefore, δ18O is used as a proxy for temperature changes. The δ18O value of rainwater may reflect its origin (eg Mediterranean, Black Sea, or North Atlantic) and trajectory, the seasonality of rainfall, and the intensity of rainfall events. Lighter water molecules evaporate more readily; evaporation therefore enriches the remaining water with the heavier isotope (18O). Lower (more

38 Stager and Mayewski dated the event to some time between 8200 and 7800 cal BP, or 6200–5800 cal BC (their ‘present’ is explicitly stated as AD 2000). Blanchet et al (1998, 194) erroneously express this as 8000–7600 BP (uncalibrated), or ca 7000–6400 cal BC, which was also identified as a short dry episode by Sanlaville (1996, 23; figure 5; see note 2 above).

38 negative) values of δ18O are thus associated with lower rates of evaporation, or more intense rainfall events (Goodfriend 1999, 509). Measured δ18O was much lower in cave water during wet years than during drought years (Bar-Matthews et al 1997, 161).

The pathways by which 13C is incorporated in groundwater are also complex. Plants extract carbon dioxide (containing both 12C and 13C) from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. Groundwater contains dissolved carbon dioxide produced by the decomposition of plant matter in the soil, whose stable isotope ratio depends on vegetation cover. Uptake of the heavier isotope 13 varies, particularly between C3 plants (which typically have δ C values of -25 to -29‰ relative to 13 the PDB standard) and C4 plants (-11 to -15‰; Goodfriend 1999, 503). Among other things, C enrichment can indicate the presence of plants using the C4 photosynthetic pathway.

This is how Goodfriend (1990; 1999) interpreted δ13C values from snail shells in the Negev of southern Israel. In the Levant, C4 plants are abundant only in desert and steppe communities; snails in the Mediterranean zone consequently feed only on C3 plants, and their shells are thus depleted in 13C, compared to those of snails in the steppe and desert. By directly radiocarbon dating the snail shells, Goodfriend was able to show a southward extension of the Mediterranean vegetation zone in the early Holocene (9700–7000BP), relative to modern distributions, and an intermediate situation in the mid-Holocene (6500–3000BP)39. Higher rainfall is the most plausible explanation for this pattern. Measurements of δ18O in the same snail shells show a gradual depletion of 18O, from near-modern values at the beginning of the Holocene to a minimum at ca 6000BP. This is followed by a recovery to modern values by 4500BP, and constant δ18O since then (Goodfriend 1999, 506)40.

The same pattern can be identified in the stable isotope curves from a speleothem at Soreq Cave, southwest of Jerusalem (Bar-Matthews et al 1997). Large uncertainties in the uranium/thorium dates (of between ±900 and ±3100 calendar years) mean that the oxygen and carbon isotope ratio curves cannot confidently be correlated with other evidence from other sites. Measurements of both δ18O and δ13C oscillated around modern values after ca 5000 cal BC, but for a spike in δ18O,

39 The radiocarbon chronology is imperfect. There is a reservoir effect, caused by snails deriving some carbonate from rocks; modern snail shells in the Negev have apparent radiocarbon ages of 700–2800 years (Goodfriend 1987). After correction for this effect, Goodfriend’s early Holocene period probably coincides with Rossignol-Strick’s Pistacia phase (9000–6000BP), while the mid-Holocene intermediate period probably coincides with zone 5 in the Huleh pollen diagram (above and Appendix A), and with the mid- Holocene phase of moderate groundwater recharge (Geyh 1994; below). 40 Although these data appear to support Goodfriend’s interpretation of δ13C measurements (a very humid early Holocene, intermediate humidity in the mid-Holocene, and modern rainfall levels since ca 3000BP), he regards the δ18O pattern as primarily a reflection of the origin and trajectory of rainfall, not of its intensity or quantity (Goodfriend 1999, 506–9). Very low values of δ18O in the early Holocene at Lake Zeribar in western Iran were interpreted by Stevens et al (2001) as the result of changes in the seasonal distribution of rain, as well as in the trajectory of storm clouds, rather than as evidence of much higher rainfall than at present.

39 suggesting a brief arid episode, between ca 4000 and 3000 cal BC. In the early Holocene, ca 10,000–5000 cal BC, δ18O reached its lowest level in the last 25,000 years, remaining well below modern values throughout the period, particularly between ca 8000 and 5000 cal BC. This suggested that average annual rainfall at the cave was almost twice its modern level (ibid, 165).

A spike in measured δ18O between ca 7000 and 6000 cal BC may be related to the brief cold/arid episode recorded in the Greenland ice cores. The same samples also have sharply lower δ13C values than samples immediately before and afterwards. Otherwise, values of δ13C were far higher between ca 8000 and 5000 cal BC than either before or since. This was interpreted as evidence that much of the rainfall in this period came in heavy downpours, and percolated rapidly through the soil (Bar-Matthews et al 1997, 165). Goodfriend (1999, 510) has suggested that δ13C enrichment at Soreq Cave was a localised phenomenon, as it is not recorded in early Holocene groundwater studied by Geyh (1994).

2.2.3. Palaeohydrology

Geyh (1994, figure 3) radiocarbon-dated dissolved inorganic carbon in 72 samples of groundwater from sites in the Syrian Desert. Allowing for a hard-water (reservoir) effect of 1300±500 14C years, Geyh found a large cluster of radiocarbon dates in the early Holocene (ca 9500–6500BP), and a smaller cluster in the mid-Holocene (ca 6500–4500BP), and no evidence of groundwater recharge in the late Holocene. Groundwater recharge probably reflects the intensity, as well as the frequency, of rainfall events. Geyh’s data suggest that intense rainfall events occurred frequently in the early Holocene, and less often after about 6500BP (ca 5000 cal BC)41.

The most sensitive indicator of climate change, perhaps, is the level of the Dead Sea, which reflects the changing balance between runoff in the Jordan Valley catchment and evaporation. Without abstraction for modern industry and agriculture, the lake surface would now be at about 395m below sea level (-395m; Enzel et al 2003, fig 3). Assuming steady temperatures (and thus a steady rate of evaporation), a wetter climate than today’s is required to maintain a lake level above -395m, while a stable lake level below -395m implies a more arid climate42.

The sedimentary sequence in a 34m core from the edge of the north basin of the Dead Sea (Yechieli et al 1993) starts with late Pleistocene clays, containing a piece of driftwood (at -427m) dated to 11,315±80BP (ETH-4982; 11,840–11,070 cal BC). This was followed by a 6m-thick layer of halites whose deposition was interpreted as the product of a sabkha (salt pan) or super-

41 This chronology obviously depends on the assumed reservoir age, which cannot be measured. 42 It is unclear how quickly a new equilibrium level is reached in response to climate change. Frumkin (1997, 237) mentions a 100 to 1000 year timescale, but the correlation between annual rainfall and Dead Sea level (Enzel et al 2003) suggests a rapid response to climate change. Lake level must lag behind climate change; a lower, but rising, lake level may thus have existed under a wetter climate.

40 saturated lake environment. It is not clear how far the lake level had fallen from its Pleistocene peak of -180m; Neev and Emery’s (1967) suggestion that the lake fell as far as -700m was not ruled out, although this could have been a much earlier episode. The halite layer, equated with the Younger Dryas episode, was followed by clay-rich lacustrine sediments, which represent a phase of higher lake levels. Several driftwood samples in this unit (between -411m and -416m) had radiocarbon ages of between 8500 and 8000BP. Yechieli et al (1993) proposed that during the intervening period (ca 11,000–8500BP) the lake level was lower than this, accounting for the hiatus in sedimentation43. The early Holocene clay-rich sediments contained laminae of aragonite, interpreted as indicating a deeper lake level. Increases in gravel deposition in the mid-Holocene, and an interruption in aragonite deposition, pointed to fluctuations in lake level and changes in the position of the shoreline. These fluctuations were not dated, however.

Yechieli et al’s work is complemented by a study by Frumkin et al (1991; 1994) of mid-late Holocene caves in the Mt Sedom salt diapir (which is pushing its way upwards through more recent deposits in the Dead Sea basin). Caves are formed in the diapir by the dissolution of salt by rainwater draining from the summit of Mt Sedom to the Dead Sea. After adjustment for diapir uplift, therefore, the current altitude of each cave mouth reflects the maximum height of the Dead Sea surface when that cave was actively eroding. Radiocarbon dates on samples of driftwood from the salt caves indicate when each cave was at the lake surface. The earliest driftwood sample, at -290m, gave a date of 7090±175BP (RT-886H; 6340–5630 cal BC). Depending on the assumed rate of diapir uplift over the last 8000 years, this indicates a Dead Sea level at about 6000 cal BC of between -290m and -362m (Frumkin 1997, 241). The absence of older salt caves probably reflects a higher relative lake level, a combination of a higher absolute Dead Sea level and subsequent diapir uplift, in the early Holocene (idem)44. According to Frumkin (1997), therefore, the Dead Sea level was relatively high in the early Holocene, but began to fall by about 6000 cal BC. No driftwood samples were found to date to the sixth millennium cal BC, but downcutting of the existing cave continued, suggesting that the lake fell below -390m. This

43 The halite/clay boundary is 2m below the first dated driftwood sample (ETH-6156: 8440±95BP), but radiocarbon results on samples from the next 5m of sediment are nearly identical, suggesting rapid sedimentation. The transgression therefore probably dates to shortly before the earliest 14C result, or to about 7500 cal BC. This apparently contradicts the earlier radiocarbon date of 9580±150BP from a sample of disseminated organic matter in clay in the southern basin of the Dead Sea (Neev, 1964, cited by Yechieli et al 1993, 64, and Frumkin, 1997, 237; laboratory code unknown), which indicated a lake level above - 410m at ca 9000 cal BC, unless the lake fell below -410m again between the two dates (or unless the earlier result was influenced by a reservoir effect). 44 The uplift rate can only be estimated, and was probably not constant. An average 9mm/yr uplift implies that the Dead Sea level was below -390m throughout the Holocene. An average 6mm/yr uplift (Frumkin’s preferred estimate) implies that the diapir was 60m lower at 8000 cal BC than it is today. The summit of Mt Sedom is now at -160m, but the uppermost 50m are impervious rock; the highest level a salt cave could be found is currently at -210m. It can therefore be argued that the lake level was above -270m at 8000 cal BC. A lake level below -390m, however, would not affect cave formation (as the lake would not have reached the diapir; Frumkin 1997).

41 appeared to coincide with the formation of a salt tongue in the southern basin (which implies that the lake fell below -404m). Two samples dated to the early fifth millennium cal BC indicate a lake level close to today’s, and rising. Several samples were dated to the early fourth millennium cal BC. The lake level peaked towards 3000 cal BC, with oak driftwood found at -324m or higher45.

It has been suggested (eg el-Moslimany 1994; Simmons 1997; Abed and Yaghan 2000) that the early Holocene climatic optimum was characterised by a northwards extension of monsoonal rainfall, bringing significant quantities of summer rainfall as far north as the Levant. Currently, the monsoon’s northern limit is south of the Tropic of Cancer. In the early Holocene, a southward extension of winter rainfall may have overlapped with a northward extension of the summer monsoon, accounting for high lake stands and savannah-like conditions in the Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula (Blanchet et al 1998, 189; 192; 194; figure 2), and perhaps for the groundwater recharge in the Syrian Desert noted by Geyh (1994). A northward extension of monsoonal rain in the early Holocene is detectable in a pollen diagram from a Red Sea marine core, but not in Mediterranean pollen diagrams (Rossignol-Strick 1995). Although monsoonal rain may occasionally have extended as far north as the Levant, it is unlikely to have significantly altered subsistence options in Jordan during the Holocene.

2.2.4. Sedimentology

Sedimentological evidence supports the division of the early-mid Holocene into climatic periods. Hourani and Courty (1998) studied sediments in the Jordan Valley, and identified three phases:

• 10,000 to 8000BP, when warm and humid conditions allowed pedogenesis (soil development) to occur on what had been the lakebed of Pleistocene Lake Lisan

• 8000 to 6500BP, which began with a period of rapid erosion (indicative of a lowering of the Jordan River base level, presumably in response to a fall in the level of the Dead Sea) before pedogenesis resumed, and

• 6500 to 5500BP, when erosion accelerated again.

How these phases were dated is not entirely clear. Although the sedimentary units at the sampled sites could be correlated (Hourani and Courty 1998, figure 4), the only sediments of known age appear to be the Lisan marl and archaeological deposits at Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites, which bracket the entire sequence. The transition from phase 1 to phase 2 at 8000BP appears to

45 These samples are assumed to have been transported by the Dead Sea, as it is believed that oak could not have grown on Mt Sedom (unlike some of the other species of wood found in the salt caves). This is thought to have been a brief and exceptional high stand, however, as there no new caves were formed at that level. Other lines of evidence, including archaeology, suggest a Dead Sea level of -355m to -359m in the Early Bronze Age (Frumkin 1997, 242).

42 have been dated by reference to Sanlaville’s (1996) épisode sec, which itself was based on an interpolated date, and may have occurred somewhat later (see above).

A sedimentological study of dune systems on the Mediterranean coast (Gvirtzman and Wieder 2001) provides a much longer sequence, including the entire Holocene. Under the present climate, aeolian sand accumulates too rapidly for pedogenesis to occur. At various times in the past, however, the climate was wet enough for the dunes to be stabilised by vegetation, allowing true pedogenesis to take place. These soils were buried under new dunes when pedogenesis slowed and sand deposition predominated. Radiocarbon-dated land snails and infrared stimulated luminescence were used to date the depositional sequence, recorded at several sites from south of Tel Aviv to north of Netanya. A 13-stage sequence (E13–E1) was proposed, which appears to agree with that of Hourani and Courty in the early-mid Holocene, if stages E10–E8 can be equated with phase 1, E7–E6 with phase 2, and E5 with phase 3 (Table 2.1).

2.3 Summary

Table 2.1 presents a summary of the various lines of evidence, which show a reasonably consistent picture of climate change in the early-mid Holocene, if the chronologies of the Huleh and Ghab pollen diagrams are revised as proposed here. The climate of the tenth millennium cal BC was at least as humid as that of the present day, and may have featured some spring/summer precipitation. The ninth, eighth and seventh millennia were more humid than any other period in the Holocene, but had dry summers. A sharp arid episode at around 6000 cal BC is suggested by several indicators, but only the absence of driftwood samples from Mt Sedom implies that this was a lengthy period of drought. Other indicators imply a rapid return to the early Holocene optimum climate, lasting until ca 5000 cal BC, before the modern climate was established.

43 3. Archaeology

In the following sections, the evidence currently available for subsistence practices at Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in the Levant is discussed, within the chronological framework developed in Chapter 146. The discussion emphasises radiocarbon, faunal, and archaeobotanical data, which were seldom collected before the 1960s. Important early excavations are therefore less prominent than they might otherwise be. The discussion also concentrates, where possible, on sites in the southern Levant. A summary is provided at the end of each sub-section and in Table 3.1.

Available early-middle Holocene radiocarbon results from Levantine archaeological sites were converted to calibrated date ranges47. In most cases, it was relatively easy to assign a site, or a phase within a site, to one period or another, solely on the basis of radiocarbon results. Not all sites or phases have been dated radiometrically, however. Undated sites are assigned to a period on the basis of material culture, defined by lithic or ceramic typology.

3.1 Period I: 9200–8300 cal BC

Period I sites date to the plateau in the radiocarbon calibration curve between 9200 and 8300 cal BC (ca 9700–9200BP; Figure 1.1). Sites dated to ca 9900BP or earlier (the earlier PPNA48) are excluded from Period I by virtue of a steep section in the calibration curve between 9300 and 9200 cal BC. Sites dated later than ca 9000BP (the Middle PPNB) can likewise be excluded.

This eliminates two areas of contention. One concerns the Khiamian, a material culture often treated as the earliest phase of the Neolithic, but sometimes included in the Epipalaeolithic (Garfinkel and Nadel 1989). Khiamian assemblages were defined as those lacking bifacial axes or picks, supposedly found later in the Sultanian (Garfinkel and Nadel 1989), and which may have been used as digging tools for plant cultivation. Few Khiamian sites have been excavated, and subsistence data are scarce49. The Khiamian may have overlapped chronologically with the

46 This review was compiled independently of the shorter survey by Gopher et al (2001, 56–7), which used a similar timeframe (summaries at 1000-year intervals, from 11,000 cal BC to 5000 cal BC). The results are comparable, although Gopher et al emphasised evidence from the northern Levant. 47 Most radiocarbon results used here are cited by Kuijt and Bar-Yosef (1994) or Joffe and Dessel (1995); others, published more recently, are drawn from individual site reports. Earlier calibrated date ranges were disregarded, in favour of the standardised approach of calibrating each result using OxCal v3.5 (Bronk Ramsey 1995; 1998) and the INTCAL98 data set (Stuiver et al 1998). The probability distributions of the calibrated radiocarbon results (shown in Figures 3.1–3.8), calculated by the probability method of Stuiver and Reimer (1993), indicate the relative probability that any calendar date corresponds to the actual age of the sample. Samples are assumed to be similar in age to the stratum they were taken from, unless stated. 48 Rollefson’s (1998) uncalibrated material culture periodisation is used throughout this discussion. 49 The upper level of Sabra I, near Petra, is probably Khiamian (Gebel 1988, 73). It was not dated radiometrically. Animal bones, all of wild species, were not sorted into Natufian and Khiamian phases. No plant remains were reported. Sickle blades were rare, and grinding stones non-existent.

44 Sultanian (the PPNA culture at Jericho), but at Hatoula it preceded it (Lechevallier and Ronen 1994). Khiamian sites are not included in Period I.

A second issue is whether the ‘Early PPNB’ belongs in Period I. Whereas the existence of an EPPNB at north Syrian sites such as Mureybet (Phase IVa) is accepted, the apparent absence of a comparable material culture in the southern Levant has led to suggestions that here the PPNA lasted until 9300BP, and was followed by the Middle PPNB (Kuijt 1994). Others have argued that there was an EPPNB, with a distinctive material culture intermediate between the PPNA and the MPPNB, from ca 9600 to 9200BP (Rollefson 1998), if not later (Gopher 1996; cf. Edwards et al 2004). Most proposed EPPNB sites in the southern Levant, however, are represented by surface finds, and have not been excavated (ibid). In terms of subsistence data (eg evidence for domesticates, settlement size) the possible EPPNB sites are closer to the PPNA than to the MPPNB. The PPNA occupation at Jericho may include an EPPNB phase (Gopher 1996, 152; cf. Kuijt 1997). Proposed EPPNB sites are therefore included in Period I.

Three such sites are currently known in Jordan. Abu Hudhud, an unexcavated site in the Wadi el- Hasa, is a sparse lithic scatter covering about 0.5ha (Rollefson 1996a). It includes at least four oval or sub-rectangular stone alignments that are presumably associated with the lithics, although this cannot be assumed without excavation. A small, non-random sample of these artefacts includes around ten Helwan points, the only chronological evidence cited. The range of stone tools found on the surface, and the architectural evidence, suggest that ‘Abu Hudhud was at least a semi-permanent settlement’ (Rollefson 1996a, 160).

Jebel Queisa, south of Ras en-Naqb in the Wadi Judayid, appears to have been no more than a hunting camp. Only the lithics from Henry’s 1979 sounding have been published (Henry 1995). Three Helwan points and a Netiv Hagdud truncation imply a date of 9700–9500BP (ibid, 350), at the end of the PPNA. Kuijt (1994) argued that the Helwan points are more likely to date to the early PPNB, a suggestion supported by the presence of bipolar naviform cores (Rollefson 1998). No subsistence data are available.

The earliest phase at Jilat 7, in the Azraq basin, is regarded as the only Jordanian source of subsistence data for the EPPNB (Rollefson 1998). There are no radiocarbon results from this phase, however, and there are characteristic PPNA lithics (Garrard et al 1994, 88; Edwards et al 2004). Four archaeobotanical samples were analysed, yielding 39 plant taxa, including wild and ‘domestic’ cereals (Colledge 1994, 169 and table 5.6; 2001, table 6.4). The plant remains included two ‘domestic’ glume wheat grains (Triticum sp.), but no wheat chaff; six wild barley grains (Hordeum spontaneum), six ‘domestic’ barley grains (H. cf. vulgare) and four wild-type barley rachis internodes, and a variety of other plants that were probably gathered as food. Crucially, domestic-type cereal chaff was not identified.

45 Only four dated sites that might belong to Period I have been excavated in Jordan. ’Iraq ed-Dubb (Kuijt et al 1991; 1992; Kuijt 1994; 2001), a cave site northwest of ’Ajlun, has eight radiocarbon results, three of which relate to the PPNA phase of occupation (Kuijt 2001, table 1). This phase may be as late as 9000 cal BC, although occupation at ca 9200 cal BC seems more probable (Figure 3.1). Two small structures are attributed to the PPNA. Their excavation yielded bones of gazelle, wild boar, wild sheep/goat, aurochs, and a variety of birds. Plant remains were relatively well preserved (Colledge 1994, table 5.4; 2001, table 6.2). Wild and domestic varieties of einkorn wheat (Triticum boeticum, T. monococcum) and hulled barley were reported, as well as pulses (including lentil (Lens sp.) and fava bean (Vicia faba), wild pistachio (Pistacia sp.), almond (Amygdalus sp.), fig (Ficus sp.), and several herbs that are potential crop weeds.

The presence of straw components and ‘domestic’ varieties of cereals suggests that the site depended to some degree on food production, supplemented by gathering and hunting. There are no unambiguous examples of domestic cereal chaff, however. In the light of subsequent work at Netiv Hagdud, Jerf al Ahmar, and Zahrat adh-Dhra’2 (ZAD2; see below), sites that are apparently more recent than ’Iraq ed-Dubb, the absence of non-shattering rachis internodes (which define domestication in cereals) suggests that at most ‘pre-domestication cultivation’ (Hillman and Davies 1990) was practised at ’Iraq ed-Dubb.

There are eight radiocarbon results from the PPNA site of WF16, in the Faynan region of the Wadi Arabah (Finlayson et al 2000). Three of these, on snail shell samples, are regarded as too early for the PPNA, due to ‘the uptake of bicarbonate from waters with a significant contribution from solution of limestone bedrock’ (ibid, 13). The other five, on charcoal samples, fit comfortably with the conventional chronology. Two results, from Trench 2, are relatively early, suggesting occupation at 9600–9400 cal BC. The three dates from Trench 1, however, clearly belong to Period I. After calibration, they date the Trench 1 contexts to ca 9100–8600 cal BC (Figure 3.1). These dates, and practically all the archaeobotanical remains from Trench 1 (Kennedy forthcoming), are from the fill of a pit-house (‘a large sub-circular pit of c. 3.5m diameter’; Finlayson et al 2000, 13, 15). Animal bones were well preserved. Preliminary results (ibid, 24–25) indicate a reliance on wild goat species, although aurochs, equids, foxes, tortoises, and a wide range of birds were also hunted. Wild boar and gazelle are notably absent.

The preservation of plant remains at WF16 was poor, by comparison; fewer than 400 identifications were possible from 44 samples with plant remains, which represented ca 1m3 of sediment (Kennedy forthcoming). Half of the identified remains were from a single sample. Only five taxa were found in over ten percent of samples: fig seeds, in 55 percent of samples with identifiable remains; cereal grain fragments (30 %); small-seeded legumes (25%); Pistacia nutshell fragments (18%) and parenchymatous tissue fragments (11%). One cereal grain was identified as barley, and some pulse fragments were classed as lentil/pea/vetch (Fabaceae Sect.

46 Viciae), but, due to the poor preservation, it was not possible to determine if these were wild or domestic varieties. Kennedy concluded that WF16 was not an agricultural village, but that some pre-domestication cultivation could not be excluded.

Dhra’, on the Dead Sea Plain, west of Kerak, has produced nine radiocarbon results (Kuijt and Finlayson 2001). Eight are centred on the flat section of the calibration curve in the second half of the tenth millennium cal BC, and one on the plateau that forms Period I (Figure 3.1). The site appears to have been a permanent village of 0.4ha, although ‘despite good sample sizes and preservation conditions, preliminary examination of carbonized materials recovered in excavation has provided no evidence for domesticated seeds’ (Kuijt and Mahasneh 1998, 156). Gazelle and waterfowl bones were found, as well as stone pestles and grinding stones. Again, foraging or pre- domestication cultivation seem to better explain the evidence than fully-fledged agriculture.

The nearby PPNA site of ZAD2 (Edwards et al 2001; 2002) also belongs to Period I. Eight radiocarbon results, which run from 9635±59BP (Wk-9635) to 9323±59BP (Wk-9444), imply that the site was occupied in the early ninth millennium cal BC (Figure 3.1; Edwards et al 2004). New subsistence data from ZAD2 are presented here.

More evidence is available from other regions of the Levant, particularly for the PPNA. One of the earliest excavations was that of Jericho, where the PPNA was defined (Garstang and Garstang 1940; Kenyon 1957, 1979). Twenty-one radiocarbon results were obtained from PPNA levels (Kuijt and Bar-Yosef 1994, table 3), but many samples are of questionable provenience (Kuijt and Bar-Yosef 1994; Bar-Yosef and Gopher 1997). Five results, in levels VIIIA and IX, range from 9320±150BP (BM-252) to 9200±70BP (BM-1789), hinting that an EPPNB phase may have been included in the Jericho PPNA (Gopher 1996, 152; Figure 3.2)50, a claim disputed by Kuijt (1997).

The PPNA plant assemblage (Hopf 1983) is very small (approximately 100 identifications, including 46 fig seeds). The identifications of emmer (Triticum dicoccum) and einkorn wheat, two-row hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare var. distichum), lentil, and perhaps chickpea (Cicer arienatum) as domesticates in the PPNA depend on the assumed natural distributions of the wild ancestors of these crops, as well as on seed and chaff morphology. Since these plants would not naturally have grown at Jericho, it is argued, their recovery implies that they were cultivated there51. Moreover, chaff was used to temper mudbricks (suggesting a local source of cereals, rather than long-distance transport), and morphologically the cereals appeared to be domestic varieties, not their wild ancestors (Hopf 1983, 578). Kenyon argued that the absence of wild ancestors of the domestic cereals implied that farming began elsewhere, and the PPNA inhabitants

50 Three of the four samples from level VIIIB, attributed to the PPNA, gave MPPNB results (GL-39, GL- 40, and GL-43; ca 8300–7500 cal BC), while the fourth (GL-46) dated to the Pottery Neolithic. Kenyon (1979, 26–27) dated the PPNA phase to 10,000–9000BP, equivalent to ca 9300–8200 cal BC.

47 were migrants who brought with them ‘grain that had already produced the mutations that made them more suitable for agriculture’ (Kenyon 1979, 27). Faunal evidence from Jericho (Clutton- Brock 1971) indicates a complete reliance on hunting; there was ‘no osteological evidence’ of animal domestication in the PPNA (ibid, 54). Gazelle accounted for 37 percent52 of the ‘total meat source’, supplemented by wild boar, wild cattle, and wild goat (bezoar, not ibex; ibid, 46, 54).

There clearly was a large population at Jericho in the PPNA. Kenyon (1979, 28) estimated that the densely-occupied 4ha site housed 2000 people, while Dorrell (1978) suggested that the PPNA settlement had at least 400 inhabitants, and perhaps as many as 3000. A population of this order presumably depended on cultivated crops and practised irrigation, which implies some form of communal planning. This is also manifest in the construction of the tower and walls around the settlement (Kenyon 1979, 28–29). The PPNA phase probably spans ca 9500–8300 cal BC, and the more impressive achievements of the PPNA may date to the mid-late ninth millennium53.

The site of Gilgal I, 15km north of Jericho (Noy et al 1980; Noy 1989), yielded five radiocarbon results (Kuijt and Bar-Yosef 1994), ranging from 9900±220BP (Pta-4588; 9750–9200 cal BC) to 9710±70BP (Pta-4585; 9290–8800 cal BC). Excavations in the 1970s produced bones of various waterfowl and woodland mammals that are no longer found in the region. During the 1994 season, stored wild barley and oats were recovered (Bar-Yosef and Gopher 1997). No subsistence data or credible radiocarbon results are available from Salibiya IX, a small Khiamian site 200m from Gilgal, despite careful excavation (Enoch-Shiloh and Bar-Yosef 1997). A surface scatter of lithics at Ein Suhin, 12km north of Gilgal I and Salibiya IX, was identified as a PPNA or early PPNB site (Nadel et al 2000). A number of cup-hole mortars, visible on the modern surface, may have been used to grind plant foods. Gesher, a Sultanian site in the north Jordan Valley, produced four radiocarbon results (Garfinkel and Nadel 1989) between 10,020±100BP (Pta-4553, 10150– 9250 cal BC) and 9790±140BP (RT-868b, 9800–8700 cal BC). No subsistence data are available.

Netiv Hagdud, by contrast, has produced a wealth of data (Bar-Yosef and Gopher 1997; Tchernov 1994). This site, like Gilgal I and Salibiya IX, is located on the edge of the Salibiya basin, which probably contained an ephemeral lake at the time. The 1.5ha mound, excavated from 1983 to 1986, is intermediate in size between Gilgal I and Jericho. It is arguable that that the site was occupied for at least 400 years, between 9300 and 8900 cal BC (Figure 3.2).

51 At the time, cultivation was considered synonymous with domestication. 52 How this number was calculated is unclear. In Clutton-Brock’s ‘final’ report (Clutton-Brock 1979), gazelle accounted for 55% of identified bones in the PPNA, and fox (not reported in 1971) for 24% (although the latter was apparently eaten, its contribution to diet (meat weight) would have been minimal). Excluding carnivores, gazelle accounted for 75% of identified bones in the PPNA, but Clutton-Brock (1979) emphasised that sampling was inadequate, and not directed towards palaeoeconomic reconstruction. 53 Nesbitt (2002, 127) suggests that the PPNA archaeobotanical assemblage came from the later levels of the PPNA phase, which would date it to ca 9400–9200BP (ie to the mid-ninth millennium cal BC).

48 Kislev (1997) found 75 plant taxa in 58 samples taken from Netiv Hagdud. Seeds of edible wild cereals and legumes, including wild barley, wheat, oats (Avena sp.), and lentils, dominated the samples. The smooth disarticulation scars on the barley rachis internodes clearly show that the cereal was morphologically wild. Fruit and nut remains included fig, almond, pistachio, acorn (Quercus sp.), wild grape (Vitis sylvestris), and perhaps raspberry (Rubus sp.). Of these, only fig nutlets were found frequently. No flax (Linus sp.) or olive (Olea sp.) remains were found, but three species of Boraginaceae were identified as potential sources of vegetable oil. Various other species may have been gathered for their leaves. Several taxa identified at Netiv Hagdud would subsequently become weeds of cultivation. Kislev concluded that it was not possible to say whether the cereals and pulses were gathered from the wild, or if they were cultivated without morphological domestication.

The site of Hatoula, in the hills west of Jerusalem, was excavated between 1980 and 1988 (Lechevallier and Ronen 1994). Four radiocarbon results were obtained, on samples of burnt bone (Valladas and Arnold 1994). Two of these samples were from the Sultanian phase: 10,030±140BP (GifA-91360, 10,400–9200 cal BC) and 8890±120BP (GifA-91138, 8300–7600 cal BC). Although neither date is in Period I, they suggest that Hatoula may have been occupied at ca 9000 cal BC. The site reached a maximum size of 0.2–0.3ha. A rich bone assemblage (Davis et al 1994) includes 21 mammal taxa, 17 fish species, about 35 species of birds, and unidentified reptiles. In the later phases, more of the gazelle bones are from juveniles, and adult gazelle bones appear to be smaller, suggesting intensive exploitation. The reliance on marine fish is surprising.

No plant macrofossil data are available, but five loci were sampled for phytoliths (Miller Rosen 1994). Only one of these samples came from a Sultanian context. Like the earlier samples, it includes multi-celled phytoliths from cereals as well as rushes. This indicates, at least, that cereals were available to the inhabitants. It is not clear, however, that these were used by humans, rather than collected by ants or rodents. Analysis of Hatoula’s glossed sickle blades, however (Anderson 1994), suggests that dense stands of wild cereals were harvested from the Natufian onwards. While the Sultanian blades are more worn than those of earlier phases are, it appears that the cereals were still harvested when slightly green. This implies that wild varieties, the rachis of which would shatter if harvested late, were still being used.

Other potential Period I sites in the southern Levant include Nahal Oren and Sefunim, south of Haifa (Stekelis and Yizraely 1963; Ronen 1984); ’Ain Darat, in the Judean desert (Gopher 1995, 1996), and Nahal Lavan 108, in the western Negev (Bar-Yosef and Gopher 1997). These are small villages (less than 0.1ha) that were probably occupied by hunter-gatherers. Horvat Galil, a 2ha site in the Upper Galilee, has produced two radiocarbon results at the end of Period I (9340±70BP, 8790–8320 cal BC; 8950±100BP, 8300–7700 cal BC), and is claimed to be an EPPNB site (Gopher 1996). No analysis of plant macrofossils is reported, but cereal phytoliths were identified.

49 All animal bones appeared to be of wild species, primarily gazelle. The undated site of Mujahiya, in the Golan Heights, also attributed to the EPPNB, probably covered 3-5ha, but may still have been reliant on foraging (Gopher 1996). A very small bone sample (21 identified specimens) indicates the importance of gazelle hunting; no plant data were recovered (Gopher 1990). Abu Madi I, in the central Sinai, seems to have been a seasonal camp used by hunter-gatherers (Bar- Yosef and Gopher 1997). In each case, there is little or no published information about subsistence behaviour.

The original excavation of Tell Aswad, close to Damascus (de Contenson 1995), yielded four radiocarbon results in Period I, ranging from 9730±120BP (Gif-2633, 9600–8650 cal BC) in Phase Ia to 9270±120BP (Gif-2371, 9100–8200 cal BC) in Phase Ib (Kuijt and Bar-Yosef 1994). Renewed excavations at Aswad (Stordeur and Abbès 2002) suggest that the earliest phase was somewhat later than this. There was no evidence of fishing, but hunting of gazelle, boar, equids, red deer, and water birds was clearly important. There is some evidence that goats were managed, if not domesticated (Ducos 1993). Domestic varieties of emmer wheat, pea, and lentil are attested in Phase Ia, as well as wild54 barley, pistachio, fig, caper (Capparis sp.) and almond.

According to de Contenson, Phase Ia at Tell Aswad corresponds to Phase III at Mureybet, in northern Syria, which has eleven radiocarbon results between 9970±115BP (P-1220) and 9490±120BP (P-1224); Mureybet IVa, which has three radiocarbon results running from 9600±150BP (MC-861) to 9030±150BP (MC-863), is comparable to Aswad Ib (de Contenson 1995). After calibration, Mureybet III can be dated from ca 9500 to 8800 cal BC, with Phase IVa ending perhaps as early as 8500 cal BC. All bones from Mureybet were of wild animals. The only cereals recovered from Phases III and IVa were wild two-seeded einkorn and wild barley. Isolated grains of domestic emmer and six-row barley (Hordeum vulgare var. vulgare) are thought to be intrusive (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1984b). It is significant that no einkorn chaff and almost no barley chaff was found, which suggests that the grains were gathered at some distance from the site, not cultivated locally (in contrast to the evidence from Netiv Hagdud). Nevertheless, cereal grains were much more common in phases III and IV than in phases I and II (the terminal Natufian), perhaps due to a climatically-induced extension of the range of wild cereals. Lentils were somewhat more common in phases III and IVa than previously, but still described as morphologically wild.

Recent excavations at Jerf al Ahmar, 40km upstream of Mureybet, have produced eleven radiocarbon results, in the range 9800–9100BP (Willcox 2002, 55), coinciding entirely with Period I. Analysis of plant remains is ongoing, but no domestic cereal varieties have been found.

50 A wide range of edible plant species has been identified, including wild rye/einkorn (Secale sp./Triticum boeticum/urartu) and barley, as well as lentil, bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia), and perhaps pea (Pisum sp.), as well as seed-cakes of wild mustard (Brassica/Sinapis)55. A diverse ‘weed assemblage’ was also recovered, consistent with the cultivation of wild cereals and/or pulses, but all faunal remains were of wild animals (mainly gazelle and equids; Willcox 2002, 55–56). The slightly later site of Dja’de el Mughara, 30km further upstream, yielded eight radiocarbon results (Coqueugniot 1998) in the range 9610±170BP (Ly-5821, 9400–8450 cal BC) to 8990±100BP (Ly-6166, 8450–7800 cal BC). An even wider range of wild plant foods was found, but, with the possible exception of emmer wheat, there were no domestic cereal varieties (Willcox 2002, 55–6).

The plant remains from Qermez Dereh, a 0.5ha mound west of Mosul in northern Iraq, are also thought to represent wild species. These include wild einkorn and barley, pistachio, lentils and vetch (Vicia sp.). Five radiocarbon results run from 10,115±95BP (OxA-3756, 10,390–9310 cal BC) to 9580±95 BP (OxA-3754, 9250–8630 cal BC; Nesbitt 200256). Wild cereals and pulses also dominate an archaeobotanical assemblage from M’lefaat (Savard et al 2003), a contemporary site east of Mosul57.

3.1.1 Summary of evidence at ca 9000 cal BC

Evidence for plant domestication in the later PPNA and the early PPNB is limited, and evidence for animal domestication is non-existent (but see Rosenberg et al 1998). Wild cereal and pulse varieties may have been cultivated to some degree, particularly at sites located at the dryer margins of the Levant, where these crops were scarce under natural conditions. It is possible to argue that lentils and bitter vetch were morphologically domesticated during Period I, since the diagnostic smooth seed coat of domestic pulses is almost never preserved archaeologically. The identification of domestic rye (Secale cereale) in the Natufian at Abu Hureyra, near Mureybet, (Hillman 2000, Hillman et al 2001), remains problematic. Although rye continued to be grown at Abu Hureyra in the Neolithic, it was not widely adopted elsewhere in the Levant58. Emmer and einkorn, barley, and the pulses, however, were staple crops throughout Levantine prehistory.

54 In Phase Ia, the majority of barley rachis internodes are of the brittle (ie wild) type, but most grains are apparently of the domestic variety, indicating a semi-domesticated crop (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982, 204, table 18). 55 One of these dated to 9620±60BP (Ly-1579/GrA-19340; 9220–8810 cal BC; Willcox 2002, 60). 56 A sixth result, OxA-3753 (11,990±100BP; 13,370–11,690 cal BC) was rejected as anomalously early (Nesbitt 2002). 57 Although the authors drew no conclusion about the wild or domestic status of barley at M’lefaat, the size distribution of barley grain fragments (Savard et al 2003, figure 5) is comparable to that at Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2 (Figure 7.1). No barley chaff was identified at M’lefaat. 58 Three charred grains of what Hillman believed was domestic rye were individually dated to the Epipalaeolithic (OxA-8719: 10,610±100BP; OxA-6685: 10,930±120BP; OxA-8718: 11,140±100BP), consistent with the deposit in which they were found. Their identification as domesticates has not been

51 The PPNA finds of ‘domestic’ wheat varieties at Jericho, ’Iraq ed-Dubb and Tell Aswad still require explanation. In Anatolia, domestic einkorn may have appeared before 9500BP (van Zeist 1972; Heun et al 1997), but its discovery in even earlier contexts in the southern Levant appears anomalous. Emmer wheat, however, was probably domesticated in the Levant. The early finds of ‘domestic einkorn’ at Jericho may be unusually-shaped grains of emmer. Evidence for domestic emmer in Period I is far from convincing. Tell Aswad, it appears, is not as early as previously thought (Stordeur and Abbès 2002)59. The Jericho PPNA assemblage is small, and could conceivably date to after 8500 cal BC. The ’Iraq ed-Dubb assemblage dates to the tenth millennium cal BC, but contains no domestic cereal chaff.

On the other hand, recent discoveries in Cyprus are challenging the view that agriculture was not practised in Period I. Before 8000 cal BC, the coastal site of Kissonerga-Mylouthkia had what appear to be domestic varieties of glume wheats and hulled barley, as well as other Neolithic ‘founder crops’ that must have been introduced from the mainland of southwest Asia (Peltenburg et al 2001, 40, 42–45). These finds, together with a range of introduced animal species (idem), suggest that mixed farming and herding was already an established subsistence strategy on the mainland in the middle of the ninth millennium cal BC.

3.2 Period II: 8200–7600 cal BC

The 8000 cal BC snapshot date falls on a plateau in the calibration curve between 8300 and 7600 cal BC (ca 9000–8700BP; Figure 1.1). Period II is almost exactly coterminous with the Middle PPNB (Rollefson 1998).

It appears that no site in Jordan occupied at 9000 cal BC was still occupied 1000 years later, with the possible exception of Wadi Jilat 7, whose ‘Early PPNB’ phase is not dated. West of the Jordan, only Jericho was apparently occupied at both 9000 and 8000 cal BC, although even it was abandoned for a considerable length of time between its PPNA and PPNB phases (Kenyon 1979, 31). The settlement pattern is strikingly different in the two periods: Period I sites are practically unknown in the Jordanian highlands and eastern desert, while there are almost no known Period II sites in the east Jordan Valley, Dead Sea plain or Wadi Arabah.

The one apparent exception to this is Ghwair I, in the Faynan region of the Wadi Arabah. Situated at about 300m above sea level, the 0.6ha site has been under excavation since 1996 (Simmons and

universally accepted by archaeobotanists, however, due to the absence of domestic rye chaff in Epipalaeolithic levels, and the tendency of wild grains to swell, when charred, to the size of domestic grains. Nesbitt (2002, 119), on the other hand, accepted the identification of these grains but queried the accuracy of the radiocarbon results, suggesting that intrusive domestic grains from overlying Neolithic strata were found in the Epipalaeolithic levels.

52 Najjar 1998, 91–92). Existing radiocarbon results support ‘an early Middle PPNB placement during the mid-eighth to early ninth millennium cal BC (calibrated)’ (Simmons and Najjar 1999, 32). All eight published results (Simmons and Najjar 1998, 99) fall in Period II (Figure 3.3). Several early potsherds from the site may indicate a later (Pottery Neolithic) phase of occupation (ibid, 92). Subsistence data are not yet published, but organic preservation is said to be excellent, with charred wood, barley, emmer wheat, pea, and Pistacia nuts identified (ibid, 98). The faunal remains include bones of caprines (sheep and/or goats), cattle, pigs, birds, and a species of cat (idem). It is unclear which of these, if any, were domesticates.

Four or five excavated sites in central and eastern Jordan can be dated to Period II. Other sites are known only from surface collections of artefacts during surveys, and these cannot be attributed to a period more precise than the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (Rollefson 1998, 109). The first MPPNB site to be excavated in Jordan was Beidha, in the southern highlands (Kirkbride 1966). Seventeen radiocarbon results (Kuijt and Bar-Yosef 1994; Figure 3.3) run from 9130±105BP (P-1380, 8700– 7950 cal BC) to 8545±100BP (P-1379, 7950–7300 cal BC). Animal bones from the site were studied by Perkins (1966) and Hecker (1975). Over 85 percent of these were of two types of goat, the bezoar (the wild ancestor of domestic goats) and the ibex. Although the bones were of wild animals, the kill pattern reflected some level of ‘cultural control’ over the bezoar60. Gazelles, wild boar, aurochs, onagers, and other species were also hunted (Kirkbride 1985, 121). Plant remains from Beidha have been described by Helbaek (1966) and Colledge (1994; 2001, tables 6.9, 6.10). These include impressions in mudbrick of grains and chaff of domestic einkorn and emmer wheat, and of hulled and naked barley. Carbonised remains include pulses (lentil and bitter vetch), fig seeds, and large quantities of Pistacia nutshells. Most plant remains are from the earliest building phase, and seem to indicate the intentional cultivation of wild barley (Kirkbride 1985, 120).

Two excavation seasons were conducted in 2000 and 2001 at the PPNB site of Shaqarat Mazyad, 13km north of Petra (Rehhoff Kaliszan et al 2002). The site was originally identified by Kirkbride, during the excavation of Beidha, and surveyed again by Gebel in 1984 (Gebel 1988). The extent of the site was not defined. No radiocarbon results are yet available. Lithic technology (‘bidirectional blade cores mostly of a semi-naviform type’) and typology (‘arrowheads consist of mostly Jericho or Jericho/Byblos transitional forms’) indicate a PPNB occupation. The use of ‘a very fine and good quality lime plaster’ in the earlier phase, however, is consistent with PPNB building techniques. A second phase includes sub-rectangular buildings. A small sample of the animal bones from the two seasons has been analysed. It is dominated by sheep/goat, with most

59 Individual grains of emmer from the earliest strata of the new excavations are to be radiocarbon-dated (George Willcox pers comm 2003). 60 The assemblage was dominated by bones of 2–3 year old animals, indicating an efficient off-take of the animals with the most meat.

53 specimens regarded as domestic, although some larger (wild) types are also present. Other taxa include cattle, equid, gazelle, fox, and wolf. The importance of hunting is emphasised by the abundance of arrowheads, which accounted for over 20 percent of the lithic assemblage. No botanical data are available.

’Ain Ghazal, on the northern outskirts of Amman, is probably the best-known prehistoric site in Jordan. Excavations since the early 1980s have uncovered a continuous occupation sequence lasting perhaps 2500 years, from the MPPNB to the Yarmoukian phase of the Pottery Neolithic (Rollefson et al 1992). Forty-two published radiocarbon results (ibid, table 1) include twenty-two in the 9200–8500BP range (Figure 3.3). The site grew from 2.0ha to over 4.5ha in this period (Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1989, 75). A rich record of subsistence data is still in the process of publication (idem; Köhler-Rollefson 1988; Köhler-Rollefson et al 1993; Neef 1997; Wasse 1997; 2002) and these data cannot always be separated into phases.

From the outset, it appears that ’Ain Ghazal was an agricultural village. Domestic goats accounted for about half of the animal bones and estimated meat weight in the MPPNB phase; a diverse assemblage of wild fauna testifies to the importance of hunting (Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1989, 75; Wasse 200261). Plant remains were well preserved. The major crops in the MPPNB samples were peas and lentils, domestic wheat (probably emmer), hulled barley, and chickpeas. Figs, almonds, and Pistacia were gathered (Rollefson et al 1985, 96–104; Rollefson and Simmons 1985, table 12; Rollefson et al 1992, 453; Rollefson 1998, 105).

Wadi Shu’eib, southwest of Salt, was also occupied from the MPPNB to the Pottery Neolithic (Simmons et al 2001). Of ten radiocarbon results published (ibid, 28), five or six fall in Period II, although only three of these were from MPPNB strata (Figure 3.4)62. The 1988-89 test excavations covered about 30m2, but ‘MPPNB deposits were not reached’ in the largest trench, Area II (ibid, 6–7). Consequently, little is known about this phase. Only eleven identified animal bones (one bird; the rest sheep/goat or indeterminate small ruminant) were reported for the MPPNB, less than 1% of the total assemblage (ibid, 25 and table 8). No identifiable plant remains were found in eighteen archaeobotanical samples (ibid, 25). The site was estimated to cover ‘between 14 and 30 acres’ (ibid, 5; ie 6–12ha), but this was the maximum extent of the site, not its area during the MPPNB.

Jilat 7, in the Azraq basin, is primarily an MPPNB site (Garrard et al 1994), with two radiocarbon results in Period II (Figure 3.4). Approximately 0.2ha in area, the site has been interpreted as a seasonal hunting camp, in view of the lithic assemblage, which is dominated by arrowheads

61 Wasse (2002) has made a strong case, based on morphology and mortality patterns, that most, but not all, goat remains in the MPPNB were derived from a domestic population.

54 (Colledge 1994, 82–83). All animal bones are of wild species, mainly hare, gazelle, and fox (Garrard et al 1994, table 7). Colledge analysed twenty-one archaeobotanical samples from the MPPNB phases, which provided one of the richer published assemblages of plant remains from any prehistoric site in Jordan (Colledge 1994, table 5.6; 2001, table 6.4). The list includes grains of wild and domestic emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, barley, several pulses, Pistacia nutshells, fig nutlets, and a wide variety of wild or weedy plants, particularly those of steppe and desert environments. A Period II radiocarbon result was also obtained from the site of Wadi Jilat 26 (Figure 3.4). A limited bone assemblage (12 identifications) includes only hare, gazelle, and fox (Garrard et al 1994, table 8). Ten archaeobotanical samples yielded only charcoal (ibid, table 12).

The Jericho stratum which defined the PPNB is now generally treated as a Middle PPNB phase, and the radiocarbon results largely bear this out (Figure 3.4), even if some results are out of stratigraphic sequence (Kuijt and Bar-Yosef 1994, 233). Subsistence data are available, but some metrical data were attributed to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic as a whole, not to the PPNA or PPNB phases. There is evidence that goat domestication was underway in the PPNB: the proportion of bones in the assemblage attributed to caprines63 increased sharply, and the first twisted horn cores appeared (Clutton-Brock 1971, 50)64. Three bones were tentatively identified as sheep, rather than goat. At the time, wild sheep were not considered native to the southern Levant and the appearance of sheep bones in the PPNB was considered evidence of their domestication (ibid, 52). It remains likely that domesticated sheep were introduced to the southern Levant by ca 7000 cal BC, if not earlier (Wasse 2002; Horwitz 2003). From the PPNB onwards, caprines were the primary food animals at Jericho (ibid, 53). Gazelle formed only 18 percent of the ‘total meat source’ in the PPNB, although exploitation of wild boar peaked at the same time, and wild cattle were also hunted (ibid, 46, 55). Hunting remained the main source of animal protein, but it appears that herding was practised.

Again, the Jericho archaeobotanical assemblage is probably unrepresentative. Archaeological deposits were not sampled systematically, and plant remains were not recovered by flotation (Hopf 1983, 576). The 13 PPNB samples were composed mainly of cleaned crop products, which

62 Although the 3 results from the MPPNB phase are acceptable, most others are too early or too late for the phase they represent, presumably because the material dated was either residual or intrusive. 63 In the ‘final’ report (Clutton-Brock 1979), 50% of identified bones from PPNB contexts were classified as sheep/goat. The category ‘caprine’ includes bones attributed to sheep (Ovis sp.), goats (Capra spp.), and sheep or goat (Ovis/Capra). Most sheep/goat skeletal elements are so similar that they cannot be identified to genus, even under favourable preservation conditions. 64 Wild bezoar goats (Capra aegagrus) have straight, or scimitar-shaped, horns. The proportion of twisted horn cores identified at Jericho increased steadily from two out of twenty-six in the PPNB to a majority in the Middle Bronze Age (Clutton-Brock 1971, 50). Clearly, this was a mutation favoured by domestication, but, like size reduction, the increased incidence of twisted horns was a gradual process. In a region where wild bezoars were hunted until recently, mixed assemblages of wild and domestic goats make it even more difficult to identify the earliest stages of goat domestication.

55 explains the low incidence of cereal chaff and the narrow range of weed species identified (ibid, 577). The absence of fig seeds and Pistacia nutshell fragments from PPNB samples may therefore not be significant. Likewise, the appearance of several potential cultivars (pea, bean, flax, and possibly six-row barley) in PPNB samples and not in the PPNA assemblage need not mean that these were new crops. At face value, however, it appears that the suite of Neolithic ‘founder crops’ was only completed in the PPNB.

All four PPNB radiocarbon results from Yiftah’el, in the lower Galilee (Garfinkel et al 1987; 1988) fall in Period II. Archaeobotanical data from Yiftah’el consist of two caches of pulses: one of 2600 fava beans, the other of an estimated 1.4 million lentils, the latter contaminated by occasional seeds of Galium tricornutum (Kislev 1985). The size of the caches, as well as the presence of a well-known weed of cultivated lentils, suggest cultivation. Faunal remains from the MPPNB levels at Yiftah’el were analysed by Horwitz (1987; 2003). Around half the bones in a large assemblage (N = 1940) were identified as gazelle. Goats accounted for 12% of the assemblage, and pigs (wild boar) and cattle (aurochs) for 7.5% each. These figures would be slightly higher if tortoise shell fragments (11%) were excluded from the total. The goats were morphologically-wild bezoars, but their mortality pattern was consistent with ‘incipient domestication’65. Nevertheless, there was a lower reliance on goats at Yiftah’el than at contemporary sites in the Jordan Valley and the Jordanian plateau (Horwitz 2003).

Desiccated remains of emmer, barley, and lentils were found in PPNB levels of Nahal Hemar cave, in the Judean Desert (Kislev 1988). The most common remains, however, were of Pistacia shells, and several other gathered food plants were identified. In the case of acorns, these must have been carried to the site from over 100km away. None of the food plants (with the possible exception of Citrullus colocynthis, the bitter melon) would have been available locally. Given the excellent preservation of the Nahal Hemar assemblage, the apparent absence of known crop species, such as peas and beans, is probably real. This tends to support the prevailing wisdom that emmer, barley, and lentils were the staple crops of the Neolithic, and that pulses were less important at desert sites than in more humid areas. Unfortunately, plant data from Strata 3 and 4, representing the LPPNB and MPPNB respectively, are combined in the report. Eight radiocarbon results from these strata suggest occupation from 8000 cal BC or earlier to 7300 cal BC or later.

Tell Aswad reached its greatest extent (ca 6ha) in Phase II (de Contenson 1995). Six radiocarbon results from de Contenson’s excavations date Phase II to ca 8200–7500 cal BC. Although domestic emmer remained the most common cereal, einkorn, free-threshing wheat (Triticum durum/aestivum), hulled two-row barley, naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum), and flax

65 Horwitz (2003) equated this ‘initial stage of the domestication process’ with Hecker’s (1975) ‘cultural control’ and Ducos’ (1993) proto-élevage.

56 were also cultivated. Gathered wild plants included pistachio, fig, caper, haws (Crataegus sp.), grape, and raspberry. Cereal and legume pollen were more abundant than in Phase I (Leroi- Gourhan 1979). Meat was procured by hunting gazelle, boar, equids, red deer and water birds, as in Phase I, as well as fallow deer. Goats were managed, but not yet domesticated (Ducos 1993).

Ghoraifé, 10km north of Tell Aswad, is another 6ha mound, test-excavated by de Contenson in 1974 (de Contenson 1995). The earlier Neolithic phase, Phase I, is contemporary with Aswad’s Phase II. Three radiocarbon results from this phase (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982) run from 8710±190BP (Gif-3376, 8300–7350 cal BC) to 8400±190BP (Gif-3374, 8000–6800 cal BC). Eighteen soil samples were analysed for archaeobotanical remains. The Ghoraifé assemblage is similar to that of Aswad II: domestic emmer wheat, two-row barley, pea, lentil, and flax were identified. Chickpea was found, but may not have been a domesticate. Pistacia, fig, and Crataegus were still gathered (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982). Domestic sheep were introduced, but goats were still proto-domesticates, and hunting was still important (Ducos 1993).

Further north, in southeastern Anatolia, the site of Çayönü has an aceramic phase dated ca 9200 to 8700BP (van Zeist and de Roller 1991/92, 67)66. After sixteen excavation seasons, five of which employed an archaeobotanist, it has produced one of the most comprehensive archaeobotanical data sets in the region (van Zeist 1972; Stewart 1976; van Zeist and de Roller 1991/92)67. As such, the Çayönü data illustrate both the potential and the limitations of archaeobotanical research.

Domestic-variety einkorn grain was found from the earliest strata onwards (van Zeist 1972, 9). One- and two-grained subspecies of wild einkorn also occur in all sub-phases (van Zeist and de Roller 1991/92, 76). Wild emmer wheat may have been cultivated at Çayönü during the earliest sub-phases; it is gradually replaced by domestic emmer (van Zeist and de Roller 1991/92, 76)68.

Çayönü is practically unique among early farming sites for the fact that, despite intensive sampling, no evidence of barley cultivation has been recovered. On the other hand, the pulses far outnumber the cereal grains, a dominance that increases over time. Bitter vetch was the most

66 At least 20 14C determinations from Çayönü between 10,000 and 8000BP (Kuijt and Bar-Yosef 1994) appear to date to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. These suggest an aceramic occupation that began before 9000 cal BC, although van Zeist and de Roller (1991/92, 67) place the aceramic phase at 8250–7750 cal BC (their calibration). The site is included in Period II, but attention will focus on the middle sub-phases (basal pit houses, channel houses, cobble-paved houses, cell houses) rather than the earliest sub-phases, which appear to have architectural and archaeobotanical parallels with PPNA and EPPNB sites. Few plant remains were recovered from the latest aceramic sub-phases. 67 Over 300 samples have been analysed. These comments are based on the 239 samples discussed by van Zeist and de Roller (1991/92). 68 The chaff of both emmer and einkorn is invariably of the ‘domestic’ type; that is, without the clean disarticulation scars of brittle-rachis cereals (van Zeist and de Roller 1991/92, 76). This has been interpreted as evidence of pre-domestication cultivation of emmer in the earliest strata (wild-type grains with domestic- type chaff), despite the incidence of wild glume wheat grains throughout the sequence. A more likely explanation is that slightly unripe wild emmer was harvested, and threshed before the ears were completely dry. This does not preclude pre-domestication cultivation.

57 common pulse crop; traditionally regarded as a fodder crop, it must have been consumed by humans, as there were apparently no domestic animals at Çayönü. Wild vetch may have been gathered as a food plant. Peas were also common. One pea from a later context has a smooth seed coat, characteristic of domestic peas, whereas three peas from earlier levels are apparently of the wild variety. Lentils were less common, while chickpeas and grass peas (Lathyrus sp.) may have been occasionally collected in the wild. Flax seeds, pistachios, almonds, acorns, and hackberries (Celtis sp.) were also probably gathered from the wild.

3.2.1 Summary of evidence at ca 8000 cal BC

Agriculture was apparently the basis of subsistence at sites throughout the Levant, even on the desert margin, although plant gathering remained an important supplementary food source. Hunting may still have been the main source of animal protein, but the herding of sheep and goats was widely (if not universally) practised. This is evident in mortality patterns, rather than in morphological changes, and raises the question of whether the less numerous cattle and pigs may not also have been behaviourally domesticated by this time69. Agriculture was based on up to ten or eleven ‘founder crops’ (emmer and einkorn wheat; barley; flax; peas, beans, lentils, bitter vetch, and probably chickpeas and grass peas), but these were probably not all grown everywhere.

At a number of sites, remains of pulses are far more abundant than are those of cereals, a pattern not repeated in later periods (see below). This phenomenon may reflect dietary preferences, but may equally be explained by pre-depositional taphonomy. Early varieties of domestic pulses may have been subject to an additional stage of crop processing (detoxification, for example), in which pulse grains were exposed to fire (and thus to the possibility of preservation by charring)70. Evidence from Jordan is currently fairly limited. The publication of archaeobotanical remains from ’Ain Ghazal and Wadi Ghwair may demonstrate some local variation in the overall picture.

3.3 Period III: 7500–6500 cal BC

The radiocarbon calibration curve includes two plateaus in the period 7500–6500 cal BC (Figure 1.1). The first, ca 7500–7080 cal BC, coincides with the Late PPNB (8500–8000BP; Rollefson 1998, 102). The second, ca 7040–6500 cal BC, coincides with the PPNC (8000–7500BP; idem). A short steep section between ca 8150 and 8000BP (lasting no more than a few decades in calendar years) divides Period III into two halves.

69 In other words, morphological changes (which are lagging indicators of animal domestication) and changes in mortality patterns may be detected if larger samples of cattle and pig bones were available. 70 Another possible factor is the role of domestic animals as vectors for the preservation of plant remains (through the use of animal dung as fuel). Cereal crops may be under-represented in some Period II assemblages, relative to later periods, due to differences in herding practices. It is difficult to identify just how such patterns might have been created, however.

58 Until recently, it was proposed that the population of the southern Levant collapsed after the PPNB (de Vaux 1966; Perrot 1968; Kirkbride 1978, 9; Kenyon 1979, 46). This gap in the archaeological record, referred to as the hiatus palestinien (eg Nissen 1993), began to close as new radiocarbon results became available during the 1970s and 1980s, and it has now ceased to exist (Gopher and Gophna 1993, 303–4)71. The period 8000–7500BP (ca 7000–6500 cal BC) is now recognised as a separate, terminal phase of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, the PPNC (Rollefson and Simmons 1986) or Final PPNB (Évin 1995). The PPNC, as defined at ’Ain Ghazal, ‘represents a time unit’ rather than a discrete material culture, due to ‘the lack of data from other sites which might be linked with Ain Ghazal’ (Gopher and Gophna 1993, 340).

Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson (1993) contend, however, that there are close parallels between the ’Ain Ghazal PPNC remains and equivalent strata at Wadi Shu’eib, and Abu Ghosh, west of Jerusalem. Levels II and III at Beidha also include architecture sufficiently similar to the ’Ain Ghazal corridor houses for Rollefson to dismiss three radiocarbon results (from the same piece of charcoal) that would date these levels to the MPPNB (Rollefson 1998, 116). There also seems to have been an aceramic phase after the LPPNB at Basta (Nissen 1993), although it is undated and insufficiently preserved for comparisons to be made with ’Ain Ghazal.

Sites or strata with material cultures that are intermediate between the PPNB and the Pottery Neolithic have recently been recognised at es-Sayyeh, north of Zarqa (Kafafi et al 1999), Tel ’Ali, in the Jordan Valley (Garfinkel 1994), Atlit-Yam, a submerged site on the Mediterranean coast (Galili et al 1993), and ’Ain Jammam, at the southern end of the Jordanian highlands (Waheeb 1996, 342). PPNC levels may have been ‘unknowingly’ excavated at other sites (Rollefson 1998, 115), such as Abu Ghosh, Beisamun, and Yiftah’el (Garfinkel 1994). PPNB and PPNC data may have been inadvertently combined (particularly during earlier excavations, before the PPNC was recognised), and PPNC strata may have been ephemeral compared to PPNB levels (as may be the case at Basta and ’Ain Jammam). A comparison of subsistence behaviour in the Late PPNB and the PPNC is not yet feasible, and in this study the two phases have been combined.

The Late PPNB is probably the most recognisable archaeological entity in Jordanian prehistory. It features large sites (>10ha), densely occupied by rectilinear stone houses; extravagant use of plaster (including in the treatment of human skulls), and a sophisticated blade-based lithic

71 There are several radiocarbon results in the 8000–7500BP range at Bouqras in northeastern Syria; three at Gritille and one each at Çayönü and Çafer Höyük in southeastern Anatolia; one or two from Ras Shamra in northwestern Syria; two at el-Kowm in central Syria; three at Tell Ramad and two at Nachcharini in southwestern Syria; three at Labweh in Lebanon; one at Jericho and possibly one at Munhata, in the Jordan Valley; and three at Wadi Jilat 13 and one at Burqu’ 27 in eastern Jordan (Kuijt and Bar-Yosef 1994). The northeasterly distribution of these results goes some way towards explaining the hiatus palestinien. More recent publication (cited below) of PPNC-age results from Atlit Yam, Tell ’Ali, Ashkelon, ’Ain Ghazal and Wadi Shu’eib, however, has closed the gap in the southern Levant.

59 industry. By the standards of prehistoric archaeology, excavations have been impressive in scale. Nevertheless, most of this work has taken place only in the last two decades, and few final reports have been published (Rollefson 1998, 110).

One such site is Basta, at the southeastern edge of the southern highlands. The settlement covered 10–14ha (Neef in press, 55). Two radiocarbon results have been published, which indicate occupation in the late eighth millennium cal BC (Figure 3.5), although the ephemeral remains of two post-PPNB phases of occupation were not dated (ibid, 55, 58)72. Plant remains in 110 soil samples from the LPPNB phases were analysed.

Although the incidence of identifiable plant remains was low, a typical suite of Neolithic crop species was recovered: emmer, einkorn, and free-threshing wheat, two-row barley, pea, lentil, and bitter vetch, together with gathered food plants such as Pistacia, almond, and fig, and a range of wild or weedy species (Neef in press, tables 2 and 3). Curiously, although the barley grains were within the size range of the domestic variety, all barley chaff appeared to be of wild barley, a common weed of cereal crops (ibid, 60)73. Nutshell fragments (Pistacia and almond) and wood charcoal (Pistacia and juniper) were easily the most common plant taxa, presumably for taphonomic reasons. Wheat chaff was relatively scarce (ibid, 68).

A large assemblage of animal bones from Basta (Becker 1991) shows that both herding and hunting were vital to subsistence. Over half the bones (by weight) are of domestic sheep or goat, but wild equids, cattle (aurochs), and gazelle are also common. Wild goat (ibex), deer, and boar were found occasionally. Some cattle and pig bones may have been from domestic animals. Neef (1995, 68) concluded: ‘subsistence at Basta seems to have been based on goat and sheep herding, hunting and foraging, and only to a limited degree on plant husbandry’.

Since the excavation of Basta, more Late PPNB sites in the southern highlands of Jordan have been investigated, including Ba’ja, north of Petra (Bienert and Gebel 1998) and ’Ain Jammam, near Ras an-Naqb (Waheeb 1996; Waheeb and Fino 1997), as well as Wadi Fidan 1, in the Faynan region of the Wadi Arabah (Levy et al 1999a). In each case, excavation is either ongoing or recently completed, and only preliminary reports are available. Radiocarbon results and subsistence data have yet to be published. These sites are smaller than Basta, but have well- preserved rectilinear architecture, and are viewed as permanent villages.

Ba’ja, first sounded by Gebel in 1984 (Gebel 1988, 85–86), has been excavated annually since 1997 (Bienert and Gebel 1998; Gebel and Hermansen et al in press). Located 6km north of

72 The latter, Phases 2 and 1, are aceramic ‘early 6th millennium’ (uncal BC; ie early 7th millennium cal BC) and Pottery Neolithic ‘with similarities to the Yarmoukian’ respectively (Neef in press, 58).

60 Beidha, at 1100m above sea level, the site covers ca 1ha (Bienert and Gebel 1998, 77, 80). Architectural remains are similar to those at Basta, and there is evidence that sandstone rings were produced ‘on an industrial scale’ (ibid, 81, 84). Preliminary reports indicate that bones of wild and domestic goat, aurochs, an equid, two gazelle species, wild boar, hare, hedgehog, hyrax, fox, and possibly domestic sheep were identified (ibid, 86). Plant remains were not well preserved (Reinder Neef pers comm 1998). Food plants identified in the 1997 season included Pistacia, Crataegus, fig, and some chaff of emmer wheat (Bienert and Gebel 1998, 87). Unlike most PPNB villages, Ba’ja is not located beside permanent water sources or arable land (Gebel 1988, 85).

’Ain Jammam, investigated during road works in 1995, was described as ‘a semi-permanent farming settlement’ (Waheeb 1996, 340). Attention focussed on the typical LPPNB rectilinear architecture, but the site was also apparently occupied in the PPNC and the Pottery Neolithic (ibid, 342). No radiocarbon or subsistence data were published (Waheeb and Fino 1997).

Wadi Fidan 1 was first sounded in 1989 (Adams 1991, site 008). The site covers an area of ca 1ha, and has well-preserved stone architecture and characteristic LPPNB lithics (ibid). Domestic goat and sheep bones were identified, as well as unspecified cattle bones (Colledge 1994, 100; Richardson 1997). Several archaeobotanical samples from that excavation were analysed by Colledge (1994; 2001: ‘Wadi Fidan Site A’). A 350-m2 area of the site was excavated in 1999, as part of the Jebel Hamrat Fidan project (Levy et al 1999a, 3). New archaeobotanical data from Wadi Fidan 1 will be presented in this thesis.

A larger LPPNB settlement has been excavated at as-Sifiyya, in the Wadi Mujib (Mahasneh 1997). The site is estimated to cover up to 12ha. No radiocarbon results are available, but the architecture and lithics at as-Sifiyya have parallels at Basta, ’Ain Jammam, and Ba’ja (ibid, 227, 230, 231). Subsistence data are also unpublished, but are said to include finds of einkorn wheat and two-row barley, as well as bones of domestic sheep and goats, and wild cattle, pig, and other hunted species (ibid, 232). It is assumed that this was a permanent village of farmers and herders.

The site of al-Basit, within the town of Wadi Musa, is also thought to have been a Late PPNB village, of 5–10ha (Fino 1998, 103). Architectural remains exposed during rescue excavations in 1997 are similar in style to the buildings at Basta and Ba’ja (ibid, 106–107). No subsistence data are available.

Khirbet Hammam, an unexcavated site in the Wadi Hasa, has rectilinear architecture similar to that found in the LPPNB phases at ’Ain Ghazal (Rollefson and Kafafi 1985). A small sample of stone tools, however, contains few diagnostic pieces. The settlement is estimated to have covered

73 Note that all the barley chaff came from a single sample that contained no barley grains, which tends to suggest that the grains and chaff were not from the same plants. Otherwise, Basta might represent a case of ‘pre-domestication cultivation’ 2000 years later than sites such as ZAD2.

61 2–4ha. Located beside a spring and the Wadi Hasa floodplain, it may have been a farming village. No radiocarbon results or subsistence data are available (ibid).

The recently re-excavated site of ’Ain Abu Nekheileh, in Wadi Ram (Henry et al 1999), is also thought to date to the Late PPNB (Kirkbride 1978, 9), although radiocarbon results are not yet available. No subsistence data have been published. The site has both curvilinear and rectilinear architecture, in several building phases (idem). The rectilinear buildings appear to be later than the round buildings (Henry et al 1999, 3). Grinding stones, presumably used to process plant foods, are common, but no sickle blades were found during the earlier excavations. This does not preclude some agriculture, as cereal crops may be harvested by hand (Kirkbride 1978, 9). Hunting was a major subsistence activity, judging by the incidence of arrowheads (idem). Henry et al (1999, 3) suggest that the inhabitants of ’Ain Abu Nekheileh were pastoralists, and that sheep/goat herding was a subsistence adaptation developed by local hunter-gatherers.

Two research projects in the 1980s identified a number of Period III sites in eastern Jordan. Two of these were excavated during the Black Desert Survey (Betts 1988, 1993; Betts et al, 1998), Dhuweila, 50km east of Azraq, and Burqu’ 35, 80km northeast of Dhuweila. The Prehistoric Environment and Settlement in the Azraq Basin project sounded two Period III sites in the Azraq basin, Azraq 31 and Wadi Jilat 13 (Garrard et al 1988; 1994).

The LPPNB phases at Dhuweila yielded two radiocarbon results (Betts 1993, 44), which indicate occupation at ca 7400–7200 cal BC (Figure 3.5). The site was interpreted as a hunting camp, associated with the nearby ‘desert kites’ (stone walls used to funnel herds of gazelle into an enclosure where they could be killed). A large assemblage of faunal remains was dominated by gazelle bones, with occasional bones of wild ass, hare, and other small game (Betts 1988, 384; Garrard et al 1996, table 11.1). Five caprine bones were also found in the LPPNB phases, as well as seashells from Mediterranean species (Betts 1993, 45). Colledge (1994, table 5.10; 2001, table 6.7) analysed five small archaeobotanical samples from the LPPNB phases. Fourteen plant taxa were identified, including wild einkorn and wild barley. No domestic species were recorded (ibid, 175–176). Three radiocarbon results from Burqu’ 35 fall in the first half of Period III (Figure 3.5), but material remains from the site have yet to be published (Betts 1993, 44–45).

Azraq 31, on the edge of the Azraq oasis, is a 0.4ha surface scatter of lithics (Garrard et al 1988). The site has an LPPNB phase, which produced two radiocarbon results in the first half of Period III (Figure 3.5). A later phase, which was not dated radiometrically, was described as Late Neolithic (Garrard et al 1988; Colledge 1994; 2001). The later phase was included in a ‘6000– 5000 bc’ (uncalibrated; 7950–6950BP) timespan by Garrard et al (1996, table 11.1; ie between ca 7000 cal BC and ca 6000 cal BC). Both phases were sampled, but only the LPPNB yielded identifiable plant remains (Colledge 1994, 91; 177).

62 Colledge (1994, table 5.11, 177–8; 2001, table 6.8) identified 25 plant taxa in 30 small archaeobotanical samples from Azraq 31. Domestic-type barley and free-threshing wheat were found occasionally, as well as pulses, but the samples were dominated by wild taxa. These included sedges (often said to represent marshy habitats), grass seeds, and a solitary fragment of Pistacia nutshell. In contrast to LPPNB Dhuweila, where nearly all animal bones (97%) were of gazelle, faunal remains in the LPPNB phases at Azraq 31 (Garrard et al 1996, table 11.1) belonged to a range of species: gazelle (39%), equids (25%), cattle (21%), hare (11%), and caprines (4%). In terms of meat weight, cattle and equids clearly predominated. The LPPNB bone assemblage at Azraq 31 is distinctly different to that from the Late Neolithic phase, in which cattle bones are absent, equid bones are less common (6%), caprines are more common (19%) and nine percent of bones are from birds (idem). Apart from the caprines, the LPPNB bone assemblage closely resembles that from the Natufian site of Azraq 18 (ibid, 217). Together with the domestic cereals, the sheep and/or goat bones may attest to contacts between the Azraq area and sites further west.

Wadi Jilat 13, 50km southwest of Azraq, yielded four radiocarbon results (Colledge 1994, 80), all of which fall in the second half of Period III (Figure 3.5), even though the site was designated ‘early Late Neolithic’ (ibid, 83)74. Despite its substantial stone architecture, the 800m2 site is thought to have been occupied seasonally (ibid, 83, 84). A large assemblage of animal bones (N = 2973) includes hare (34%), caprine (27%), gazelle (25%), carnivores (10%), and birds (3%). Equid and cattle bones were extremely rare (Garrard et al 1996, table 11.1). The similarity between this and the Late Neolithic assemblage at Azraq 31 is striking.

Colledge (1994, table 5.8; 2001, table 6.6) analysed a large assemblage of plant remains from Jilat 13, identifying 82 taxa in total (ibid, 173). These included grains and chaff of domestic einkorn, emmer, and barley, as well as straw (culm nodes and culm bases), and the seeds of various species commonly regarded as ‘field weeds’ (idem), which suggest that cereals were cultivated nearby. Pulses were rather rare, and often could not be identified to genus level, although lentils were recorded. Wild food plants were also identified, including fig, Pistacia, caper, and a species of Prunus. For an agricultural site, the incidence of cereal remains was low. The combined faunal and botanical evidence suggest that hunting and gathering were probably more important to subsistence than were farming and herding.

Recent work at Bawwab al-Ghazal, another site in the Azraq oasis (Wilke et al 1998), suggests a mixed economy of herding and hunting. No radiocarbon results are available, but on typological grounds the main occupation dates to the Late PPNB. There are no permanent structures, only

74 Garrard (1999, table 5) included Azraq 31 and Jilat 13 in his ‘6500–5500 bc’ sites, noting that the former was earlier than the latter. Garrard’s period (8450–7450BP) is effectively the same as Period III.

63 alignments of stones that may have anchored tents or reed huts. Hundred of arrowheads, and the bones of waterfowl, gazelle, equids, and perhaps aurochs, testify to the importance of hunting. There are also sheep or goat bones that appear to represent the earliest stages of mobile pastoralism, as caprines should not occur naturally in the region. The presence of exotic imports, and a bead production industry, whose products are found at ’Ain Ghazal, emphasise that the site was not isolated from the larger settlements in western Jordan. Nevertheless, Period III sites in the eastern desert appear to have followed a different subsistence trajectory to those in the Mediterranean zone.

At ’Ain Ghazal itself, the LPPNB strata were damaged by later occupational phases (PPNC and Yarmoukian), but an area of ca 100m2 was exposed in 1993–94. This area contained the remains of a two-storey building that had been destroyed by fire, in which a large quantity of charred peas, lentils, and bitter vetch grains was found (Kafafi and Rollefson 1997). A radiocarbon result from this cache dates the destruction event to 7060–6700 cal BC (AA-5206, 7990±80BP; Figure 3.5). The site doubled in size at the beginning of the LPPNB phase, possibly due to an influx of settlers from abandoned sites elsewhere in the region (Rollefson et al 1992, 446). The site continued to expand during Period III, from an estimated 9.5ha at 8200BP to at least 12.5ha at 7700BP (Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1989, 73; 75) 75. The density of architecture in the PPNC was lower than it had been in the PPNB, however, so that the population may have remained steady (Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1993, 36).

Architecturally, the PPNC phase at ’Ain Ghazal differs significantly from the LPPNB, with the appearance, in one area of the site, of a new type of structure (the ‘corridor building’) that may have been used for storage by seasonally transhumant pastoralists (ibid, 36; 40). The PPNC phase is also characterised by increasingly expedient stone tool production, the end of the practice of skull removal before burial, and a reduction in the manufacture of human and animal figurines. There are fewer sickle blades and grinding stones in PPNC strata (Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1989, 81). On the basis of ecological inferences, ethnographic parallels, and artefactual evidence, a strong case has been made for a significant shift in ’Ain Ghazal’s economy between the LPPNB and the PPNC (ibid; Köhler-Rollefson 1992; Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1989; 1993).

It is difficult to draw firm conclusions, however, because no plant remains were recovered in over 50 flotation samples taken from PPNC levels. The excavators described this absence of evidence as ‘troubling’, considering that plant remains were abundant in earlier strata (Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1993, 35). Moreover, the PPNC faunal sample was rich (N = 2571) and its ‘similarity with the LPPNB sample is remarkably close’ (Köhler-Rollefson et al 1993, 96).

75 The authors suggested uncalibrated dates of ca 6250 and 5750 BC (8200BP and 7700BP); in calendar years, the former lies in the range 7300–7100 cal BC, the latter around 6500 cal BC.

64 The LPPNB and PPNC bone assemblages were both dominated by caprines, which together accounted for around 70 percent of identified specimens in each phase. Pig bones made up 12–13 percent of each assemblage, cattle bones 6–7 percent, gazelle bones 7–8 percent, and equid bones 2–3 percent. No other taxon reached 1 percent of either assemblage, and all other taxa together contributed only 2–3 percent of identified specimens. By contrast, caprine bones made up barely half of the MPPNB assemblage, pig bones only 6 percent and cattle bones 8 percent. Gazelle bones accounted for almost 16 percent of the MPPNB assemblage, and other wild taxa the remaining 19 percent (Köhler-Rollefson et al 1993, table 1)76. These data indicated a surprising degree of continuity from the LPPNB to the PPNC. More detailed analysis showed that the sheep to goat ratio increased from just below parity to more than 2:1, although the age-at-death profile of caprines as a whole was essentially unchanged (Wasse 2002). A minor change in mortality patterns was detected between the MPPNB and LPPNB phases, consistent with a shift towards more extensive pastoralism, although not with a reliance on secondary products (ibid).

No plant remains were obtained from any occupational phase at Wadi Shu’eib (Simmons et al 2001, 25). Most (1119 of 1447) of the animal bones identified at Wadi Shu’eib came from the LPPNB and PPNC phases, and there is little difference between the two assemblages (ibid, table 8). Nearly half were of sheep or goat, and another quarter were of indeterminate small ruminants; gazelle accounted for under six percent of bones. On this basis, most indeterminate small ruminants were probably sheep or goat, so that 70 percent of all bones may have been from caprines. Pigs, presumably wild boar, provided 16 percent of the total, and cattle five percent. Rare taxa included equid, bird, rodent, tortoise, dog, and small carnivores.

Wadi Shu’eib and ’Ain Ghazal are the best-known of the LPPNB/PPNC ‘mega-sites’ in northern Jordan, but there are probably others. Large surface scatters of LPPNB-type lithics have been reported near Jerash, at Abu Suwwan (Kirkbride 1958; Simmons et al 1988) and Kharaysin (Edwards and Thorpe 1986). No radiocarbon results or subsistence data have been published from es-Sayyeh, in the upper Wadi Zarqa, although organic preservation is said to be good (Kafafi et al 1999, 12). During the 1990 Wadi Yabis survey season, er-Raheb (WY180), a 5–6ha PPNB site, was identified close to the PPNA site of ’Iraq ed-Dubb, at about 550m above sea level (Palumbo et al 1993, 311; 313). A small sounding in 1992 found artefacts and architectural remains that suggested a late PPNB date (ibid, 314). Although it was noted that most of the bones recovered were of caprines, no subsistence data have been published. No radiocarbon results are available.

76 Wasse’s (2002, tables 1 and 2) ‘adjusted NISP’, based on a ‘minimalist’ approach to quantification, gave slightly different percentages, which do not alter the observation that the LPPNB and PPNC assemblages are very similar to each other, and to the Yarmoukian assemblage, and quite different to the MPPNB assemblage.

65 No LPPNB or PPNC sites have been excavated in the east Jordan Valley, which is surprising, because Period III sites are known on the western side of the valley, including Tel ’Ali and Beisamun (Garfinkel 1999). Phases 3b to 6 at Munhata also appear to date to this period. The Jordanian site closest to the Valley is the recently excavated Tell Rakan I (WZ120), at about 100m above sea level in the Wadi Ziqlab (Banning and Najjar 1999; 2000). Two radiocarbon results, from the LPPNB phase, have been published (Banning et al 1994, 155; Figure 3.5). Archaeobotanical data from the 1999 excavations at Tell Rakan I are presented in this thesis.

There is, unfortunately, a gap in the subsistence record for Israel/Palestine at ca 7000 cal BC. Although recent excavations have filled the chronological hiatus palestinien, they have not yet yielded much useful subsistence data. Garrard’s (1999, table 5) survey did not cite data from any Palestinian site occupied between 6500 and 5500 ‘bc’ (uncalibrated; 8450–7450BP). Horwitz (2003) recently published a small ‘Final PPNB/PPNC’ faunal assemblage (N = 444) from Yiftah’el, consisting mainly of domesticates (47% sheep/goat, 21% pig, 18% cattle).

Radiocarbon results from two aceramic Neolithic sites in Israel/Palestine, at Ashkelon, on the Mediterranean coast, and Tel ’Ali (Khirbet esh-Sheikh ’Ali), in the Jordan Valley, have been published (Garfinkel 1999). Five results (ibid, 2) from Garfinkel’s recent (1997–98) excavations at Ashkelon run from 8000±110BP (OxA-7882) to 7630±65BP (OxA-7881), and imply an occupation spanning ca 7000 to 6500 cal BC. The two acceptable results (ibid, 5) from the PPNC phase (Stratum 2) at Tel ’Ali, from the same pit, are indistinguishable (OxA-7921: 7940±50BP, 7050–6680 cal BC; OxA-7886: 7975±70BP, 7070–6650 cal BC). Tel ’Ali also has an earlier PPNB phase, a Pottery Neolithic (Wadi Rabah) phase, and perhaps two Chalcolithic phases (Garfinkel 1994, 545). It is regrettable that no subsistence data from any of these phases have been published.

In the arid southern Negev, there are three radiocarbon results from the LPPNB phase at Nahal Issaron, Layer C (Goring-Morris and Gopher 1983, 160), which date to ca 7600–7000 cal BC. The Layer C bone assemblage was dominated by goat, with many bird bones and occasional remains of gazelle, equid, and hare, as well as fish vertebrae (ibid, 157–158). Wood charcoal was well preserved, but flotation did not recover any seeds. The ‘large quantities of grinding stones and querns’ were suggestive of plant food processing, but no sickle blades were found. As at ’Ain Abu Nekheileh, subsistence was probably based on a combination of herding, hunting, and gathering (ibid, 161).

Publication of subsistence data from Atlit-Yam, a submerged site off the Mediterranean coast, south of Haifa, is still at a preliminary stage (Galili et al 1993; Zohar et al 2001). The site, now 10m below sea level, would have been situated 500m inland, close to a lagoon (Galili et al 1993, 138; 141; 152). It is estimated to have covered at least 6ha (ibid, 136). Five radiocarbon results

66 (ibid, 139), on wood and seed samples from the upper 10cm of the site, run from 8140±120BP (RT-707: 7550–6700 cal BC) to 7550±80BP (PITT-0622: 6570–6220 cal BC), and date the occupation to at least 7000–6500 cal BC. A small assemblage of mammal bones was dominated by goat (45%) and cattle (43%), with some pig (9%), gazelle (3%), and deer (0.3%). The cattle and goats were morphologically wild, though ‘ “on the verge” of domestication’ (ibid, 148–9; 153; Galili and Nir 1993, 266). A cache of grey triggerfish (Balistes carolinensis), an offshore species, was also identified, leading the excavators to suggest that a specialised fishing industry existed, perhaps in order to trade with inland settlements (Zohar et al 2001).

A large hoard of charred wheat (mainly emmer, but with a small proportion of free-threshing wheat) was also reported at Atlit Yam. It appears to have been grown in marshy fields close to the site (Galili et al 1993, 150–1). Seeds of fig, grape, almond, lentil, and carob (Ceratonia siliqua) were identified, as well as wood fragments of, among others, Pistacia, olive, and date (Phoenix dactylifera77; Galili et al 1993, 152). It is significant that the fruits of olive and date have not been reported, particularly in view of the abundant olive fruit remains at nearby Pottery Neolithic sites (ibid, 154). The excavators concluded that ‘the subsistence base … was complex and included farming; possibly some level of incipient herding; and hunting, fishing and gathering’ (idem).

There are published subsistence data from several Period III sites in Syria. Phase II at Ghoraifé, in the Damascus basin, produced one LPPNB date (Gif-3372: 8150±190BP, 7600–6600 cal BC; van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982, table 1). Citing affinities with the first phase at nearby Ramad, de Contenson (1995) dated Ghoraifé’s Phase II to 7500–7000 cal BC78. Domestic sheep accounted for nearly 40 percent of the faunal assemblage in Phase II. Compared to the Phase I assemblage, cattle and pig were more abundant, and gazelle was less common (Ducos 1993, 39).

Analysis of 17 Phase II flotation samples (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982) produced a slightly different assemblage to that from Phase I: cereal remains were more abundant, and included domestic einkorn and free-threshing wheat, as well as emmer, naked barley, hulled two-row barley, pea, and flax (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982, tables 9, 10). Chickpea, lentil, fig, and Crataegus were not found in Phase II samples, and Pistacia remains were less common than in Phase I79. Several ‘weed’ taxa were much more common in Phase II samples. The Phase II assemblage was larger overall, which suggests that the near-absence of gathered plant foods in Phase II is more significant than the apparent absence of several field crops and weeds in Phase I (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982, 237).

77 According to a more recent report (Kislev et al 2004), the date taxon represented was probably Phoenix theophrasti, not P. dactylifera. The latter is not native to the Levant, and was probably introduced to the region as a cultivar during the fourth millennium cal BC. 78 Calibration in the original. 79 Pistacia fragments occur in 16 of the 18 Phase I samples, but in only 5 of the 17 Phase II samples.

67 Tell Ramad, 20km southwest of Damascus, has six radiocarbon results (van Zeist and Bakker- Heeres 1982, table 1), all of which fall in Period III. Two phases at Ramad, each with three radiocarbon results, correspond to the LPPNB and PPNC, with a transition that coincides with the steep section of the calibration curve between 7100 and 7000 cal BC80. A third, Pottery Neolithic, phase was found in one area of the site; typologically, the hand-made pottery ‘points to the end of the 6th millennium BC’ (uncalibrated, ie after ca 7500BP; ibid, 173). Ramad’s Phase III thus does not belong in Period III81. The tell, situated on a basaltic plateau at 900m above sea level, covers an area of less than 3ha. Eight excavation seasons took place between 1963 and 1973.

During the 1965 season, 172 archaeobotanical samples were taken from all phases of the site. Of these, 13 samples from Phase I and 28 samples from Phase II were ultimately analysed (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982, 177; tables 5, 7)82. As at Ghoraifé, the Ramad Phase II samples are much larger than the Phase I samples, with 9–10 times as many seeds per unit volume (ibid, 236). Consequently, many of the 80-odd taxa identified at Ramad were found only in Phase II samples.

The assemblage was dominated by cereal remains, particularly glume wheat chaff. Domestic emmer was the main wheat type, but domestic einkorn and free-threshing wheat were also found in many samples. Barley was found frequently, but in smaller quantities than wheat. Both wild and domestic forms were identified, as well as occasional naked barley. Flax, peas, and lentils occurred in most samples, and chickpeas were found regularly. There were also occasional finds of grass pea and bitter vetch. Gathered food plants included Pistacia, Crataegus, almond, and fig, each found frequently, as well as pear (Pyrus sp.; van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982, tables 5,7).

In Lebanon’s Beqa’a Valley, there are three radiocarbon results from the lower, aceramic phase at Labweh (Kuijt and Bar-Yosef 1994), which Kirkbride (1969) compared to Phase II at Ramad. The calibrated dates fall in the range 7100–6500 cal BC. The upper phase at Labweh, comparable to Ras Shamra Vb, may extend into Period IV; Kirkbride also compares it to the Yarmoukian and Pottery Neolithic A of the southern Levant. No subsistence data are available. Copeland (1969, 87–88) recorded several other sites in the south-central Beqa’a Valley that appeared to be contemporary with Labweh.

80 At the time that Ramad was excavated, the PPNC had not been defined, and Phases I and II were both assigned to the Late PPNB (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982, 173). Phase II is now considered to belong to the PPNC (Garfinkel 1994, 558). 81 It is, in any case, difficult to use the Phase III subsistence data, as van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres (1982, 180) note that due to mixing, ‘part, if not most of the charred vegetable material in these (Phase III samples) … is of phase II origin’. 82 The samples chosen for analysis were selected on the basis of stratigraphic integrity and richness, in order to obtain a clear vertical sequence; no attempt was made to find spatial (horizontal) patterns (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982, 177; 181).

68 The earliest levels (Phase Vc) at Ras Shamra, on the Mediterranean coast of northwestern Syria83, also date to Period III. Between 1962 and 1976, de Contenson dug a sounding through the tel, excavating 15m of deposits dating from the aceramic Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1984a, 151). Three radiocarbon results from Phase Vc, the aceramic Neolithic, apparently date it to ca 7500–7000 cal BC84. One result from Phase Vb (P-458, 7685±110BP) has a calibrated date range of 6900–6200 cal BC, but the end of Phase Vb is bounded by the beginning of Phase Va at ca 6400 cal BC85. Phases Vc and Vb are included in Period III.

Thirty-one archaeobotanical samples from these phases, collected in 1975 and 1976, have been analysed (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1984a, tables 3, 4). Compared to samples from later phases, the Vc and Vb samples are relatively poor. The only crop species are emmer wheat, two- row barley, pea, lentil, grass pea, and flax. Einkorn and free-threshing wheat were occasionally found from Phase Va onwards, and their absence in Vc and Vb may simply be due to small sample size (ibid, 166). Fig seeds were found regularly in Vc and Vb, while there were occasional finds of Pistacia, Crataegus, and wild grape. Two aspects of the Vc-Vb assemblage stand out: wild olive stones occurred regularly (the earliest such discovery), and pulses apparently outnumbered cereals, at least in the Vc samples (ibid, 166–167). Again, small sample size may account for the unusual proportions in the early phases.

3.3.1 Summary of evidence at ca 7000 cal BC

In the more humid parts of the Levant, the use of wild resources appears to have declined, despite the fact that the domestic species cultivated in Period III were the same as those used in Period II. Most Jordanian archaeobotanical data are from the eastern desert, where hunting and gathering remained the basis of subsistence at some sites. At Jilat 13, however, domestic cereals were cultivated, and caprine herding was as important as hunting. At sites in the Jordanian highlands, subsistence was apparently based on a combination of farming and herding, with only minor contributions from hunted and gathered resources. Some archaeologists have argued that mobile pastoralism (seasonally transhumant or nomadic) emerged as a separate subsistence strategy during Period III (cf. Martin 2000).

83 The multi-period site is better known as Ugarit, the capital city of the second millennium cal BC kingdom of the same name. 84 One of these results, 9030±400BP (Gif-102), appears too early for a Late PPNB site, but the 95% confidence interval of the calibrated date is 9300–7100 cal BC. 85 There are 3 radiocarbon results from Va, but one (Pta-113: 8000±115BP) is unacceptably early.

69 3.4 Period IV: 6400–5500 cal BC

A short, steep section of the radiocarbon calibration curve between 6500 and 6400 cal BC (ca 7700–7500BP; Figure 1.2) marks the beginning of Period IV. The end of Period IV has arbitrarily been defined as 5500 cal BC (ca 6600–6500BP). The uncalibrated chronology of the Pottery Neolithic in Jordan is loosely defined, compared to that of the aceramic Neolithic, due to a lack of well-dated excavations (Kafafi 1998). Given the role of Jericho in the periodisation of the Neolithic, it is significant that there are no radiocarbon results from the Pottery Neolithic phases of that site. Many of the key Pottery Neolithic sites in the Jordan Valley and on the Mediterranean coast were also excavated in the 1940s and 1950s, without radiocarbon dating (Stekelis 1950-51; Mellaart 1956; de Contenson 1960; Gopher 1993).

Hardly any Jordanian radiocarbon dates fall in Period IV. There are no results from the Yarmoukian phases at ’Ain Ghazal, Wadi Shu’eib, and Tell Rakan, and none from the sites of ash-Shalaf and es-Sayyeh. Single results at ’Ain Rahub and Abu Thawwab are the only published radiocarbon dates from Yarmoukian contexts in Jordan (Figure 3.6) 86.

Seven radiocarbon results from the Yarmoukian type-site, Sha’ar Hagolan, have recently been published (Garfinkel 1999; 2002). The single-period site, at the junction of the Yarmouk and Jordan Rivers, was first excavated by Stekelis from 1948 to 1952 (Stekelis 1950-51; 1972). Garfinkel’s excavations in the late 1990s date the site to ca 6400 to 6000 cal BC (Figure 3.6). Radiocarbon results from the Yarmoukian phases at Munhata and Nahal Qanah Cave, as well as that from ’Ain Rahub, also fall in the late seventh millennium cal BC, perhaps extending a century or two after 6000 cal BC (Figure 3.6). Undated Yarmoukian sites are thus included in Period IV.

The Yarmoukian material culture apparently extended only from northwestern Jordan to the Mediterranean coast (Gopher and Gophna 1993, 315). At ’Ain Ghazal and Wadi Shu’eib, it encountered the Jericho IX, or Pottery Neolithic A (PNA), material culture (Kafafi 1998, 131; Simmons et al 2001, 22). Potsherds of both traditions were found in the same pit at Wadi Shu’eib, suggesting some contemporaneity. The apparent absence of Yarmoukian pottery in Jordan south of Wadi Shu’eib, and of Jericho IX/PNA pottery north of the site, also tend to imply that the two pottery traditions existed side by side. The north-south division of Jordan into two distinct, contemporaneous traditions is mirrored in Israel/Palestine (Garfinkel 1993, 130–1; figure 1)87.

86 Another result from Abu Thawwab (GrN-15192: 5540±110BP; 4700–4000 cal BC) was rejected by the excavator (Kafafi 1993, 105). 87 At Munhata it was suggested that a post-Yarmoukian phase (2B1) represented the Jericho IX/PNA material culture, a theory which now seems improbable (Gopher and Gophna 1993, 318). See below.

70 There are only two radiocarbon results from possible Jericho IX/PNA sites, both of which may date to after 6000 cal BC88. The Jericho IX/PNA material culture probably overlapped chronologically with the Yarmoukian, however. Sherds of pottery apparently made in the Yarmoukian tradition were found in PNA levels at Jericho (Kenyon and Holland 1982, cover plate; Gopher and Gophna 1993, 315)89. Kafafi, who found Jericho IX/PNA sherds at ’Ain Ghazal in a pre-Yarmoukian level, included both cultures in his Late Neolithic 1 (7500–6500BP; Kafafi 1998, 128, 131). There are two Jericho IX/PNA sites in southern Jordan, Dhra’ (Bennett 1980; Kuijt and Chesson 2002) and Khirbet edh-Dharih (Bossut et al 1988).

Several sites in the eastern desert which probably date to Period IV belong to a distinct tradition and lack diagnostic pottery. Three radiocarbon results from Burqu’ 27 fall in Period IV (Figure 3.6). Betts noted five architectural phases, and a lithic sequence ‘from the early Late Neolithic through into a more developed LN toolkit’ (Betts 1993, 45). From the earliest phase, the faunal remains were dominated by bones of caprines, with some gazelle and equid bones (idem), indicating that pastoralism had replaced hunting as the main source of animal protein. Three radiocarbon samples from the ‘early Late Neolithic’ phase at Dhuweila, and the sole sample from the nearby site of Jebel Na’ja, date to the late seventh millennium cal BC; one sample from the upper levels of Burqu’ 3 dates to the early sixth millennium (Figure 3.6). One or two ‘burin sites’ in the Wadi Jilat (Jilat 23 and 24) have not been dated radiometrically, but may have been contemporary with Jebel Na’ja.

The rich faunal assemblage from Dhuweila (N = 8192) indicates a continued reliance on hunting (97% gazelle; Garrard et al 1996, table 11.1), whereas the tiny assemblage at Jebel Na’ja includes sheep, goat, hare, and gazelle (Betts 1993, 50). Betts concluded that Jebel Na’ja, Burqu’ 3, and Burqu’ 27 were seasonal pastoral camps, while Dhuweila was a hunting camp (Betts 1993, 52). Arrowheads are scarce at the pastoral sites, and common at Dhuweila. None of the ‘pastoral’ sites has produced archaeobotanical data. Twelve plant taxa were identified in two small samples from the Late Neolithic phase at Dhuweila (Colledge 1994, table 5.10; 2001, table 6.7). These include wild grasses and small-seeded legumes, but none of the usual food plants, cultivated or gathered. In such a small assemblage (N = 34), the absence of any particular species is insignificant.

The Yarmoukian was the final phase of occupation at both ’Ain Ghazal and Wadi Shu’eib, and suffered most damage from subsequent ploughing and erosion. Yarmoukian remains have been

88 A bone sample from Nizzanim gave a credible result (Hv-8509: 6790±90BP, 5850–5510 cal BC; Gopher and Gophna 1993, table I; Kuijt and Bar-Yosef 1994, 241), but the result on a sample of ashy soil from Givat Haparsa is too late for Period IV (KN-3537: 6100±120BP; 5230–4800 cal BC; Gopher and Gophna 1993, table I). Neither site, strictly speaking, belongs to the Jericho IX/PNA material culture (Garfinkel 1993, 131), and seriation of the sites’ lithic assemblages indicates that they ‘postdate the Jericho PNA’ (Gopher and Gophna 1993, 319). 89 Kenyon, however, equated the Yarmoukian with the later Pottery Neolithic B (Kenyon 1979, 48).

71 found over a 15ha area at ’Ain Ghazal, but buildings in this phase are more dispersed than in earlier phases, suggesting a decline in population (Kafafi and Rollefson 1997). Towards the end of the Yarmoukian phase, rectilinear and apsidal stone structures were replaced by pit-dwellings, perhaps occupied by ‘semi-nomadic pastoralists’ (Kafafi 1993, 105). Such data as are available, however, demonstrate continuity in subsistence behaviour from the PPNC to the Yarmoukian (Rollefson 1993, 96–7). No plant remains were recovered in either phase, and the bone assemblages are very similar. Seventy percent of animal bones were from caprines, nine percent from pigs, seven percent from cattle and six percent each from gazelle and equids (Köhler- Rollefson et al 1993, table 1).

At Wadi Shu’eib, the Pottery Neolithic bone assemblage is also little different to that of the Late PPNB and PPNC phases (Simmons et al, 2001, table 8). The frequency of gazelle bones appears to have declined, but this is probably due to an increase in the number of indeterminate small ruminants. About half the bones were of caprines, nine percent were from cattle and 16 percent from pigs, with occasional gazelle and equid bones. It is unclear what proportion of the caprine, cattle, and pig remains were from domestic animals (ibid, 25). Again, there are no radiocarbon results or archaeobotanical data.

Two other Yarmoukian sites in northern Jordan were sounded during the 1980s. ’Ain Rahub is a Natufian site northeast of Irbid. A Yarmoukian phase of occupation was discovered in a 3m2 sounding dug in 1985 (Muheisen et al 1988, 475). No faunal data are available, but a brief description of the plant remains was published (ibid, 497). Grains of domestic emmer, einkorn and two-row barley were recovered, together with ‘a large quantity’ of glume wheat chaff. Domestic flax was also identified, together with a number of possible field weeds.

Jebel Abu Thawwab is a 6ha Yarmoukian and Early Bronze I site northwest of Amman. A rescue excavation of the site was undertaken after it was bisected by work on the Amman–Jerash road (Kafafi 1988; 2001). Located close to several springs and a perennial stream, the Yarmoukian site appears to have been a mixed farming, herding, and hunting village. Of a small sample of animal bones (N = 125), 68 percent were of caprines, most of which seem to have been domesticates. Gazelle (15%) and cattle (13%) were also important, while there were rare finds of equid, dog, and pig bones. A modest plant assemblage included lentils and emmer wheat, as well as peas and two-row barley; wood charcoal of Pistacia and almond was also identified (Neef 2001).

Recently, small excavations have been carried out at two more Yarmoukian sites in the northern Jordanian highlands. One is es-Sayyeh, mentioned above, a 3ha site in the Wadi Zarqa that was apparently occupied from the PPNB to the Yarmoukian, and perhaps re-occupied during the Chalcolithic (Palumbo and Parenti 1997; Kafafi et al 1999). Excavations in 1997 and 1999 found fragmentary walls and well-built storage pits in the Pottery Neolithic phase, which was attributed

72 to the Yarmoukian on the basis of lithic, rather than ceramic, typology. Organic preservation was said to be good, but subsistence data and radiocarbon results are not yet available (ibid, 11–12).

Ash-Shalaf, a small Yarmoukian site 10km northeast of Irbid (2km from ’Ain Rahub), was excavated over two short seasons in 1998 and 1999 (Bienert and Vieweger 1999; 2000). Remains of several curvilinear stone structures, badly damaged by recent ploughing, were found just below the modern surface. No radiocarbon dating was undertaken, but the predominance of Yarmoukian pottery implies a Period IV date. New archaeobotanical data from ash-Shalaf are presented here.

Three Pottery Neolithic sites have been identified in southern Jordan90. Dhra’, or ’Ain Waida’, is a 0.6ha site beside the PPNA site and spring of the same name; a sounding in 1980 and more recent surface surveys have yielded pottery in the Jericho IX/PNA tradition, but no other data (Bennett 1980; Kuijt and Mahasneh 1995; 1998)91. As discussed above, the Jericho IX/PNA tradition seems to overlap chronologically with the Yarmoukian, and probably falls within Period IV. Ceramics from the Neolithic site at Khirbet edh-Dharih, in the upper Wadi Hasa, are also in the Jericho IX/PNA tradition. The site was only visible in section, where it had been damaged by recent roadworks, precluding an accurate estimate of its extent (Bossut et al 1988). Again, no relevant data are available.

Tell Wadi Faynan, in the Faynan region of the Wadi Arabah, has several occupational phases from the Pottery Neolithic onwards. A figurine found during the Department of Antiquities’ 1988 excavation has parallels at Sha’ar Hagolan and Munhata, suggesting a Yarmoukian date for the earliest phase (although no typically Yarmoukian pottery was found; Najjar et al 1990). All nine radiocarbon results now available, however, are later than the latest dates from Sha’ar Hagolan (Simmons and Najjar 2002)92. There are four radiocarbon results between 7000 and 6500BP from sites in the Wadi Judayid, in southwestern Jordan (Henry 1995). These have been interpreted as seasonal pastoral camps, but no subsistence data that can be attributed to Period IV are available.

Two radiocarbon results in Period IV have recently been published from Pella, in the Jordan Valley (Bourke 2001). The earliest Pottery Neolithic levels are not described as Yarmoukian, but Yarmoukian sherds have been found at the site and the radiocarbon dates (Figure 3.6) are contemporary with the later stages of Sha’ar Hagolan. New subsistence data from Pella are presented in this thesis.

90 Not including the ephemeral Pottery Neolithic phases at Basta and ’Ain Jammam, noted above. 91 The site has recently been sounded again (Kuijt and Chesson 2002) 92 The earliest result (TO-9617: 6440±60BP, 5490–5300 cal BC) implies that the site was not occupied until the late sixth millennium (Simmons and Najjar 2002). The ‘Yarmoukian’ figurine may not be as chronologically diagnostic as was originally thought. Garfinkel (1993, 116) includes Tell Wadi Faynan in the Qatifian culture of the Negev, which dates to Period V.

73 There are several sixth millennium cal BC radiocarbon dates from Tabaqat al Buma, a site in the Wadi Ziqlab in northwestern Jordan, excavated in 1990 and 1992 (Banning et al 1994). The earliest levels of the Pottery Neolithic phase have not been dated successfully. Eight radiocarbon results from the later levels span a range of ca 5700–5000 cal BC (Figure 3.6)93. Tabaqat al Buma may have been occupied at both 6000 and 5000 cal BC. The ceramic assemblage has been described as ‘mixed’, with ‘traditionally diagnostic elements’ of both the Yarmoukian/PNA and Wadi Rabah/PNB traditions, in earlier and later phases respectively (ibid, 157). The site was probably occupied in both Period IV and Period V.

Ideally, it would be possible to identify change or continuity in subsistence practices at the site from 6000 to 5000 cal BC. Unfortunately, the available subsistence data are not separated into phases. Plant remains were scarce, despite intensive sampling. Emmer wheat, domestic barley, and ‘disproportionately large quantities of glume bases and spikelet forks’ were recovered (Banning et al 1992, 62). Most animal bones were of domestic caprines (69%), cattle (9%) and pig (8%); dog (10%) was also common. Hunted species (deer, gazelle, fox) were rare, accounting for about four percent of identified bones (Banning et al 1994, table 2). These data may apply to either, neither, or both the 6000 and 5000 cal BC snapshot dates.

Jericho presents a similar problem: a small archaeobotanical assemblage was attributed to the Pottery Neolithic, rather than to the PNA or the PNB (Hopf 1983, 594; 609). Six samples were taken from a single deposit, containing several thousand charred grains of emmer and two-row barley, and smaller numbers of einkorn, six-row barley, and grass seeds. One sample from another deposit consisted of 112 charred lentils (idem). A mudbrick sample attributed to the PNA was tempered with emmer and einkorn chaff, and two barley grains (ibid, 607). Most of the food plants identified in the previous occupational phase (Period II) were not found in the Pottery Neolithic. Hopf and Western cite ‘the small number of seeds retrieved’ and ‘the complete absence of charcoal’ as evidence that the Pottery Neolithic occupants of Jericho were ‘herders and hunters’, for whom ‘plant-growing must have been of secondary importance’ (ibid, 578). The Jericho plant remains were collected by hand or by dry sieving, however, not by systematic sampling and flotation (ibid, 576)94. A small faunal sample (N = 60) from the combined Pottery Neolithic phases was dominated by caprines, with a handful of cattle bones. Morphologically, all appeared to be wild animals, but the sample was too small to draw firm conclusions (Clutton- Brock 1971, 45–6; 54–5; 1979, table 2).

93 One sample (TO-3409: 6900±70BP, 5980–5640 cal BC) is apparently a century or so earlier, but came from a later level than two samples (TO-3411: 6670±60BP, 5710–5480 cal BC; TO-2115: 6630±80BP, 5720–5460 cal BC) that cannot be earlier than ca 5700 cal BC. 94 Without a systematic programme of sampling and flotation, none of the Neolithic sites studied for this thesis would have provided archaeobotanical evidence of farming: charred caches of grains, pulses, and olive stones were only found in Chalcolithic and later phases at Teleilat Ghassul and Pella.

74 Two architectural phases at Munhata probably fall in Period IV: a Yarmoukian phase (2B2) and the succeeding ‘Munhata phase’ (2B1), which has been compared to the Jericho IX/PNA material culture (Gopher and Gophna 1993, 308; 318). A radiocarbon result from the Yarmoukian phase falls close to 6000 cal BC (Figure 3.6). No archaeobotanical data have been reported. Faunal remains (Ducos 1969, cited by Gopher and Gophna 1993, 314) were dominated by three taxa: caprines (55%), pigs (22%), and cattle (20%).

Analysis of plant remains from renewed excavations at the Yarmoukian type-site, Sha’ar Hagolan, is still underway (Susan Allen pers comm 2003). The preliminary report (Allen 2002) indicates that the preservation of plant remains was poor. Of 29 samples analysed, ten contained glume wheat remains, six included barley, and five contained pulse fragments. Fig was relatively common, and seeds of pear or apple (cf. Pyrus sp.) occurred in one sample. A range of wild/weed taxa was also identified, but none of these was particularly abundant95. Bone preservation was also poor, with only 755 of 5281 bone fragments identified beyond size categories. The assemblage (Hesse 2002) was dominated by domestic caprines (56–66% of identifiable specimens), with lesser contributions by domestic pigs (17%) and wild or domestic cattle (11%). Gazelle were relatively rare (<4%).

A number of small Pottery Neolithic settlements on the Israeli/Palestinian coast have been attributed to the Yarmoukian and Jericho IX/PNA cultures and dated typologically to ‘the second half of the sixth millennium BC’ and ‘parts of the early fifth millennium BC’ (uncalibrated, ie ca 7500–6500BP; Gopher 1993, 57). These sites are known only from salvage excavations, and have not produced radiocarbon results or subsistence data. Domestic caprines, pigs, and cattle are thought to have been kept at Nizzanim and Lod, where cereals and pulses may also have been cultivated (ibid, 59). It is perhaps significant that the Period IV coastal sites are all ‘small encampments … with no stone built structures’, in contrast to the rectilinear stone architecture at Atlit-Yam (Period III; ibid, 58).

Yarmoukian pottery was excavated at the cave site of Nahal Qanah, east of Tel Aviv, and several finds of Jericho IX/PNA pottery sherds have been made at sites in the lower hills of Israel/Palestine, from Megiddo in the north to Lachish in the south (Gopher and Gophna 1993, 308, 324). Neither culture has been found in the highlands of the West Bank or in the Negev, however. The only site in the Negev dated to Period IV, Qadesh Barnea 3, is aceramic (ibid, 318). Two radiocarbon samples (SMU-662: 7530±100BP, 6590–6100 cal BC; Pta-3662: 7350±80BP, 6390–6020 cal BC; Kuijt and Bar-Yosef 1994) date the site to the late seventh millennium cal BC.

95 Allen (2002, 242) suggested that the relatively abundant chenopods and Caryophyllaceae, which were concentrated in one area, may have been intrusive.

75 In the central Levant, there are several Period IV radiocarbon results at Byblos (Cauvin, 1968) and ’Ard Tlaili (Kirkbride, 1969) in Lebanon, and Nachcharini in southwest Syria (unpublished results cited by Kuijt and Bar-Yosef, 1994), all older excavations without subsistence data. Several sites in the Beqa’a Valley, comparable to ’Ard Tlaili, were surveyed in the 1960s (Copeland 1969, 94)96. The final phase at Ramad, mentioned above, probably also falls in the first half of Period IV.

More information is available from sites in northern Syria. Ras Shamra yielded two radiocarbon results in Period IV, both from Phase Va (Pta-100: 7480±90BP, 6470–6090 cal BC; P-457: 7185±90BP; 6230–5840 cal BC). Phase IV at Ras Shamra was not dated radiometrically, but a result from Phase III (P-389: 6100±175BP, 5500–4600 cal BC) suggests that Phase IV (the Halafian) probably falls in the first half of the sixth millennium cal BC97. A large archaeobotanical assemblage (42 samples and over 20,000 identifications from phases Va and IV) has been published (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1984a). The assemblage was dominated by glume wheat chaff, and emmer was the most common cereal grain. Barley was the second cereal crop, and einkorn and free-threshing wheat were rare enough that they may not have been crops in their own right. Lentils and peas were common in Phase Va, but far less common in Phase IV. Flax was a minor crop in both phases. Gathered foods included olive, Pistacia, almond, fig, Crataegus, and grape, all of which were relatively rare. Potential weed species accounted for a quarter of the non- chaff identifications in Phase Va, and half in Phase IV. The decline in pulse crops, which began in Period III (Phases Vc and Vb), and the increase in potential weed species are the only clear diachronic changes at Ras Shamra. The addition of rare food plants in Period IV (einkorn, free- threshing wheat, almond) may be an artefact of increasing sample size. Pistacia and fig may have been less important in Period IV than they were in Period III.

A rich plant assemblage was also obtained at Tell Sabi Abyad, in northeastern Syria (van Zeist and Waterbolk-van Rooijen 1996), which (according to the authors) was occupied ca 7650– 6950BP (ca 6500–5800 cal BC). Nearly all the samples analysed were from the transitional (7150–7100/7050BP) and early Halaf (7100/7050–6950BP) phases, which correspond to dates to within a century or two of 6000 cal BC. Several stored products were found, including emmer wheat stored in spikelet form. Emmer was the dominant crop, but two-seeded einkorn was also stored separately98. One-seeded einkorn was rare, as was free-threshing wheat; two-row hulled

96 Seven newly-published radiocarbon results from Arjoune, near Homs, fall in the middle of the sixth millennium cal BC (Parr 2003). 97 Kirkbride (1969) noted similarities between ’Ard Tlaili (6000–5500 cal BC) and Ras Shamra IVb–c. 98 Domestic einkorn (Triticum monococcum) is single-seeded. The two-seeded sub-species of wild einkorn (T. boeticum ssp. thaoudar), native to eastern Anatolia, has been found at early Neolithic sites in the region (eg Mureybet: van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1984b). At Sabi Abyad, the two-seeded sub-species may have been domesticated, but its cultivation was later abandoned (van Zeist and Waterbolk-van Rooijen 1996).

76 barley was common, but was not found stored. Both wild and domestic two-row hulled barley were found as contaminants of the stored wheat crops. Flax was the next most common crop type, with very small numbers of lentils, peas, grass peas, and bitter vetch. Gathered fruits and nuts were unimportant: there was only one Pistacia shell. Weeds were surprisingly scarce, perhaps due to the harvesting method employed. Known weeds (found in the stored crop samples) included Lolium, Bromus, Aegilops, Hordeum, Astragalus, Vicia, Bupleurum, Rumex pulcher, Galium, Bellevalia, and van Zeist’s Ornithogalum type.

Faunal remains from the transitional and early Halaf phases at Sabi Abyad are unpublished, but a large sample (N = 2021) of bones from the pre-Halaf phase was identified (Cavallo 1995). Nearly all (95%) were from domestic species (sheep, goat, cattle, pig, and dog). Sheep and goat together amount to 74 percent of the total, cattle 16 percent, and pig nearly 5 percent99. Equids, gazelle, and wild cattle (aurochs) account for most of the hunted species. Caprine bones that could be identified as domestic sheep outnumbered those of domestic goat by a 5:1 ratio (ibid, 48). The caprines were probably kept for meat or wool, rather than dairy products, as very few (11%) had not survived beyond 12 months of age (ibid, 49)100.

Finally, a small excavation at el-Kowm, in the central Syrian desert, took place in 1967 (Dornemann 1986). Two radiocarbon results date phases C and D to the late seventh millennium cal BC101. A small archaeobotanical assemblage from these phases includes fig, emmer and free- threshing wheat, hulled and naked barley, lentil, and several possible weeds of cultivation. It is assumed that these plants were grown under irrigation (van Zeist 1986). More recently, a plant assemblage was obtained during excavations at the adjacent site of el-Kowm II-Caracol (de Moulins 1997), including regular finds of fig, emmer, einkorn, free-threshing wheat, and hulled barley. Pulses were all but absent.

3.4.1 Summary of evidence at ca 6000 cal BC

As in Period III, subsistence data from the southern Levant are sparse by comparison with the rich assemblages from sites in Syria, where it appears that the same species were cultivated and herded as in Periods II and III, perhaps with a decreasing emphasis on pulse crops. In Jordan, large nucleated settlements in the highlands were apparently abandoned, in favour of smaller dispersed sites along wadis and beside springs. There is clearer archaeozoological evidence of pastoralism

99 The overall percentages published (Cavallo 1995, 47) are incorrect, due to a false total (3018) for the combined 1988 and 1991 results. Percentages quoted here are based on the raw NISP for each season. 100 Cavallo (1995, 49) interprets the age-at-death pattern as representing a meat-production strategy, yet only 7 percent of caprines were apparently slaughtered in their second year, and 11 percent in their third year. Given the high sheep: goat ratio and the high survivorship (46%) beyond 4 years of age, wool production must have been as important as meat production. 101 GrN-6777: 7290±45BP; GrN-6778: 7400±45BP (van Zeist 1986).

77 in the arid zone than in Period III, but the only plant data are from two or three small excavations in northwestern Jordan. These seem to indicate an economy based on the cultivation of domestic cereals, pulses, and flax, with minimal reliance on gathered plant foods. Bone assemblages from these sites are dominated by domestic sheep and goat (typically 70% of identifications), with smaller numbers of cattle and pig bones (although these tend to be more abundant at coastal sites and in the Jordan Valley). Hunted species are rare, except at some sites in the eastern desert.

3.5 Period V: 5500–4500 cal BC

The beginning (5500 cal BC, ca 6600–6500BP) and the end (4500 cal BC, ca 5700–5600BP) of Period V are defined arbitrarily, not by the shape of the radiocarbon calibration curve. The period 5500–4500 cal BC spans the end of the Neolithic and the start of the Chalcolithic.

Three material cultures apparently existed, more or less contemporaneously, during the final stage of the Neolithic: the Wadi Rabah, the Jericho VIII/Pottery Neolithic B, and the Qatifian. Jericho VIII/PNB has been treated as a local variant of the Wadi Rabah culture (Gopher and Gophna 1993, 336). Both are included in Kafafi’s Late Neolithic 2 (6500–6000BP; Kafafi 1998, 128). The Qatifian is known mainly from the northern Negev, but may have extended into southern Jordan (Gopher and Gophna 1993, 337). The latest Neolithic and the earliest Chalcolithic radiocarbon results overlap at ca 5000 cal BC (Joffe and Dessel 1995, 511; Bourke et al 2001). The early Chalcolithic, which is poorly understood by comparison with the later Chalcolithic, shows regional variation that reflects its derivation from the pre-existing Neolithic cultures (Bourke et al 2001; Joffe and Dessel 1995, 508).

Another ceramic tradition that may belong to Period V is that of the so-called Ghrubba culture, first identified at Ghrubba, near South Shuneh in the Jordan Valley, in 1956 (Mellaart 1956). The type-site was not systematically excavated or radiometrically dated. The upper levels contained Ghassulian (late Chalcolithic) pottery. In the lower levels, the undecorated pottery had parallels with the Jericho VIII/PNB tradition, but decorated pottery was clearly different to that at Jericho (ibid). Similar decoration has since been found on pottery in post-Yarmoukian strata at Jebel Abu Thawwab, in the earliest levels (pre-Wadi Rabah) of Tell Abu Hamid, in the central Jordan Valley, and perhaps also at ’Ain Ghazal (Kafafi 1998, 132). Kafafi (idem) includes the Ghrubba ‘phase’ in his Late Neolithic 1, which corresponds to Period IV102. If there is a Ghrubba phase, it apparently falls between the Yarmoukian and the Wadi Rabah phases, after 6000 cal BC and perhaps after 5500 cal BC (Lovell et al 2004). No subsistence data have been published for any Ghrubba culture site or phase.

102 In an earlier article, Kafafi equated the Ghrubba culture with Jericho VIII/PNB (Kafafi 1992, 117; 121), which corresponds to Period V.

78 Few radiocarbon results have been published from Jordanian Period V sites. Most of the known sites are in the Jordan Valley or adjacent wadis. Tabaqat al-Buma has already been mentioned (Period IV). Its latest prehistoric phase (Phase III), which has parallels to the Wadi Rabah and Jericho VIII/PNB cultures (Banning et al 1992, 50), dates to Period V (Figure 3.6). Architectural remains in this phase seem to represent a farmstead, rather than a nucleated village, an impression reinforced by finds of ‘domestic and storage pottery, storage bins and pits, sickle blades … and numerous grinding stones’, as well as the archaeobotanical and faunal assemblages (ibid, 52, 61).

Late Neolithic sites at Abu Habil and North Shuneh, in the Jordan Valley, were excavated in the 1950s (de Contenson 1960). Their pottery apparently belonged to a local variant of the Wadi Rabah culture (Gopher and Gophna 1993, 326, 336). Another Jordan Valley site with ceramics in this tradition was excavated at Kataret es-Samra, on the Wadi Zarqa (Leonard 1985; Gophna and Sadeh 1988-89, 31). Salvage excavations in the 1980s (Gustavson-Gaube 1986) confirmed a Late Neolithic-Early Bronze I sequence at North Shuneh, but no subsistence data were published103. Several radiocarbon results from Late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic samples at Pella (Bourke 2001) date these phases to ca 5000 cal BC (Figure 3.7).

Tell Abu Hamid, in the central Jordan Valley, has a long occupational sequence, beginning with the Ghrubba, or Lower, phase (Kafafi 1998, 132). Four radiocarbon samples from this phase (Lovell et al 2004) date to the late sixth millennium cal BC. Five radiocarbon results from the Middle, Wadi Rabah, phase fall mainly in the 5000–4500 cal BC range (Figure 3.7)104. Archaeobotanical data are available only for the Upper (Chalcolithic) Phase.

Teleilat Ghassul, the type-site of the Ghassulian or ‘Developed Chalcolithic’ of the southern Levant, also has a brief Neolithic phase from which the early Chalcolithic evolved. It has been argued that Neolithic Ghassul was a Qatifian site; the Qatifian is dated to the second half of the seventh millennium BP (ca 5500–4800 cal BC; Gopher and Gophna 1993, 337, citing Goren 1990). The earliest acceptable radiocarbon results at Ghassul fall just after 5000 cal BC (Bourke 2001; Figure 3.7)105. Ghassul has been the subject of several field projects since the 1920s, and a number of specialists have studied plant remains from the site (Zohary and Spiegel-Roy 1975; Neef 1990; Hoppè 1996b unpublished; Meadows 1998b unpublished). New archaeobotanical data from Teleilat Ghassul are presented in this thesis.

103 Archaeobotanical samples from the salvage excavations (Gustavson-Gaube 1986, 220) remain unpublished, except for some measurements on olive stones from late Chalcolithic levels (Neef 1990). 104 Two or three of the Middle phase samples are probably intrusive, given the dates from the Upper Phase. One ‘acceptable’ date, GrN-16357 (6030±60BP, 5200–4730 cal BC) was ‘from the very top’ of the middle levels (Dollfus and Kafafi 1993, 244). 105 Five anomalously early results from Chalcolithic strata, with measured radiocarbon ages of between 6550 and 6070BP, have been problematic since their publication (Joffe and Dessel 1995, 511). The recent publication of AMS dates from equivalent and earlier strata shows that these results are about 500 years too early (Bourke et al 2000, 84).

79 Three radiocarbon results from the 1988 excavation of Tell Wadi Faynan (Najjar et al 1990) fall in Period V (Figure 3.7). A short excavation took place in 2000, in which five test pits, covering 9m2, were excavated (Simmons and Najjar 2002). Each pit showed the same sequence: a substantial Late Neolithic phase, followed by a ‘sparse’ Chalcolithic occupation, and a ‘limited’ Byzantine presence. Four new radiocarbon results were obtained from Late Neolithic strata, dating this phase to the second half of the sixth millennium, and perhaps slightly beyond 5000 cal BC (Figure 3.7). Late Neolithic subsistence data may thus be attributed to Period V.

Nine flotation samples were analysed by Amanda Kennedy. Plant preservation was poor. Domestic cereals (glume wheat and six-row barley) were identified, but the domestic status of the pulses was uncertain. Fig and perhaps Pistacia were also recovered, together with some grass seeds. A broad range of wood taxa was identified by Phil Austin, including juniper, oak, caper, olive, fig, and pistachio106. A small animal bone assemblage (163 bones identified to genus) contained mainly of sheep (88.5%), with cattle (9.8%) and fox (1.6%)107.

Many small sites in the Wadi Judayid region of southwestern Jordan have been attributed by Henry (1995) to the Timnian culture, a local variant of the Chalcolithic. Radiocarbon results from these sites cluster into three groups, however: eight fall in the range 5800–5500BP (towards the end of Period V), four are significantly earlier (7000–6500BP) and seven are much later (4400– 4000BP). One site produced dates in all three periods, two gave dates only in the second, two have dates only in the third, one in both the second and third, and one in the first and at ca 5200BP. It appears that these sites were seasonal camps, used occasionally by pastoral nomads. The limited environmental data (pollen and phytolith samples, faunal percentages) from one of the later sites cannot be applied to the 5000 cal BC snapshot.

Period V sites are practically unknown in the Jordanian highlands and in the eastern desert, and none has been dated radiometrically. There may be a Wadi Rabah component at Sahab and Wadi Shu’eib (Kafafi 1998, 128), but this is not documented in the excavation reports (Ibrahim 1983– 84; Simmons et al 2001). Early Chalcolithic phases may exist at three sites in the Amman area, Sahab (Ibrahim 1983–84), Wadi Qattar (’Amr et al 1993), and Abu Snesleh (Lehmann et al 1991). In each case, however, published subsistence data are apparently derived mainly from late Chalcolithic strata. Most Period V subsistence data are thus from sites within or adjacent to the

106 The presence of olive wood, but not olive stones, is intriguing, but the report does not specify that the wood charcoal and other plant remains were from the same samples, or even the same phase of the site. 107 The data presented by Simmons and Najjar (2002) cannot be correct, however: ‘A total of 1309 bones were recovered….163 were identifiable to genus…1140 were identified as either medium or large mammal and 639 were … unidentifiable fragments’. Even if the last are not included in the total, the numbers do not add up. In other archaeozoological reports, there are sheep/goat and sheep/goat/gazelle categories, because not all bones are identifiable to species. Even if Tell Wadi Faynan had no goat or gazelle, it is still inevitable that some bones would be identifiable to sub-family level and not to genus. The 88.5% may thus refer to a caprine taxon, not Ovis sp., as reported.

80 Jordan Valley. New archaeobotanical data will be presented in this thesis from three such sites: Tell Rakan I, Pella, and Teleilat Ghassul108.

There are many Wadi Rabah culture sites in Israel/Palestine (Gopher and Gophna 1993, Figure 15), including local variants such as Tel Tsaf, in the central Jordan Valley, and a number of coastal and submerged sites south of Haifa. One of the latter, Kfar Samir, is the best dated, with 20 radiocarbon results (Galili et al 1997, table 3). Nearly all the calibrated dates fall in the 5500– 4500 cal BC interval109. Single radiocarbon results in the same range were obtained from the nearby sites of Tel Hreiz and Newe Yam, while three similar dates are available for Megadim, another submerged Wadi Rabah site (Gopher and Gophna 1993, table 1). The single radiocarbon result from Tel Tsaf (RT-508A: 6720±460BP) has too large an error term to be of use. Some subsistence data are available from Kfar Samir and Tel Tsaf (Galili et al 1997; Kislev 1994-95; Gophna and Kislev 1979; Gophna and Sadeh 1988-89; Hellwing 1988-89; Liphschitz 1988-89).

Tel Tsaf, located 280m below sea level on the Jordan River, near Beth Shan, was excavated between 1977 and 1980 (Gophna and Sadeh 1988-89, 3). Two occupational phases, attributed to the Pottery Neolithic and the early Chalcolithic respectively, were identified. Stratum 1, equated with the Yarmoukian and Jericho PNA, was only exposed in one sounding. In Stratum 2, a local variant of the Wadi Rabah culture, a small faunal sample (N = 120; Hellwing 1988-89) was dominated by domesticates (44% sheep/goat, 33% cattle, 17% pig). One equid and four gazelle bones represented hunting, as may some of the pig remains (idem, 48). Food plants identified in Stratum 2 include emmer and free-threshing wheat, six-row and naked barley, lentil, pea, fig, and olive (Gophna and Sadeh 1988-89, 33). Olive and Pistacia wood charcoal were also identified (Liphschitz 1988-89).

Waterlogged olive remains were abundant at the submerged Wadi Rabah sites of Kfar Samir, Kfar Galim, Megadim, and Tel Hreiz (Galili et al 1997, 1142). Kislev (1994-95) attributed the Kfar Samir remains to wild olive trees, which would have grown in the immediate hinterland of the Carmel coast. No other subsistence data from these sites have been published. Faunal remains from nearby Newe Yam (Wreschner 1983) included 32 percent sheep/goat, 27 percent cattle, 22 percent pig and 15 percent gazelle. The Neolithic faunal assemblage at Qatif, near Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip (Epstein 1984), included 34 percent sheep/goat, 28 percent cattle, 29 percent pig, and no gazelle (both cited by Hellwing 1988-89, table 5). Each of these assemblages (Tel Tsaf, Newe Yam, and Qatif) has high proportions of pigs and cattle, and a correspondingly low percentage of sheep/goat remains, compared to typical Jordanian sites.

108 All 3 sites also have late Chalcolithic phases that will be discussed in Period VI 109 The exceptions are 3 or 4 samples of wood, which date to the 6000–5500 cal BC interval, and a wooden bowl found 200m away, which may date to before 6000 cal BC (Galili et al 1997, table 3).

81 A single radiocarbon result (Pta-2999: 6460±80BP, 5610–5290 cal BC) from Nahal Issaron Layer B (Goring-Morris and Gopher 1983, 160) falls at the beginning of Period V. There was no pottery at the site, but the lithic assemblage from Layer B was dominated by small arrowheads (Haparsa, Herzliya, and Nizzanim points) that fit the Pottery Neolithic date. Architectural remains in Layer B were ephemeral, and no subsistence data are available.

3.5.1 Summary of evidence at ca 5000 cal BC

As in Period IV, subsistence data from Jordanian sites are sparse. Small farming villages and hamlets have been found in the Jordan Valley and adjacent wadis, and in the Wadi Faynan, but the highlands and eastern desert seem to have been depopulated. No new plant or animal domesticates are attested. Hunting and gathering appear to have been of minor importance, but wild olives were widely exploited in the southern Levant for the first time.

3.6 Period VI: 4500–3700 cal BC

There is a short plateau in the calibration curve in the late fifth millennium (ca 4200–4000 cal BC; ca 5300BP), followed by a steeper section. It may be feasible to date archaeological phenomena to before or after 4000 cal BC. The late or Developed Chalcolithic probably continued until 3800 or 3700 cal BC, however (Bourke et al 2004), if not later (Joffe and Dessel 1995). The end of Period VI is therefore defined by the steep section of the calibration curve at ca 3700 cal BC, avoiding the complex chronological issues raised by two sharp wiggles in the middle of the fourth millennium, which lead to multimodal calibrated distributions for radiocarbon results between ca 4900BP and 4700BP (Figure 1.1).

Period VI includes the Ghassulian Chalcolithic, a material culture found throughout the Jordan Valley, and to a lesser extent on the Jordanian plateau. Major late Chalcolithic sites have been excavated at North Shuneh (de Contenson 1960; Gustavson-Gaube 1986; Baird and Philip 1994), Pella (Bourke 1997a), Tell Abu Hamid (Dollfus and Kafafi 1993), and Teleilat Ghassul (Bourke 1997b). Limited excavations have taken place at Sahab, Wadi Qattar, and Abu Snesleh, near Amman, and at Magass, near ’Aqaba (Ibrahim 1983–84; 1988; ’Amr et al 1993; Lehmann et al 1991; Khalil 1995). At North Shuneh and Pella, late Chalcolithic occupation follows Late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic phases, and is succeeded by Early Bronze Age occupation. Tell Abu Hamid and Teleilat Ghassul, also founded in the Late Neolithic, were abandoned in the late Chalcolithic, and were not subsequently reoccupied. Multi-period sites with late Chalcolithic components include Tell Rakan I (WZ120) and Tell Wadi Faynan (see above).

82 Surface finds of Ghassulian and other Chalcolithic pottery are widely reported (Bourke 2001). Many smaller sites appear to have been founded in the late Chalcolithic, although few have been excavated or published110. Excavated late Chalcolithic sites include Tell Fendi, at the mouth of the Wadi Ziqlab (Blackham et al 1998), and Jebel Sartaba (Smith and Hanbury-Tenison 1992), which may be regarded as distinct from nearby Pella.

Teleilat Ghassul has been the subject of extensive investigation since its discovery in the 1920s, beginning with a lengthy programme of excavations by the Pontifical Biblical Institute at Jerusalem (Mallon et al 1934), which defined the Ghassulian material culture. Subsequent work by North (1961) and Hennessy (1969; 1989) demonstrated that the Ghassulian developed out of the Late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic occupations of Teleilat Ghassul (Period V). Radiocarbon samples were collected by Hennessy, but their results are problematic or potentially misleading (Bourke et al 2001). The site’s radiocarbon chronology therefore rests on the results of the most recent excavations (Bourke et al 2001; 2004), and on two samples of short-lived material collected by Reinder Neef (1990; Figure 3.8). Systematic collection of subsistence data also began with the renewed Sydney excavations (Bourke 2002; Bourke et al 2000).

Final publication of the Abu Hamid and North Shuneh excavations is awaited. A large archaeobotanical assemblage (>16,000 identifications from 54 samples) was obtained from late Chalcolithic strata at Abu Hamid111. According to Neef, this material consisted primarily of redeposited hearth contents, including the remains of burnt dung and jift (waste from olive oil production). There were no samples of stored products burnt in situ. Olive remains were found in 87 percent of samples. Remains of emmer wheat were abundant, and there were occasional finds of a free-threshing wheat. Hulled barley was common, and was apparently all of the six-row variety. Lentils and grass peas were also found frequently. Flax was rare, and there was a single example of chickpea. After olive, fig was the most common fruit; Pistacia was rare. The wild/weed assemblage was dominated by Scorpiurus and Lolium, with frequent finds of Astragalus, Medicago, Trifolium/Melilotus, Ornithogalum type, Malva, and Bromus.

Very similar assemblages were found in the late Chalcolithic at Teleilat Ghassul (Bourke et al 2000) and Pella (Bourke et al in press). New archaeobotanical data from these sites are presented in Chapter 5. Faunal assemblages from both sites (Bourke 2002; Bourke et al 2000; in press) are dominated by domestic sheep and goat, cattle, and pigs, with occasional gazelle. A small bone assemblage (N = 344) from Abu Snesleh’s Chalcolithic phase consisted overwhelmingly (90%) of

110 Many late Chalcolithic ‘sites’ are surface find-spots from the numerous surveys conducted in the Jordan Valley and adjacent wadis in recent years (eg Scham 1998). Few of these have been excavated, or even sounded. The University of Sydney has recently begun to excavate one such site, el Kharawij, in the Wadi Rayyan, where a single phase of architectural remains is preserved (Lovell forthcoming).

83 caprine remains, with small numbers of pig (5%), cattle (3%), and equid (2%) bones (Lamprichs 1998, table 10).

The most comparable data in this period are from late Chalcolithic sites in the Negev, such as Shiqmim (Levy 1987) and Grar (Gilead 1995). At Shiqmim, Kislev (1987) obtained a large archaeobotanical assemblage (>10,000 identifications from 49 samples), in which barley was much more abundant than wheat (in both grains and chaff). Barley chaff and straw were found in most samples. Emmer wheat was relatively common, and free-threshing wheat was rare. One sample was dominated by lentils. Levy suggested that, in the Negev, population growth and the development of floodwater farming in the Chalcolithic led to a division of the population into groups of mobile pastoralists and sedentary farmers.

Sparse subsistence data are available from sites in the Golan plateau, where, as in the Jordanian highlands, the expansion of Chalcolithic settlement is apparently associated with olive cultivation (Bourke 2001). Kislev (1994-95) argued that the abundant olive remains at Kfar Samir represented the exploitation of wild olive trees. Using data from North Shuneh, Tell Abu Hamid, and Teleilat Ghassul, Neef (1990) had argued that the late Chalcolithic olive remains were from cultivated trees. Olive stone measurements from the 1997 season at Ghassul appeared to show that olives were domesticated during the Chalcolithic (Meadows 2001b). Additional measurements on olive stones collected during the 1999 season are presented here (Appendix F).

3.6.1 Summary of evidence at ca 4000 cal BC

As in the preceding period, subsistence economies at late Chalcolithic sites were based on the cultivation of domestic cereals and pulses, and on the herding of sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs. Hunting and gathering were relatively insignificant. Two species were apparently domesticated during the Chalcolithic: the olive and the donkey. It is difficult to date donkey domestication in the Levant, as equid remains are relatively rare, and many domestic donkey bones are indistinguishable from those of hunted equids, but a figurine of a loaded donkey was found at Shiqmim (Levy 1995)112. Donkeys may have been used as draught animals as well as for transport, allowing larger areas to be cultivated. It is also suggested (eg Bourke 2001) that in the late Chalcolithic cattle may have been used as draught animals for the first time, and that sheep may have been herded, primarily for wool production, on a seasonally transhumant basis. The use of domestic animals in ploughing and transport implies a shift to more extensive systems of cultivation. Olive domestication may also have allowed upland areas to be used more effectively,

111 Neef’s report, completed in 1995, is to be published in the site monograph. I thank Genevieve Dollfus and Reinder Neef for permission to use the unpublished report.

84 leading to increased settlement outside the Jordan Valley. It can be argued that, apart from grape cultivation, all the elements of the traditional ‘Mediterranean agrosystem’ (Butzer 1996) were in place by the end of the Chalcolithic113.

112 A larger equid bone from Grar was identified as horse, which could be regarded as a domesticate on biogeographical grounds (Grigson 1995b). The find is unique in this period, and may not have implications for subsistence behaviour. 113 Grape remains are widespread at Early Bronze Age sites in Jordan (Fall et al 2002; Bourke et al in press), and are extremely rare in Neolithic and Chalcolithic contexts, where they presumably represent gathered wild fruit.

85 4. Fieldwork

The new data presented in this thesis are drawn from six recently-excavated sites in Jordan. In most cases, bulk sediment samples (of up to 50L in volume) were collected by individual excavators, and processed by the writer during the excavation season. Every sediment sample represented a single depositional episode (context114), but some contexts were sampled more than once. In order to recover a representative subset of the plant remains surviving at each site, excavators were asked to sample every well-stratified context. Sampling practice was dictated primarily by logistical constraints, which varied according to the nature of each excavation. Often this meant that too few samples were collected, but in two cases, so much material was recovered that only a selection of samples was ultimately analysed.

4.1 Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2

Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2 (ZAD2) is situated east of the town of Ghor Mazra’a and the Early Bronze Age site of Bab edh-Dhra’, and 2km west of the PPNA site of Dhra’, at ca 160m below sea level. Several curvilinear stone structures were visible on the deflated surface of the 0.2ha site. Two excavation seasons were undertaken, in 1999 and 2001 (Edwards et al 2001; 2002). Chipped stone artefacts, and nine radiocarbon results between 9600 and 9300BP, are consistent with ZAD2 being a single-period PPNA site (Edwards et al 2002; Edwards and Higham 2001; Sayej 2003). Dozens of groundstone artefacts, such as cuphole mortars and saddle querns, were found on the surface and in the excavated deposits. Cultural layers 1.0–1.5m deep directly overlay the sterile Dana Conglomerate Formation, which was reached in three of the four excavated structures.

Three structures were investigated in the 1999 season. Structure 1, covering squares E26 to F28 of the site grid, was exposed by the erosion of a steep gully at the western edge of the site. Structure 2, in squares J22 to L24, was defined where the arc of a stone wall was visible at the surface. Structure 3, in squares U22 and V22, in the highest area of the site, was buried under half a metre of sediment, but appears to be another curvilinear building (Edwards et al 2001). In the 2001 season, Structure 1 was excavated to natural soil in square E28, and two new areas of Structure 2 were exposed (M20–P21 and M27–O27). A fourth curvilinear structure, Structure 4, was also

114 In this discussion, the word ‘context’ refers to an archaeological deposit or feature that represents a depositional event or episode, which, from the excavator’s point of view, cannot be subdivided, except in an arbitrary manner. Although nearly all the excavations employed this concept, the word context was usually replaced in excavation reports by ‘unit’, ‘level’, ‘locus’ or ‘layer’. These terms are ambiguous, however: a unit may be equivalent to a context in one report, and an arbitrary subdivision of a context in another. A locus may represent a single context at one site, and a group of contexts at another site. To avoid ambiguity, the terms unit, level, locus and layer are used only in the sense in which they were used by the excavators, and the words are capitalised or placed in quotation marks to emphasise that fact.

86 investigated, as well as a burial in square I25, between the walls of Structure 2 and Structure 1 (Figure I.2; Edwards et al 2002).

Excavation followed natural stratigraphy, but contexts (‘loci’) were excavated in metre squares, numbered according to the site grid, and were divided into vertical 5cm spits (‘units’). Flotation samples were usually taken from each square and each spit. A single context was thus often sampled several times. The quantity of sediment that could be processed was constrained by the fact that samples had to be carried by donkey. The restricted water supply meant that samples were processed by the wash-over method, limiting the volume of each sample to 4L.

In both seasons, the samples were processed manually, by the wash-over method. Sediment was measured into a bucket, which was filled with clean water. The sediment was manipulated to dissolve the soil matrix and bring buoyant plant remains to the surface. Excess water was then poured over 0.5mm mesh fabric to collect the floated remains. The procedure was repeated until no more plant remains could be extracted. The mesh was then rinsed in clean water to remove sand and silt particles, and left to dry in the shade. The dried flots, or light fractions, were scanned under a microscope before being put away in foil packets.

Forty-one samples, comprising 129L of sediment, were collected and processed during the 1999 season. All the 1999 samples were ultimately sorted. In the 2001 season, 92 samples, comprising 264L of sediment, were collected and processed, but 21 samples, representing 76.5L of sediment, were not sorted. These were from shallow deposits (Locus 1 or Locus 2), in which plant remains were very poorly preserved. The samples are listed in Table 4.1.

4.2 Wadi Fidan 1 (JHF001)

Raikes (1980) reported two Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites at the mouth of the Wadi Fidan, naming them Sites A and C. The two sites were sounded in 1989-90 by Adams, who found that Site A, renamed Site 008, covered an area of ca 1ha, had well-preserved rectilinear architecture and lithics typical of the Late PPNB (Adams 1991). A small archaeobotanical assemblage from each site was analysed by Colledge (1994; 2001), who found domestic einkorn, emmer, and barley at Site A. Richardson found domestic sheep and goat bones in the 1989-90 sounding, as well as bones of unspecified cattle (unpublished data cited by Colledge 1994, 100). A more detailed report on the 1989-90 sounding has yet to be published.

A larger excavation took place in 1999 at Site A, now renamed Wadi Fidan 1 or JHF001, as part of the Jabal Hamrat Fidan Regional Archaeology Project (Levy et al 1999a). A short report to the Department of Antiquities (Levy et al 1999b) describes some of the architectural remains. At least thirty rectilinear structures, some with plaster floors and perhaps second stories, were preserved within the 400m2 area excavated. Copper ore from the nearby Faynan deposits was found in some

87 rooms. Three major architectural phases were distinguished: Stratum I, which may include a later re-occupation of the site; Stratum II (broken into sub-phases, IIA and IIB), which can be dated to the PPNB on the basis of lithic typology, and Stratum III, presumably an earlier phase of the PPNB. Stratum IIB walls were built directly on those of Stratum III. Most of the loci excavated in 1999 belonged to Stratum IIB.

No archaeobotanist was present during the excavation, and only twelve sediment samples (160L of sediment) were collected. It appears that only those deposits with obvious signs of burning were sampled. Minimal contextual information was recorded. The samples were processed using the CBRL’s flotation equipment115, with the standard 1.0mm and 0.3mm geological sieves116. Table 4.2 lists the samples processed.

4.3 Tell Rakan I (WZ120)

Tell Rakan I (WZ120) was discovered during the 1992 season of the Wadi Ziqlab Project, after it was exposed in section by the construction of a fish farm. Two Late PPNB radiocarbon dates were then obtained from the lowest strata visible in section (TO-3987: 8430±70BP; TO-3986: 8100±70BP; Banning et al 1994). The site is located at ca 100 metres above sea level, on the southern bank of the Wadi Ziqlab, beside ’Ain Jahjah, a perennial spring. With the exception of Wadi Fidan 1 (JHF001), it is the lowest LPPNB site currently known in Jordan. The site’s area at each stage of its occupation is difficult to define, due to the density of modern vegetation, the depth of deposits, and the effect of slope processes, but it is not on the scale of major LPPNB sites such as ’Ain Ghazal.

Excavations at WZ120 took place in April-May 1999, under the direction of Ted Banning of the University of Toronto and Mohammed Najjar of the Department of Antiquities (Figure I.3). Six small (3×3m) trenches, P5, R5, S5, S6, T5, and T6 were excavated through a sequence of Early Bronze Age, Chalcolithic, Late Neolithic, and Pre-Pottery Neolithic deposits. The long occupational sequence at Tell Rakan can be attributed to the nearby spring, which today irrigates a pomegranate orchard that covers the site. Another Early Bronze site (WZ130) lies a short walk uphill from WZ120, and Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Umayyad sherds in the upper strata of WZ120 testify to the repeated use of the area’s agricultural potential.

The 1999 fieldwork was restricted in area by the need to protect the pomegranate trees and fishtanks, which meant that trenches were located on a steep slope at the edge of the site. The

115 This was a standard Sirraf-type machine, rented from the Council for British Research in the Levant, Amman. Appendix B discusses the operation of the CBRL flotation machine in more detail. 116 My involvement in the Wadi Fidan 1 fieldwork was limited to setting up the flotation equipment at the end of the season and training a student, Ellis Peeters, to use it. Peeters successfully processed the dozen Wadi Fidan 1 samples and another sixty or so from the Early Bronze II-IV site, Wadi Fidan 120.

88 combination of slope processes and small excavation areas with little surviving architecture limited the stratigraphic integrity of the excavated contexts (‘loci’). The complicated stratigraphic situation, coupled with changes in personnel, delayed the publication of the 1999 excavations (Ted Banning pers comm 2002). Two short notes (Banning and Najjar 1999; 2000) have been published, and a longer article is in preparation117.

Artefacts and traces of architecture associated with the Late PPNB were found only in trenches P5 and R5, and in the section exposed by bulldozer during construction of the fishtanks. Two Late Neolithic phases were identified: a Yarmoukian phase, evident in S5 Loci 015 and 017 and in T6 Loci 016 to 018, and a ‘Ziqlabian’ Late Neolithic phase, with parallels at Tabaqat al-Buma (WZ200; Banning et al 1992). No architectural remains were attributed to the Late Neolithic, however. Chalcolithic levels, particularly in S5 and T6, were better preserved, with a complete slab-lined pit in S5. The WZ120 trenches may have been on the periphery of the Early Bronze Age site (perhaps contiguous with WZ130), as no architecture was attributed to this phase.

The four trenches sampled (P5, R5, S5, and T6) were too small to implement a spatial sampling strategy. The aim was therefore to obtain a vertical sequence, documenting changes between Early Bronze, Chalcolithic, Late Neolithic, and Pre-Pottery Neolithic assemblages. Thirty-two flotation samples, comprising 473L of sediment, were collected by the excavators. Every context not contaminated by classical-period pottery was sampled. Each sample consisted of a notional 20L of sediment, or less if the entire context was smaller. The samples were processed at the site using the CBRL flotation machine, with mesh sizes of 1.0 mm and 0.3 mm used to collect the light fractions. The heavy fractions (residues caught in a 1mm mesh in the flotation machine) were shipped to Toronto for microlithic and microfaunal analysis. Any plant remains in the heavy fractions are therefore not included in these results. The samples are listed in Table 4.3.

4.4 ash-Shalaf

The Yarmoukian site of ash-Shalaf is situated ca 10km northeast of Irbid, on a lower terrace of the Wadi ash-Shallalah, at an altitude of 420m. A spring, ’Ain ash-Shalaf, is located ca 350m from the site, and is currently used for irrigation (Bienert and Vieweger 1999, 49). Annual precipitation in the area is probably close to 300mm, placing the site on the boundary of the steppe and Mediterranean vegetation zones (al-Eisawi 1996, maps 2.2, 3.3). The site was discovered during survey work around the Bronze Age site of Khirbet Zeraqun, when 96 Pottery Neolithic sherds were found in an area estimated at 35×80m (0.28ha; Bienert and Vieweger 1999, 49–50).

117 This article (Banning et al in press), which was due to be published in the Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, volume 47 (2003), includes a section on plant remains analysed as part of this thesis. These paragraphs are based mainly on parts of this article, principally by Banning.

89 Small-scale excavations were carried out by the German Protestant Institute in Amman (DEI) in 1998 and 1999 (Figure I.4). A long, narrow trench (Trench 1) across the site found architectural remains, and six contiguous 5×5m trenches were subsequently excavated alongside Trench 1. A small cluster of rectilinear and curvilinear stone-built structures, badly damaged by ploughing, was exposed. These structures apparently belong to a single phase of occupation, during the Pottery Neolithic (Bienert and Vieweger 2000). Diagnostic sherds are decorated in the Yarmoukian tradition, which appears to date to ca 6000 cal BC (Chapter 3).

During the 1998 season, 15 sediment samples were collected from four contexts in the deep sounding in Trench 1: two ashy occupation deposits (L17 and the earlier L19) and two possible fireplaces (L22 and L23, contemporary with or earlier than L19). The total volume of earth sampled was only 60L, mainly from L17 and L19 (28L each). Another 16 samples were taken during the 1999 excavation season, from fifteen excavation contexts in squares L7, L8, M6, M7, and M8. Only 16L of sediment were sampled. The 1998 samples were processed by flotation, using the ‘wash-over’ or bucket method, with a minimum mesh size of 1.0mm. The 1999 samples were also processed by the wash-over method, but with a 0.5mm mesh118.

4.5 Pella Area XXXII

The multi-period site at Tabaqat Fahl, a village on the eastern margin of the central Jordan Valley, is generally known by its classical name, Pella, due to the survival of standing ruins of the Decapolis city of that name. The prominent tell at Pella is known as Khirbet Fahl. The site is adjacent to a large, permanent spring, and to a small plateau (tabaqat) of fertile terra rossa soil, which receives enough rainfall to permit cereal cultivation. The site has been occupied almost continuously since the Pottery Neolithic.

The University of Sydney has, under various directors, carried out extensive excavations at Pella since 1979 (Figure I.5; Bourke 1997a). Systematic archaeobotanical research began in 1994, under Stephen Bourke, when Chalcolithic and Pottery Neolithic levels were reached in excavation areas XXXIID and XXXIIF, although a small assemblage from an outlying late Chalcolithic site excavated in 1983 (area XIV) was analysed by Willcox (1992). Flotation samples from the 1994 and 1995 seasons were studied by Hoppè (1996a unpublished). Samples collected during the 1996-97 season from Pottery Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Early Bronze Age levels were analysed by the writer under a post-excavation contract (Meadows 1998a unpublished).

In the 1999 and 2001 seasons, excavations on the main tell expanded horizontally, and did not reach Chalcolithic levels. The material discussed here therefore relates mainly to the 1996-97

90 season. All sealed occupation deposits from the Pottery Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age phases were sampled, and all samples were processed on-site using the CBRL flotation machine. One important distinction between the 1996-97 season and 1994-95 seasons was that many, if not all, of the 1994-95 samples were dry-sieved before flotation, in an attempt to remove pebbles and coarse gravel (>~2mm). This practice inevitably also removed larger plant remains, and it was discontinued in 1996-97119. Thirteen samples, estimated to include at least 100 identifiable plant remains, were selected for analysis (Table 4.5). The post-excavation contract did not include identification of remains in the fine fractions (<1.0mm)120. In 1999, plant remains in the coarse fractions were re-identified, and remains in the fine fractions were sorted and identified.

4.6 Teleilat Ghassul

Like Pella, Teleilat Ghassul has a long history of archaeological investigation, but only the most recent excavations have involved a systematic programme of archaeobotanical research (Bourke et al 1997b; 2000). Small assemblages from earlier excavations were analysed by Zohary and Spiegel-Roy (1975), Hallam (unpublished data summarised by Hennessy 1989), and Neef (1990). Archaeobotanical samples from the 1994 and 1995 seasons were processed and analysed by Hoppè (1996b unpublished). Samples collected during the 1997 season were analysed by the writer under a post-excavation contract (Meadows 1998b unpublished). As at Pella, the fine fractions of these samples were not studied.

The new material presented in this thesis is drawn from samples collected during the 1999 season (Bourke 2002). Given the large assemblages already collected in 1994, 1995, and 1997, the 1999 season offered an opportunity to test various aspects of archaeobotanical fieldwork, including:

• whether assemblage composition is influenced by the flotation method employed,

• whether the sample volume in earlier seasons (ca 50L per sample) was excessive, and

• whether samples from different context types are consistently different in composition.

The first question was conclusively answered by an experiment (Appendix B). Sediment samples were split before processing by machine flotation, and subsamples of 53 samples were processed by the wash-over method, allowing the effect of processing method on sample composition to be gauged. The second and third questions are linked, because in order to answer the third question,

118 I was not directly involved in the excavations, but processed the flotation samples at the Umm Qeis dig- house at the end of both seasons. 119 An experiment was carried out in 1996-97 to quantify the effect of pre-sieving, using two large Early Bronze Age samples (which are not included in this study). The experiment showed that only very small taxa (eg fig seeds) were not discriminated against by pre-sieving. The dry sieve mesh used closely replicated the fine-sieving stage of crop processing (Hillman 1984a). 120 This was also the case with the 1994-95 samples.

91 it was necessary to sort many more samples than had been analysed under the 1997 contract. Sample size was boosted during the analysis stage because fine fractions were sorted in 1999, and not in 1997, but the sample volumes collected in 1999 were smaller (ca 20L per sample), permitting a larger number of samples to be analysed.

Compared to other sites in this study, Ghassul offered ideal fieldwork conditions. The location of trenches was determined by research questions, not logistical necessity, and the absence of post- Chalcolithic occupational deposits gave unhindered access to the later Chalcolithic strata. The depth of Chalcolithic deposits, however (up to 5-6m), meant that early Chalcolithic and Late Neolithic levels were reached in only one or two of the five excavation areas sampled in 1999.

Work in 1999 continued in areas excavated in earlier seasons by the University of Sydney. New trenches were opened in areas E (EXXVII), G (GIV), N (NIII), and Q (QIII), and the existing trench in Area A was divided into trenches AXI and AXIII. The existing sondage in Area N (NI) was excavated to virgin soil, while a 1997 trench in Area Q (QI) and an older trench in the sanctuary area (EXXIV) were extended (Figure I.6; Bourke 2002, 4; figure 2).

The area of the site (ca 25ha) and the depth of occupational deposits meant that only a tiny fraction of the site could be excavated by the University of Sydney. Earlier campaigns excavated large areas of the latest strata (Mallon et al 1934) or small sondages through the occupational sequence (North 1961). The two University of Sydney projects (Hennessy 1989; Bourke 2002) have attempted to expose large enough areas of the early phases to clarify the material culture sequence, but this is necessarily a slow process, and in any season different trenches expose different occupational phases and sub-phases.

The 1999 trenches provided the following coverage (Stephen Bourke pers comm 2000):

• AXI: late Early Chalcolithic, early Middle Chalcolithic (LEC, EMC)

• NI: Early Chalcolithic, late Early Chalcolithic (EC, LEC)

• AXIII: late Early Chalcolithic, early Middle Chalcolithic, Middle Chalcolithic, late Middle Chalcolithic (LEC, EMC, MC, LMC)

• GIV: early Late Chalcolithic (ELC)

• EXXIV, EXXVII, NIII, QI, QIII: Late and Very Late Chalcolithic (LC, VLC)121.

Except in Area E (the ‘sanctuary area’), the trenches sampled domestic mudbrick architecture (typically, houses with courtyards). No ‘destruction’ levels were identified. In taphonomic terms,

121 In subsequent discussion, this scheme is simplified to ‘early Chalcolithic’ (EC, LEC), ‘middle Chalcolithic’ (EMC, MC, LMC), and ‘later Chalcolithic’ (ELC, LC, VLC), or just ‘earlier Chalcolithic’ (early and middle Chalcolithic) and ‘later Chalcolithic’.

92 therefore, there are no obvious spatial or diachronic differences between trenches, except perhaps in Area E. There was some suspicion that the sanctuaries may have remained in use after the abandonment of the site as a place of residence. A programme of radiocarbon dating (Bourke 2002; Bourke et al 2004) has not conclusively answered this question.

All securely-stratified occupational contexts were sampled by trench supervisors, with a typical sample volume of 20L of sediment. Smaller features (eg postholes, hearths) were sampled in full. Large midden contexts in trenches QI and NIII were arbitrarily sampled in 10cm spits. The full list of samples collected and processed is shown in Table 4.6. Not all of these samples have been analysed, however (Chapter 5).

4.7 Summary

Only at Teleilat Ghassul and ZAD2 did fieldwork proceed as expected. The poor preservation of archaeological remains at ash-Shalaf, and the restricted access at WZ120 and Pella, meant that these sites were inadequately sampled. At Wadi Fidan 1, the lack of an archaeobotanist during the excavation season led to an insufficient emphasis on archaeobotanical sampling. Logistical constraints limited the volume, but not the number, of samples that could be processed at ZAD2. At Teleilat Ghassul, however, conditions and priorities were such that archaeobotanical sampling provided a good coverage of all excavation areas.

93 5. Sorting

5.1. Sample selection

All samples from WZ120, Wadi Fidan 1, ash-Shalaf, and Pella were fully sorted. A selection was made of samples from the richer sites (ZAD2 and Teleilat Ghassul). The ZAD2 samples were collected over two seasons, 1999 and 2001, and all the 1999 samples were sorted before the second season. This provided a preliminary assemblage (Edwards et al 2001), and an indication of preservation conditions at the site. In the upper 0.5m of occupation deposits, samples were dominated by modern seeds and rootlets, and archaeobotanical remains in these contexts were badly fragmented. Samples from the upper 0.5m were collected and processed in the 2001 season, but were not sorted.

At Ghassul, the sample selection process was more complex. Earlier work at Ghassul (Meadows 1998b unpublished) demonstrated that identifiable charred plant remains survived in almost every context, with a ‘background’ incidence of ca 1 identifiable specimen (in the >1.0mm flot) per litre of sediment. Every context, therefore, probably contained at least 1 residual specimen/L. In the 1999 season, flots estimated to contain 20 or fewer identifiable specimens were deemed to consist mainly of residual material, and were not sorted122.

At the other extreme, some 1997 samples were relatively dense (in identifiable specimens/L), but not necessarily diverse. These samples tended to dominate statistical patterning within the 1997 data, and to obscure other sources of variation. With few exceptions, the samples were from secondary contexts, but there was a range of context types, particularly in the upper levels. The densest samples were from identifiable pits and middens in the latest phases. One objection to the interpretation of the 1997 data (Bourke et al 2000) is that functional differences may be responsible for what appears to be a diachronic pattern. The denser 1999 samples (estimated >100 identifiable items in coarse flot) were therefore not sorted.

This decision also allowed a larger number of samples to be sorted in the available time. The 1999 assemblage is smaller than that obtained in 1997, but is more diverse and represents many more contexts, and is larger than the other assemblages in this study combined. A further criterion, satisfied by the decision not to sort the larger samples, was that each phase of occupation should be represented in the assemblage by a similar number of samples and identifications.

122 Coincidentally, Neef (forthcoming) chose the same threshold (1 identification/L) at Abu Hamid, which is contemporary with and in many ways similar to Teleilat Ghassul.

94 5.2 Definition of archaeobotanical remains

Archaeobotanical macrofossils are preserved in five situations:

• charring: incomplete combustion can reduce organic plant matter to relatively pure carbon, which is chemically and biologically inert. In favourable circumstances, charred plant organs may retain enough of their original shape to be identifiable

• desiccation: in hyper-arid or sheltered environments, such as caves, there may be insufficient moisture to support soil microorganisms, which would normally break down plant material. This does not appear to have been the case at any of the sites sampled

• mineralisation: in unusual deposits, such as cesspits, minerals in solution can replace decaying plant cells while preserving the original shape of the plant organ, creating a true fossil. No mineralised remains were observed

• waterlogging: plant remains sealed in waterlogged contexts may be preserved because there is insufficient oxygen for micro-organisms to survive

• freezing: at high latitudes or altitudes, plant material may be permanently frozen.

In this study, uncharred plant remains were regarded as modern contaminants, with few exceptions. A single sample, from Wadi Fidan 1, contained desiccated plant remains. This material is unlikely to be modern, because it consisted entirely of the chaff of emmer wheat, which is not cultivated in Jordan today. Some of the chaff was partially charred. Siliceous seed coats of some Boraginaceae taxa (eg Arnebia sp.) can be preserved without having been charred. Modern and ancient specimens cannot easily be distinguished, therefore (van Zeist 1986). This can lead to massive over-representation of these taxa (Hillman 2000, 385), and to the confusion of ancient and modern seeds. Charred Boraginaceae seed coats were sometimes recorded, and these are regarded as ancient. In some situations (eg at ash-Shalaf), it is thought that any uncharred Boraginaceae seed coats were modern, due to the unusually high incidence of these taxa. At WZ120, a few samples (R5 019 and 027, T6 019) contained many Lithospermum seeds, suspected to represent the collection of these seeds by ants, as many of the seed coats had holes and none was charred. Although these remains were not included in statistical analysis, they may nevertheless be of archaeological age.

All flots were sorted under a low power (×7–×40) stereoscopic microscope at La Trobe University123. The first stage of sorting was the removal of modern and unidentifiable material.

123 Preliminary sorting of the ash-Shalaf 1998 season samples was undertaken at the German Protestant Institute and the Council for British Research in the Levant in Amman, between excavation seasons. Identifications contained in the preliminary report (Bienert and Vieweger 1999), although largely confirmed by subsequent work, are superseded by those in this study.

95 For the purposes of this study, wood charcoal and plant vegetative organs (leaves, stems, and roots) other than cereal straw and chaff were not regarded as identifiable. Wood charcoal is frequently collected and identified to inform environmental reconstructions, often by specialists in wood anatomy. The quantity of other plant macrofossils (seeds, fruits, nutshells, cereal chaff, etc) recovered, and the time required to develop the necessary expertise in wood charcoal identification, meant that it was not possible to include analysis of wood charcoal in this study. All material regarded as unidentifiable, including wood charcoal, was stored for future research.

Identifiable plant remains were sorted by stages into the identified taxa reported in Tables 5.1–5.6. Sorting is more efficient, and identification easier, if at each stage the remains are sorted into no more than four or five categories. Depending on sample composition, therefore, the second stage of sorting was the division of plant remains into food plants and wild/weed species, followed by the division of the food plants into cereals, pulses, fruits, nuts, and chaff, and the division of wild/weed remains into families. At each stage, remains that could not be further identified (eg indeterminate cereal grains) were counted and recorded.

5.3 Identification criteria

Identification of archaeobotanical macrofossils is a process of elimination. The features used by botanists to identify living plants (eg flower structure) are almost never preserved, precluding the use of identification keys in standard reference texts (eg Zohary and Feinbrun-Dothan 1986–86). Instead, archaeobotanical specimens are compared to equivalent plant organs in a reference collection of identified modern plants. The specimen is identified by excluding morphologically different families, genera, and species in the collection.

There are limits to the taxonomic level to which any specimen can be identified, usually due to incomplete preservation or gaps in the comparative collection. Most archaeobotanical assemblages therefore include some specimens identified to species level, and many more identified to genus or family level. Charred specimens are seldom identifiable to species level unless there are very few relevant species in the flora of region under study. The proportion of specimens that can be identified to species level depends not only on the state of preservation of the material, but also on the range of morphological variation within a family or genus. Certain families (eg Fabaceae) include very many species, whose seeds (the plant organ most commonly preserved by charring) can rarely be identified beyond the tribe (sub-family) level, due to the similarity of seeds of various genera (Butler 1996).

Unlike artefacts, whose classification is inevitably a subjective exercise, plant remains can and should be identified according to natural taxonomy, as each specimen belongs to one and only one species, genus, and family. In practice, however, there is often merit in the creation of

96 archaeobotanical taxa. These include crossover categories (eg emmer/einkorn) and neutral taxa (eg Type A). The former preserve information that would be lost if strict botanical taxa were used (Triticum sp., in this case, which includes wheats other than emmer and einkorn). The latter, sometimes added to a family-level identification (eg Poaceae Type A), allow the assemblage to be reinterpreted when the neutral taxa are positively identified. A neutral taxon may not be identifiable because the species in question is extinct, but the lack of a positive identification is usually due to gaps in comparative collections. It should also be noted that our knowledge of the modern flora of Jordan is still incomplete (eg Danin 1997).

Finally, archaeobotanists frequently prefix their identifications with the qualifier ‘cf’ (‘compare to’). Typically, this means that the specimen is incomplete, but that the preserved section is consistent with more complete specimens that have been positively identified. In these circumstances, it is preferable to refer the incomplete specimen to a taxon known to occur at a site, rather than to use a broader category, which represents a loss of information.

Due to the absence of an appropriate comparative collection in Australia, preliminary identifications were based on previous experience with well-preserved Jordanian material from the fourth millennium cal BC site of Wadi Fidan 4, the subject of an MSc dissertation at the University of Sheffield (Meadows 1996 unpublished; Meadows 2001a). Other preliminary identifications were based on published illustrations by van Zeist and colleagues (1982; 1984a; 1984b), Kislev (1987; 1997), Colledge (1998b), Willcox (1996), and the Flora of Iraq (Townsend et al 1968–85)124. The identifications of most taxa were confirmed by:

• use of the comparative collection of modern plant material at Department of Archaeology and Prehistory of the University of Sheffield

• consultation with Reinder Neef, of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) in Berlin, and the use of an archaeobotanical collection comprising every taxon identified by Neef in Jordan and Syria (each of these was measured and sketched)

• consultation with Sue Colledge, of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, use of the Institute’s comparative collection of modern plant material, and of archaeobotanical material from Abu Hureyra, identified by Gordon Hillman

• discussions with George Willcox, at the CNRS research station in Jalès, France.

124 The Flora Palaestina (Zohary and Feinbrun-Dothan 1966–86) is regarded as the prime reference text for Jordanian botany, but does not contain illustrations of seeds. The Flora of Iraq includes some seed illustrations, but is not finished, and not all Iraqi species are found in Jordan. Atlases of weed seeds, and Jordanian agricultural textbooks, are based on the flora of European and North American fields, and are of limited use.

97 Illustrations of each identified taxon, obtained by scanning electron microscopy at La Trobe University, are provided in Appendix C. The range of taxa identified is essentially a subset of the ranges identified by other archaeobotanists, with one or two exceptions. Specimens were identified to the taxonomic level at which only one taxon was considered likely. Fragments of common taxa were inevitably identified more readily than were fragments of rarer types.

Three types of identification error are possible:

• identification to the wrong taxon

• identification to a more specific taxon than is warranted by the specimen’s condition and the morphological similarities of candidate taxa

• failure to identify a specimen to as specific a taxon as its condition permits (eg identification to family level, when genus-level identification is possible).

In this study, it is hoped that most errors are of the third type. Such errors represent a loss of information, but do not create false or misleading data.

5.4 Quantification

In most cases, the count recorded in Tables 5.1–6 was the minimum number of whole organs in each sample (eg the number of seeds, grains, or chaff elements). This method was not suitable for all taxa, however; nutshells and olive stones, for example, are usually crushed to extract the food resource. It was possible to calculate an approximate ‘olive stone equivalent’ by composing olive fragments into squares on graph paper (a complete olive stone in this study has a surface area of approximately 1cm2). This was not attempted with Pistacia nutshell fragments, as the four complete specimens were very small (and were probably not crushed for this reason). Straw fragments without culm nodes were counted and measured.

With few exceptions, the selected samples were sorted in full. Sample 11629 at Wadi Fidan 1 consisted almost entirely of desiccated glume bases and spikelet forks; when the fine flot was sorted, these taxa were not recorded. A custom-built sample splitter was used to divide some of the larger fine flots from Teleilat Ghassul into halves or quarters (Appendix E). In Table 5.6, these are labelled FF/2 and FF/4 respectively. The table shows the raw counts recorded in the fractions sorted. For the purposes of data analysis, these counts were multiplied by two and four respectively.

98 6. Patterns

6.1. Statistical treatment of archaeobotanical data

Off-site palaeoenvironmental records, such as pollen diagrams, are used to identify regional trends in natural vegetation, in which the environmental impact of human behaviour can sometimes be detected. An archaeobotanical assemblage, by contrast, is primarily a record of a site’s plant economy (the intentional exploitation of plants for food, fuel, fodder, building materials, textiles, and industrial, medicinal, and ritual uses), in the context of regional trends in natural vegetation. An assemblage’s composition is also governed by the seasonality of human activity, the selective preservation and post-depositional attrition of plant remains, and the efforts of archaeologists to recover, identify, and quantify those remains. These processes function as filters, which, overlaid, form the assemblage. In order to construct a plausible environmental and economic history, we need to identify the contribution of each filter.

Multivariate statistical methods can be used to explore large matrices of data, in which there may be several intersecting patterns. Typically, archaeobotanical data are recorded in tables of counts (numbers of specimens of each taxon found in each sample), often with many blank (zero value) cells. The appropriate multivariate method for exploring tables of sparse count data is Correspondence Analysis (Colledge 1998a, 124; Shennan 1997, 308)125. CANOCO (ter Braak and Šmilauer 1997–1999) is a software package designed for use with ecological data. It includes a CA algorithm, among other multivariate methods.

Correspondence Analysis (CA) output consists of scores, for each taxon and sample, against several ordination axes that are calculated to account for total inertia in the assemblage126. A taxon

125 Correspondence Analysis can also be carried out using presence/absence data (by setting all non-zero counts to 1). Count data (also known as abundance data) are biased by differential rates of seed production between species, and to a lesser extent by inconsistent quantification criteria. Some archaeobotanists therefore prefer to use presence/absence data, despite the loss of information. Presence/absence data are not unbiased, however: taxa that produce greater numbers of seeds are more likely to be found in any sample, because they are more abundant in the population from which the sample was drawn. Taxon presence or absence is thus itself a function of abundance (Kadane 1988). Although the abundance of any species in an assemblage may bear little relation to its importance to the economy or to its incidence in the local environment, trends in the relative abundances of different taxa should be significant. This is a fundamental assumption in palynology and other branches of palaeoenvironmental research. Count data were used in all the CA exercises discussed in this chapter. 126 In CA, total inertia is the sum of departures from the average of each variable, weighted according to its mass (contribution to the total assemblage). Rows and columns with unevenly-distributed values and large totals contribute most to total inertia, and the ordination axes that account for most of the total inertia are the lines of best fit with respect to these variables (Shennan 1997, 315–18). In CANOCO, CA ordination uses the reciprocal (or two-way weighted) averaging algorithm: ‘from initial arbitrary sample scores, species scores are obtained, from which new sample scores are derived, from which new species scores are derived, and so on’. As a result, ‘species scores are the weighted averages of sample scores, and vice versa’ (ter Braak and Šmilauer 1998, 34–35; 37).

99 found in most samples, or a sample containing an average mix of taxa, will have low scores against each axis. Unevenly-distributed taxa, and samples that are unusual in composition, contribute more to total inertia, and have high scores against at least one axis.

Output can be plotted on two-dimensional scatter graphs, using the sample and taxa scores against any pair of ordination axes127. As CA relates taxa and samples to the same axes, ‘species’ (taxon) patterning can be explained by sample patterning, and vice versa. Taxa that consistently occur together have similar scores against each axis, and thus cluster together in scatter graphs. Samples that are similar to each other in composition cluster in the same areas as the taxa associated with these samples128. Such clustering can be informative. For example, if the samples cluster by phase, one axis may represent a chronological vector. Taxon scores against this axis would then suggest diachronic trends in the incidence of different species. Another axis may represent a spatial or functional pattern, such as the spectrum of crop-processing activities, while a third may represent a pattern created during excavation or analysis. Data that incorporate a strong bimodal character (eg osteological measurements on populations not already separated into male and female) tend to be resolved mainly by the first axis, which reflects these extremes, while less obvious patterns are evident on axes 2, 3, and 4. Patterning in archaeobotanical data is seldom as clear-cut. Species data are notoriously ‘noisy’ (ter Braak and Šmilauer 1998, 121).

Statistically, rare taxa are more likely to be distributed unevenly, and small samples tend to be more erratic in composition. Due to their low statistical mass, these variables contribute little to total inertia, but they can have high scores against one or more axes, and thus appear as outliers in scatter graphs. This may obscure more significant patterns. Such variables may therefore be combined, down-weighted, or omitted from statistical analysis altogether. Taxa found in less than 10% of samples and samples with fewer than 30 items are often omitted from CA, or merged with closely-related taxa or adjacent samples (eg McCorriston and Weisberg 2002, 488, and references therein). Such thresholds are arbitrary, however, and the merger or omission of minor variables need not clarify the output.

Correspondence Analysis inevitably reveals some patterning in archaeobotanical data, but this need not be relevant to research questions. Although we may decide to down-weight or omit samples at the data analysis stage, most potential samples are excluded when field archaeologists decide where to excavate and which deposits to sample. Optimal strategies in the field and in the laboratory may yield an assemblage that accurately represents the range, frequency, and

127 In Figures 6.1–6.52 this was done using the program Canodraw 3.10 (Šmilauer 1992). 128 In CANOCO, this is referred to as the ‘centroid principle’. Sample and species scores can be calculated and displayed in three ways: symmetric scaling, scaling focussed on inter-sample distances, and scaling focussed on inter-species distances. As long as the eigenvalues (measures of importance) of the relevant ordination axes are similar, it little matters which method is used (ter Braak and Šmilauer 1998, 36; 90).

100 abundance of plant remains at any site, but the interplay of site formation processes means that much of the variation within this assemblage will be statistical ‘noise’.

When a meaningful pattern is identified, it may have more than one plausible explanation (‘equifinality’), a problem often encountered in archaeology and other historical sciences. Environmental changes, functional factors, post-depositional taphonomy, and excavation and sample processing methods may each reinforce or obscure the same patterns. Research tends to focus on environmental and economic trends, which are relevant to an understanding of cultural development at a regional scale, but one should first account for the effects of more immediate processes. If several explanations of a pattern are equally plausible, the most immediate is to be preferred. For example, if both climate change and the sampling strategy employed could account for a particular pattern, an interpretation emphasising the sampling strategy is preferable to one based on climate change129.

Using Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), we can identify the effects of some exogenous (explanatory) variables on assemblage composition. If certain attributes of a sample (eg phase) can be quantified, and if these attributes are known of all samples in the analysis, ordination axes corresponding to each of these attributes can be calculated130. This method may be used to distinguish spatial and temporal patterns, for example.

If there are meaningful patterns in archaeobotanical data, they are due to any of the following formation processes, or filters:

• Methods of excavation, sampling, sample processing, and laboratory analysis

• Post-depositional taphonomy (effects of bioturbation, pedoturbation etc)

• Accidents of preservation (due to unusual events or conditions)

• Functional, behavioural, or spatial patterns (due to routine activities)

• Economic trends (changes in subsistence behaviour)

• Environmental trends (climate history, human impact on the environment).

To interpret an assemblage, we try to account for the effect of each filter. If research methods and taphonomy do not explain the patterning in the data, there may be an economic or environmental story to tell.

129 Jones (1991, 71) noted that ‘it is desirable to allow for the effects of crop processing and discard before using samples to address more fundamental questions such as crop cultivation or patterns of consumption’. Here it is further suggested that recovery biases should be taken into account before archaeobotanical data are used to address taphonomic issues.

101 6.2 Teleilat Ghassul data analysis

Of the six sites sampled, only Teleilat Ghassul provided an assemblage large and diverse enough for this approach to data analysis to be applied rigorously. The smaller assemblages are therefore discussed below, following analysis of the Teleilat Ghassul data.

6.2.1 Research questions

Research questions addressed by the Ghassul 1999 data included:

• Environment: was there any evidence of climate change or human impact on the environment during the Chalcolithic? Earlier work (Hoppè 1996b unpublished; Meadows 1998b unpublished) drew no conclusions on this issue

• Economy: it was argued that the 1994–97 data supported the theory that Ghassul began as a village of self-sufficient subsistence farmers, and during the fifth millennium developed into a town of landowners and landless labourers, farmers and specialised herders, and craft specialists not engaged in food production. Olive domestication may have contributed to these changes, but population growth, increased social differentiation, the development of horticulture, and changes in land tenure may all have promoted each other. The early Chalcolithic ‘peasant economy’ continued to exist alongside the new economy, but gradually dwindled (Bourke et al 2000; Meadows 1998b unpublished). Would the 1999 data fit this story, elaborate it, or challenge it?

• Behaviour: activity areas appeared to become more defined (specialised) over the course of the Chalcolithic. Was this trend real, or a result of the excavation of larger areas of deposits from the later phases?

• Post-depositional taphonomy: did the relatively poor archaeobotanical samples from Area E (the ‘sanctuary’) represent a post-Ghassulian, non-sedentary phase of site use, or the attrition of plant remains in the upper layers of an eroding site?

• Fieldwork: in 1994–97, many large (ca 50L) samples of sediment were collected and processed, but, due to financial constraints, only a few were then selected for laboratory analysis. In 1999, smaller samples (15–20L) were collected, allowing many more to be analysed. As the same parts of the site were excavated in 1997 and 1999, differences between the 1997 and 1999 assemblages should reflect the change in sampling strategy. In addition, an experiment was carried out to determine how the composition of the assemblage was affected

130 In CANOCO, these attributes are referred to as ‘environmental variables’. The first one, two, or three axes (‘canonical axes’) represent ‘direct gradients’ (the effects on sample composition of the environmental variables). Remaining axes represent variation not due to the environmental variables.

102 by the method used to recover plant remains (manual or machine flotation; Appendix B), to inform comparisons of assemblages from different sites

• Laboratory analysis and data manipulation: again due to financial constraints, fine flot fractions (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) from the 1994–97 samples were not analysed. Fine flots from the 1999 samples were analysed, to assess the effect of minimum mesh size on assemblage composition131. Large volumes of sediment were sampled in 1994–97 to produce numerically large samples (ca 500 items), which were thought to be essential for statistical purposes (van der Veen and Fieller 1982). CA of the 1997 results suggested that smaller samples (ca 100 items) were large enough to demonstrate meaningful patterns. What are the appropriate sample sizes and taxon frequencies for use in CA?

Depending on the questions to be answered, the 1999 data (Table 5.6) can be divided into several sub-assemblages:

1. All samples and subsamples, regardless of processing method (codes ******)

2. Samples used in the processing-method experiment (codes **3***):

a) subsamples processed by flotation machine (codes **3**1)

b) subsamples processed manually (codes **3**2)

3. Samples processed by flotation machine only (sample codes **1**1)

4. Samples processed by the manual method only (sample codes **2**2)

5. All machine-processed samples and subsamples (= 2(a) + 3, codes *****1)

6. All manually-processed samples and subsamples (= 2(b) + 4, codes *****2)

7. Data recorded by mesh size, 48 machine-processed samples and subsamples:

a) from both coarse flots and fine flots (CF + FF)

b) from coarse flots (CF) only

c) from fine flots (FF) only

8. Samples from particular excavation areas

9. Samples from particular phases of occupation

10. Samples from particular context types (Tables 4.6, 6.2)

131 Plant remains from the coarse flot and fine flot size fractions were recorded separately in only 48 of the 73 machine-processed samples and subsamples analysed. Plant remains collected by manual flotation belong to a single size fraction (>0.5mm).

103 For example, to investigate the effect of changing the sampling strategy we can compare the 1997 data to 7(b), the 1999 data subset produced by the processing and sorting methods used in the 1994–97 seasons. Questions 1 to 4 were addressed by splitting the assemblage vertically (into phases) and horizontally (into areas or context types). Spatial and functional patterns were investigated by comparing samples from different contexts within the same phase, in order to minimise the effect of diachronic trends. The latter, if genuine, may be replicated in different excavation areas (6.2.6.1).

6.2.2 Processing method and sample composition

A preliminary report on the processing-method experiment (Appendix B) showed great variation by taxon in recovery rate between manual and machine flotation. Overall, manual flotation recovered more identifiable plant specimens, particularly of relatively dense or fragmented taxa. Very small taxa, however, were more likely to be recovered by machine flotation, probably due to the smaller minimum mesh size used. The various taxa were thus found in different proportions in the two sub-assemblages, suggesting that interpretations of archaeobotanical assemblages can be influenced by the processing method employed.

Initially, CA was performed using the raw data from the processing-method experiment. Non- plant and unidentified plant taxa were omitted. Taxa occurring in fewer than five subsamples were either omitted or merged with closely-related taxa (for example, several genera were placed in a single Asteraceae taxon for the purposes of this analysis). In all, 106 subsamples and 61 taxa were included in the exercise, each with the same weighting.

Axis 1, which accounted for 14.9% of inertia132, sorted the subsamples by processing method (Figure 6.1), almost certainly because wheat glume bases and spikelet forks, which were conspicuously over-represented in the manual subsamples, were the most abundant taxa133. These taxa had negative scores against Axis 1, as did some taxa with less statistical mass (such as Avena/Stipa awn fragments) that were also over-represented in manual subsamples. Some taxa that were under-represented in manual subsamples (eg pulses, Scorpiurus, Ornithogalum) had high positive scores against Axis 1 (Figure 6.2). Processing method therefore appeared to be the leading source of variation in the assemblage. Species patterning (the uneven distribution of

132 The CA algorithm in CANOCO calculates the first four ordination axes, which in this case collectively accounted for 40.3% of inertia in the data set. Axis 2 (10.9%) accounted for more inertia than Axis 3 (8.3%), which in turn was more significant than Axis 4 (6.2%). These figures are typical for CA of archaeobotanical data, and suggest that much of the variation within an assemblage can be regarded as statistical noise. 133 These taxa had the highest ‘weight’ in the Canodraw plot of CA output, due to their statistical mass and the unevenness of their distributions (the two taxa account for 66% of identifications in manual subsamples and 43% of identifications in machine subsamples). Removing them from the analysis appeared to eliminate the seriation of samples by processing method.

104 glume wheat chaff) led to sample patterning (samples were sorted by processing method), which in turn affected species patterning (awn fragments were apparently associated with wheat chaff).

The dominance of glume wheat chaff also appeared to sort the machine subsamples chronologically: only early and middle Chalcolithic machine subsamples had negative scores against Axis 1 (Figure 6.3). Manual flotation appeared to over-represent taxa that were more common in earlier phases at Ghassul, suggesting that differences in processing method may account for apparently meaningful differences between assemblages from different sites.

To allow data from manual and machine subsamples to be used in the same analysis, each manual subsample count was divided by the ratio by which that taxon was over-represented under manual flotation (Appendix B, Table B1). Correspondence Analysis of the adjusted data showed that samples were no longer sorted by processing method (Figure 6.4; see also Figure 6.26). Counts in manually-processed samples not included in the processing-method experiment (codes **2**2) were adjusted by the same ratios, to allow these data to be used in subsequent analyses134.

6.2.3 Minimum mesh size and sample composition

The second CA exercise investigated how an assemblage might be interpreted differently, depending on whether plant remains smaller than 1.0mm in diameter were identified or not. This exercise only included data from 48 machine-processed samples and subsamples with separately- recorded coarse and fine flot counts.

After taxa found in fewer than five samples had been omitted or merged with closely-related taxa, the sub-assemblage included 48 taxa, of which four were found only in the fine fractions. Although the food taxa and larger weed seeds were found primarily in coarse flot fractions, fine fractions contained similar numbers of small chaff elements (glume bases, rachis internodes), and the majority of specimens of some environmentally-significant wild taxa, such as Chenopodiaceae and Cyperaceae (Table 6.1)135.

In the first run of the CA exercise, the highly-skewed distribution of small grass seeds was responsible for sorting the samples on Axis 1 (Figure 6.5)136. In the second run, 24 of the 48 samples, selected at random, included both coarse flot and fine flot data. Only coarse flot data

134 These samples, and machine-processed samples not included in the experiment (codes **1**1), were omitted from the analyses shown in Figures 6.1–6.4. 135 The fact that fine fractions were not analysed in the 1994-97 seasons would thus have hindered any attempt at an informed palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Note that some taxa found in both coarse and fine flot fractions, such as olive and linseed, were identifiable from small fragments. The abundance of some taxa in fine fractions thus depends on the identifiability of fragments rather than on the number (and size) of whole plant organs. This is true of archaeobotanical remains in general. 136 Only one example of the small grass type was found in a coarse fraction. Of the 287 specimens found in fine fractions, 216 were from a single sample. If the small grass taxon is downweighted, some sorting of samples by minimum mesh size is still apparent on Axis 2.

105 from the other 24 samples were used in the analysis. In this run, some separation between the two groups of samples was apparent on Axes 3 and 4 (Figure 6.6), but not on the more significant first and second axes.

Variation in sample composition thus appeared to be dominated by the distributions of taxa found mainly in coarse flot fractions. This was confirmed by comparing the scatter plot of taxa when fine flot data from all 48 samples were included (Figure 6.7) with the same plot when only coarse flot data were used (Figure 6.8). Inclusion of fine flot data did not alter the basic patterns, which reflect the range of crop-processing activities taking place. Patterns observed in 1997 data (from coarse flots only) should thus be relatively robust, not artefacts of the minimum mesh size.

6.2.4 Sampling strategy (1997 vs 1999 data)

The third CA exercise used the 1997 data (42 samples; Meadows 1998b unpublished) and coarse flot data from 48 machine-processed samples from the 1999 season. Again, non-plant and unidentified plant taxa were omitted. The combined data set included only 37 taxa, partly because these data excluded taxa found only in fine flots, and partly because the assemblages had to be combined at the same taxonomic level. As small-seeded legumes were not identified beyond family level in 1997, for example, the various small legume taxa identified in 1999 (Medicago type, Astragalus type, etc) were merged into a single taxon (Fabaceae indet.).

In CA output, samples from the two seasons had similar scores against Axes 1 and 2 (Figure 6.9), but some sorting was apparent on Axes 3 and 4 (Figure 6.10). Inspection of the corresponding scatter plot of taxa (Figure 6.11) suggested that this was due to a higher incidence of food remains (Axis 3) and Lolium (Axis 4) in the 1997 samples.

This may be because the 1999 samples used in this exercise (the 48 for which coarse and fine flot data were recorded separately) were drawn mainly from early and middle Chalcolithic strata. The 1997 samples were evenly distributed between phases, although samples from the later phases were numerically larger. Thus some of the sorting by excavation season in Figure 6.10 may reflect diachronic trends. This is contradicted, however, by the patterning of taxa in Figure 6.11. The incidence of Lolium, apparently associated with 1997 samples, actually decreased sharply over time (see below), whereas small-seeded legumes, whose incidence increased over time, are apparently associated with 1999 samples137.

137 In the sample plot, Figure 6.10, the 1997 samples with the most positive scores against Axes 3 and 4 tend to be from early-middle Chalcolithic contexts, whereas the 1997 samples closest to the cluster of 1999 samples in this view are from late Chalcolithic contexts. Diachronic patterning therefore does not explain the separation of samples according to excavation season in this plot.

106 A second possible explanation is that some of the 1997 samples, from early and middle Chalcolithic strata in areas G and N, were dry-sieved prior to flotation138. This removed most plant remains, other than glume bases and grass seeds such as Lolium. The 1997 samples with high scores against Axis 4 were among those dry-sieved before flotation. Sorting on Axis 3 may be due to the fact that the late Chalcolithic samples selected for analysis in 1997 were larger and less diverse than the more mixed samples from earlier strata in both seasons139.

Although there are lessons to be learnt from this exercise regarding field methods and the selection of samples for analysis, it nevertheless appears that the structure of the 1999 data coincides with that in the 1997 assemblage (Figure 6.9). The smaller samples collected in 1999 were apparently adequate to demonstrate the same spectrum of crop-processing activities and the same spatial and temporal patterns (discussed below). Differences between the two assemblages are less significant than the similarities, and are probably due to factors other than the changed sampling strategy.

6.2.5 Spatial patterns

One of the difficulties with the interpretation proposed in 1998 was that what appeared to be diachronic trends in the 1997 data could also be represented as spatial patterns, because different excavation areas sampled different phases of occupation. The combined 1994-99 assemblages and a more rigorous approach to data analysis have been used here to demonstrate which of the apparent trends are real, and which may simply be spatial patterns. Sample phasing (Table 5.6) is based on one interpretation of the ceramic and architectural sequence (Stephen Bourke pers comm 2000), which will continue to be modified as that material is studied in greater detail. For the purposes of this study, the 2000 scheme has been simplified to one of three phases: early, middle, and ‘later’ Chalcolithic. No Late Neolithic contexts were sampled in 1999. As discussed below, samples from the early and middle Chalcolithic phases (the ‘earlier’ Chalcolithic) are similar in most respects, but a transition takes place from the middle to the late Chalcolithic140.

138 This procedure was adopted during the 1994-95 seasons of excavation at Pella and Teleilat Ghassul, and for the sake of consistency was continued in the two deep sondages, GII and NI, in 1997. An experiment was conducted in 1997 (Meadows 1998a unpublished), using split samples from Pella, to investigate the effect of dry sieving on the composition of archaeobotanical samples. Following this experiment, the dry- sieving procedure was discontinued at both Pella and Ghassul. 139 To obtain truly comparable assemblages from each season, therefore, one would need to sort both coarse and fine flots of all the samples. This would eliminate any bias caused by the fact that the 48 samples from 1999 with separate coarse flot data were mainly from early and middle Chalcolithic levels. It would not, however, resolve differences due to the dry sieving of some 1997 samples prior to flotation, although these (and a corresponding number of early-middle Chalcolithic samples from 1999) could be omitted from the analysis. The additional laboratory work necessary to complete the analysis of all samples from both seasons could not be accommodated within the time constraints of this thesis. 140 In Appendix F, the early and middle Chalcolithic phases are combined.

107 Samples from 76 different contexts were analysed. These contexts could be grouped, following the excavators’ descriptions (Table 4.6), into five types (Table 6.2). Few of the samples analysed were from primary contexts (hearths or burnt patches), and these were confined to the early– middle Chalcolithic levels in areas A and NI. Occupation deposits, or surfaces, were sampled in all areas and phases. Samples from secondary contexts described as middens or rubbish pits were only selected from Area Q (later Chalcolithic), whereas samples from installations or storage pits came mainly from middle Chalcolithic levels of Area A.

Table 6.2 summarises the types of contexts from which samples were analysed, rather than listing all that were sampled or excavated. In 1999, early and middle Chalcolithic levels were reached only in areas A and NI, whereas later Chalcolithic contexts were sampled in areas E, G, NIII, and Q. To balance the number of samples per phase, every sample from AXI, AXIII, and NI was sorted, but only a selection of the available samples from other areas. When they were processed, most samples from areas G and Q appeared to be richer than average, and most of those from Area E appeared to be poorer. Consequently, few of the later Chalcolithic samples were included in the processing method experiment141. Only the ‘average’ later Chalcolithic samples used in the experiment were then selected for analysis, and these were mainly from occupation surfaces or floor deposits. The primary context samples analysed were therefore all from early–middle Chalcolithic levels in areas A and NI.

6.2.5.1 Early Chalcolithic levels (1999 data)

The 38 early Chalcolithic samples and subsamples represented 26 contexts: one firepit, eight features (installations, sometimes interpreted as storage pits), ten occupation surfaces, and seven others that were not described. Twenty-six samples came from Area NI and a dozen from Area A, mainly trench AXIII. Nearly all samples from occupation surfaces were reasonably large, with over 100 identifications. Samples from other context types were occasionally almost sterile, usually modest (30–100 identifications), but occasionally larger. No sample was much larger than the rest, and no taxon was concentrated in a few samples. The samples yielded an average of 11 identifications/L, below the 1999 site mean of 16 identifications/L.

The first CA exercise included all samples with at least 30 identifications, and all identified plant taxa, with rare taxa automatically down-weighted. Taxon counts in manually-processed samples and subsamples were adjusted by the over-representation ratios calculated during the processing- method experiment (Appendix B; see above). Samples from Area A were clearly concentrated in a

141 When samples were processed by machine flotation, a small quantity of sediment (ca 4L) was set aside for manual flotation. If the coarse flot from the machine sub-sample was rated as poor (estimated sample size <20) or rich (estimated sample size >100), the manual subsample was not processed (Appendix B). Many NIII samples from were so small (4L or less) that they were processed by manual flotation only.

108 small area of the scatter graphs, whereas Area N samples were widely dispersed (Figure 6.12). The taxa associated with Area A samples were glume bases and spikelet forks, and straw products (culm nodes and straw fragments; Figure 6.13). All other taxa were apparently associated with Area N samples, which were apparently more diverse than those from Area A. There was no intelligible pattern in terms of context type: the scatter of ‘installation’ and ‘surface’ samples overlapped, with the ‘firepit’ sample a little more differentiated (Figure 6.14).

The next CA exercise used only ‘surface’ samples. The scatter graphs showed exactly the same patterns as in the first two exercises. Area A samples were associated with glume bases and spikelet forks, while all other taxa were associated with Area N. Glume bases and spikelet forks accounted for 64 percent of identifications in early Chalcolithic samples from Area A, but only 48 percent in Area N. These taxa were omitted from the next CA exercise (Figure 6.15). No combination of axes sorted the samples by excavation area, although samples with higher scores against any axis tended to be from Area N. Again, samples were not sorted by context type (Figure 6.16).

6.2.5.2 Middle Chalcolithic levels (1999 data)

In 1999, middle Chalcolithic deposits were only excavated in areas AXI and AXIII, which were contiguous. Most of the 42 samples and sub-samples were from the earliest sub-phase (‘EMC’), with only five belonging to the ‘MC’ and seven to the ‘LMC’ (Table 5.6). There were 11 machine-only samples, 14 pairs of machine and manual subsamples, and three manual-only samples (ie 25 machine samples and 17 manual samples). The samples represent 25 distinct contexts: four firepits, one burnt area, four stone- or plaster-lined pits, 11 surfaces or occupation deposits, and five ‘other’ contexts. One firepit, one installation, and one surface were sampled twice. More than half the samples were relatively large (over 100 identifications) and all but three yielded over 30 identifications. Samples from installations and firepits tended to be larger than those from other context types.

If there are consistent differences in sample composition between context types, these should be evident in the middle Chalcolithic data. The 39 samples and subsamples which produced at least 30 identifications were included in the CA exercise, but taxon counts in manual samples and subsamples were corrected for over-representation of taxa (see above). All identified plant taxa were used, but rare taxa were automatically down-weighted.

The analysis showed some sorting of samples by excavation area on axes 1 and 3 (Figure 6.17) 142. Samples with high positive scores against Axis 1 were from trench AXI, whereas AXIII samples

142 Axis 2 separated sample 461111, which contained most of the ‘small grass type’ seeds in the assemblage, from all other samples.

109 had negative scores against Axis 1 or high positive scores against Axis 3. The plot of taxa (Figure 6.18) shows that this was due to a higher incidence of Scorpiurus in some AXI samples, of olive in a few AXIII samples, and of wheat chaff in most AXIII samples.

When the samples were labelled by context type (Figure 6.19), no clear pattern emerged. Axis 1 appeared to contrast samples from installations (more negative) with those from surfaces and firepits (more positive). All the installations were in AXIII, however, and the burnt patch and three of the four firepits were in AXI143. Taxa associated with AXIII and ‘installations’ included glume bases, spikelet forks, and rachis internodes, whereas pulses, straw components, small- seeded legumes, and Liliaceae taxa were associated with AXI and ‘firepit’ samples.

In order to separate the effects of context type and excavation area, the third CA exercise only analysed the data from occupation surface samples144. Axis 1 continued to sort the samples by area (Figure 6.20). Taxa such as glume bases and rachis internodes were still associated with AXIII samples, whereas taxa such as pulses, cereal grains, small-seeded legumes, the Liliaceae, and straw components were again associated with AXI samples (Figure 6.21). The samples were no longer sorted by area on Axis 3, however. The samples with the most olive stones were from a firepit and two installations in AXIII. The incidence of olives in occupation surface samples was apparently similar in the two areas.

In general, however, the composition of ‘surface’ samples from AXIII was more like that of ‘installation’ samples in the same area than like the composition of ‘surface’ samples in AXI, which in turn had more in common with the AXI ‘firepit’ samples than with ‘surface’ samples in AXIII (Figure 6.22). Although some mixing between adjacent contexts before and during excavation was expected (McCorriston and Weisberg 2002), it was harder to explain why adjoining areas should have produced consistently different plant assemblages. The AXIII samples were consistently denser (in identifications/L of sediment), due mainly to a higher incidence of glume bases and spikelet forks. Although the AXIII samples belonged (mainly) to later sub-phases of the middle Chalcolithic than the AXI samples, there did not appear to be a chronological vector in these data. The differences between AXI and AXIII samples appeared to reflect where different stages of crop processing took place. There was more fine chaff of wheat and barley in AXIII samples, and more grain (of cereals and pulses) and straw in AXI samples145.

143 The figure shows seven samples from firepits: three machine-only samples, and two pairs of machine and manual subsamples (which came from the same feature). 144 Samples from other context types were made supplementary in the analysis: ordination axes were calculated using only data from occupation surface samples, and scores against each axis were then calculated for the other samples, based on their composition. 145 When the glume base and spikelet fork taxa were omitted from the analysis, this patterning persisted, due to the concentration of barley rachis internodes in AXIII samples. Samples were now sorted by area on Axis 2, as the small grass taxon and sample 461111 became the leading contributors to inertia.

110 Such spatial patterning as can be identified in middle Chalcolithic data shows no real difference in sample composition between context types, but consistent differences between samples from different excavation areas. This means that the distinction made between ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ contexts is redundant. Although large quantities of wood charcoal were found in some AXI ‘firepit’ samples, all other plant remains in these contexts apparently occurred in the same proportions as in occupation deposits in the same area. The ‘installation’ samples from AXIII provided no clue to the function of those features, as samples from occupation deposits in the same area were similar in composition.

The only taxa that may have been associated with particular features were the Cyperaceae, some of which were mineralised, not charred. They were unevenly distributed, with most specimens of the Carex type in AXI 76.26 (a pit) and most of the Fimbristylis type in two AXIII installations.

6.2.5.3 Later Chalcolithic data (1999 samples)

Twenty-seven pairs of manual and machine subsamples from later Chalcolithic levels were sorted, representing 25 contexts, two of which were sampled twice. Of these contexts, ten were occupation surfaces, three were described as pits, four as features (installations, although these may include pits), and eight were not classified. Five sample pairs were from Area EXXIV (all ‘other’), three from EXXVII (all ‘surface’), five from GIV (two ‘surface’, two ‘other’, and one ‘installation’), five from NIII (two ‘surface’, two ‘installation’, and one ‘other’), six from QI (two ‘surface’, two ‘pit’, one ‘installation’) and three pairs were from QIII (one ‘surface’, one ‘pit’). All the GIV contexts were attributed to the ELC sub-phase, and all Area Q samples to the Very Late Chalcolithic. Area E and NIII samples were split between the Late Chalcolithic and Very Late Chalcolithic sub-phases (Table 5.6).

Area G samples were rich in the by-products of threshing and winnowing, whereas area N and Q samples tended to contain more pulses. Samples from areas G, N, and Q tended to be denser (in identifications/L) than those from Area E. These differences are readily apparent in the output of the first CA exercise (Figure 6.23).

Most Area G samples had very negative scores against Axis 1 and low scores against Axis 2, as did the straw and barley chaff components (Figure 6.24). NIII and QIII samples had positive scores against Axis 1 and low or negative scores against Axis 2, as did the grains, pulses, and small-seeded legumes. Olives, figs, chenopods, and the Liliaceae taxa had positive scores against both axes. Only QI samples fell into this category. Most Area E (particularly EXXIV) samples had negative scores against both axes, as did glume bases and spikelet forks.

When the same samples were labelled according to context type (Figure 6.25), there appeared to be some patterning. This was probably spurious: samples of two context types, ‘middens’ and

111 ‘other’ were apparently clustered. Only three Area Q contexts were described as middens or rubbish pits, and the context type ‘other’ was applied when no description was given. Most of the ‘other’ contexts from which samples sorted came from a single trench (EXXIV). The apparent patterning by context type was thus another example of patterning by excavation area. There also inevitably appeared to be a chronological gradient, due to the fact that all Area G samples were from the early Late Chalcolithic and all Area Q samples from the Very Late Chalcolithic (Figure 6.26146). Again, this was probably misleading: the spatial vector within the later Chalcolithic may be due to the location of different crop-processing activities.

No other axis or combination of axes apparently sorted the samples by context type. To demonstrate that excavation area was a more important factor in sample composition than context type, two more CA exercises were carried out, using (i) only ‘surface’ sample data from all areas and (ii) data from all context types in Area Q only.

When only ‘surface’ samples were included in the analysis, spatial patterning was even clearer (Figure 6.27; samples from other types of contexts were made supplementary in this analysis). The same taxa as before were apparently responsible for the spatial patterning (compare Figures 6.28 and 6.24). As in the middle Chalcolithic, differences between excavation areas were consistent, whether data from all context types or only occupation surfaces were compared.

When all samples from a single area, Area Q, were compared, only three surfaces (QI 15.16 and 17.9, QIII 7.3), three rubbish pits or middens (QI 17.6 and 17.13, QIII 1.4), and one feature (QI 17.18) were represented, by nine pairs of subsamples. Some sorting by context type against the second ordination axis was apparent (Figure 6.29). Taxa with positive scores against Axis 2, perhaps associated with ‘surface’ samples, included olive, cereal grains, and pulses. Most chaff and weed taxa had negative scores against this axis, and may have been associated with the ‘midden’ samples (Figure 6.30). The Area Q results hint at minor differences in sample composition according to context type that may have been obscured earlier by the differences due to excavation area. Because the number of contexts represented in Area Q was so small, these patterns may be meaningless.

Overall, spatial patterns in the later Chalcolithic data could not be confidently attributed to context type, but, as in the early and middle Chalcolithic, showed consistent differences between excavation areas that seemed to be due to the location of different crop-processing activities. If context type played any role in sample composition, it was that the main food taxa (cereal grains, pulses, and olives) were slightly more abundant in samples from occupation surfaces than in

146 In Figure 6.26 and Table 5.6, codes indicate the sub-phase to which each sample was attributed (48**** = early Late Chalcolithic; 49**** = Late Chalcolithic; 54**** = Very Late Chalcolithic).

112 samples from other features. The effect on an assemblage of only sampling one context type or another, however, is much weaker than the effect of only sampling one area of a site or another147.

6.2.5.4 Area E as a special case

One of the questions posed during the 1999 excavation season was whether there was a post- Ghassulian, non-sedentary phase in Area E; that is, whether the sanctuary complex postdated the abandonment of the site as a settlement. Archaeobotany alone cannot resolve this issue, but a sporadically-occupied site would probably yield a different archaeobotanical assemblage to a site that was occupied continuously. Samples taken within the sanctuary in 1997 (EXXV) were essentially sterile, perhaps because the area was kept clean when in use.

Samples from eight Area E contexts were sorted in 1999148. The density of identifiable plant remains (in identifications/L of sediment) in these samples was a third to a half of that in the sorted later Chalcolithic samples from areas G, N, and Q. The latter, however, were among the poorer samples from those areas, whereas the Area E samples selected for analysis were the densest. The incidence of carbonised plant remains in Area E thus seems to be much lower than elsewhere at Teleilat Ghassul. Nevertheless, the incidence of archaeobotanical remains in Area E was not negligible. Half the middle Chalcolithic Area A samples (all of which were sorted) had a lower density of plant remains than the sorted Area E samples. The archaeobotanical ‘background noise’ at Ghassul is probably 1 or 2 identifications/L (Chapter 5). All the sorted samples from Area E produced at least 7 or 8 identifications/L. It therefore appears that most of the plant material in these samples was not residual149.

The range of species represented in Area E samples was essentially the same as that in samples from other areas of the site. Some minor taxa were absent (eg Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Heliotropium), but this may simply be due to the rarity of these taxa. All the food plants were

147 McCorriston and Weisberg (2002, 486–7) obtained similar results at several sites in the Khabur Basin in Syria. ‘Midden assemblages’ (‘in-filling between wall stumps or… layers between building phases’ and deposits ‘directly on floor surfaces’), in their terminology, correspond to surface and midden samples in this text. The installations and pits at Ghassul correspond to the ‘former granaries’ and pits in the Khabur Basin Project, whose ‘excavated contents were (usually) midden deposits’, rather than the original contents of granaries burnt in situ in antiquity. Only when the context was an abandoned hearth does a sample represent ‘one or a few events in the life of a site and thus typically include a less rich array of taxa than does a midden.’ Other contexts at tell sites, McCorriston and Weisberg concluded, ‘seldom warrant sampling’, including actual floors (as opposed to the middens that accumulated on top of floor surfaces). In other words, apart from occasional primary contexts (ie hearths) and the very rare in situ remains in granaries, most useful samples are effectively from a single context type, the midden. A similar situation, in effect, prevails at Ghassul: no systematic differences were found between samples from different types of context. 148 The samples were from 3 Late Chalcolithic (LC) contexts in EXXVII (2.40, 2.44, and 2.52), 2 LC contexts in EXXIV (12.32 and 12.39) and 3 Very Late Chalcolithic (VLC) contexts in EXXIV (12.12, 12.13, and 12.15). Some samples were split into manual and machine subsamples (Appendix B). 149 With one exception, the measured olive stones from Area E appear to belong to the same population as olive stones from later Chalcolithic contexts in Areas A and G (Appendix F: Figure F2).

113 found in Area E samples, and each stage of crop processing was represented. The Area E assemblage was a poor subset of the assemblage as a whole, not a different assemblage.

Nevertheless, there were some intriguing differences in sample composition. In CA output, Area E samples were consistently different to later Chalcolithic samples in other areas. Samples from EXXIV, in particular, had more in common with earlier Chalcolithic samples from Area A (see Figure 6.34). When only the Area E samples are included in the analysis, CA separates them by excavation area (Figure 6.31). Inevitably, this also suggests diachronic and functional patterns, as the only Very Late Chalcolithic samples sorted were from EXXIV, and only EXXVII samples were described as occupation surfaces (Figure 6.32). All the cereal grain and wild grass taxa were associated with EXXVII samples. The EXXIV samples were associated with the pulses, olive, Scorpiurus, and all the straw and chaff taxa (Figure 6.33). Similar contrasts were found in middle Chalcolithic samples from AXI and AXIII.

Comparison of sample composition by area and context type (throughout the site) suggested that there was constant mixing of plant remains within excavations areas, lending support to the belief that many of the remains found in secondary contexts in the final phase of occupation could have been residual (derived from earlier deposits in the same area). The apparent similarity between LC and VLC samples in EXXIV was therefore not surprising. When only the EXXIV samples were included in the CA exercise, however, Axis 3 separated the samples by sub-phase. As samples from only five contexts in EXXIV were analysed (two LC, three VLC), any differences between sub-phases could easily be dismissed as coincidence. Threshing and winnowing by-products (straw and barley rachis internodes), normally regarded as indicating local cereal production, may be associated with the Very Late Chalcolithic sub-phase samples.

There was some suggestion of greater bioturbation in Area E than in areas G, N, and Q, which may have contributed to the lower incidence of plant remains in Area E. The Area E samples had twice as many snail shells (1.97 vs 0.97 snails/L) and barely half the density of plant remains (9.7 vs 16.8 identifications/L) as later Chalcolithic samples in NIII and Area Q150. There appeared to be an inverse relationship between the incidence of snail shells and the density of plant remains151.

150 One third of the NIII/Q snail shells, however, were from a single sample, 543421, which had easily the lowest density of plant remains (4.5 identifications/L) among the samples sorted in that area. 151 The number of snail shells in later Chalcolithic samples was more negatively correlated with sample density than any other variable. In manually-processed later Chalcolithic samples, the correlation between density of plant remains and snail numbers was trivial (correlation coefficient: -0.03), but in machine- processed samples the inverse correlation was significant (correlation coefficient: -0.39). Snails were marginally under-represented by manual flotation, with a relative concentration in manually-processed subsamples of 1.54, only slightly less than the median for all taxa (Appendix B); snail incidence was therefore (to a good approximation) independent of processing method. Spikelet forks and glume bases were conspicuously over-represented in manually-processed samples, however. The more abundant a plant taxon is, the more it contributes to the density of plant remains. In manually-processed samples, therefore,

114 The population density of snails at an arid site, such as Ghassul, probably depends on the density of surface vegetation. Other things being equal, a more vegetated area should support a higher population density of snails. Denser vegetation could also result in more soil disturbance. If most snail shells in later Chalcolithic samples are more recent than the charred plant remains, they may indicate that there has been more bioturbation in Area E than in the other excavation areas152. Without specific information about the snail species involved, their habits and those of their predators, the argument is speculative, but post-depositional taphonomy may, at least in part, account for the lower density of identifiable plant remains in Area E samples.

6.2.6 Diachronic patterns

When samples from all areas and phases were included in the CA exercise, with manual taxon counts corrected for over-representation, samples were clearly clustered by excavation area (Figure 6.34). Most samples from later Chalcolithic contexts had positive scores against Axis 1, however, whereas most early and middle Chalcolithic samples had negative scores against the first axis (Figure 6.35). What was apparently a spatial pattern could have been due, at least in part, to diachronic changes in the environment and the economy.

Taxa with negative scores against Axis 1 are therefore associated with samples from the earlier phases, whereas taxa with positive scores against Axis 1 are associated with samples from the later phases. In the raw data (Table 5.6), the latter (eg pulses other than lentils, six-row barley rachis, small-seeded legumes) steadily increase in abundance, relative to most taxa with negative scores against the first axis. Mathematically, no other outcome is possible: for the samples to be sorted chronologically, the taxa must also be sorted chronologically.

Absolute taxon counts in each phase depend on the number of samples sorted and sample size, as well as sample composition. Changes in sample composition can therefore only be expressed in relative terms. Some of these ratios are more useful than others. For example, the ratio of two-row to six-row barley rachis (about 2:1 overall in the 1999 samples) declined from about 6:1 in early Chalcolithic samples to about 1:1 in late Chalcolithic samples. Only a small percentage of rachis internodes were identified as two-row or six-row, however, and the fraction identified was not

density was essentially a function of the incidence of glume bases. As snail incidence was independent of processing method, it varied more, relative to density, in manually-processed samples, because the density of these samples was so dependent on a single taxon. 152 If these snail shells are contemporary with the archaeological deposits, however, the incidence of snail shells may be a proxy for the rate at which the deposit accumulated. At Pella and Ghassul in 1997, few ancient snails were found in de facto or primary contexts, which had high densities of plant remains, because these deposits had accumulated rapidly. High snail numbers appeared to coincide with slowly- formed deposits. It proved impossible to determine, however, whether an uncharred snail shell was ancient or modern. Hardly any shells were charred in the 1999 samples, and it is assumed here that most represent post-depositional bioturbation.

115 constant. Nevertheless, the trend was repeated in data from different seasons and different excavation areas (see below).

The relative abundance of olive or flax, however, can be shown to peak in either the middle or later Chalcolithic, depending on which other taxa and samples are included in the comparison. Using all the 1999 data, flax increases steadily, as a percentage of all identified plant remains, whereas olive peaks in the middle Chalcolithic. Later Chalcolithic pits containing hundreds of charred olive stones are not included in these data, however. Had samples from these pits been sorted, olive abundance would appear to peak in the later Chalcolithic.

In general, the relative abundance of particular food plants at Ghassul is expressed in terms of ratios of comparable plant taxa (eg wheat: barley, cereals: pulses), whereas the relative abundance of seeds of a wild or weedy taxon is expressed as a percentage of all seeds of wild or weedy taxa. Such ratios are more meaningful in the case of evenly distributed taxa. When most specimens of a taxon are found in a few samples, overall ratios are almost meaningless. For a trend in a ratio to be meaningful, it should at least be statistically significant (which excludes trends in rare taxa), and it should be evident in mixed samples.

Axis 2 did not apparently sort the samples by phase (Figure 6.35), but did sort them spatially (Figure 6.34). This vector appears to represent the concentration in different areas of the site of different crop-processing activities. For example, Area G samples (all positive against Axis 2) consistently included more of the by-products of threshing and winnowing than did samples from other areas of the site. This was the case in middle and later Chalcolithic samples collected between 1994 and 1997, and was also true of the later Chalcolithic samples from the 1999 season.

Activity areas, however, need not be fixed, and an area used for one activity in one phase may have been used for a different activity in a subsequent phase. It was suggested (Bourke et al 2000) that activity areas became more defined over time; that is, that samples from earlier phases appeared to represent a wider range of activities in one spot than was the case in the later phases. Earlier samples, in other words, tended to be very mixed, whereas samples from the later phases were often rich in a particular group of taxa, such as the threshing and winnowing by-products or the remains of olive-pressing. A trend towards activity-area differentiation could by itself result in the samples being sorted chronologically, without any change in the underlying plant economy.

In the 1998 report (Meadows 1998b unpublished), however, it was possible to show diachronic patterns in the most mixed samples from each phase, by omitting the more differentiated samples from correspondence analysis. Naturally, there remained a spatial pattern, as different phases were excavated in different areas, but it was not obviously an artefact of spatially-defined activities.

116 The chronological vector in the 1994–97 data was most marked in a group of 35 ‘core’ (very mixed) samples of at least 100 items each153.

Two approaches have been used to distinguish spatial from diachronic trends: Canonical Correspondence Analysis, using 1999 data, with area and phase as exogenous variables (6.2.6.1)154, and comparison of diachronic patterns in each excavation area with a long vertical sequence, using data from all seasons (6.2.6.2).

6.2.6.1 Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), 1999 data

Any measurable attribute of a sample that might contribute to that sample’s composition can be used as an exogenous variable in CCA, a variation of CA in which up to three ordination axes are calculated to represent the combined effects of the nominated exogenous variables (‘environmental variables’ in CANOCO). CCA output consists of sample and species scores against constrained ordination axes, which correspond to the effect of each of the environmental variables, and unconstrained ordination axes, which reflect inertia not accounted for by the environmental variables.

In ecological applications of CANOCO, the effects of readily-measured parameters such as soil pH or rainfall on vegetation composition can be determined; it is even possible to test hypotheses about the strength of these effects. With archaeobotanical data, however, sample composition depends on a range of unmeasurable factors, which might loosely be termed pre-depositional taphonomy. These are the various events, such as stages of crop processing, cooking, and waste disposal, that contribute to the selective preservation of plant remains in particular loci. Sample attributes that are measurable, and may influence sample composition, include context position (in space and time) as well as aspects of excavation and analysis (eg flotation method). In CCA, these attributes can be treated as exogenous variables.

Whether any relationship can be demonstrated between sample composition and an exogenous variable, such as phase, depends on the values assigned to that variable. For example, phases can be numbered sequentially, or converted to hypothetical calendar dates155. Excavation areas were

153 The 60 or so samples sorted in 1994–97 that were not used in this exercise were either too small, or were relatively rich in straw and chaff, olives, small-seeded legumes, or the residues of fine-sieving (glume bases and grass seeds). Some of the same sample types were apparent in the 1999 data, despite a conscious effort to select only the more mixed samples for analysis. 154 Jones (1991, 70; 71) observed that ‘In archaeobotany... the range of explanatory [ie exogenous] variables can be expanded to include actions performed on harvested plants, depositional/post-depositional processes and time/space trends’, but ‘canonical ordination [ie CCA and similar methods] requires a known gradient (or gradients) which, in a purely archaeological context, must either be temporal or spatial’, as past human behaviour and other taphonomic factors are unknown. 155 In all applications of CCA, alternative ways of quantifying the exogenous variables were tested, to see whether different conclusions might be drawn. In this case, an arbitrary set of consecutive integers, from 2 (early Chalcolithic) to 10 (very late Chalcolithic) was used to represent phases and sub-phases, after it was

117 numbered arbitrarily, following an arc from southeast to northwest (Area Q = 6, N = 7, A = 8, E = 9, G = 10). This sequence was preferred to alphabetical order (eg Area A = 1, E = 2, G = 3, N = 4, Q = 5), as Area G and Area Q samples appeared to belong at opposite ends of the crop-processing spectrum. Other numbering schemes tested did not contradict the patterns shown here.

In CANOCO, CCA can be undertaken with one, two, or three exogenous variables. In order to separate the effects of area and phase, the analysis was run with each as the sole exogenous variable, and repeated with both area and phase as exogenous variables. Processing method (machine = 1, manual = 2) was initially used as the third active variable. The effect of processing method on sample composition was, of course, already known from the experiment, as well as from the earlier CA exercises. CCA found, predictably, that most taxa were associated with machine-processed samples, due to the massive over-representation in manually-processed samples of glume bases and spikelet forks.

In the following CCA exercises, two constrained (canonical) axes were calculated as linear combinations of the phase and area variables. According to CCA output, area and phase each accounted for only 3–4% of inertia in the assemblage. Processing method accounted for another 7–8%. Unconstrained ordination axes in these exercises (CA and CCA) typically accounted for 10–20% of inertia. A series of CCA exercises, using all the 1999 samples and automatically down-weighting rare taxa, provided a consistent picture of the vertical and horizontal trends.

Figure 6.36 shows the scatter of both samples and taxa against the constrained ordination axes, which between them accounted for 7.1% of inertia. Sample scores against these axes were determined by each sample’s excavation area and subphase. All samples from the same area and subphase therefore had identical scores against the constrained axes. The diachronic vector (from early to Very Late Chalcolithic) ran from the bottom left quadrant to the top right. Over time, taxa with negative scores against both axes (eg Lolium) were apparently replaced by taxa with more positive scores against both axes (eg Scorpiurus). The spatial vector ran at right angles to the diachronic vector (from Area G, in the top left, to Area Q, in the bottom right). Taxa were dispersed along this vector according to the excavation area in which they were most abundant.

To clarify trends within the assemblage, separate CCA exercises were undertaken, using only the food taxa (Figure 6.37) and only wild/weed taxa (Figure 6.38). In both these figures, the diachronic vector ran from the bottom right (early Chalcolithic) to the top left (late Chalcolithic), but the spatial vector was reversed in the second diagram (Area G is in the bottom left of Figure 6.37, and in the top right of Figure 6.38).

shown that this produced similar results to a scheme in which phases were given approximate calendar dates. An alternative system (EC or LEC = 1; EMC, MC, or LMC = 2; ELC, LC, or VLC = 3) was also tested, and found to give very similar results.

118 Figure 6.37 shows that most threshing and winnowing by-products peaked at one end of the area vector, equivalent to Area G, where most samples were rich in these taxa (straw components and barley rachis internodes), but they did not cluster at either end of the phase vector. This makes sense, as threshing and winnowing are essential agricultural activities, and cannot have increased or decreased over time (relative to other crop-processing activities). At the other end of the area vector, however, were figs, flax, pulses other than lentils, and Pistacia fragments. These are taxa that might genuinely have become more common over time. This pattern, however, depends on the abundance of these taxa in Area Q, where only contexts in the latest phases were sampled.

Nevertheless, the spread of taxa along the phase vector conforms well to the 1998 interpretation (Bourke et al 2000). The food taxa associated with earlier phases are lentils and two-row barley, whereas other pulses and six-row barley are associated with later phases. Linseeds and flax pod fragments, olive stones, fig seeds, and Pistacia fragments all appear to have increased over time. The ‘earliest’ taxon in this plot, terminal spikelet forks, may have peaked in the early Chalcolithic. A decrease in the number of terminal forks over time, relative to non-terminal forks, was also suggested on the basis of the 1997 data. Other than the proposed decline of free-threshing wheat (which was rare in every phase), all the trends found in 1997 were also apparent in the 1999 data.

In Figure 6.38, opposite ends of the area vector, equivalent to areas Q and G, were associated with, respectively, seeds of Apiaceae and Liliaceae taxa (Area Q) and Atriplex bracts, Phalaris, and Asteraceae seeds (Area G). The early phases were associated with the Cyperaceae (Scirpus, Carex, and Fimbristylis), some grasses (Lolium and Avena), Arnebia, Medicago, Plantago, and Malva. The later phases were characterised by small-seeded legumes (Scorpiurus and indeterminate), chenopods (Suaeda, Chenopodium, and indeterminate Chenopodiaceae), Bromus, and several of the rarer taxa (eg Polygonaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Type A, Type D).

All the wild and weedy taxa were, to some degree, concentrated in particular areas of the site. An alternative CCA exercise, in which the area variables were given values that put the richest samples in the centre of the area vector (A = 16, Q = 17, G = 18, N = 19, E = 20), showed that Carex and Fimbristylis were concentrated in Area A, Scirpus and indeterminate Cyperaceae were concentrated in Area N, but all the Cyperaceae taxa were associated with earlier phases. Although Atriplex bracts may have been associated with the unusual samples in area G, and Ornithogalum and Bellevalia may have been disproportionately found in Area Q, some trends seem undeniable.

Among the grasses, Bromus and probably Phalaris gradually replaced Lolium and Avena. Among the small-seeded legumes, Scorpiurus gradually replaced Medicago, and perhaps also Astragalus and Trigonella. Malva and the Cyperaceae taxa largely disappeared during the middle Chalcolithic. Chenopods were rare before the middle Chalcolithic, and Suaeda in particular increased in the final stages. In several respects, these changes can be compared to the differences

119 between assemblages from sites in the central Jordan Valley, such as Pella or Tell Abu Kharaz, and sites in the Dead Sea Plain or Wadi Arabah, such as Wadi Fidan 4. In other words, there is a strong signal of environmental change. This was not noticed in the 1997156 or 1994-95157 data.

The same trends in food and wild plants were evident in CCA scatter graphs when cultivated and wild plant data were analysed together, and when the simplified three-phase system was used. The same trends were apparent when only machine-processed samples were included in CCA, and when only manually-processed sample data are analysed. In other words, these patterns were not artefacts of the processing method, algorithm, or sub-assemblage used in the analysis. There is a robust chronological structure to the 1999 data.

6.2.6.2 Diachronic trends in all 1994-99 data

The validity of diachronic patterns identified in the CA and CCA exercises was checked by examining trends in each of the three excavation areas (A, G, and N) in which a full vertical sequence was excavated. Data from earlier seasons (Hoppè 1996b unpublished; Meadows 1998b unpublished) were used to fill gaps in the 1999 sequences. To remove one source of bias, only data from machine-processed samples were used in comparisons between 1999 and earlier seasons. The patterns identified using multivariate statistics are as follows:

156 The current version of CANOCO was not available when the 1997 data were analysed, and only unconstrained CA was carried out at the time. A CCA exercise using the 1997 data, and same phase and area values as with the 1999 data, showed the expected trends in the food plants (increased six-row barley, increases in pulses other than lentils, increases in figs and possibly linseeds), as well as some of the same trends in the wild and weedy plants found in the 1999 data (more small-seeded legumes, less Lolium and Avena, more Phalaris and Bromus, more Ornithogalum, Bellevalia, Asteraceae and chenopods). The apparently-increasing Bellevalia, Asteraceae, and Chenopodiaceae, and the apparently-decreasing Plantago, were each found fewer than 10 times in 1997, which may be why no significance was attached to trends in their abundance. Malva and Arnebia, which decreased over time in the 1999 data, did not appear to do so in the 1997 data (although the latter was very rare in 1997). Fumaria and Citrullus were more common in 1997 than in the 1999 data, from which they were omitted for CANOCO analysis. Citrullus appeared to increase over time, and Fumaria to decrease, in the 1997 data. The Cyperaceae taxa were not identified at all in 1997, probably because most of these seeds were found in fine flot fractions. 157 A CCA exercise was carried out using the 1994-95 data (Hoppè 1996b unpublished) only, with 1999- equivalent values for areas (plus P = 6, H = 11) and phases (N = 1, EC = 3, MC = 6, LC = 9, VLC = 10). This showed some of the same patterning as the 1997 and 1999 data. Grasses appeared to decrease, and small-seeded legumes to increase, over time, and six-row barley and pulses other than lentils appeared to increase, relative to two-row barley and lentils respectively. Figs apparently increased, as did olives, and free-threshing wheat apparently declined. Flax peaked in the middle Chalcolithic (although most specimens were in two samples). Fig seeds, chenopods, Malva, Fumaria, Polygonaceae, and Boraginaceae were all relatively rare (15 or fewer finds). The taxon Galium in the 1994-95 report is suspect: seeds of some Liliaceae taxa, such as the Bellevalia and Ornithogalum types of 1997 and 1999, are similar to Galium in appearance (indeed, a Galium/Bellevalia category was recorded in 1997). No Liliaceae types were recorded in 1994-95, and Galium was rare in 1997 and 1999. The incidence of Galium in 1994-95 was similar to that of the Liliaceae in 1997-99. Grasses were not identified to genus level in 1994-95, so CCA could not show replacement of Avena and Lolium by Bromus and Phalaris. Similarly, no trends were identified within the small-seeded legume category. As in 1997, without fine flot data, some environmentally-significant taxa were not recorded.

120 Pulses other than lentils increased over time (1994-95, 1997, and 1999 data)

Area A: Lentils greatly outnumbered other pulses in the Late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic samples, both in 1994-95 data (66:7) and in 1997-99 data (104:8). In part, this was a result of dry- sieving many of the earlier samples before flotation, which disproportionately removed the larger pulses. Even in the 1999 samples alone, however, lentils were dominant (13:2). By the EMC, the lentil to other pulse ratio was about 2:1 (41:19), where it remained in the LMC (65:28) and late Chalcolithic (77:32).

Area G: In 1997-99, no pulses other than lentils were found until the Late Chalcolithic (25 lentils in early–middle Chalcolithic samples from GII 1997 season; 226 lentils and 57 other pulses in later Chalcolithic samples from GIV 1999 season and GIII 1997). In 1994-95, however, 123 lentils and 41 other pulses (ratio 3:1) were found in earlier Chalcolithic samples from Area G, and 222 lentils and 81 other pulses (ratio 2.7:1) were found in later Chalcolithic samples. Overall, the ratio of lentils to other pulses is 3.6:1 in earlier Chalcolithic and 3.1:1 in later Chalcolithic samples, a statistically-insignificant158 decrease.

Area N: The 1999 early Chalcolithic samples contained 26 lentils and 9 other pulses (nearly 3:1), while the 1999 later Chalcolithic samples had 25 lentils and 32 other pulses (0.76:1). Samples in 1994-95 and 1997 were usually dry-sieved before flotation, which may have contributed to the even higher ratios (6:1 in 1997 and 13:1 in 1994-95 samples) of lentils to other pulses in these samples, nearly all of which were from the middle Chalcolithic.

158 Throughout this section, the Chi-squared (χ2) test is used to test statistical significance. The test statistic, χ2, measures the difference between the observed data and their expected values, which are obtained by assuming that the relative abundance (proportion) of each taxon does not change over time. The expected abundance of each taxon in each phase is thus calculated by multiplying the row total (sum of observed abundances of that taxon in all phases) by the column total (sum of abundances of all taxa in that phase), and dividing by the overall total (sum of abundances of all taxa in all phases). The CHITEST function in Microsoft Excel has been used throughout. This returns the probability that a random sample of a parent population with the ‘expected’ proportions would be as different to the expected values as is the observed assemblage. The 0.05 level of significance is regarded as critical; a trend is statistically significant when the probability that the observed values were obtained from a random sample of a population with no underlying trend (ie with the same proportions in each phase) is less than 0.05. Comparing the actual counts in all Area G samples from 1994 to 1999 with expected values, assuming a constant lentil: other pulse ratio in the earlier and later Chalcolithic, CHITEST probabilities were 0.800 and 0.644 for lentils and other pulses respectively. Conventionally, χ2 test results are reported as calculated values of χ2, versus a critical value, which depends on the significance level, usually set at 0.05, and the number of degrees of freedom (ν = (r – 1) × (c – 1), where r = number of rows, c = number of columns). The χ2 values have been obtained using the CHIINV function in Microsoft Excel. In this case, the critical value (at the 0.05 significance level, with 1 degree of freedom) is 3.841; calculated values of χ2 are 0.064 for lentils and 0.213 for other pulses, well below the critical value, indicating that the differences between observed and expected values are not statistically significant.

121 Conclusion: The diversification of pulse crops is a consistent trend. Only in Area G was there any doubt about its validity, and then only because the 1994-95 earlier Chalcolithic samples had a surprisingly high number of pulses other than lentils. These samples, however, were stratigraphically later than the 1997 GII samples, which did not contain any other pulses. Even within the 1994-95 group, it was possible to separate locus 20 samples, which contained many other pulses, from the earlier locus 62 and 64 samples, which contain very few pulses other than lentils. The diversification of pulse crops appears to have taken place in the middle Chalcolithic in areas A and G, and perhaps slightly later in Area N.

Six-row barley increased over time (1994-95, 1997, and 1999 data)

Area A: In 1994-95, only two barley rachis internodes were identified in Area A, both in one early Chalcolithic sample, and both of two-row barley. In the 1997-99 machine sample data, the ratio of two-row to six-row internodes decreased (38:6 in the early Chalcolithic and EMC samples, 51:15 in the MC, LMC, and later Chalcolithic samples), but the decline was not statistically significant159. In the 1999 data alone (all samples), there was actually a slight increase in the ratio of two-row to six-row barley rachis, although numbers were very small.

Area G: In both the 1994-95 data and the 1997-99 data, there were nearly twice as many two-row rachis internodes as six-row internodes in the early–middle Chalcolithic samples (101:58 and 93:51 respectively), whereas six-row internodes outnumbered two-row internodes in the later Chalcolithic samples (47:42 in 1994-95; 196:140 in 1997-99).

Area N: One middle Chalcolithic 1997 sample, NI 6.16, which was unusual in several other respects160, contained most of the barley rachis internodes identified in this area (23 two-row, 35 six-row). Sixteen of the 19 internodes identified in 1994-95 were from another middle Chalcolithic sample; all were six-row barley (no early Chalcolithic samples from Area N were sorted in 1994-95). Among early Chalcolithic samples, 13 two-row and 2 six-row internodes were identified in 1999. Ten two-row and seven six-row internodes were identified in later Chalcolithic samples from NIII. Although the proportion of six-row barley appears to have increased in the middle Chalcolithic, the numbers involved are small and the distribution is too skewed (with most specimens found in only two samples) to draw conclusions.

Conclusion: There was a statistically-significant change in the ratio of two-row to six-row barley internodes in Area G, but not in the other areas. As most of the barley chaff, at least in the later

159 The CHITEST probabilities for two-row and six-row barley (0.603 and 0.285 respectively) are well above the 0.05 level. The critical value of the χ2 test statistic, 3.841, is much greater than the calculated values (0.270 and 1.143 respectively), indicating that the apparent decrease in the two-row: six-row ratio in this sample (the Area A 1997-99 machine sample data) is statistically insignificant. 160 This context was subsequently reassigned to the late Chalcolithic on artefactual grounds (Stephen Bourke pers comm 2003).

122 phases, was found in Area G samples, this shift was statistically significant for the site as a whole161. The transition may have taken place later than the diversification of pulse crops, at least in Area G, where all the middle Chalcolithic samples had more two-row than six-row rachis internodes. One reason that the transition was not as marked in Area A may be that the latest samples from that area were earlier than the latest from Area G. Another reason, alluded to in the 1998 report, was that the transition may have only been partial: in some areas (A, E) two-row rachis internodes remained more common, by a ratio of 2:1 or more, even as six-row rachis internodes reached parity in other areas (G, N, and Q).

Increased abundance of figs (1994-95, 1997, and 1999 data)

Area A: No fig seeds were identified in Area A in 1994-95. In the 1997-99 samples, fig seeds increased slightly (from 1.7% to 2.5% of the wild/weed seed total in early Chalcolithic and late Chalcolithic samples respectively), but peaked in the middle Chalcolithic. Absolute numbers were small (80 seeds in total).

Area G: There were eight seeds in earlier Chalcolithic samples, and 257 in later Chalcolithic samples, but most of these (198) were from a single sample. Fig seeds were found in half the 1997-99 samples, from all phases, but in only one 1994-95 sample.

Area N: Again, fig seeds were unevenly distributed. Of the 53 fig seeds in this area, 35 were found in one middle Chalcolithic sample from 1997 (NI 6.16162). The rest were split equally between phases.

Conclusion: There was no evidence of a clear, sustained increase in the abundance of fig seeds, as might have accompanied fig cultivation. The apparent trend in the CA and CCA plots was probably due to the fact that no early Chalcolithic sample contained a large number of fig seeds. The incidence of fig at Ghassul was comparable to that at much earlier sites.

Changing proportions among larger grass taxa (1997-99 data): declines in Lolium and Avena partly offset by increases in Bromus and Phalaris

Area A: As a proportion of wild/weed seeds, grasses declined from 61% in early Chalcolithic samples to only 15% in late Chalcolithic samples. There was a small decrease in the fraction of these attributed to Lolium, and a small rise in the proportion of grasses identified as Bromus, consistent with the CA and CCA results. In all CA exercises, glume bases appeared to be closely

161 When expected values are obtained, assuming that the two-row:six-row barley ratio in both the earlier and later Chalcolithic was the overall ratio in 1999 samples, 66:34, comparison with actual counts in all 1999 samples gives CHITEST probabilities for two-row and six-row internodes of 2.401 ×10-17 and 7.430 ×10-18 respectively. The calculated values of χ2 (71.784 and 74.099 respectively) are greater than the critical value, 3.841, so the six-row barley increase is statistically significant. 162 As noted, this context was assigned to the late Chalcolithic after these analyses were undertaken.

123 correlated with Lolium, suggesting that these taxa were removed during the same crop-processing stage (fine-sieving, as shown by the 1997 dry-sieving experiment; Meadows 1998a unpublished). The decline in grasses, particularly Lolium, was not accompanied by a decline in the number of glume bases, however. No Phalaris seeds were found in the 1997 Area A late Chalcolithic samples. No late Chalcolithic 1999 Area A samples were sorted.

Area G: Among earlier Chalcolithic samples, 14 Avena, 2 Bromus, and 1242 Lolium grains were recorded; among later Chalcolithic samples, 21 Avena, 27 Bromus, 130 Lolium, and 14 Phalaris seeds were identified. The emergence of Bromus and Phalaris in the later phases was found in both the 1997 and 1999 seasons. The enormous number of Lolium caryopses in GII samples may reflect the location of crop-processing activities, but the number of glume bases was only slightly lower in later Chalcolithic samples.

Area N: Among the 1999 early Chalcolithic samples, there were 60 Lolium, 4 Avena, 7 Bromus, and 5 Phalaris seeds. Among the 1999 later Chalcolithic samples, there were only 6 Lolium and 2 Avena grains, but 14 Bromus and 5 Phalaris seeds. Although numbers in the later samples were small, the decline in Lolium and increase in Bromus were statistically significant163. The 1997 middle Chalcolithic samples were larger, but more problematic: one (NI 6.16164) had 90 Bromus and 32 Lolium seeds; another had 279 Lolium seeds and no Bromus. These two samples accounted for most of the middle Chalcolithic grass seeds.

Conclusion: There was a steep decline in the relative abundance of Lolium after the middle Chalcolithic in all areas of the site, which, because Lolium was so common in earlier phases, can be represented as a general decrease in grasses. Using 1999 data from all areas, Lolium declined steadily from 14.2% of wild/weed seeds in early Chalcolithic samples to 4.3% in later Chalcolithic samples, and Avena from 1.3% to 0.6%, but Bromus increased steadily from 1.8% to 4.5%, and Phalaris increased from 1.0% to 2.0%. The increase in Bromus was not statistically convincing in Area A, probably because it happened relatively late in the later Chalcolithic. In the 1999 data overall, Bromus finally started to outnumber Lolium in the Very Late Chalcolithic, having nearly reached parity in the previous sub-phase. The small increase in Phalaris can probably be attributed to the increasing number of threshing and winnowing by-products sampled in the later phases, as it was only evident in Area G165.

163 Comparison of the actual counts of these four taxa with expected values (obtained on the basis that the four taxa occurred in the same proportions in the early and later Chalcolithic) yielded CHITEST probabilities well below 0.05 for both Lolium (0.00156) and Bromus (2.496 ×10-5). The calculated values of χ2 (15.321 and 23.984 respectively) were well above the critical value of the χ2 test statistic (at the 0.05 significance level, with 3 degrees of freedom), 7.815. 164 As noted, this context was reassigned to the late Chalcolithic after these analyses were undertaken. 165 Comparison of the observed and expected values of these four taxa (calculated on the basis that the four taxa occurred in the same ratios in the earlier and later Chalcolithic) showed that the decline in Lolium

124 Changing proportions among small-seeded legumes (1999 data): declines in Astragalus, Medicago, and Trigonella astroites types offset by sharp increase in Scorpiurus

Area A: Only early and middle Chalcolithic samples from Area A were sorted in 1999. These showed an increase in Scorpiurus as a proportion of wild/weed seeds (10% to 15%), declines in Medicago (12% to 7%) and Trigonella astroites (2.7% to 0.8%) types, and little change in Astragalus. Overall, the proportion of wild/weed seeds from small-seeded legumes declined slightly. When 1997-99 machine samples were compared, small-seeded legumes peaked in the middle Chalcolithic.

Area G: The 1999 samples were only from late Chalcolithic contexts. Among the 1997-99 machine samples from Area G, small-seeded legumes increased from 7.5% of wild/weed seeds in the earlier Chalcolithic to 64% in the later Chalcolithic.

Area N: In 1999, small-seeded legumes increased from 35% of wild/weed seeds in early Chalcolithic samples to 68% in 1999 later Chalcolithic samples. The increase was due to a sharp rise in Scorpiurus (67 specimens in early Chalcolithic samples, 247 in later Chalcolithic samples). The Medicago type decreased, from 17% to 6% of wild/weed seeds. The Astragalus and Trigonella astroites types were both relatively rare.

Conclusion: The replacement of Medicago by Scorpiurus was evident in areas A and N, but the decline in the minor taxa was evident only in Area A. Areas G and N showed increases in the relative abundance of small-seeded legumes as a group. This was supported by their abundance in the later Chalcolithic samples in Area Q. In the 1999 samples from areas E and Q, Scorpiurus outnumbered Medicago by at least a 3:1 ratio, as it did in the later Chalcolithic in Area N. Scorpiurus tended to be less evenly distributed than many other common taxa, as the CA plots suggest. Samples particularly rich in Scorpiurus were found mainly in Area Q in the later Chalcolithic and in Area A in the middle Chalcolithic. No such samples were found in the early Chalcolithic. Based on the distribution of the pulses, it is tempting to suggest that Scorpiurus was particularly abundant in pulse crops other than lentils166. In all 1999 data, the increase in

(CHITEST probability 6.520 ×10-8), and the rises in Bromus (3.374 ×10-10) and Phalaris (0.000226) were statistically significant, whereas the trend in Avena (0.777) was not. The calculated values of χ2 (Avena: 1.098; Bromus: 47.063; Lolium: 36.284; Phalaris: 19.399) can be compared to the critical value of the χ2 test statistic (at the 0.05 significance level, with 3 degrees of freedom), 7.815. 166 In the 1999 data, Scorpiurus’ highest correlation coefficient, 0.83, was, naturally, with indeterminate small-seeded legumes (which probably consisted largely of Scorpiurus fragments). Its next highest correlation coefficient was with pulses other than lentils (0.60), followed by coefficients of 0.4 or less with several taxa. Part of the reason for this, undoubtedly, is the trend for both Scorpiurus and the pulses to increase over time. In just the 1999 later Chalcolithic samples, however, Scorpiurus’ correlation coefficients were 0.90 with indeterminate small-seeded legumes, 0.83 with pulses other than lentils, 0.77 with wheat grains, 0.64 with lentils, 0.4 with barley, and lower with the other food plants. The pulses were also more highly correlated with Scorpiurus than with any other taxon, and no other pair of distinct taxa was more highly correlated.

125 Scorpiurus and declines in Medicago and Astragalus types were statistically significant, but the decline in Trigonella astroites type was not significant167.

Decline of Cyperaceae (1999 data)

Area A: The 1999 samples came from earlier Chalcolithic contexts only. The Cyperaceae taxa (Carex type, Fimbristylis type, Scirpus, and Scirpus kernels) formed 4% of wild/weed seeds in the early Chalcolithic samples, 9% in the EMC samples and 7% in the MC samples. Scirpus, however, was found in small numbers in several samples in each sub-phase, whereas Carex and Fimbristylis were concentrated in a couple of samples in the middle Chalcolithic. No real trend was detected.

Area G: The 1999 samples were from the late Chalcolithic only. These included 15 seeds of Cyperaceae (4% of wild/weed seeds), most of them Scirpus kernels.

Area N: Of 63 Cyperaceae specimens in Area N, 52 were in early Chalcolithic samples (9% of wild/weed seeds) and 11 from later Chalcolithic samples (2%). No middle Chalcolithic samples were analysed in 1999.

Conclusion: It is difficult to demonstrate a decline in Cyperaceae on these figures. Nearly all the Cyperaceae were found in the fine fractions of machine flots, which were only sorted in the 1999 season. When later Chalcolithic samples from all areas are compared, Cyperaceae formed under 1% of wild/weed seeds in Area Q, 2% in Area N, 4% in Area G, and nearly 6% (20 out of 334) in Area E. All these numbers were lower than the 7-9% recorded in early Chalcolithic samples from Area N and middle Chalcolithic samples from Area A. Carex and Fimbristylis types tended to be quite unevenly distributed, and peaked in middle Chalcolithic samples in Area A. Scirpus declined from 4.4% in all early Chalcolithic samples to around 2% in all middle Chalcolithic and later samples. The Cyperaceae, particularly Scirpus, probably did decrease over time168. Due to their patchy distribution, however, and the fact that fine flots were not sorted in the 1994-97 seasons, the evidence is not entirely persuasive.

167 When expected values for these four taxa were calculated assuming that the four taxa occurred in the same proportions in the earlier and later Chalcolithic, comparison with actual counts showed that the increase in Scorpiurus (CHITEST probability 2.578 ×10-7), and declines in Medicago (1.858 ×10-10) and Astragalus (0.0288) were statistically significant, whereas the decrease in Trigonella astroites type (0.0863) was not. The calculated values of χ2 (Scorpiurus: 33.458; Medicago: 48.278; Astragalus: 9.034; Trigonella astroites type: 6.586) can be compared to the critical value of the χ2 test statistic (at the 0.05 significance level, with 3 degrees of freedom), 7.815. 168 The CA and CCA exercises always associated Scirpus with the earlier phases. Overall, the various Cyperaceae taxa accounted for 8.3% of wild/weed seeds in the earlier Chalcolithic, and 2.8% in the later Chalcolithic. If expected values are calculated assuming that, relative to the other wild/weed families, the incidence of Cyperaceae was the same in the earlier and later Chalcolithic, the resulting CHITEST probability (3.203 ×10-13), and the calculated value of χ2 (90.390; the critical value of χ2 for 14 degrees of freedom at the 0.05 significance level is 23.685), implies that the decrease in Cyperaceae is statistically significant.

126 Decline of Plantago (1997-99 data)

Area A: In 1999, two specimens were found in early Chalcolithic samples and four in middle Chalcolithic samples. No examples were found in the 1997 late Chalcolithic samples.

Area G: In 1997-99, two specimens were found in one early Chalcolithic sample, one in an early Late Chalcolithic sample, and none in Very Late Chalcolithic samples.

Area N: Seven examples were identified in 1999 early Chalcolithic samples, four in the richer 1997 middle Chalcolithic samples, and none in 1999 later Chalcolithic samples.

Conclusion: Plantago was rare in the early Chalcolithic and all but absent thereafter in the three areas with full vertical sequences. Among the 1999 Very Late Chalcolithic samples, however, there were two examples of Plantago in Area Q and three in Area E. In all 1999 data, Plantago declined from 1.2% of wild/weed seeds in early Chalcolithic samples to 0.3% in middle and later Chalcolithic samples, but the numbers are too low to be conclusive (half the 20 Plantago specimens, but only one-fifth of all wild/weed seeds, were from early Chalcolithic samples)169.

Decline of Malva (1994-95, 1997, and 1999 data)

Area A: Only five examples of Malva were found in Area A in 1994-95, all in early Chalcolithic samples. In 1997-99 data, Malva occurred regularly in the early Chalcolithic, but peaked in the middle Chalcolithic samples (38 specimens, 5.7% of wild/weed seeds, although 24 of these were in one sample). In the 1997 late Chalcolithic samples, however, Malva was extremely rare (four specimens among over 1000 wild/weed seeds). Too few late Chalcolithic samples were sorted to be certain that the decline was genuine.

Area G: Twenty-five specimens of Malva were identified among earlier Chalcolithic samples, and 11 specimens in later Chalcolithic samples. Nearly all of these were from 1997 and 1999 samples. In 1997-99 machine-sample data, Malva declined from 1.7% of wild/weed seeds in early Chalcolithic samples to 1.4% in two rich middle Chalcolithic samples and 0.6% in later Chalcolithic samples.

Area N: Seventeen examples were identified in 1999 early Chalcolithic samples (5% of wild/weed seeds) and only three in 1999 later Chalcolithic samples (0.8% of wild/weed seeds). Malva was

169 The decrease in Plantago is statistically significant if the early and middle Chalcolithic are treated as separate phases, but not if early and middle Chalcolithic phases are combined, due to the scarcity of Plantago in the middle Chalcolithic. If expected values are obtained assuming that the proportions of the 35 most common wild/weed taxa were the same in each phase, the CHITEST probability for Plantago is 0.00193 in the three-phase scheme, with a calculated value of χ2 of 106.621 (the critical value of χ2 for 68 degrees of freedom at the 0.05 significance level is 88.250). If early and middle Chalcolithic data are combined, the CHITEST probability is 0.169, and the calculated value of χ2 is 41.779 (the critical value of χ2 for 34 degrees of freedom at the 0.05 significance level is 48.602).

127 rare in 1997 middle Chalcolithic samples and not found at all in 1994-95 middle and late Chalcolithic samples, perhaps due to dry-sieving of samples before flotation.

Conclusion: Were it not for one or two unusual middle Chalcolithic samples in Area A, the data would show a steady decrease in Malva in all areas with long vertical sequences. Malva was rare in the 1994-95 data (<0.2% of wild/weed seeds in all phases). In all 1997-99 machine-processed samples, Malva made up 2.4% of wild/weed seeds in the early Chalcolithic and 2.6% in the middle Chalcolithic, against 1.0% in later Chalcolithic samples. In all 1999 samples, the trend was clearer: 6.1% in the early Chalcolithic, 3.6% in the middle Chalcolithic and 0.7% in later Chalcolithic samples170. In the later Chalcolithic samples from Area Q, four Malva seeds accounted for 0.6% of wild/weed seeds; in Area E, six Malva seeds formed 1.8% of the wild/weed assemblage. The scarcity of Malva in later Chalcolithic samples, compared to earlier phases, is undeniable171.

Increase in Liliaceae (Bellevalia and Ornithogalum types; 1997-99 data)

Area A: One specimen was identified in early Chalcolithic samples (0.2% of wild/weed seeds), against nine in middle Chalcolithic (0.7%) and 97 in late Chalcolithic samples (9.1%).

Area G: Three specimens (0.2% of wild/weed seeds) were found in earlier Chalcolithic samples, versus 111 (9.3%) in later Chalcolithic samples.

Area N: Five specimens were found in 1999 early Chalcolithic samples (1.5% of wild/weed seeds), against 20 (5.3%) in 1999 later Chalcolithic samples. Sixteen Ornithogalum seeds (2.2% of the wild/weed assemblage) were identified in the 1997 middle Chalcolithic samples.

Conclusion: The steady increase was consistent in each area. Most of the increase was in Ornithogalum-type. In all 1997-99 machine-processed samples, Liliaceae accounted for 0.2% of wild/weed seeds in early Chalcolithic samples, 0.8% in the middle Chalcolithic, and 8.1% in later Chalcolithic samples. In Area Q, the Liliaceae accounted for 14.7% of the 1999 wild/weed assemblage. Only in Area E (ten seeds, 3.0%) were Liliaceae uncommon in 1999 later Chalcolithic samples172.

170 This is probably because dry-sieving in 1997 disproportionately removed Malva seeds. The samples that were dry-sieved were only from the early and middle Chalcolithic. 171 In 1999 data, the decrease in Malva is statistically significant whether or not the early and middle Chalcolithic are treated as separate phases. If expected values are obtained assuming that the proportions of the 35 most common wild/weed taxa were the same in each phase, the CHITEST probability for Malva is 3.772 ×10-15 in the three-phase scheme, and 1.306 ×10-13 in the two-phase scheme, well below the 0.05 significance level. The calculated value of χ2 is 201.541 in the three-phase scheme (the critical value of χ2 for 68 degrees of freedom at the 0.05 significance level is 88.250) and 132.789 in the two-phase scheme (the critical value of χ2 for 34 degrees of freedom at the 0.05 significance level is 48.602). 172 In 1999 data, the increases in both Liliaceae taxa are statistically significant, whether or not the early and middle Chalcolithic are treated as separate phases. If expected values are obtained assuming that the

128 Increase in Chenopodiaceae (1999 data)

Area A: Most chenopods were only identified to the family level. Chenopods accounted for 5.0% of wild/weed seeds in early Chalcolithic samples, 4.5% in early Middle Chalcolithic samples, and 9.4% in LMC samples. Of 15 specimens of Suaeda in Area A, 13 were in the LMC samples.

Area G: The 1999 samples were only from the late Chalcolithic. The 25 chenopods accounted for 7% of wild/weed seeds.

Area N: A slight decline in chenopods was apparent, with 32 in early Chalcolithic samples (5% of wild/weed total) and 23 in later Chalcolithic samples (4%). Most specimens were only identified to family level.

Conclusion: These data do not suggest a general increase in chenopods by the late Chalcolithic, but there are no late Chalcolithic data from Area A (where chenopods appear to have increased in the middle Chalcolithic) and no earlier Chalcolithic data from Area G. Only Area N yielded early and late samples in 1999, and there the relative abundance of chenopods was essentially unchanged. In later Chalcolithic samples from Area Q, 65 chenopods accounted for 9% of wild/weed seeds, compared to 4% (14 specimens) in Area E. Overall, chenopods made up about 6% of wild/weed seeds in every phase. Suaeda appeared to increase after the early Chalcolithic, but the trend was not statistically significant173.

Increased range and abundance of rare weed taxa (1999 data)

Apiaceae: As a group, these taxa increased from 0.4% of wild/weed seeds in early Chalcolithic samples to 1.5% in the later Chalcolithic (all areas combined). The increase was statistically significant (CHITEST probability = 6.897 ×10-5; calculated χ2 = 121.710, critical value of χ2 for 68 degrees of freedom = 88.250), but most examples, particularly of the Eryngium type, were from locus 17 in Area QI.

Polygonaceae: These taxa increased from zero in early Chalcolithic samples to 0.9% of wild/weed seeds in the later Chalcolithic (all areas). The increase was statistically significant (CHITEST

proportions of the 35 most common wild/weed taxa were the same in each phase, the CHITEST probability for Bellevalia type is 0.00991 in the three-phase scheme, and 0.00892 in the two-phase scheme; the calculated value of χ2 is 98.077 in the three-phase scheme (against a critical value of χ2 of 88.250, for 68 degrees of freedom at the 0.05 significance level) and 56.551 in the two-phase scheme (the critical value of χ2 for 34 degrees of freedom at the 0.05 significance level is 48.602). The Ornithogalum type CHITEST probability is 3.969 ×10-29 in the three-phase scheme, and 2.797 ×10-30 in the two-phase scheme; the calculated value of χ2 is 289.560 in the three-phase scheme (against a critical value of 88.250) and 226.387 in the two-phase scheme (against a critical value of 48.602). 173 When 1999 actual counts of Suaeda are compared to expected values, derived assuming that the proportions of the 35 most common wild/weed taxa remained the same in each phase, the CHITEST probability is 0.332 under the three-phase scheme, well above the 0.05 significance level. The calculated value of χ2 is 72.507, short of the critical value of 88.250 for 68 degrees of freedom.

129 probability = 0.00294; χ2 = 104.510, critical value of χ2 = 88.250), but only 13 seeds were identified as Polygonaceae in 1999, and half of these were from locus 17 in QI.

The same locus produced the only examples of Verbascum and Hypericum, nearly all specimens of Teucrium, and some of the unknown types. Very late Chalcolithic samples in QIII included the only specimens of Coronilla, Minuartia, and one of the two Carthamus (the other was in an early Late Chalcolithic sample from GIV). Five out of 6 Beta pods were from VLC samples in areas Q and N. Both Cerastium seeds were from the ELC samples in Area G, as were both examples of Calendula. A large proportion of the rare and unknown types was therefore found in a few later Chalcolithic deposits. This appears to have been a taphonomic phenomenon, as plant preservation was better in these samples.

Summary of diachronic patterns

• Pulses other than lentils (ie pea/grass pea/bitter vetch taxon and chickpea) became more prominent over time, increasing from less than a quarter of all pulses in the early Chalcolithic to about half in the Very Late Chalcolithic

• Six-row barley partly replaced the two-row variety, particularly during the late Chalcolithic and particularly in areas G, N, and Q. In areas A and E, however, two-row barley remained as important as six-row barley

• Rye grass (Lolium) decreased in every phase, although it was partly replaced by brome grass (Bromus)

• Plantain (Plantago) and mallow (Malva) steadily declined over time

• Sedges (Cyperaceae) probably declined after the middle Chalcolithic, if not earlier

• Scorpiurus increased sharply, and from the middle Chalcolithic onwards there were samples dominated by this taxon, which may have been primarily a weed of pulse crops. Other small- seeded legumes, however, tended to dwindle

• The relative abundance of the Liliaceae taxa, Bellevalia and Ornithogalum types, increased slightly in the middle Chalcolithic and dramatically in the later Chalcolithic

• The relative abundance of chenopods as a whole remained more or less stable, as did that of the halophytic Aizoon. A few relatively rare taxa appear to have increased over time (eg the Apiaceae, Asteraceae, and Polygonaceae taxa). These patterns, however, may be due to taphonomy rather than any change in the vegetation or plant economy.

130 6.2.7 Criteria for data manipulation

The 500-item threshold regarded as a minimum ‘statistically reliable’ sample size in the 1994-97 seasons has some merit: it is the smallest random sample required to estimate the correct proportion of the major taxon in a large population to within five percentage points, 98 percent of the time174. This, as van der Veen and Fieller (1982) pointed out, is an appropriate sample size when the population is a stored product, such as a large grain cache. Assuming that plant taxa are evenly distributed within a context, or that the entire context has been sampled, a 500-item sample will describe its archaeobotanical composition precisely. It cannot, however, represent an entire excavation area, phase, or site, as by definition an archaeological context is different to the deposits surrounding it.

Given finite resources, a balance has to be struck between the size of samples and the number of samples analysed. During the 1994-95 and 1997 seasons, that balance was pushed towards larger samples, with the result that the patterns found in the 1994-97 data were often strengthened, if not actually created, by the sample selection process. When smaller samples were included in CA exercises, however, they did not produce erratic results. In fact, the clearest diachronic patterns were obtained by omitting most of the very large samples, as well as those with fewer than 100 items (Meadows 1998b unpublished). During the 1999 season, therefore, the ‘target’ sample size was reduced to 100, with the aim of collecting data from a greater number of contexts.

That there was ever a ‘target’ sample size at Teleilat Ghassul reflected a misunderstanding of CA. Large samples and common taxa, which have greater statistical ‘mass’, tend to dominate inertia in an assemblage, unless they are very evenly distributed. CA tends to focus attention on taxa that are abundant in some areas or phases and rare in others, and on large samples that are unrepresentative of the assemblage as a whole. Taxa tend to appear as outliers in CA plots when a large fraction of their specimens are found in one or two samples. This is more likely to occur in the case of rare taxa. Likewise, small samples are more likely to be unrepresentative, particularly if they include one or more specimens of rare taxa.

Omitting rare taxa and small samples has little effect on patterning, as the low statistical mass of these variables means that they contribute little to inertia. Including or excluding larger samples, however, may have a dramatic impact. No variable needs to be omitted for CA to be a useful tool, but sample size and taxon frequency should be considered when CA output is interpreted. Often, the position of a relatively rare taxon in CA scatter graphs appears to support one interpretation, but the raw data show that there is not a statistically significant trend in its distribution.

174 If a taxon comprises 50% of the population, and the population is effectively infinite, a random sample of 541 items gives an estimate of that proportion to within five percentage points, 98% of the time; the

131 Conversely, smaller samples may be widely scattered in CA graphs, obscuring a real pattern among the larger samples. For these reasons, it is probably wise to omit rare taxa and small samples from CA exercises (Jones 1991).

Colledge (1994, 202–3; 2001, 183) chose to omit from CA taxa that occurred in less than 10% of samples, and samples with fewer than 30 items175. In this study, the 30-item limit was initially used, and found to be more than adequate, in the sense that the scatter of smaller samples did not obscure patterns of interest. No uniform standard was applied to taxon frequency, however, as the percentage of samples containing a particular taxon depends on which samples are used in the analysis. Every permutation of samples used in CA would have required a reassessment of which taxa reached a frequency threshold, and which did not.

Instead, rare taxa, defined as those with fewer than 10 identifications in the 1999 assemblage as a whole, were either omitted at the outset or merged with closely related taxa (for example, Asteraceae includes several distinct types belonging to that family, all relatively rare). This eliminated about half the wild/weedy taxa, including most of the unknown types, making CA output easier to interpret. More importantly, the statistical significance of any hypothetical pattern was checked against the raw data. Rare taxa need not be unevenly distributed, and need not distort patterns in CA output, but they can make those patterns harder to recognise. In CANOCO, it is possible to have the CA algorithm automatically down-weight rare taxa, which further reduces their influence on statistical patterns. This is more efficient than repeatedly including or excluding taxa according to which samples are used in the analysis.

CA will always find patterns in count data, and if there are too few variables it is almost inevitable that a particular combination of axes will show some arrangement of these variables that appears to be meaningful (eg the separation into two sub-phases of five samples from EXXIV). There is not necessarily a minimum number of samples or taxa below which CA is ineffective. If any of the variables is very unevenly distributed, CA seems to become redundant with small matrices of data (<15-20 samples or taxa). In other words, it does not require CA to recognise patterns in such tables of data. Even with CA, however, it may be difficult to recognise all the patterns in very large data sets (eg >100 samples and taxa).

estimates for minor taxa will be more precise (van der Veen and Fieller 1982, 296–7). If the population is finite, smaller samples are required to achieve the same level of precision. 175 The number 30 is not entirely arbitrary; it is the number of observations required for the sample standard deviation of a measurement to provide a good estimate of the population standard deviation (Rowntree 1981, 92). Sample sizes of both 30 and 100 are often used by archaeologists (Banning 2000, 85), often for no particular reason.

132 6.2.8 Summary of statistical patterns at Teleilat Ghassul

When data from manually and machine-processed samples were used in the same analysis, processing method was usually the most significant source of variation, accounting for more than 10% of inertia. On the other hand, the changed sampling strategy in 1999 had little discernible effect on data patterning. Of greater concern was the process by which samples were selected for analysis, as well as inconsistency in sorting and identification criteria between seasons and archaeobotanists. In particular, the decision not to analyse fine flot fractions in earlier seasons appears to have been misguided. The 1999 fine flot data showed intriguing diachronic patterns, some of which may turn out to be statistically significant when data from the 1994-97 fine flots are also available.

Diachronic trends in sample composition were not exactly uniform across the site, but several crop and wild/weedy taxa were found to increase from the late Middle Chalcolithic or early Late Chalcolithic onwards, largely confirming the 1997 interpretation (Bourke et al 2000). Some intra- site spatial patterns were remarkably consistent, and are probably best explained by the location of the various crop-processing and food-preparation activities. Nevertheless, disparities in the ratio of the barley and pulse varieties in the later Chalcolithic suggest slightly different subsistence strategies co-existed in different areas of the site. These patterns also suggest that misleading results may be obtained if botanical samples are not collected from all excavation areas. Context type does not appear to affect sample composition in any consistent fashion, however, apart from a suggestion that cereal grains and pulses may be slightly more common in occupation deposits or floors than in other contexts.

Area E samples were consistently poorer than samples from other excavation areas in the later Chalcolithic. An abundance of snail shells may indicate greater bioturbation in Area E than elsewhere, which could account for the lower density of identifiable plant remains. Nothing in the composition of Area E samples indicated seasonal occupation, however, nor did it appear that plant remains in the final sub-phase were residual.

There was no minimum sample size or taxon frequency for use in CA. Rare taxa and small samples can obscure real patterns and hinder their interpretation, but need not do so, and no uniform standard can be anything other than arbitrary. Large samples and abundant but unevenly distributed taxa are more difficult to deal with, since they impose patterns on the data. The number of samples and taxa used may also influence CA results. Any patterns recognised in CA output must still be checked against the raw data for significance.

133 6.3. ZAD2

6.3.1 Ubiquity analysis176

Although 105 samples were analysed in total, samples from contexts with the same locus number and in adjoining squares were combined, reducing the number of ‘samples’ to 39 (Table 5.1)177. Repeatedly sampling the same context, without combining data from these samples, can create false patterns of ubiquity (Popper 1988). Table 6.3 shows the recorded ubiquity of each taxon.

The food plant identified most often was Pistacia sp., with nutshell fragments in nearly every context with identifiable plant remains (Figure 6.39). Nutlets (seeds) of fig, and fragments of cereal grains and pulses, were almost as widespread. Barley chaff was found in most contexts, but wheat remains were identified in only a third of loci. Three pulse types were found: lentil, pea/vetch type (Fabaceae Sect. Vicieae), and a grass pea type. Most indeterminate pulse fragments probably belonged to either the pea/vetch or grass pea types, as lentil fragments are more readily identifiable in cross-section. Lentils were found in only a third of loci.

Grasses other than wheat and barley (Avena sp., Bromus sp., Poa sp., Stipa sp., Setaria sp. and others) were common, with seeds, seed fragments, or awn fragments in two-thirds of all contexts. At least one grass taxon was identified in every context with over 20 identifications. A third of contexts contained a few small-seeded legumes, and 20–25% contained charred seeds of Aizoon hispanicum, Ornithogalum-type, Plantago sp., and Chenopodiaceae. No other taxon was found in more than three contexts. Two adjoining contexts in Structure 2 contained over 500 seeds of an unknown type, possibly a species of Cyperaceae.

Context diversity (the number of identifiable taxa in each context) appeared to be directly related to sample size. The most diverse contexts were the midden deposits against the southeast wall of Structure 2 (squares M27 and N27). Every context that yielded a dozen or more identifications produced evidence of four plant food categories: cereals (barley and/or wheat), pulses (lentil, pea/vetch and/or grass pea), Pistacia, and fig. Pistacia nutshell, which was probably used for fuel, may be over-represented. The number of fig seeds does not exceed the productive capacity of a single fruit, but the regularity with which fig and pistachio remains were found, and their wide dispersion through the various deposits of the site, suggest they, and cereals and pulses, were the staple foods throughout the site’s occupation.

176 These paragraphs are based on the author’s contribution to Edwards et al (2002, 72). A similar passage was subsequently published in Paléorient (Edwards et al 2004). The recommendations of an anonymous reviewer of that article have been followed here. 177 Without correcting for occasional instances when different deposits in adjoining squares had the same locus number. This should slightly dilute any patterns in the data.

134 6.3.2 Correspondence Analysis

Data used in this exercise consisted of a table of 39 ‘samples’ and 38 taxa. As in the ubiquity exercise, the ‘samples’ were the combined data from samples with the same locus number in adjacent squares. Taxa occurring in only one ‘sample’ were either omitted, if no related taxa had been identified, or merged with taxa of the same family. If broader taxa occurred in less than 10% of ‘samples’ (3 or fewer), they were either omitted from the analysis (pod fragments and wheat rachis internodes), or given a weighting of 0.1 (vs 1.0 for more common taxa)178.

Remarkably, the ‘samples’ were sorted on Axis 1, according to structure (Figure 6.40), and on Axis 2, according to depth (Figure 6.41): in all three structures, samples with lower locus numbers (ie from contexts closer to the modern surface) had more negative scores than samples from deeper loci. The trend was particularly clear in Structure 1, which produced the most samples. In Structure 2, samples from the northwest quadrant follow the same trend, whereas the three samples from the southeast quadrant are very similar to each other179.

Although the deeper contexts in any structure must be older than upper levels, the vertical sorting evident on the second axis need not be due to diachronic change in the plant economy. Plant preservation improved with depth below the modern surface, and sample composition cannot have been independent of preservation. Even if there was a diachronic trend, it may have been partly a horizontal phenomenon (and therefore expressed by the first axis), because the structures could be in a chronological sequence. Stratigraphic relationships between the structures were not determined by excavation.

Both Axes 2 and 3 sorted the samples vertically, and neither sorted them horizontally (Figure 6.42). Samples with high positive scores against either axis are from the deepest contexts: loci 22– 25 in Structure 1, 4–6 in Structure 2 NW, and 8–11 in Structure 3 (as well as from locus 5, which was the earliest surface in that structure). Samples with negative scores against both axes came from the uppermost contexts: loci 2–13 in Structure 1, locus 2 in Structure 2NW and SE, and loci 3, 4, and 6 in Structure 3. A chronological vector thus appears to fall between Axes 2 and 3, from the top right quadrant (earlier) to the bottom left (later). Lines can be drawn dividing the samples into early, middle, and late phases or, strictly speaking, into lower, middle, and upper levels (Figure 6.42)180. The middle phase includes samples with moderately positive scores against Axis

178 Pistacia nutshell fragment counts were divided by 100 before the CA exercise. This was equivalent to giving this taxon a 0.01 weighting (the minimum permitted by CANOCO), and may give a more realistic impression of the number of nuts represented. It also allowed the taxon to be downweighted again in the CA exercise, if necessary. 179 The three contexts appear to form part of the same midden, which could (according to the CA seriation of plant samples) be relatively late in the occupational sequence of Structure 2. 180 As samples from the upper levels of all three structures have negative scores against Axes 2 and 3, it seems obvious that the chronologically-earliest samples would have more positive scores against both axes.

135 2, from loci 14–21 in Structure 1, locus 3 in Structure 2NW, and locus 7 in Structure 3. Samples from loci 3 and 4 in Structure 2SE, may belong in the middle phase, or in the late phase181.

Post-depositional taphonomy probably played a role in the vertical seriation of the samples. Plant remains in samples from the upper contexts were more fragmented than in samples from the lower contexts, regardless of which structure was sampled. Repeated soil expansion and contraction, and ongoing bioturbation, cause carbonised plant remains to fragment. These effects were much stronger in the upper contexts, which had been close to the surface since the site was abandoned (the lower contexts were only near the surface until buried by later occupational layers). The scatter plot of taxa (Figure 6.43) shows grain and pulse fragments in the bottom left quadrant. Samples from the upper contexts (the ‘late phase’) contained proportionately more such fragments, because grains and pulses in these contexts were more fragmented. Taxa that could only be identified when better-preserved (less fragmented) tended to have positive scores against both axes, and were therefore associated with samples from the lower contexts in each structure.

Nevertheless, a number of taxa with negative scores against Axis 2 (small grasses, grass bulbils, millet, Aizoon, Asteraceae, indeterminate grasses, chenopods, Malva) were more common in the ‘later’ samples than might be expected, if post-depositional taphonomy was entirely responsible for vertical patterning. It may also be noted that most ‘late phase’ samples were not from the upper half metre of deposits, where post-depositional attrition was most evident, as samples from these levels were often not sorted (5.1).

It thus appears that the vertical patterning represents a combination of taphonomic effects and real trends in the deposition of carbonised plant remains. Non-food taxa associated with the early phase, such as Avena, Bromus, Stipa, and Plantago, were gradually replaced by the smaller- seeded grasses (eg Setaria, Poa) and weedy taxa such as Aizoon, Asteraceae, Chenopodiaceae, Cyperaceae, small-seeded Fabaceae, Liliaceae, and Malva. Whether these taxa actually grew as field weeds is not known, but it is not an unlikely scenario. The ‘cultivated’ barley grains were associated with the early samples, presumably for taphonomic reasons (in the upper levels, these grains are present, but in smaller, indeterminate fragments).

The horizontal patterning of samples against Axis 1 (Figure 6.40) can be compared to the plot of taxa against the same axis (Figure 6.44). All grass and cereal taxa had negative scores (ie are

This is not the only solution, however: the bottom right quadrant could be the earliest. In this case, the scatter plot would show that Structure 3 loci 7–11 and loci 4–6 in Structure 2NW belong in the early phase; the entire Structure 1 sequence would be compressed into the middle phase, and the late phase would include the upper levels of Structure 3 and loci 2–4 in Structure 2SE. This seems less plausible than the phasing shown in Figure 6.42. 181 Only one or two samples fall in the ‘wrong’ phase: Structure 1 locus 12, which falls in the middle phase, was stratigraphically later than locus 13, which falls in the late phase, and Structure 3 locus 2, stratigraphically the latest sample from that structure, could be placed in the middle phase.

136 associated with structures 2 and 3, not Structure 1), whereas pulses and fig seeds had positive scores182. Weedy taxa appeared to be more randomly distributed. If the samples assigned to each phase are combined, figs and pulses are consistently over-represented in Structure 1 (>50% of identifications in each phase), and under-represented in Structure 3 (ca 10% of identifications in each phase). Grass and chaff elements, conversely, are under-represented in Structure 1 samples and over-represented in Structure 3, particularly in samples assigned to the ‘early phase’. As their scores against Axis 1 suggest, Structure 2 sample falls between these extremes.

Again, post-depositional taphonomy could account for some of the horizontal patterning: Structure 3 was deeply buried, Structure 2 was just below the modern surface, and Structure 1 was rapidly eroding into the wadi. Post-depositional attrition may thus have affected Structure 1 samples the most, and Structure 2 samples more than Structure 3 samples. The deeper the context, however, the more samples from different structures were separated on Axis 1 (Figure 6.41). These differences were subtle, but persistent. The same range of common taxa was found in each structure. Rare and occasional taxa were down-weighted in the CA exercise, and should have had little influence on statistical patterning.

The incidence of plant remains in Structure 3 samples (in identifications/L) was relatively low, even though some of the better-preserved remains came from Structure 3. Only a small area was excavated, which apparently did not contain midden deposits. Smaller sample volumes of sediment were collected for flotation. Structure 3 samples were less diverse than samples from structures 1 and 2, probably due to smaller sample size, but they tended to include taxa that are relatively fragile (such as barley chaff). Several Structure 2 samples, from midden deposits, were relatively dense, in identifications/L; these samples were often quite diverse, and some good specimens were preserved. On average, though, preservation was probably better in Structure 3.

Structure 1 samples came from a greater variety of contexts, many of which were very poor in plant remains. Most Structure 1 samples were collected in the 1999 season, when all samples were sorted (5.1). The ‘late’ samples from Structure 1, which consisted mainly of cereal and pulse fragments, may not have been sorted had they been excavated in 2001, when only samples from deeper contexts were sorted. Consequently, many of the Structure 1 samples were more fragmented and less diverse than the Structure 2 samples, which were mainly collected in 2001. Below loci 12-13, however, Structure 1 included some fairly rich midden deposits, which might have yielded the same range of taxa as equivalent deposits in Structure 2SE, had a larger area been exposed. The earliest loci contained few identifiable remains.

182 Except for Lathyrus-type (negative) and wheat grain fragments (positive), both of which were rare.

137 The overall impression is that some of the horizontal and vertical patterning may be due to post- depositional taphonomy and sampling decisions, but that there are underlying spatial and diachronic trends. It was possible to split the samples into early, middle, and late phases. The three structures sampled were each apparently occupied in all three phases. The upper, or late phase, may be mainly an artefact of post-depositional taphonomy. The middle phase featured a broad range of weedy types, small grass seeds, and Aizoon (the most common taxon in the modern seed bank). The early phase featured more figs, and more large grass seeds, than later phases.

6.4. Wadi Fidan 1 (JHF001)

Apart from the desiccated chaff in sample 11629 (Chapter 5), all plant remains in the 1999 samples were carbonised. These 11 samples, representing 153L of sediment, yielded 517 identifiable plant items and 81.18g of charcoal. Charcoal density (grams of wood charcoal per litre of sediment processed) ranged from 0.0025g/L to 2.24g/L, with a median of 0.50g/L. The incidence of identified plant remains (seeds, fruits, nutshells and chaff elements) ranged from zero to 15.53 items/L, with a median of two items/L. Half the carbonised plant remains consisted of glume wheat chaff: single glume bases (32%) and unbroken spikelet forks (19%). Glume bases were found in all but one of the samples with charred plant remains.

The number of cereal grains recovered was surprisingly low: 13 wheat grains, nine barley grains, and fragments of about seven other grains that could not be identified (Table 5.2). Both emmer and einkorn wheat were apparently present. All but one or two of the barley grains appeared to be of wild barley, despite the predominance of domestic-type barley chaff. There were 49 barley rachis internodes, of which 28 were of the tough-rachis, domestic variety. Only two internodes appeared to be of brittle-rachis, wild barley; the others were indeterminate. Straw components (culm nodes and culm bases) accounted for nearly ten percent of identifications. It is assumed that all of these represent either wheat or barley.

Cultivated pulses were rare: one lentil and fragments of four other pulses were recovered. Fig seeds accounted for 11% of the charred assemblage. Fig seeds were also the second most frequent taxon, occurring in eight of the 12 samples. The other significant food plant was Pistacia. Several complete or nearly complete nutshells were found in samples 11999 and 12011, and fragments in at least three other samples were consistent with Pistacia sp.. The charred assemblage also included 47 seeds from at least a dozen wild species, which may all have been weeds of cultivation. There were indeterminate grass seeds in five samples, seeds of Scorpiurus and probably Medicago in three samples, and seeds of Chenopodiaceae, Liliaceae (possibly Bellevalia type) and Malva in two samples. The remaining wild taxa (Aizoon hispanicum, cf. Androsace maxima, Lithospermum, Arnebia, Cyperaceae, Teucrium/ Ajuga, Plantago and cf. Galium) were each found only once (Table 5.2).

138 Most samples were dominated by wood charcoal; it appears that fireplaces were preferentially sampled. This may mean that Pistacia shells, which could have been used as fuel, were over- represented. Sample 11629 was the only one whose contents could be assigned to a particular crop-processing stage, fine-sieving of pounded wheat spikelets.

The assemblage can be compared to that obtained by Colledge, from samples collected in 1989-90 (Table 6.5). Both assemblages were dominated by glume wheat chaff (spikelet forks and glume bases), although the enormous number of uncharred spikelet forks in sample 11629 (1999) exaggerates this dominance183. In both assemblages, there was evidence of einkorn, emmer, and probably barley cultivation, but the absolute number of grains recovered was very low. Pulses were also scarce, with evidence of lentil in the 1999 samples and of another pulse in both seasons. Both assemblages included fig and Pistacia, which were presumably collected from the wild, with more evidence of fig in 1999. Very few weed seeds occurred in either assemblage, so differences in the species lists are probably insignificant.

For several reasons, the Wadi Fidan 1 data were unsuited to CA. There were only 12 samples and 22 taxa in the CANOCO data file184, and neither samples nor taxa were evenly distributed. Of the 22 taxa, only five occurred in at least half the samples, and only 12 in at least a third of samples; six taxa were found in only one sample. Only nine taxa included ten or more items, only four had 50 or more, and two (essentially one, as glume bases are broken spikelet forks) had 60 or more items. Nearly 70% of the identified remains consisted of one taxon, glume bases. More than half the remainder were spikelet forks. One sample, 11629, contained nearly 75% of the identified remains; a second (10309) had no identifications at all, and another (10595) had only one item. Only six samples contained over 30 items and only three over 100. Three more samples were dominated by single taxa: 12011 contained 60% of the culm nodes and bases in the assemblage; 12081 consisted mainly of fig seeds, and 12115 of barley rachis internodes.

Consequently, exploratory CA showed no new, intelligible pattern. In three permutations of samples and taxa, Axis 1 always contrasted 11629 with the other samples, and glume bases/spikelet forks with the other taxa. Axes 2, 3, and 4 emphasised the rare taxa, even after these had been down-weighted. Aizoon, Androsace, Boraginaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Cyperaceae, Galium, Teucrium/Ajuga, Liliaceae, Malva, and Plantago (none of which was found in more than two samples) were all eventually omitted. As rare taxa and outlying samples were down-weighted

183 Most of the chaff in 11629 was desiccated, not charred. The chaff consisted of glume bases and spikelet forks, from emmer or einkorn, so it is almost certainly prehistoric. A minority of glume bases and spikelet forks was partially blackened, and some of these specimens were definitely carbonised. Desiccated glume bases were so abundant in the fine flot that they were not collected or recorded. 184 Some taxa were merged for CA: the three wheat grain types became a single taxon, as did: both barley grain types; all four barley rachis types; culm nodes and bases; both pulses; both Boraginaceae, and all three small-seeded legumes. This was intended to reduce the level of ‘noise’ due to variable preservation.

139 or omitted, Axis 1 came to account for over half of total inertia. Culms, barley rachis internodes, pulses, fig, and Pistacia accounted for most of the rest, but these taxa did not cluster meaningfully. For example, culm nodes and barley rachis internodes were at opposite extremes of axes 2 and 3, although both are by-products of threshing.

Samples 10309, 10595, and 11629 were then omitted from the CA exercise, and the 1989-90 and 1999 assemblages were combined. Some wild taxa were also omitted, if only identified in one season, and some domestic taxa were merged so that the data could be combined at the same taxonomic level. The combined assemblage (794 items) thus had only 13 samples and taxa. The analysis sorted the samples by season along the first axis (Figure 6.45), apparently because glume bases were more abundant in the 1989-90 samples (Figure 6.46). Sorting by excavation season could be eliminated by down-weighting this taxon, but variation in the rest of the assemblage was then dominated by taxa with highly-skewed distributions, such as Malva (11 of the 13 specimens were in sample 10578) and Chenopodiaceae/Caryophyllaceae (12 of the 15 identifications were from sample 7.1). Such variation is unlikely to be archaeologically meaningful. If the heterogenous samples are omitted, however, only eight samples remain, too few to show convincing links between sample composition and context type, area, or stratum.

6.5. Tell Rakan I (WZ120)

Plant preservation at WZ120 was poor, compared to that at Jordan Valley sites, and it was consistently poor throughout the sequence. Only one sample (P5 034; 1L of sediment) yielded no identifiable plant remains. Most other samples produced 3–5 identifications/L, compared to an average of 12 identifications/L among 1999 Ghassul machine-processed samples (and many of these were sorted because they were relatively poor). Quantification of some taxa (eg grains and pulses) was difficult, due to the fragmented nature of the remains. Counts recorded in Table 5.3 are therefore only approximate. Many of the excavated loci (contexts) contained artefacts from several periods, and it was thought unlikely that the archaeobotanical samples were any less mixed (Ted Banning pers comm 2002). This may be reflected in the uniformity of the samples: the range and abundance of remains is similar in many samples, after allowing for sample volume.

That the remains were not completely mixed, however, is evident from the fact that grape was found only in the uppermost loci sampled (S5 010, T6 012 and 013185), and olive in only a few more, mostly upper, loci (R5 015; S5 007, 010, 011, 013, 017; T6 012, 013). This pattern fits with the prevailing wisdom that olives were domesticated in the Chalcolithic and that domestic grapes arrived in the Levant in the Early Bronze Age (eg Fall et al 2002).

185 These are regarded as Chalcolithic contexts, but the grape seeds may be intrusive from overlying Early Bronze Age contexts. Two specimens were submitted to the IsoTrace Laboratory for radiocarbon dating.

140 Most of the identifiable remains were wheat glume bases (940 of the 1819 identifications). Glume wheat chaff elements (glume bases and unbroken spikelet forks) often dominate assemblages from early farming sites (eg Pasternak 1998, table 1). The WZ120 wheat chaff was particularly fragmented, however. Breaking one spikelet fork yields two glume bases. There were approximately 12 glume bases for every unbroken spikelet fork at WZ120 (vs 2:1 at Ghassul), indicating that six of every seven spikelet forks were broken. Other taxa were equally (or perhaps more) fragmented, but their degree of fragmentation is harder to quantify.

There were fragments of glume wheat grains in nearly every sample. The better-preserved grains were of domestic emmer, but einkorn and wild emmer (Triticum dicoccoides) also seem to have been present, perhaps only as weeds of the emmer crop. A possible grain of free-threshing wheat (presumably T. durum) was found in T6 015. The chaff of free-threshing wheats is invariably under-represented at open-air sites, because it is less likely to be exposed to fire and less likely to survive charring in identifiable form (Boardman and Jones 1990). None was identified at WZ120. Barley was remarkably scarce at WZ120, considering that at most Jordanian sites it is as common as wheat, if not more so186. There were 11 wheat grains to every barley grain at WZ120, compared to one wheat grain to every two barley grains at Ghassul. Barley is relatively easy to identify, even from fragments, so its scarcity at WZ120 is almost certainly genuine. At no point in the sequence was barley as abundant as wheat.

Lentils and other pulses were not as abundant as wheat grains, but were found in almost every sample. Of 29 samples with identifiable plant remains, 25 had fragments of lentils and 15 had fragments of other pulses, probably pea and/or bitter vetch. There also appeared to be a chickpea in P5 032. The pulses were most abundant, relative to cereals, in samples from the lower loci in R5187. Fig seeds and probable Pistacia nutshell were found throughout sequence, but more consistently in the lower loci (particularly R5 022–026). The most abundant carbonised taxon was Lolium sp.. Lolium caryopses, or indeterminate grass seeds in the same size range, were found in practically every context, with the notable exception of the early loci in R5. No other wild/weed taxon was very common.

When the WZ120 data were analysed by CA, the only intelligible patterns found were those already seen by inspection of the raw data. Figures 6.47 and 6.48 show samples and taxa plotted against the first and second ordination axes. The PPNB samples from R5 cluster together, in the same quadrant as lentil, barley, fig, and Pistacia. Later samples have more negative scores against Axis 1, particularly if they are rich in wheat grains and Lolium. Some, including the four Late

186 In contrast to some Anatolian sites, such as Nevali Çori (Pasternak 1998) and Çayönü (van Zeist and de Roller 1991/92), and Wadi Fidan 1, where there is very little barley. 187 There were 30 pulses and 23 cereal grains in these samples, and nearly three times as many cereal grains as pulses in the rest of the assemblage.

141 Neolithic samples, have low positive scores against the first axis, apparently because they contained more pulses (which are statistically associated with the PPNB cluster). Samples containing olive (and grape) tend to have positive scores against the second axis. Most of these were from Chalcolithic contexts.

6.6. ash-Shalaf

Plant remains at ash-Shalaf were so fragmented that quantification was as uncertain as identification. A total of 333 identifications was recorded (Table 5.4). The assemblage included 35 probable cereal grains, three of which were tentatively identified as barley, and eight as glume wheat (einkorn or emmer). The rest could not be identified, except as cereal grains. Eight pulse fragments were identified as lentils. Another 84 identifications (25% of the assemblage) were of wheat chaff, mostly glume bases. The remaining 62% of identifiable plant remains were of wild taxa. Most of these were small-seeded legumes (including Astragalus type), which made up 59% of the assemblage. One nutshell fragment suggests that Pistacia sp. was exploited. The other wild taxa (small-seeded legumes, wild grasses, Fumaria sp., Cyperaceae, Ornithogalum type, and Chenopodiaceae) were probably not gathered for food. All are potentially weeds of cultivation, but the dominance of small-seeded legumes hints at a second source, perhaps gathering for fuel.

Most of the charred remains were found in eight samples from L19, L22, and L23 in the deep sounding. These produced an average of 8.8 identifiable specimens per litre of sediment, against 1.2 identifications/L in the 23 samples from upper levels (L17 and the 1999 samples). Uncharred plant remains, however, were found mainly in the upper levels (5.2 versus 2.7 identifications/L in the deep sounding), reflecting the survival of some modern plant material in the ploughsoil, and the destruction of charred plant remains by ploughing and bioturbation.

Given the poverty of the assemblage, it was not expected that exploratory multivariate statistics would disclose any meaningful patterning. A CA exercise was carried out, however, using all carbonised taxa and all samples with at least two identifications. This showed consistent contrasts between samples from L17 and L19 (Figure 6.49), due entirely to the concentration of small- seeded legumes in the latter context (Figure 6.50).

Ubiquity analysis was also undertaken. Of 31 samples, 14 yielded no identifiable charred plant remains. Of the remaining 17 samples, 15 contained some wheat chaff, and 13 contained cereal grain fragments. Only ten samples included small-seeded legumes (Astragalus type or indeterminate), seven samples contained one or more pulse fragments, and three included wild grass seeds. No other taxon occurred in more than one sample. These frequencies, however, are meaningful only if the samples are independent of each other (ie from different contexts; Popper 1988). When samples from the same context are merged, cereal remains (grains or chaff) occurred

142 in every context with identifiable charred plant remains (Table 6.4). Small-seeded legumes occurred in every such context except L22, L54, and L87, but these contexts between them yielded only 20 identifications. Lentils were found only in L17, L19, and L23, but were so rare that one would not expect to find any in the other samples.

The presence or absence of any taxon thus appears to be a function of sample size, not of functional or spatial patterning188. Although the concentration of small-seeded legumes in L19 sets it apart from the overlying L17, this may be due to post-depositional taphonomy. For interpretative purposes, therefore, the ash-Shalaf assemblage was regarded as a single sample.

6.7 Pella Area XXXII

The Pella assemblage consisted of only 13 samples, three of which contained 12 or fewer identifiable items, so exploratory multivariate analysis was not expected to reveal patterns that could not be seen by inspection of the raw data (Table 5.5). One permutation of CA axes apparently sorted the samples by phase (Figure 6.51), separating Late Chalcolithic from earlier samples. Inspection of the corresponding plot of taxa (Figure 6.52) suggests that this sorting may be due to the relatively high number of cereal grains in the Late Chalcolithic samples (ie to the lower incidence of chaff, pulses, fruit remains, and wild/weed taxa).

The two Late Neolithic samples together accounted for nearly half the assemblage, and between them contained nearly every taxon identified at Pella. Almost all of these taxa were also found in at least one of the (much poorer) Late Chalcolithic samples. There were some interesting differences, however. As at Ghassul, the incidence of Lolium and the Cyperaceae taxa was much lower in the Late Chalcolithic, and the small-seeded legumes became more common. In contrast to Ghassul, however, the Liliaceae taxa were found mainly in the Late Neolithic samples (as were Apiaceae and Polygonaceae seeds). Given the small number of samples involved, these apparent trends are inconclusive.

The Pella assemblage is notable for a near-absence of threshing and winnowing by-products (straw components, barley and free-threshing wheat rachis internodes). At Ghassul, such taxa were concentrated in Area G samples, but were found regularly in all areas. Nevertheless, as the Pella samples came from a single area of the site, the absence of such taxa may best be explained as a spatial pattern.

188 As ash-Shalaf was a single-phase site, diachronic patterning was not expected.

143 6.8 Summary

The interpretation of archaeobotanical data is complicated by the range of factors determining whether a plant item is recovered and identified. Unlike an off-site palaeoenvironmental record, an archaeobotanical assemblage cannot be regarded as a random sample of the natural vegetation at some point in the past; nor does it provide an unbiased picture of the prevailing plant economy. Detailed analysis, however, can help to identify economic and environmental trends in archaeobotanical data, and to distinguish these from spatial and taphonomic patterns.

Since the 1970s, a considerable amount of ethnographic and experimental work has been carried out to examine the effects of routine activities (eg crop processing, the use of dung as fuel, waste disposal) on the composition of archaeobotanical assemblages. The initial aim of data analysis, however, was to understand how assemblage composition was influenced by factors within the archaeobotanist’s control (eg number of samples, sample volume, processing method, mesh size). Teleilat Ghassul provided the opportunity to vary these factors, and thus to gauge their impact.

Subsequent analyses investigated horizontal and vertical patterning in the incidence of various taxa at Ghassul, in an attempt to separate spatial or functional factors (ie differences in sample composition due to the location of routine activities) from temporal factors (changes over time in the range and abundance of plant materials reaching the site). Although the same range of taxa was (with few exceptions) found in each phase, these analyses showed consistent shifts in the incidence of some taxa, between the earlier and later Chalcolithic, in three areas of the site. The interpretation of these changes is discussed in Chapter 7.

Multivariate statistical techniques, principally Correspondence Analysis (CA), were used to identify patterning in the larger assemblages. Two of the smaller assemblages (ZAD2 and WZ120) were also examined using ubiquity analysis (of presence/absence data). CA (of abundance data) confirmed the patterning found by ubiquity analysis at WZ120, and identified a previously-unrecognised trend in the ZAD2 data. Correspondence Analysis was less effective with the smaller assemblages (<20 samples or taxa) from Wadi Fidan 1, Pella Area XXXII, and ash-Shalaf. Any statistical treatment of these assemblages is probably unjustified, however. The smaller assemblages may be regarded as single samples (Wadi Fidan 1 and ash-Shalaf), or a few samples in the case of multi-period sites (WZ120 and Pella). The abundances of different taxa in these assemblages may therefore be fortuitous, and absence of any taxon from these assemblages may be insignificant.

144 7. Reconstructions

In this chapter, a preferred palaeoenvironmental and palaeoeconomic interpretation of each assemblage is put forward189. In the previous chapter, interpretation was limited to the application of well-understood site formation processes (generally described as middle-range theory). This is a relatively empirical approach. Here, the subsistence strategy followed at each site is described, and residual patterning in each assemblage (patterning that is not explained by the application of middle-range theory) is interpreted as evidence of environmental and economic change. These interpretations are necessarily more subjective, and would change given additional data, methodological advances, and a tighter chronological framework for the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental record.

7.1 Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2

7.1.1 Subsistence data

Bone preservation at ZAD2 was poor. Only 34 animal bone fragments were recovered during the 1999 season. Those that could be identified included wild cattle (Bos primigenius), goat (Capra sp.), and perhaps badger (Meles meles). Gazelle was not positively identified, but undiagnostic fragments in the right size range for gazelle (or goat) were recovered (Metzger in Edwards et al 2001). The ZAD2 chipped stone assemblage included few projectile points, usually associated with hunting, particularly compared to the nearby PPNA site at Dhra’ (<1% of retouched tools at ZAD2, >50% at Dhra’). Many groundstone artefacts (mortars, querns, and rubbers), normally used to process plant foods, were found on the surface and in the excavations (Sayej 2003). The 1999-2001 archaeobotanical assemblage was regarded as representative of the surviving plant remains, as the 2001 results (Edwards et al 2002) were consistent with those of the 1999 season (Edwards et al 2001). Four taxa were interpreted as staple foods: Pistacia sp., Ficus sp. (both wild resources), cereal grains, and pulses (potentially cultivated).

189 Interpretations of most of the assemblages have already been published, or are in the process of publication. The interpretation of the ZAD2 results proposed in 2001 (Meadows 2004) is followed here, with additional insights from Correspondence Analysis (Chapter 6). A summary of the Wadi Fidan 1 results was prepared for a 2001 conference on the archaeology of the Wadi Faynan region, organised by the Council for British Research in the Levant. Proceedings of this conference have yet to be published, and papers submitted by members of the Jebel Hamrat Fidan project, which included the Wadi Fidan 1 archaeobotanical results, have now been withdrawn (Russell Adams pers comm 2003). A preliminary report on the 1999 season at Tell Rakan I (Banning et al in press), including initial observations on the archaeobotanical remains, was due to appear in the delayed 2003 volume of the Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. These observations are superseded by the current work. There is, unfortunately, little to add to the preliminary publication of the ash-Shalaf 1998 results (Bienert and Vieweger 1999). The 1996-97 results from Pella were also due to be published in the 2003 ADAJ (Bourke et al in press). A preliminary report on the 1999 season at Teleilat Ghassul is in preparation.

145 7.1.2 Wild food plants

The only tree fruit identified was Ficus sp. (wild fig), whose seeds were found in over 70 percent of the contexts sampled. Nutshell fragments (identified as Pistacia sp.) occurred in almost every context in which identifiable plant remains survived. Nutshell was certainly over-represented, relative to other taxa, because it is inedible, but can be used as fuel; grains, pulses, and figs would only have been carbonised by accident. Most Neolithic sites in Jordan yield evidence of fig and Pistacia (Neef 1997). It is assumed that the fruits and nuts were collected from wild trees (Zohary and Hopf 2000, 164; 191; but cf. Kislev 1999). Wild Pistacia and Ficus trees would have grown a few kilometres east of ZAD2, in gorges above 600m above sea level (Kürschner 1986, 55).

7.1.3 Potential cultivars

Barley, wheat, and the pulses (lentil, grass pea, and pea/vetch), all regarded as Neolithic ‘founder crops’, may have been cultivated. It is unlikely that any of the ZAD2 remains belonged to domestic varieties. Instead, it has been argued that wild barley was cultivated (Meadows 2004).

7.1.3.1 Barley non-domestication

Wild barley is native to the southern Levant, and grows anywhere with at least 250mm of rainfall per annum. There are several domestic barley varieties, of which hulled two-row barley (Hordeum distichum) is the most often found at Neolithic sites. Compared to its wild ancestor, H. spontaneum, it has larger, more rounded, grains, and tougher, non-shattering, rachis internodes.

Plant domestication means that genetic mutations that are disadvantageous in the wild, but which confer a selective advantage under cultivation, become dominant. In cereals, the key mutation prevents the spikes (ears) from spontaneously shattering at maturity. Hillman and Davies (1990) demonstrated that harvesting wild stands of cereals cannot lead to their domestication, because it disproportionately removes the grains of any tough-rachis mutants, leaving only grains of brittle- rachis plants for the next generation. Cultivation therefore preceded domestication. The cultivation of wild cereals can rapidly lead to domestication, under certain conditions (eg minimum area cultivated, harvesting technique used). Otherwise, there will be an indefinite period of ‘non-domestication’ cultivation (ibid, 168).

When charred, wild barley grains can swell to the size of domestic barley grains. A single grain, therefore, cannot be confidently identified as domestic barley if wild barley is present190. At ZAD2, 73 grain fragments were identified as barley. Thirty-eight were sufficiently complete to allow the grain’s breadth and thickness to be measured (Table 7.1). When plotted (Figure 7.1), the

190 In the case of symmetric, hulled barley grains; asymmetric (twisted) grains, found only in six-row barley, and naked grains, regardless of size, occur only in domestic barley.

146 measurements cluster into two groups, corresponding to measurements of wild and domestic grains from other Neolithic sites in Jordan (Colledge 1994, figure 4.6). Before measurement, each grain was classified as wild, ‘domestic’, or indeterminate on morphological grounds (Table 7.1; domestic grains are less angular and have narrower hilar grooves than do wild barley grains). All 11 ‘domestic’ grains fell in the larger size cluster, whereas 11 of the 12 ‘wild’ grains were in the smaller size cluster. Grain size and morphology therefore appear to show that both wild and domestic barley were present.

In wild barley, individual spikelets fall off the ear as soon as the grains within them ripen, leaving smooth abscission scars between rachis internodes. In domestic forms, rachis internodes are broken during threshing, and do not separate cleanly. If the abscission scar is preserved, therefore, a rachis internode can be identified as domestic or wild barley. When wild barley is harvested, however, a few rachis internodes will inevitably have rough abscission scars (associated with the domestic type; Kislev 1989). At ZAD2, identified wild-type internodes were significantly more abundant than the domestic type (Table 5.1). Most internodes were recorded as indeterminate, because the abscission scar was not preserved, but most of these were narrow and had sturdy lateral floret bases, a typical feature of wild barley (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982, 204). More than 500 fragments of lateral floret bases were also recorded191. The ZAD2 barley chaff was probably all of the wild variety192.

It therefore appears that that the domestic-size grains grew on plants with brittle rachis internodes. The alternative, that domestic-type chaff was present but was not recovered, is implausible, as grains and chaff came from all areas of the site193. For true domestication to occur, a disproportionate fraction of grains used as seed must come from plants with the tough-rachis mutation. This was probably an unconscious process. The two size clusters of grains, however, hint at the intentional selection of larger grains for seed. Grain size, unlike the mutation ‘for’ tough rachis, is apparent from the grain itself, and is therefore amenable to conscious (and unconscious) selection. It is probably the only attribute that early cultivators could have intentionally promoted. The smaller grains may have been weeds of cultivated barley, or grains that were collected from wild stands194.

191 None of the later sites in this study yielded appreciable numbers of barley floret bases. 192 If the 121 indeterminate internodes were all attributed to the wild type, only one barley internode in 13 would be of the domestic type. These proportions are similar to those found by Kislev (1997, table 8.1) at Netiv Hagdud, where he attributed all the chaff to wild barley. 193 At Basta, a considerably later site, domestic barley grains were found, but only wild-type chaff; all the barley chaff, however, came from a single sample that contained no barley grains (Neef in press, 60). A third alternative, that ZAD2 obtained wild barley by foraging and domestic barley grain (without chaff) by exchange with farmers, seems even more implausible. 194 It seems intuitively obvious that only sowing the larger grains would, over time, cause the average grain size in the population to increase. Nevertheless, according to Willcox (2004), the larger grain size of

147 7.1.3.2 Other potential cultivars

Fragments of wheat grains or chaff (usually single glume bases) were found in a third of contexts, and probably represent wild emmer (Triticum dicoccoides). Wild einkorn (T. boeticum) is native to Anatolia. Today, wild emmer grows in the north Jordan valley, particularly on basaltic soils, often in association with Tabor oak (Quercus ithaburensis) (Zohary and Hopf 2000, 44). The location of ZAD2 suggests that wheat was cultivated, not gathered, but its scarcity may mean that it was a ‘weed’ of barley, not a crop in its own right. Grain fragments were too poorly preserved to measure. Carbonised glume wheat chaff is far more common than barley chaff at most early farming sites (eg Aswad, Ghoraifé, and Ramad: van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982), probably because an extra crop-processing stage (pounding of spikelets) takes place shortly before food preparation, creating a waste product (spikelet forks and glume bases) that may be charred in a domestic context. At Wadi Fidan 1, Tell Rakan I, and Teleilat Ghassul, glume bases alone accounted for the majority of identifications. At ZAD2, they accounted for under one percent of the assemblage.

Two to four pulse taxa were recovered, including lentil, which was also found in a third of contexts. Most pulse fragments probably belonged to the Fabaceae section Vicieae, which includes the genera Pisum, Vicia, and Lathyrus. Better-preserved examples were identified as probable field pea, bitter vetch, or grass pea, all of which are regarded as Neolithic ‘founder crops’195. The critical mutations that distinguish domestic from wild pulses are the loss of seed dormancy and the evolution of non-dehiscent pods (Kislev and Bar-Yosef 1988; Ladizinsky 1989). As these are not expressed in seed morphology, no attempt was made to determine the wild or domestic status of the ZAD2 pulses. As with cereals, it seems unlikely that the exploitation of wild stands of pulses would have led directly to domestication. A period of ‘pre-domestication cultivation’ of pulses can thus be assumed. Pulse cultivation (and indeed domestication) at ZAD2 is possible, although it cannot be demonstrated. Nevertheless, pulse fragments were found in almost as many contexts as cereal fragments, suggesting similar patterns of storage and usage196.

domestic cereals stems not from seed selection, conscious or unconscious, but from the cultivation and eventual domestication of particular genotypes that produced larger grains in natural conditions. In this case, the existence of two size clusters of grain at ZAD2 would imply that a cultivated barley variety had been introduced, and the wild status of rachis internodes would indicate that it was not yet domesticated, as at Jerf el Ahmar and Dja’dé (Willcox 2004, 150). 195 Chickpea and broad bean, the other Neolithic pulse crops, are so distinctive that their presence at ZAD2 can probably be excluded. 196 Guarino and Sciarrillo (2004) recently reported the results of an experiment, in which three pulses (chickpea, fava bean, and lentil) were consistently more likely to survive charring in identifiable condition than were grains of five cereals (rye, oats, bread wheat, durum wheat, and (hulled?) barley). Pulses may, therefore, be over-represented archaeobotanically, relative to the cereals. The differences in survival rates were not vast, however: pulses were typically about 50% more likely to survive.

148 7.1.4 Environment

Although regional vegetation histories are generally based on pollen diagrams, archaeobotanical remains can also be informative, particularly when pollen is not securely dated or not identifiable to species level. Wood charcoal is the preferred macrofossil indicator of local vegetation, as, with few woody species in Jordan, charcoal identification can be more taxonomically specific than seed identification, but other plant macrofossils also reflect local vegetation (eg Hillman 1996). Known food plants are less informative than are wild plants with no food value, as we assume that foragers would have been prepared to go further to collect more valued species197.

Three taxa were found both in the modern seedbank and as charred macrofossils: Aizoon hispanicum, Chenopodiaceae (eg Suaeda sp.), and Boraginaceae (Arnebia/Lithospermum sp.). Chenopods are often treated as indicators of arid, saline conditions, as many Chenopodiaceae thrive in such environments. Chenopods (and the Boraginaceae) were uncommon in both the modern and ancient flora. Aizoon, however, also regarded as an indicator of arid or saline conditions, was extremely abundant in the modern seedbank, and relatively common (108 seeds, in 23% of contexts) in the archaeobotanical assemblage.

The abundance and diversity of the grasses, on the other hand, suggests that early Holocene vegetation was quite different to today’s (one uncharred grass seed was recorded in the modern seedbank). The larger grass seeds (Stipa sp., Avena sp., and/or Bromus sp.) are more typical of steppe vegetation198. A majority of the contexts sampled contained awn fragments of Avena or Stipa and fragments of larger grass seeds (probably Stipa). Grass bulbils, consistent with those identified as Poa cf. bulbosa at Netiv Hagdud (where they were regarded as food resources: Kislev 1997), were found in three contexts. Smaller grass seeds, including Panicum/Setaria sp. were found mainly in the same samples as the bulbils. The oat (Avena sp.) and millet (Panicum/Setaria sp.) may be those found by Kürschner (1986) in the upper Wadi Kerak, in the transition zone between desert and Mediterranean regions.

There was some suggestion in the Correspondence Analysis output (6.3.2) that the larger-seeded grasses, as well as Plantago, may have been replaced over time by the smaller-seeded grasses and other taxa, including Aizoon and the Chenopodiaceae, as well as some that might be regarded as weeds of cultivation. Without species identifications, it is difficult to know whether this represents environmental degradation, or simply a replacement of perennial species by annuals due to cultivation. Overall, the evidence implies less arid conditions at ca 9000 cal BC than at present. Kislev (1997) reached a similar conclusion, based on the range of species at Netiv Hagdud.

197 But perhaps not firewood, which makes the discovery of Ficus sp. and Quercus sp. charcoal, among specimens collected for radiocarbon dating (Edwards et al 2002), all the more interesting. 198 Two seeds, tentatively identified as Thymelaea sp., may also reflect steppe conditions.

149 7.1.5 Economy

It is assumed that the cereals and pulses were grown at ZAD2, on the former alluvial fan of the Wadi Dhra’199. The site, only 2km from the existing PPNA site at Dhra’, may have been established in order to facilitate cultivation, not least because it was further than Dhra’ from the natural habitats of wild cereals and pulses. More than a dozen taxa from ZAD2, such as Asteraceae indet., Silene, small-seeded Fabaceae, Ornithogalum type, Malva, Plantago, and Verbena would probably be considered crop weeds if found at a later site200. The recovery of barley grains in the size range of domestic barley provides the most compelling evidence that it, at least, was cultivated.

Nevertheless, the evidence for the use of gathered plant foods (fig, Pistacia, and perhaps wheat and the pulses) suggests that foraging was still a basic element of subsistence behaviour. It is difficult to rank different plant foods in importance on the basis of archaeobotanical remains, but fig and Pistacia appear to be more abundant and ubiquitous at ZAD2 than at later sites. Where the balance between foraging and cultivation lay also depends on the status of wheat and the pulses.

An aspect of pre-domestication cultivation may explain the mixed strategy (Meadows 2004). In subsistence agriculture, cereal production is subject to several constraints, including the availability of labour. Labour shortages are particularly acute at harvest-time, when, without metal tools or draught animals, every member of a community would have to work full-time to harvest enough grain for that community to be self-sufficient for the rest of the year (Russell 1988). In Russell’s model, the area a farming community can cultivate is ultimately limited by the length of the harvest season, as the community cannot hire additional labourers from elsewhere, and cannot increase its own labour supply any further during this critical period. Attempts to estimate productivity under these conditions (Russell 1988; Akkermans 1993) indicate that, even with domestic cereals, self-sufficiency is difficult to maintain.

If wild cereals are cultivated, however, self-sufficiency seems even more difficult to achieve, because wild cereals spontaneously shed ripe spikelets. Once the crop has started to ripen, it must be harvested immediately. Natural stands of wild cereals ripen at different times, depending on altitude and aspect. Mobile foragers can take advantage of this, extending their harvest season by moving around the landscape. Cultivators growing wild cereals at a single site, however, would have had a shorter harvest season than either mobile foragers or traditional subsistence farmers with domestic cereals. Some reliance on gathered plant foods would thus have been unavoidable.

199 South of the now deeply-incised wadi, a significant area of relic alluvium remains, and is intensively cultivated under irrigation. 200 One should not assume that the typical field crop weed flora had already developed by the PPNA. These taxa include plants that are potentially useful, and which could have been collected intentionally.

150 Pre-domestication cereal cultivation combined the inefficiency of harvesting brittle-rachis plants with the additional workload of tillage and planting. Wild pulse cultivation presents similar problems; seed dormancy and the natural seed dispersal mechanism (pod dehiscence) would have resulted in low yields. Pre-domestication cultivation is thus a poor substitute for foraging, and would only have been adopted on a limited basis while wild food resources were abundant (Russell 1998). Other constraints, such as the availability of cultivable land, could have been even more limiting, depending on the location of the site.

7.1.6 Summary

ZAD2 was occupied only in Period I. The site relied on four staple plant foods: barley (probably cultivated), pulses (wild and/or cultivated), fig, and Pistacia (both wild). Other wild plants, such as the non-cereal grasses, may also have been gathered for food, although perhaps not on such a regular basis.

The site’s location, on an alluvial fan 2km further than its predecessor (Dhra’) from the natural habitats of the main food plants, suggests that cultivation was central to its existence, particularly as evidence of hunting was so slight. Even so, gathered plant foods may have been as important to subsistence as were the cereals and pulses. The latter are unlikely to have been true domesticates, placing limits on the productivity of cultivation.

Some of the grass taxa identified were consistent with a more humid climate than currently prevails. Together with the identification of fig and oak charcoal (Edwards et al 2002), they suggest that in the PPNA the Dead Sea Plain was not as hostile an environment in which to settle as it is today. Over the life of the settlement, however, possible steppe taxa were replaced by potential field weeds and desert taxa. This may reflect the local impact of cultivation, rather than any change in climate.

7.2 Wadi Fidan 1 (JHF001)

Two small archaeobotanical assemblages (Table 5.2; Colledge 2001, table 6.11) from the Late PPNB site at Wadi Fidan have been analysed. The preservation of plant remains at Wadi Fidan 1 was reasonably good, but the few samples collected consisted mainly of wood charcoal, suggesting that only hearths were sampled. The two assemblages were, nevertheless, similar in composition. Both were dominated by glume wheat chaff (spikelet forks and glume bases). Both demonstrated that domestic einkorn, emmer, and perhaps barley were cultivated, but few grains were recovered. Pulses were also scarce, with one lentil in the 1999 samples and another pulse in both assemblages. Few weed seeds were identified. Fig and Pistacia were found in both seasons.

151 The food species identified are common at Period III sites (3.3). If any significance can be attached to patterns of ubiquity within such small assemblages, pulses, fig, and Pistacia were less important than they had been at ZAD2. Domestic barley chaff was found in more than half the samples, however, and glume wheat chaff was easily the most abundant taxon. Although gathered foods remained significant, the emphasis on cereal cultivation is much stronger than it was in the PPNA. Whether the pulses were cultivated is open to question.

Like ZAD2, Wadi Fidan 1 is in one of the most arid regions of Jordan, and its annual rainfall (ca 50mm) is far below the minimum required for successful cereal cultivation (ca 300mm). Although it appears that the climate was significantly more humid in the early Holocene (Chapter 2), there is no suggestion that rainfall at Wadi Fidan was ever adequate for farming. Instead, it is thought that the cereals were cultivated on damp alluvial soil near the site, and that the figs and Pistacia were collected from trees growing in wadis several kilometres upstream. Although the Wadi Fidan is now a barren, rocky watercourse, subject to flash flooding, this is probably due to deforestation in the upper reaches of its catchment, following the development of metallurgy at Faynan in the Bronze Age. Agriculture at Wadi Fidan would have depended on the level of the water table (Sherratt 1980), which in turn would have depended on the infiltration of rainfall in the highlands (Harlan 1986). In the PPNB, before highland vegetation was substantially affected by human activity, we may assume that flash flooding was far less severe, and that spring flow was greater than it is today.

If conditions permitted farming at an adjacent site, Wadi Fidan 4, in the fourth millennium (Meadows 2001a), they were probably also suitable in the early Holocene. The latter assemblage was also dominated by cereal remains; pulses were still minor crops, if crops at all. Domestic pulses are seldom very common at sites in arid areas (Grigson 1995a). The small numbers of grains (30) and pulses (5) at Wadi Fidan 1 are insufficient to demonstrate whether this pattern was already established by the PPNB.

7.3 Tell Rakan I (WZ120)

Limited site access meant that although a deep vertical sequence was sampled at WZ120, there was insufficient horizontal exposure to implement a rigorous sampling strategy. Little can be said, therefore, about spatial or functional patterning. In any case, plant preservation was poor throughout. Wild and weedy taxa could seldom be identified beyond the family level, precluding an environmental reconstruction. Nevertheless, three or four phases could be distinguished.

Five samples from PPNB contexts (R5 022–026) were significantly different to all later samples. They indicate greater reliance on wild plant foods (fig and Pistacia), and perhaps a greater use of

152 pulses and barley, than in subsequent periods. These samples also lacked Lolium, which was the most abundant taxon (after wheat glume bases) in the later samples.

In samples from Yarmoukian and later contexts, emmer wheat was easily the most important food plant. The incidence of barley was much lower than at the other Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites. A single grain of free-threshing wheat was identified in a Yarmoukian sample. Fragments of olive stone appeared in samples from the Yarmoukian onwards, although nearly all olive finds were in Chalcolithic contexts. The first grape pips were found in two Chalcolithic samples, but may have been intrusive201. Chalcolithic samples differed from Late Neolithic samples only in the incidence of olive and grape remains. The Late Neolithic (post-Yarmoukian) samples contained one or two more rare grass taxa than the Yarmoukian samples, and possibly more pulses.

Artefactual assemblages from the contexts sampled apparently included materials with a mixture of ages. It is unlikely that residuality of archaeobotanical remains was as serious a problem, however, because carbonised remains are more fragile, and would not survive repeated movement in identifiable form. Residuality would also tend to blur any temporal patterns, not to create them. We can be reasonably confident, therefore, that the contrast between the PPNB (ie Period III) samples and those from later phases was real. Post-depositional taphonomy may have obscured any meaningful change in the plant economy between the Yarmoukian (Period IV) and the later Neolithic (Period V? 202) phases. The scant olive remains in two samples from these phases may be intrusive; the Yarmoukian examples in S5 017 are, at face value, among the earliest known in Jordan. By the Chalcolithic (Period VI), however, olives were clearly exploited regularly. Whether these were domestic or wild olives, or both, cannot be addressed, given the limited material available (Appendix F).

WZ120 was continuously or repeatedly occupied from the Late PPNB until at least the Early Bronze Age, a period of over 3000 years. Throughout this period, it appears, emmer wheat was the main cereal crop, with little evidence that barley, einkorn, or durum wheat were cultivated. The pulses (lentils, peas and/or bitter vetch, and perhaps chickpea) were apparently important throughout the occupational sequence, but particularly in the Late PPNB (when they were all but absent at Wadi Fidan 1). Wild fig and Pistacia were gathered in every phase, but also seem to have been used more regularly in the Late PPNB than subsequently.

Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the WZ120 assemblage is that barley was rare throughout the sequence. It is unclear whether barley was ever grown intentionally, although some grain

201 Several grape seeds from Eneolithic (Beaker period) flotation samples at El Prado, Murcia, Spain, were directly dated by radiocarbon and found to be modern (Rivera Núñez and Walker 1991). 202 Preliminary analysis of pottery from these contexts (Banning et al in press) indicated parallels with the ‘Ziqlabian’ Late Neolithic phase at Tabaqat al-Buma (WZ200), which may have been occupied as late as 5000 cal BC (3.4).

153 fragments were large enough for domestic barley. Barley tends to predominate in PPNA assemblages (ZAD2, Netiv Hagdud), but with the introduction of domestic emmer it apparently lost favour. It was relatively abundant at later sites in more arid zones, probably because barley is more drought-tolerant than wheat. At Tell Rakan, presumably, availability of water was never the limiting factor in cereal cultivation.

The appearance of Lolium at the end of the PPNB is also of interest, as this taxon dominated wild/weed assemblages at the later Jordan Valley sites, particularly in the Late Neolithic. It was not recorded at ZAD2 and Wadi Fidan 1203, and may be associated with irrigated fields (George Willcox pers comm). Its appearance at the end of the PPNB at WZ120 may reflect the start of irrigation, following climatic deterioration from the early Holocene optimum. Alternatively, this taxon may be a species that only colonised field crops during the PPNB204.

7.4 ash-Shalaf

A much smaller assemblage was obtained from the Period IV site of ash-Shalaf. The site was badly damaged by ploughing, which apparently eliminated most plant remains. Twelve of the 19 contexts sampled yielded no identifiable carbonised remains. The assemblage therefore came mainly from two contexts in the ‘deep sounding’.

Most of the identified remains (59%) were small-seeded legumes, perhaps all Astragalus sp.. The dominance of Astragalus, a typical steppe shrub, may reflect its use as fuel. Food plants identified included glume wheat (emmer and/or einkorn), barley, lentil, and perhaps Pistacia. Occasional finds of potential field weeds, and more frequent finds of glume wheat chaff, hint at local cultivation of wheat, and perhaps barley and lentils. The crop species identified (glume wheat, barley, and lentil) are found in most Neolithic assemblages in Jordan. Other species cultivated by the Late Neolithic (peas, beans, chickpeas, bitter vetch, flax) are found occasionally (Neef 1997), and their absence in an assemblage of this size may be coincidental.

The chaff components recovered (glume bases and spikelet forks) are usually removed just before food preparation, however (Hillman 1984a; 1984b). Chaff components removed by threshing and winnowing, which should only be found at agricultural sites, were not found. Straw and rachis internodes survive a narrower range of charring conditions than do grains, glume bases, and spikelet forks (Boardman and Jones 1990). Given the small sample size, their absence may be insignificant, but not enough evidence was recovered to determine whether the crops were grown locally, or were obtained by exchange. On this evidence, it is possible that ash-Shalaf was a farming settlement, but equally it may have been occupied seasonally by transhumant pastoralists.

203 Nor was it found at ash-Shalaf, although its absence in such a small assemblage need not be significant.

154 7.5 Pella Area XXXII

Like WZ120, Pella is situated next to a major spring, which permitted continuous occupation from the Late Neolithic onwards. The absence of a large aceramic Neolithic site is surprising. The depth of Bronze Age and later deposits hinder access to the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic phases of occupation. Natural subsoil was reached in two trenches (XXXII D and F) during the 1994, 1995, and 1996-97 seasons of excavation (Bourke 1997a).

Hoppè (1996a unpublished) analysed Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic material from the 1994-95 seasons. These samples were dominated by cereal grains (glume wheat and hulled barley), but pulses (lentil, bean, pea, vetch, and chickpea) were also found regularly. Both Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic samples contained many olive stone fragments, and there was one fig seed in a Neolithic sample205. Grape and free-threshing wheat, abundant in Early Bronze Age samples from Pella (Meadows 1998a unpublished), were absent. There was remarkably little wheat chaff in the samples, and no barley chaff or straw206.

The two Late Neolithic and 11 Chalcolithic samples from the 1996-97 seasons, attributed to periods V and VI, were also quite uniform in composition. Again, emmer wheat and hulled barley, lentils, and olives were the major food plants, with Lolium, small-seeded legumes, and glume wheat chaff as the main by-products of crop processing. Five grains of free-threshing wheat were found in Late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic samples, but none in the late Chalcolithic. Otherwise, the plant economy appears to have changed little. A wider range of wild/weedy taxa was identified, presumably because fine flot fractions were not sorted in 1994- 95. Sedges (Cyperaceae) were fairly common, presumably because crops were cultivated on damp alluvium in the wadi below the spring. In both assemblages, the wheat: barley grain ratio was relatively high, and the early stages of crop processing (threshing and winnowing) were hardly represented. The 1996-97 assemblage was quite large (N = 5786), but nearly half the identifications were from two rich samples207.

Well-preserved wheat grains could generally be identified as emmer. Broken grains with pronounced dorsal ridges and/or glume impressions were classified as indeterminate glume wheat, a taxon that theoretically may include einkorn, but no good examples of einkorn were found. All

204 Lolium was abundant at Aswad (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982), though not in the earliest levels. 205 A date of 7317±83BP (OZD 017, 6390–6010 cal BC) was obtained from context XXXIID 44.27 at Pella (Bourke et al in press). A sample from this feature included olive remains (Hoppè 1996a unpublished). 206 According to the radiocarbon results (Bourke et al in press; see note 205 above), this material was from contexts dated to periods IV, V, and VI. Yarmoukian (Period IV) sherds do occur at Pella, but have so far only been found in contexts that also contain later material (Jaimie Lovell pers comm 2004). The apparent uniformity of the archaeobotanical samples may mean that most of the plant material dates only to periods V and VI, despite the radiocarbon results. 207 This does not include a large deposit (ca 150L) of emmer in a late Chalcolithic context (XXXIID 80.3).

155 the glume bases and spikelet forks could have belonged to emmer, and the Chalcolithic grain store (XXXIID 80.3) appears to have been exclusively emmer. Cultivated barley was neither abundant nor well-preserved. All grains appeared to belong to the hulled variety, but it was not possible to determine whether two-row or six-row barley, or both, were present. No barley rachis internodes were found in Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic samples208. Lentils were found in almost every sample. Most Chalcolithic samples contained vetch and/or pea. One probable chickpea was identified in a Late Neolithic sample, and fragments of probable fava beans occurred in two middle Chalcolithic samples. Flax was all but absent.

Evidence of wild plant resources was limited, with a single nutshell fragment (attributed to Pistacia sp.) in a middle Chalcolithic sample, and occasional fig seeds in several Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic samples. Olive stones, or olive stone fragments, were found in most samples. The remains in the two Neolithic samples represent some of the earliest evidence of olive exploitation209. A larger deposit of olive stones at the late Chalcolithic site on nearby Jebel Sartaba (Pella Area XIV) was described by Willcox (1992). Until this material is studied more thoroughly, no conclusion should be drawn on whether and when domestic olives were introduced, but current thinking is that only the late Chalcolithic material represents olive cultivation (Appendix F).

No meaningful statistical patterning was found in the 1996-97 assemblage (Chapter 6), perhaps due to the small number of samples, and to the fact that the two Late Neolithic samples were larger and more diverse than any of the Chalcolithic samples. Apparent declines in the incidence of Lolium, the Cyperaceae taxa, and the Liliaceae taxa, and increases in small-seeded legumes, are probably meaningless. The Pella assemblages are notable for the near-absence in every phase of threshing and winnowing by-products. At Ghassul, straw components and rachis internodes were concentrated in Area G samples, but were found regularly in all areas. Nevertheless, as the Pella samples came from a single excavation area, the spatial patterning of crop processing activities across the site as a whole may explain the absence of these taxa in the samples analysed.

7.6 Teleilat Ghassul

Given the number of samples collected and analysed (from around 120 contexts, not counting earlier work by Hallam, Neef, and Hoppè), and the different sampling strategies and processing methods employed, we have a much clearer idea of the range and frequency of surviving plant remains at Teleilat Ghassul than at any of the other sites. These data demonstrate subtle but

208 Barley chaff was found in a Late Bronze Age sample from Area XXXII (Bourke et al in press), which suggests that post-depositional taphonomy does not explain its absence in earlier periods. 209 These are complemented by the olive remains in 1994-95 samples, which may be more frequent in Period V contexts (XXXIID locus 44) than in possible Period IV contexts (XXXIID locus 46) (Hoppè 1996a unpublished).

156 persistent differences between the early and late Chalcolithic plant economies. In order to grasp these changes, we need first to understand the taphonomic processes and spatial behaviour patterns responsible for the differential preservation of the remains of different species. Factors governing the differential recovery and identification of these taxa were discussed in Chapter 6.

7.6.1 Site formation processes

As at each of the other sites, only carbonised plant remains were regarded as ancient. This assumption simplifies the work of interpretation, as carbonised remains can safely be assumed to have been charred by human agency. Uncharred plant material, even if ancient, need not be anthropogenic210. Charring is, of course, a process of selective destruction, which discriminates against more fragile plant taxa. It is also a process of selective preservation, in the sense that different plant species and organs are more or less likely to be exposed to fire.

There was no evidence of intentional or catastrophic burning of stored products at Ghassul (in contrast to the Chalcolithic emmer cache at Pella, mentioned above)211. If such events took place within the excavated areas, the carbonised grains, spikelets, pulses, or fruits must have been thoroughly redistributed. Instead, it appears that most plant remains were charred due to routine domestic or industrial activities, such as cleaning, cooking, and the production of pottery and plaster. In this case, we might not expect to find carbonised grains and pulses. Such taxa may have been burnt intentionally, however (if spoiled), or unintentionally, due to imperfect crop processing or accidents during food preparation. Another preservation vector for grains and pulses, as well as other taxa, is the use of dried herbivore dung as fuel. Remains of field crops preserved by this mechanism represent undigested fodder, not human diets (eg Bottema 1984; Miller and Smart 1984). Digestion is itself a selective process, with grains less likely to be passed in identifiable form than small weed seeds or dense chaff elements (Anderson and Ertug-Yaras 1998).

Carbonised sheep or goat dung was recorded in samples from about a dozen of the contexts sampled in 1999 (Table 5.6), and rather more frequently in the 1997 samples (Meadows 1998b unpublished). Another composite charred material, ‘biscuit’, was also found regularly in both seasons212. No attempt was made to estimate whether the ratio of wood charcoal to seeds, which Miller (1984) used to argue for an increasing reliance on dung fuel at Malyan, changed during the

210 For example, it was suggested (Chapter 5) that some of the Boraginaceae at WZ120 were collected by ants. Plant microfossils from archaeological sites, such as pollen and phytoliths, may or may not be preserved as a result of human agency. 211 A 1997 sample, from a burnt patch in context QII 4.2, consisted largely of a single taxon (86% small- seeded legumes), but it is doubtful that this constituted a stored product. 212 Earlier it was suggested (Meadows 1998b unpublished) that ‘biscuit’, which clearly contained identifiable plant remains, may have consisted of a burnt fodder mash. It may also represent dung (from cattle or pigs, as well as sheep and goats) prepared as fuel, perhaps with the addition of chaff and straw.

157 course of the Chalcolithic, because later Chalcolithic samples that were particularly rich in wood charcoal were not sorted.

It can be assumed that the use of dung as fuel would tend to diminish differences in composition between archaeobotanical samples. This is because herbivores consume the by-products of various crops and crop-processing stages, and because the dung of different herbivores, with different diets, may be combined when dung cakes are manufactured. These can be stored for long periods, and may then be burnt together with dung cakes manufactured at different times of year (Anderson and Ertug-Yaras 1998). The result is that ash from a dung cake fire may contain plant remains from fodder crops and other crop residues, seeds of pasture species, and fruit stones, in addition to any food remains or by-products charred during the cooking process. Plant residues from different activities, seasons, and locations are thus mixed together.

The apparent trend towards greater activity-area differentiation (6.2.6) may therefore point to a decline over time in the use of dung as fuel. Samples from earlier strata tended to be very mixed. In the later phases, samples were often rich in particular types of plant remains, such as the threshing and winnowing by-products. For such sample differentiation to occur, a more direct preservation vector must also have operated: in other words, some plant material must have been burnt without prolonged storage or use as fodder or temper.

Statistical analysis of data from different excavation areas and context types found consistent differences in sample composition between different areas, but no clear association between context description and sample composition (6.2.5). There was some indication that food remains (grains and pulses) were more common in samples from occupation surfaces than other context types, which is perhaps not surprising, as a proportion of these would have been burnt during food preparation accidents. Intentional waste disposal may be associated with middens or rubbish pits.

Samples from such secondary contexts will inevitably contain material from a variety of sources. Some earlier Chalcolithic samples were from primary contexts, and occasionally these were slightly more differentiated (less mixed) than samples from secondary contexts (eg Figure 6.19). Nevertheless, even firepit samples included material from various sources. Samples from AXI 76.5 and 76.26 were rich in wood charcoal and burnt dung respectively, but both also included grains, chaff, pulses, fruit remains, and wild/weed taxa (Table 5.6).

7.6.2 Spatial and functional patterns

Among early and middle Chalcolithic samples, spatial patterning depends largely on the incidence of glume bases and spikelet forks, which were more abundant in Area A samples than in Area N, and more common in trench AXIII than in AXI (6.2.5.1–2). This may indicate where dung was used as fuel, rather than providing any indication of where different crop-processing activities

158 occurred. It is equally possible that some of the spatial patterning reflects the ordering of domestic space, with spikelet pounding and food preparation routinely taking place in different areas. Both of these may be regarded as domestic activities, however. Remains of the earlier stages of crop processing are not absent, but they are not as clearly associated with any excavation area.

In the later Chalcolithic, however, straw components and barley rachis internodes were clearly associated with Area G samples, both in the 1999 data and in the 1997 assemblage. Olives, figs, grains, and pulses other than lentils were associated with areas N and Q, and Area E samples were dominated by wheat glume bases and spikelet forks. None of these taxa was absent in samples from any excavation area, but statistically the patterning was extremely clear (Figure 6.23). There appeared to be a crop-processing gradient at work, with the early stages (threshing and winnowing, coarse sieving) occurring predominantly in Area G, pounding and fine-sieving in Area E, and food preparation in areas N and Q.

This explanation overlooks the much lower average density of plant remains in Area E samples, and ignores the fact that it was barley chaff, in particular, that was concentrated in Area G. Instead, it is suggested, what distinguished Area E (other than post-depositional taphonomy: 6.2.5.4) may have been a continued reliance on the use of dung as fuel. The richer and more differentiated samples from areas G, N, and Q must include plant remains that were preserved by other routes213, but the Area E samples are similar in composition to the undifferentiated early and middle Chalcolithic samples from Area A (eg Figure 6.34). In other words, the spatial patterning of plant remains in the later Chalcolithic may reflect changes in the animal economy. The spatial patterning of plant-processing activities in earlier phases may have been obscured by the use of dung as fuel. Sheep/goat mortality patterns (Mairs in Bourke et al 2000) lend some support to the view that, by the later Chalcolithic, flocks were largely absent from the site for a good part of the year. This would have affected the seasonal availability of dung, the composition of dung-derived assemblages, and whether or not crop-processing by-products would have been used as fodder. The implication is that only Area E maintained the herding practices of the earlier Chalcolithic.

This hardly supports the idea that Area E represents a phase of seasonal occupation. The same range of food plant taxa was found in Area E as in other areas, including straw and barley chaff (indicating local cultivation of annual cereals) and olive stones (indicating local cultivation of olive trees). If these taxa demonstrated sedentary agriculture in other areas and phases, they also do so in Area E. The composition of Area E samples seems to indicate the maintenance of earlier Chalcolithic farming practices, as well as the continuation of traditional herding strategies. Pulses other than lentils were rare, olives were not as common as in other areas, and flax was almost

213 Unless we are to believe that herbivores were penned in different areas of the site, and fed different diets, and that their dung was subsequently burnt in the same areas.

159 absent. Wheat was more common, and nearly all the free-threshing wheat grains in later Chalcolithic samples were from Area E. Six-row barley chaff was not as common in Area E samples as in other later Chalcolithic areas. Some of the wild/weed taxa associated with earlier phases remained relatively common in Area E samples: seeds of sedges (Cyperaceae), Malva, Aizoon, Astragalus, and Trigonella. The Liliaceae taxa, which increased rapidly in the assemblage as a whole, were relatively rare. Unless plant remains in Area E samples actually are earlier than those from later Chalcolithic deposits elsewhere (because these contexts were incorrectly phased, or because the plant remains in them were largely residual), Area E’s occupants maintained the subsistence economy of earlier phases, while other later Chalcolithic areas adopted new strategies.

7.6.3 Changes in agricultural practices

Early Chalcolithic farming was based on the cultivation of emmer, two-row barley, and lentils, with other pulses, free-threshing wheat, and six-row barley as secondary crops. Later Chalcolithic farmers also relied on emmer, but six-row barley became as important as the two-row variety, and other pulses as important as lentils. The most important change, perhaps, was that olives appear to have been domesticated during the Chalcolithic (Appendix F).

7.6.3.1 Olive domestication

In Appendix F, it is argued that there was a significant reduction in the variability of olive stone lengths during the Chalcolithic, which could have been the result of olive cultivation. It is not certain, however, that olives in the early and middle Chalcolithic (or indeed from the Late Neolithic samples at Pella) were gathered from wild trees. At this stage, it is only suggested that by the later Chalcolithic (Period VI), olive cultivation had become a central element of the subsistence economy. Trends in the abundance of olive remains may be misleading, as some olive-rich later Chalcolithic samples were not sorted. In Canonical Correspondence Analysis, however, olive tended to be associated with the later Chalcolithic (Figures 6.36, 6.37). Olive remains occurred in under half (16 of 38) the early Chalcolithic samples and subsamples, but in nearly all (47 of 54) the later Chalcolithic samples and subsamples sorted214. Not only does this underscore that by the later Chalcolithic olive was not a gathered resource; it also implies that the importance of olive increased over time.

The implications of olive domestication are intriguing. Olive trees would have taken at least seven years to become productive, and in as dry a location as Ghassul probably had to be watered for much of that time. Olive cultivation therefore represented a considerable investment of effort and

214 The later Chalcolithic samples are larger on average, and therefore are more likely to include rare taxa, but the earlier Chalcolithic samples are more mixed. Given the spatial differentiation of sample composition in the later Chalcolithic, it is perhaps surprising that olive was found as often as it was.

160 a delayed return. Previously, only annual crops had been cultivated. Domestic animals reached maturity after only a year or two. Olive cultivation required not only patience, but security of ownership. It therefore encouraged sedentism and territorial demarcation. It also produced a tradeable commodity, perhaps contributing to the growth of other industries (Bourke 2001).

7.6.3.2 Field crops

Apart from olive domestication, however, agricultural developments were largely a change of emphasis in the production of existing crops. Lentils, for example, constituted 75% of the pulses in early Chalcolithic samples, but only half in samples from the later Chalcolithic215. Six-row barley increased from a third to a half of all barley grown. If all other variables could be held equal, barley yields per unit area or seed volume would have been significantly higher in the later Chalcolithic. To achieve this increase, however, might have required additional inputs of labour (in weeding, manuring, or maintaining irrigation systems). The apparent increase in yield may be illusory: the number of tillers (and thus ears) per plant may have decreased simultaneously.

One other change seen in both the 1997 and 1999 assemblages was that terminal spikelet forks (wheat spikelet forks without abscission scars, which can only occur at the tip of the ear) decreased in number, relative to non-terminal spikelet forks and glume bases216. The decline in terminal spikelet forks suggests that each spike, or ear, was longer (with an average of 65% more grains), than in the early-middle Chalcolithic217. As with the increasing reliance on six-row barley, wheat yield per unit area or seed volume should have increased as a result, other things being equal, but it is not possible to account for planting density, fallowing, or other inputs required.

These developments were not evenly spread, with less evidence of the ‘new economy’ in Area E, or in the 1994-97 late Chalcolithic samples from Area A. The late Chalcolithic samples in Area A may not have been as late as was originally thought, but it does appear that by the late Chalcolithic there were differences in subsistence strategies between different areas of the site. One possibility is that the ‘new economy’ areas of the site were oriented more towards production for exchange, and less towards household self-sufficiency (Meadows 1998b unpublished).

215 By number; if count data were converted to mass or volume, pulses other than lentils would have increased from about half to three-quarters of all pulses. 216 The shift is quite large, from 40 glume bases per terminal spikelet fork in the early and middle Chalcolithic to 66 in the later Chalcolithic. Remains from the earlier phases are more fragmented, so we would expect the opposite pattern (as any broken terminal spikelet forks would be counted as glume bases). As these taxa are abundant, the change is statistically significant. When expected values are obtained assuming that the terminal: other spikelet fork ratio did not change over time, comparison with actual counts in all 1999 samples gives a CHITEST probability for terminal spikelet forks of 0.000203 (two-phase scheme) or 0.000941 (three-phase scheme). The calculated values of χ2 (13.806 and 13.937 respectively) are much greater than the critical values, 3.841 and 5.991 (for one and two degrees of freedom, at the 0.05 significance level). 217 See note 216: 66/40 = 1.65

161 7.6.4 Environmental change

Several wild/weed taxa decreased steadily over time, whereas others increased rapidly. Taxa associated with the early Chalcolithic included Malva sp., Plantago sp., Lolium sp., and the Cyperaceae, whereas Bromus sp., Scorpiurus cf. muricatus, the Liliaceae, and some rarer taxa were far more common in the late Chalcolithic (6.2.6.2, Figure 6.38). Some of the taxa that declined over time (the sedges and Lolium) are adapted to relatively wet fields, and were more common at sites in the north Jordan Valley (Pella and WZ120). The Bromus type that increased sharply in the later Chalcolithic was the most common grass taxon in a fourth millennium assemblage from Wadi Fidan 4 (Meadows 2001a).

Assuming that most of these taxa were weeds of cultivation, it could be argued that the early Chalcolithic assemblage reflects cultivation of gardens in relatively damp areas of the wadi bed, whereas the late Chalcolithic assemblage implies an expansion of agriculture into more marginal land. As rainfall at Ghassul was insufficient to support agriculture, however, this expansion would have been limited to areas of the wadi bed that could have been irrigated, perhaps using floodwater farming techniques, as suggested at Chalcolithic sites in the Negev (Levy 1983; 1992). These involve building check dams across dry wadis to capture water and silt from flash floods, and thereby increase the area of land that can be cultivated. Changes in the wild/weed assemblage may thus have been due not to desertification, but to the increasing unpredictability of water levels. The Liliaceae, and other taxa capable of storing water, may have been more successful under such a regime than previously.

Without floodwater farming, it can be assumed that farming could take place only in areas of the wadi bed where the water table was high enough to support crops (Sherratt 1980). Modern farming around the site depends on irrigation with exotic water (from the East Ghor canal) and on extraction of groundwater, which has lowered the water table to 55m below the surface (Stephen Bourke pers comm 1999). In the early Chalcolithic, however, the water table must have been closer to the surface218. The removal of riverine trees, such as Tamarix, would have raised the water table, but the cultivation of tree crops (ie olive) in the same area would have lowered it, perhaps beyond the reach of annual field crops and their weeds. Lower rainfall (and/or a fall in the level of the Dead Sea) would also lower the water table, but there is no convincing evidence of climate change at the end of the fifth millennium (Chapter 2). Clearance of upland vegetation in the aquifer catchment may also have contributed to a falling water table, as vegetation cover

218 In a brief note, Webley (1969) suggested that Teleilat Ghassul ‘grew on a sandy island surrounded by slowly moving water. The small scatter of Ghassulian artifacts observed over the Lisan beds to the east of the site implies that by the later stages of occupation of the mound colonization of the immediate surroundings was possible – the water-table was falling around the mound’. It is suggested below (9.2.2), however, that the water table was already below the surface at the time the site was first occupied.

162 assists the infiltration of rainfall, preventing flooding and increasing aquifer flow (Harlan 1982; 1985). Ghassul’s position thus made it vulnerable to deforestation and overgrazing in the uplands. Flash flooding may have been a factor in the site’s abandonment.

7.6.5 Economic development

The main development during the fifth millennium, whether as cause or effect of changes in subsistence behaviour, was probably the growth of the site itself. This is difficult to measure, as natural subsoil has only been reached in three areas, A, G, and N. The Late Neolithic phase was found only in Area A. Early Chalcolithic levels were relatively thin in Area N.

Population growth would have encouraged novel subsistence solutions, as the area of well- watered alluvium available for cultivation would have been limited. The introduction of the domestic donkey, for example, permitted farmers to cultivate fields further from the site. Changes in the mortality patterns of sheep and goats, and a change in emphasis from goats to sheep, appear to coincide with the changes in the plant economy (Mairs in Bourke et al 2000; Bourke 2002).

Economic change at Ghassul may have contributed to the development of the subsistence strategy that has been called the Mediterranean agrosystem, the combination of cereals, pulses, and tree crops with seasonally-transhumant pastoralism, with an emphasis on the use of secondary products, a package that would prove to be remarkably resilient and environmentally sustainable (Butzer 1996). Ironically, in the short term this contribution may have led to increased exploitation of the uplands, which may in turn have brought about Ghassul’s own demise.

7.7 Summary

ZAD2 (ca 9000 cal BC) apparently relied on a combination of pre-domestication cultivation and foraging. Four types of plant foods may be regarded as staples: barley, pulses, figs, and Pistacia nuts (Table 7.2). Other plant species may also have been gathered for food, but were not used as often. Availability of alluvial soil may have determined the site’s location, but foraging seems to have been as important as cultivation. The cereals and pulses were probably not morphologically domesticated, limiting the productivity of cultivation. Some plant remains apparently indicated that the climate was more humid than it is today, and that steppe vegetation was found close to the Dead Sea Plain. Nevertheless, we must assume that cultivation was restricted to areas of alluvium that could easily be irrigated, or which were naturally irrigated by the permanent spring.

Like ZAD2, Wadi Fidan 1 (ca 7000 cal BC) is situated in the arid zone. Although the climate appears to have been significantly more humid in the early Holocene than it is today (Chapter 2), it seems unlikely that it was humid enough to have permitted cultivation at Wadi Fidan, without some form of irrigation. As at ZAD2, therefore, it is assumed that the cereals (emmer and/or

163 einkorn wheat, and perhaps barley) were cultivated on damp alluvial soil. In contrast to ZAD2, the cereals were morphologically domesticated. Pulses (lentil, vetch, and/or pea) may also have been cultivated. Wild figs and Pistacia nuts were gathered at higher elevations, several kilometres east of the site. The balance between farming and foraging is difficult to judge, due to the small number of samples analysed. The abundance of glume wheat chaff, relative to all other taxa, is typical of agricultural sites, which may suggest that the importance of foraging had declined.

Tell Rakan I (WZ120) was occupied from before ca 7000 cal BC to after ca 4000 cal BC, and seems to have been an agricultural settlement throughout this period. In every phase, it appears, the main crop was domestic emmer wheat. It is not certain that barley was intentionally cultivated at any stage. On the other hand, the pulses (lentil, pea and/or bitter vetch, and perhaps chickpea) were important in every phase. The higher incidence of pulses in samples attributed to the Late PPNB (ca 7000 cal BC) may reflect roasting to remove toxins, and not a greater dependence on pulse crops in this period. The weed assemblage was limited; the only interesting pattern was the absence of Lolium in Late PPNB samples, and its dominance of wild/weed assemblages in later phases. Wild fig and Pistacia were gathered in every phase, but were found more regularly in the Late PPNB than subsequently. Olive, on the other hand, was found from the Yarmoukian (ca 6000 cal BC) onwards, although most remains were from late Chalcolithic contexts (ca 4000 cal BC). Given the evidence at contemporary sites (Appendix F), it is assumed that wild olives were gathered in the Late Neolithic, but that olives were cultivated by the late Chalcolithic.

Most of the plant remains in a tiny assemblage from ash-Shalaf (ca 6000 cal BC) were small- seeded legumes, perhaps from shrubs gathered as fuel. Some food plants were also identified: emmer and/or einkorn, barley, lentil, and perhaps Pistacia. Finds of glume wheat chaff and some potential field weeds may suggest that ash-Shalaf was a farming settlement, but the lack of straw and free-threshing cereal chaff can be used to argue that it was a pastoral site. Given the size of the assemblage and the poor preservation of identified remains, the absence of any taxon is perhaps insignificant.

The new data from Pella suggest continuity in subsistence practices between 5000 and 4000 cal BC, but the small number of samples and the absence of straw and barley rachis internodes may disguise any changes that took place. Subsistence depended on mixed farming, of emmer wheat, barley, and two or three pulse crops, with a significant contribution from olives, which are assumed to have been cultivated by the late Chalcolithic. The wild/weed assemblage is consistent with local cultivation, on damp alluvium in the adjacent wadi. Previous work by Hoppè (1996a unpublished) suggests that the same plant economy existed as early as ca 6000 cal BC.

The 1999 data from Teleilat Ghassul confirmed that the plant economy changed significantly between the earlier (ca 5000 cal BC) and later (ca 4000 cal BC) Chalcolithic. Such changes may

164 be disguised or exaggerated by spatial patterning, as earlier and later occupational phases were sampled in different excavation areas. Nevertheless, when the 1999 data are compared to the 1994-95 and 1997 assemblages, some convincing diachronic patterns can be identified.

The most significant of these, perhaps, is the apparent domestication of olives during the middle Chalcolithic, if not earlier (Appendix F). In the early Chalcolithic, wild olives were exploited more regularly than other wild plant food resources. The farming economy relied on the cultivation of emmer, two-row barley, and lentils, with other pulses, free-threshing wheat, and six- row barley as minor crops. In the later Chalcolithic, six-row barley was as important as two-row barley, and other pulses were as important as lentils. Sharp changes in the wild/weed assemblage probably reflect changes in cultivation methods. It is argued that in the early Chalcolithic, farming was restricted to relatively damp alluvial soils, but that, by the late Chalcolithic, agriculture had expanded into more marginal areas of the wadi bed, perhaps irrigated using floodwater farming techniques.

165 8. Snapshots

This chapter compares the proposed interpretation of each archaeobotanical assemblage (Chapter 7) to the background palaeoenvironmental evidence (Chapter 2) and trends in subsistence behaviour at other sites (Chapter 3), to produce snapshots of subsistence options and strategies at notional 1000-year intervals.

8.1 Subsistence strategies at 9000 cal BC

8.1.1 Palaeoenvironmental evidence

After the end of the Younger Dryas episode, the climate of the Levant rapidly ameliorated during the first millennium of the Holocene. It appears to have been as warm as and probably more humid than the modern climate, perhaps with a longer rainy season (Table 2.1). Woodland expanded, encroaching on the surrounding steppe zone, which in turn would have advanced into the arid desert zone. Archaeobotanical remains from Netiv Hagdud (Kislev 1997) and ZAD2 (7.1) suggest that these sites, currently in the arid zone, may have been closer to the boundary with the steppe zone when they were occupied at ca 9000 cal BC.

8.1.2 Settlement patterns

Most sites in this period were located in the Jordan Valley, beside springs and alluvial fans. Sites are known in the foothills (Hatoula, ’Iraq ed-Dubb), but not at higher altitudes. A site in the eastern desert, Jilat 7, may have been occupied at the same time.

8.1.3 Animal exploitation

Sites of this period lacked domestic animals (other than perhaps the dog), and relied on hunting and fishing for animal protein. Bone assemblages tend to be numerically dominated by gazelle, or occasionally wild goat (Wadi Faynan 16: Finlayson et al 2000), but remains from Hatoula (Davis et al 1994) and Netiv Hagdud (Tchernov 1994) in particular show that a wide range of species was exploited. Specialised hunting camps may have existed, but the excavated bone assemblages are less specialised than those of later eastern desert hunting sites. The frequency of projectile points in lithic assemblages varies considerably between sites, however, which may imply a variable emphasis on hunting.

8.1.4 Plant economies

Wild cereals and pulses were staple foods. These were apparently cultivated, but not morphologically domesticated (‘pre-domestication cultivation’). The ZAD2 assemblage was, to a good approximation, a sub-set of the better-preserved Netiv Hagdud assemblage (Kislev 1997). At

166 both sites, barley remains greatly outnumbered those of wheat, and barley chaff at both sites was predominantly of the wild type. At both sites, fig and Pistacia were the main gathered food plants, although a broad range of herbs may also have been consumed. Barley grain measurements from Netiv Hagdud were not published, but it, like ZAD2, can be interpreted as a pre-domestication cultivation site. Gathered plant foods remained central to subsistence, perhaps because pre- domestication cultivation was inherently unproductive. Poor preservation at other sites (or the failure to collect archaeobotanical samples) means that we cannot exclude the possibility that some sites were still entirely dependent on foraging.

8.1.5 Problems

Until recently, it was thought that domestic varieties of cereals were grown in the PPNA at Tell Aswad, Jericho, and ’Iraq ed-Dubb. This evidence is now being reassessed, with suggestions that Aswad was not settled until the PPNB (Stordeur 2003). Domestic emmer was identified at Aswad, but not wild emmer. In contrast to the wheat’s minor role at ZAD2 and Netiv Hagdud, wheat chaff was the most abundant taxon at Aswad (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982). Aswad relied on domestic wheat farming, but was probably not a Period I site.

Jericho is difficult to compare to the other sites, as plant remains were collected by hand, not by flotation. The PPNA assemblage consisted of about 100 specimens, half of which were fig seeds, and could easily date to after 8500 cal BC (Chapter 3). If cereal cultivation began earlier, there could have been a ‘pre-domestication cultivation’ phase that is invisible in the sparse archaeobotanical data. The size of PPNA Jericho suggested that it was a well-organised farming society. Jericho and Tell Aswad (ca 4ha) were significantly larger than Netiv Hagdud (1.5ha) and the Jordanian sites (<1ha). Netiv Hagdud, only 15km from Jericho, lacked domestic varieties of cereals and pulses (Kislev 1997), which suggests that the Jericho ‘domestic’ specimens postdate the abandonment of Netiv Hagdud.

The ’Iraq ed-Dubb assemblage probably dates to the tenth millennium cal BC (Chapter 3). As at ZAD2, some barley grains were identified as ‘domestic’, but barley chaff was either of the wild type or indeterminate. The single grain of wheat was of wild einkorn (Triticum boeticum), which could be considered a cultivar on biogeographical grounds (Colledge 2001, 143). The wheat chaff, however, was apparently a tough-rachis (ie domestic) form of einkorn or emmer. This is the only real evidence of plant domesticates at ’Iraq ed-Dubb219.

219 Wild-type glume wheat chaff was not identified at Çayönü, despite frequent finds of wild-type einkorn grain (van Zeist and de Roller 1991-92). This tends to suggest that wild and domestic glume wheat chaff cannot be distinguished, possibly because wild wheats were harvested before maturity. If wild wheat grew as a weed of a cultivated non-domestic barley crop (as suggested at ZAD2), it would certainly have been harvested before maturity.

167 8.1.6 Snapshot

The earliest evidence of food production appears at ca 9000 cal BC. Such production was probably limited to the cultivation of wild cereals and perhaps pulses, and complemented a continued reliance on gathered plant foods, hunting, and occasional fishing. Some sites may still have relied entirely on foraging. Rather than being a response to resource stress, pre- domestication cultivation appears to have begun at a time when the natural habitats of cereals and pulses were expanding. Settlements, however, were concentrated in more arid phytogeographic zones, albeit at well-watered sites. It may be that woodland-zone foragers are archaeologically invisible, and that we are only aware of the more nucleated settlements on the fringes, where settlements had to be located beside permanent water sources and cultivation was necessary.

It now appears unlikely that any domestic cereal varieties were cultivated at 9000 cal BC. Of the three sites that apparently had domesticates in the PPNA, Tell Aswad had domesticates, but not until the PPNB, Jericho probably had domesticates after 8500 cal BC, and ’Iraq ed-Dubb probably relied on pre-domestication cultivation (cf. Nesbitt 2004).

8.2 Subsistence strategies at 8000 cal BC

8.2.1 Palaeoenvironmental evidence

By ca 8000 cal BC, the climate of the Levant had entered the ‘early Holocene optimum’, the most humid phase in both the snailshell and speleothem stable isotope records (Table 2.1). The Dead Sea level began to climb rapidly, although it may have dipped below –410m during the ninth millennium cal BC. Pedogenesis may also have been interrupted by a brief arid episode before 8000 cal BC (zone E9 in Gvirtzmann and Wieder 2001), but this event cannot be identified in the speleothem and pollen records. At Huleh, the influx of deciduous oak pollen continued to increase, consistent with woodland expansion (Appendix A).

8.2.2 Settlement patterns

Jordan Valley sites, other than Jericho, were permanently abandoned, and settlement apparently shifted to the highlands and eastern desert. Sites were larger than in Period I.

8.2.3 Animal exploitation

In contrast to the predominance of gazelle in Period I faunal assemblages, Period II sites apparently relied on goats. This shift may be a reflection of changed settlement patterns, but it also seems to coincide with the adoption of herding. Hunting (of goats and other species) may still have been the main source of animal protein, but goat herding was widely practised (Horwitz 2003). This is evident in mortality patterns, rather than in morphological changes, which raises the

168 question of whether the less numerous cattle and pigs may not also have been behaviourally domesticated by this time. Morphological changes associated with animal domestication would have developed gradually, as a consequence of herd management.

8.2.4 Plant economies

Full publication of the ’Ain Ghazal and Wadi Ghwair assemblages is still awaited, and no Period II data were collected in the course of this project. By ca 8000 cal BC, the Neolithic ‘package’ of field crops (emmer and einkorn wheat; barley; flax; peas, beans, lentils, bitter vetch, and probably chickpeas and grass peas) had been domesticated. Wheat apparently replaced barley as the main cereal crop. As with the switch from gazelle to goats, this may reflect the changed settlement pattern as much as changing subsistence strategies, as upland sites were probably better-suited to growing wheat. Gathered plants (fig and Pistacia) remained significant food sources, however.

8.2.5 Problems

At some sites, pulses were consistently more abundant than cereals, a pattern not repeated in later periods. This phenomenon may reflect dietary preferences, but is probably due to pre-depositional taphonomy. Early varieties of domestic pulses may have been subject to additional crop- processing stages (detoxification, for example), in which pulse grains were exposed to fire (and thus to the possibility of preservation by charring) (Kislev 1997, 229)220.

8.2.6 Snapshot

Farming was apparently the basis of subsistence throughout the Levant, even at sites on the desert margins, although plant gathering remained a significant food source. Herding and hunting were perhaps equally important. Although settlement patterns and subsistence behaviour seem to have changed dramatically, this does not appear to have been a response to environmental stress.

8.3 Subsistence strategies at 7000 cal BC

8.3.1 Palaeoenvironmental evidence

According to all the indicators (Table 2.1), the climate of the Levant remained significantly more humid than at present. The level of the Dead Sea apparently rose rapidly. Deciduous oak was partly replaced by evergreen oak and Pistacia (Appendix A), suggesting a longer summer dry season, but stable isotope records indicate that the ‘early Holocene optimum’ continued. The composition of woodland may have changed, but probably not its extent.

169 8.3.2 Settlement patterns

Large sites in the highlands continued to be occupied, and probably expanded in area and increased in population during Period III. New sites were established, both in the highlands and on the drier margins. Some of these were in the eastern desert and steppe (eg Azraq 31, Jilat 13, Basta), others were in the lower wadis (eg Tell Rakan I, as-Sifiya). The continued absence of sites in the eastern Jordan Valley and around the Dead Sea is puzzling.

8.3.3 Animal exploitation

From Period III onwards, most faunal assemblages consist overwhelmingly (>90% of identifications) of herded species (sheep/goats, cattle, and pigs). Although some of these animals may still have been hunted, morphological changes and the introduction of sheep demonstrate that herding was well-established by ca 7000 cal BC. After ca 7000 cal BC, farming villages may have begun to practise seasonally-transhumant pastoralism (Köhler-Rollefson 1988; 1992). It has also been suggested that herding was independently adopted by hunter-gatherers in the arid zone (eg Henry et al 2000). Hunted and trapped animals (gazelle and hare) remained as important as herded animals (sheep and goat) at steppe and desert sites (Martin 2000).

8.3.4 Plant economies

Most Jordanian archaeobotanical data are from sites in the eastern desert, some of which depended on hunting and gathering (although there was good evidence of cereal cultivation at Jilat 13). At farming sites in the highlands, however, reliance on gathered plant foods may have declined. The new data, from Tell Rakan I and Wadi Fidan 1, are limited, but seem to fit with the more detailed assemblage from Basta, where nearly all the Neolithic crop species were identified (emmer, einkorn, and free-threshing wheat, two-row barley, pea, lentil, and bitter vetch), as well as gathered food plants such as Pistacia, almond, and fig (Neef in press, tables 2 and 3).

8.3.5 Problems

Current interpretations may change with the final publication of subsistence data from ’Ain Ghazal, where the PPNC was defined. There was surprisingly little change in the faunal assemblage between the LPPNB and PPNC phases, and no plant remains were recovered from PPNC contexts (Chapter 3). It is also unclear whether there was a real shift in the ’Ain Ghazal plant economy between the MPPNB and LPPNB (ie between periods II and III), coinciding with the changes in the faunal assemblage.

220 Assemblages with fewer charred pulses may then represent the cultivation of less-toxic pulse varieties, rather than a lower reliance on pulses. Quantitative data are too sparse to test whether different varieties were cultivated at different sites in Period II.

170 8.3.6 Snapshot

At sites in the Jordanian highlands, subsistence was apparently based on a combination of farming and herding, with minor contributions from hunted and gathered resources. Some form of mobile pastoralism (seasonally transhumant or nomadic) may have emerged as a subsistence strategy during Period III, perhaps independently of farming communities, but the eastern desert sites seem to have relied either on pure foraging or on a mixture of farming and herding (supplemented by foraging). True pastoralism has not been demonstrated. The expansion of farming and herding communities from the highlands into the eastern desert apparently coincided with the establishment of new farming and herding sites in the highlands and in the lower wadis, and with the growth of existing sites.

8.4 Subsistence strategies at 6000 cal BC

8.4.1 Palaeoenvironmental evidence

The Dead Sea level appears to have fallen from its early Holocene peak in Period III. Other evidence of a brief arid episode (a spike in speleothem δ18O, interruption of pedogenesis) may reflect the global climate event at ca 6250 cal BC (Table 2.1). This event is not discernible in the pollen diagrams, which seem to indicate continuation of early Holocene optimum (warm, humid, dry summer). Archaeobotanical evidence is lacking, but we may assume that vegetation zone boundaries were essentially unchanged from 1000 years earlier.

8.4.2 Settlement patterns

During Period IV, the large nucleated settlements in the highlands were apparently abandoned, in favour of smaller dispersed sites on wadi terraces and beside springs. Scattered single-period Late Neolithic sites are less visible than densely-built PPN sites, and normal survey methods may underestimate site density in this period (Banning et al 1993). Most known sites are in the highlands and eastern desert, but the type sites for the Yarmoukian and Jericho IX/PNA material cultures are in the Jordan Valley.

8.4.3 Animal exploitation

Faunal assemblages are dominated by domestic sheep and goat bones (typically 70% of identified specimens), with smaller numbers of cattle and pig bones. Hunted species are rare, except at sites in the eastern desert (a large assemblage from Dhuweila was 97% gazelle).

171 8.4.4 Plant economies

A tiny assemblage of wild taxa was recovered at Dhuweila, but otherwise the only Jordanian plant data were from two small excavations in the northwestern highlands (’Ain Rahub and Abu Thawwab), and possibly Tabaqat al-Buma and Pella, on the edge of the Jordan Valley. These data suggest that plant economies were based on the cultivation of domestic cereals, pulses, and flax, with minimal reliance on gathered plant foods. No new domesticates were added. The tiny assemblage from ash-Shalaf, and the modest Yarmoukian assemblage at Tell Rakan I, are entirely consistent with this picture. Data from the southern Levant are sparse compared to assemblages from Syria, where it appears that the same species were cultivated and herded as in Period III, with perhaps a decreasing emphasis on pulses.

8.4.5 Problems

Subsistence data are so sparse that no obvious contradictions emerge. There are essentially no data from Jericho IX/PNA sites, precluding any comparison between north and south. Subsistence data from Tabaqat al-Buma and Pella cannot confidently be split between this and the next snapshot date. There are no archaeobotanical data from the eastern desert sites identified with pastoralism (Jebel Na’ja, Burqu’ 3, and Burqu’ 27). The only rich botanical assemblages in this period are from northern Syria (Ras Shamra, Tell Sabi Abyad).

8.4.6 Snapshot

The many smaller sites in the Mediterranean zone of northwestern Jordan apparently relied on mixed farming and herding for subsistence. Hunting and gathering were of minor importance, except at some sites in the eastern desert. It is not clear why the larger sites on the Jordanian plateau (’Ain Ghazal, Wadi Shu’eib, Basta) were abandoned during this period. There are no botanical data from the final occupational phases of these sites, and it is not known whether these sites were abandoned before or after smaller single-phase sites like ash-Shalaf. It is questionable whether the change in settlement pattern can be attributed to the global climate event in the late seventh millennium. It is also unclear whether subsistence strategies changed at the same time.

8.5 Subsistence strategies at 5000 cal BC

8.5.1 Palaeoenvironmental evidence

Stable isotope records indicate that the early Holocene climatic optimum came to an end, with modern conditions from about 5000 cal BC onwards (Table 2.1). The level of the Dead Sea was apparently lower than it would be today, in the absence of large-scale water abstraction, but pedogenesis may still have been taking place, both on the coast and in the Jordan Valley. The

172 timing of climate change is unclear, however. At Huleh, olive pollen influx began to increase (Appendix A). If the olive rise was anthropogenic (the result of olive cultivation), it is not an indicator of climate change. It was not accompanied by an increase in Chenopodiaceae or Artemisia, so changes in vegetation zone boundaries were probably not dramatic. A contraction of woodland and an expansion of the arid zone should, nevertheless, have followed the end of the early Holocene optimum.

8.5.2 Settlement patterns

Small farming villages and hamlets have been found throughout the Jordan Valley and adjacent wadis, and in the Wadi Faynan, but the highlands and eastern desert seem to have been comparatively depopulated. Many of the Wadi Rabah material culture sites are on the Mediterranean coast.

8.5.3 Animal exploitation

No new animal domesticates are reported. There was a greater emphasis on pigs and cattle at coastal sites, and on caprines at Tell Wadi Faynan.

8.5.4 Plant economies

Archaeobotanical data from Jordanian sites are extremely sparse. New data from Pella, Teleilat Ghassul, and Tell Rakan I, and Kennedy’s data from Tell Wadi Faynan, show that the same field crops were cultivated as in the previous period. For the first time, wild olives were widely exploited, both at Jordan Valley sites and on the coastal plain. Other gathered plant foods were almost insignificant by comparison.

8.5.5 Problems

As is the case at 6000 cal BC, there are insufficient data, particularly from central and eastern Jordan, to suggest any real differences in subsistence behaviour between sites in different areas. Some sites in the Jordan Valley and on the coastal plain were excavated several decades ago, before faunal and archaeobotanical material was routinely collected. The status of olives at ca 5000 cal BC is of interest: though it is assumed that olives were gathered from wild trees, cultivation cannot be disproved (Appendix F).

8.5.6 Snapshot

Where the evidence has been preserved and collected, the staple food plants were the same domestic field crops first cultivated at ca 8000 cal BC. Hunting and gathering appear to have been of minor importance, but for the widespread exploitation of wild olives, for the first time in the southern Levant. Site location seems to have been determined by the availability of water and

173 alluvial soil suitable for cultivation. With the shift to a drier climate, such locations were largely confined to the Jordan Valley and its lateral wadis. The changed settlement pattern does appear to have followed climate change. It is also possible that wild olives benefitted from the drier climate, relative to other tree species, and that olives were initially exploited because Pistacia became relatively rare. Alternatively, wild olives may simply been more accessible to a population based in the Jordan Valley than when most settlements were on the Jordanian plateau. This implies that, despite the drier climate, wild olive trees survived in the foothills of the Jordan Valley.

8.6 Subsistence strategies at 4000 cal BC

8.6.1 Palaeoenvironmental evidence

The surface level of the Dead Sea was apparently higher at 4000 cal BC than at the previous snapshot date, and may have been above the modern equilibrium level of –390m, but episodes of erosion recorded in Jordan Valley and coastal sediments suggest relatively dry conditions. Stable isotope measurements in both the Negev snail shells and the Soreq Cave speleothem were near modern values. The sharp rise in olive pollen influx recorded in the Huleh diagram was probably anthropogenic, and is thus not a palaeoclimate signal. Overall, the climate was probably close to today’s (Table 2.1). By ca 4000 cal BC, vegetation zone boundaries would have been roughly where they would be today, in the absence of human interference.

8.6.2 Settlement patterns

Major settlements in the Jordan Valley expanded, and new sites were established in lateral wadis and foothills. Small sites were scattered across the Jordanian plateau, but the eastern desert remained largely unoccupied.

8.6.3 Animal exploitation

As in the Late Neolithic, hunting was relatively insignificant as a means of subsistence, and herding concentrated on sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs. One new domesticate is reported, the donkey. Wild donkeys had always been hunted; domestication is inferred from clay figurines representing donkeys as pack animals. Donkeys and cattle may also have been used to draw ards (primitive wooden ploughs), permitting a shift from intensive to extensive cultivation. Evidence is emerging at Teleilat Ghassul (Bourke et al 2000) of an increased emphasis on sheep herding for wool production, probably facilitated by seasonal transhumance. New ceramic forms (‘churns’) also suggest that sheep, goats, and cattle were herded to provide dairy products. These developments form what Sherratt (1980) has called the Secondary Products Revolution.

174 8.6.4 Plant economies

There is growing evidence that olives were domesticated by ca 4000 cal BC (Neef 1990; Meadows 2001b; Appendix F). They were certainly widely exploited, particularly at sites in or around the Jordan Valley. It seems unlikely that any other fruit crops were cultivated during the Chalcolithic. Grape pips were occasionally found in samples from late Chalcolithic contexts at Tell Rakan I (Table 5.3) and Pella (Hoppè 1996a unpublished), but these may easily be intrusive from overlying Early Bronze Age deposits, and could in any case belong to wild grapes221. The incidence of fig seeds was apparently no higher in the Chalcolithic than in the Neolithic. Part of one date stone was found in a flotation sample in the 1999 season at Teleilat Ghassul. Another stone was found in a 1997 sample. It is possible that these remains, and those reported from the site by Zohary and Spiegel-Roy (1975), were intrusive. Like olive stones, date stones should be over-represented in archaeobotanical assemblages (Meadows 2001a); the scarcity of date stones at Ghassul (and their absence from other Chalcolithic assemblages) probably means that date was not yet cultivated in Jordan222.

Cultivation of the Neolithic field crops continued. The large wild/weed assemblages from Ghassul and Tell Abu Hamid, and better contextual information, permit some speculation about changing cultivation methods. Together with faunal data, they can be used to support Levy’s theory that floodwater farming was developed in the late Chalcolithic to expand the area of cultivable land in arid and semi-arid zones.

8.6.5 Problems

Most subsistence data in this period are from a few sites in the Jordan Valley. Despite evidence of widespread settlement on the Jordanian plateau, we know little about subsistence activity in the uplands at this time, and almost nothing about the arid zone. It has been suggested that olive domestication was one of the key factors behind the expansion of settlement in the foothills and on the plateau, but the availability of draught animals, which made extensive cultivation of terra rossa soils feasible for the first time, may have been equally important. Pack animals also allowed commodities to be traded over longer distances, and subsistence strategies may, for the first time, have been influenced by market forces.

221 Grape cultivation in the Early Bronze Age (Fall et al 2002) is inferred from the sudden rise in the incidence of grape pips and fruit, which are found regularly at sites throughout Jordan. In the Neolithic, there are single records of grape at Netiv Hagdud (Kislev 1997), Tell Aswad (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982), and Atlit Yam (Kislev et al 2004), which are thought to represent foraging. 222 Date palm ‘wood’ was identified at Atlit-Yam (ca 7000 cal BC; Galili et al 1993), but, according to the most recent report (Kislev et al 2004) this was probably Phoenix theophrasti, not the cultivated P. dactylifera. A single fruit stone from the site was positively identified as P. theophrasti (ibid).

175 8.6.6 Snapshot

As in earlier periods, subsistence at ca 4000 cal BC was based on the cultivation of domestic cereals and pulses, and on the herding of sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs. Hunting and gathering were insignificant. Settlements in the Jordan Valley grew, as changes in herding practices and new cultivation methods increased the area of cultivable land. Olive domestication and the use of draught animals allowed upland areas to be used more effectively, leading to the establishment of new sites in the woodland zone, and permitting an overall increase in the population. These developments do not appear to have been responses to climate change223.

8.7 Summary

Following the cold and arid Younger Dryas episode, the climate of the southern Levant ameliorated rapidly at the beginning of the Holocene, and by ca 9000 cal BC may have been more favourable to human occupation than it is today. Pre-domestication cultivation of cereals, and perhaps pulses, was practised at well-watered lowland sites located near the steppe/desert boundary, beyond the natural habitats of these taxa. Contemporary sites in the woodland zone are archaeologically invisible224, perhaps because the uplands were depopulated, or because a mobile foraging lifestyle was maintained in these areas225.

There is surprisingly little evidence of settlement in the southern Levant in the mid-ninth millennium cal BC (Edwards et al 2004), except at Jericho (Chapter 3). It is possible, but hard to demonstrate, that there was a brief arid episode in this period. Domestic emmer and einkorn wheat and the pulse crops were apparently introduced late in the ninth millennium, presumably from the northern Levant. This coincided with the establishment of larger, more permanent settlements, mainly in the expanding Mediterranean woodland zone. Whether such sites were established by immigrants or by the indigenous population cannot currently be tested (Chapter 9). Their occupants continued to use gathered food plants, but were less reliant on foraging than were pre- domestication cultivators. They appear to have herded goats (and possibly other species), although hunting remained vital to subsistence.

By ca 7000 cal BC, hunting and gathering were declining in importance, except at some sites in the eastern desert. Even here, domestic plant and animal species began to appear, thanks to

223 Some of the larger valley sites (Teleilat Ghassul, Tell Abu Hamid) were abandoned soon afterwards, but not, it appears, because of a climatic deterioration: the fourth millennium cal BC was relatively humid (Bruins 1994). As suggested in Chapter 7, Ghassul could have been adversely affected by woodland clearance on the Jordanian plateau. 224 The exceptions (’Iraq ed-Dubb, Nahal Oren, and Sefunim) are all cave sites. There may be geomorphological reasons for the invisibility of open-air Period I sites in upland areas. 225 In a recent seminar, Andrew Sherratt (forthcoming) argued that foraging remained the more attractive subsistence strategy in Syria’s forested coastal zone in the early Holocene.

176 population growth at sites on the Jordanian plateau and the ongoing early Holocene humid phase. New agricultural sites were also established at lower elevations in western Jordan, although not, apparently, in the Jordan Valley itself. Domestic sheep, cattle, and pigs were introduced by the later eighth millennium cal BC. No more domesticates are attested until the fifth millennium226.

Favourable conditions (the ‘early Holocene climatic optimum’) and an integrated farming and herding economy allowed Jordanian plateau sites to grow rapidly, perhaps unsustainably. Only at ’Ain Ghazal has it been argued that over-exploitation of the environment led to changes in subsistence behaviour in Period III, with the development of transhumant pastoralism, but this could have been a more general pattern. The best evidence for this at ’Ain Ghazal is architectural, however227; subsistence data do not (yet) demonstrate changes in farming or herding practices in Period III. In any case, ’Ain Ghazal was occupied for about 2000 years (ca 8000–6000 cal BC).

During the later seventh millennium cal BC, pottery appeared for the first time at sites in the southern Levant228. Perhaps following a brief arid episode at ca 6250 cal BC, settlement became more dispersed, and the larger upland sites were abandoned229. The villages and farmsteads of the Late Neolithic apparently maintained a mixed herding and farming subsistence strategy, relying on the same domesticated species as in earlier periods, regardless of local differences in pottery traditions. Some aceramic sites in the eastern desert continued to follow a different trajectory, depending almost exclusively on hunting and gathering.

As the climate deteriorated in the sixth millennium, settlement became increasingly focussed on the Jordan Valley and the lower reaches of its lateral wadis. Although these sites remained dependent on a mixed farming and herding economy, they also began to exploit wild olives regularly, and possibly even to cultivate olives. Olive domestication cannot be demonstrated until late in the fifth millennium, however (Appendix F).

226 Free-threshing wheat and naked barley probably appeared in Period II (ca 8000 cal BC), at the same time as the hulled cereals, or shortly afterwards. These grains are under-represented archaeobotanically, as they require less processing and are thus less likely to be charred, and are less diagnostic when charred, relative to hulled wheat and barley. 227 Compared to MPPNB (Period II) structures, LPPNB and PPNC buildings at ’Ain Ghazal had smaller diameter postholes, narrower rooms, and used less plaster, all indicators that wood was increasingly scarce. Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson (1989) believed that this was the result of local deforestation, which was accelerated by overgrazing. 228 Again, it is possible to question whether this was a wholly indigenous development, or the result of immigration from the northern Levant, where pottery probably appeared slightly earlier. The latter view has fallen from favour, now that the existence of a PPNC phase, immediately preceding the earliest ceramic Neolithic, has been demonstrated. 229 Whether or not there was an arid episode at ca 6250 cal BC, there is no way of knowing whether the larger sites (’Ain Ghazal, Wadi Shu’eib) were abandoned before this date (ie not for reasons of climate) or (as seems more likely) well after it; nor whether small single-phase sites in Period IV are the successors of the large multi-phase sites, or their contemporaries.

177 After ca 5000 cal BC, the climate may have improved somewhat, and Jordan Valley settlements grew in size and complexity. Olive domestication and other advances in cultivation methods facilitated (and were probably encouraged by) this growth. Changes in herding strategies, with increasing emphasis on secondary products, allowed pastoralism to be detached, at least seasonally, from agriculture. This allowed the lowland sites to continue to expand. At the same time, however, the foothills and plateau were resettled with small farming communities. After ca 4000 cal BC, the larger valley sites went into decline.

178 9. Implications

9.1 Domestication and diffusion

The first generation of archaeobotanists and archaeozoologists to work on material from early farming sites in southwest Asia was concerned with locating and dating the domestication of plant and animal species. Work on identifying the wild ancestors of domestic crops and where these were domesticated continues, thanks to advances in genetic research (eg Salamini et al 2002), and need for rescue excavations in the Tigris and Euphrates valleys (eg Hillman et al 2001; Willcox 2004). Nevertheless, a reasonably coherent picture has emerged (Zohary 1996).

There is no conclusive evidence that cultivated plants were domesticated before the Middle PPNB (ca 8000 cal BC; eg Kislev 1992; Nesbitt 2004). The earliest examples of domestic varieties of nearly all the species cultivated in the Neolithic were found at Tell Aswad. Emmer wheat, peas, and lentils were cultivated in Phase IA; bitter vetch may have occurred as a weed. Einkorn, free- threshing wheat, hulled barley, naked barley, and flax were found in Phase II. Chickpea appeared for the first time in the lower levels of the nearby site of Ghoraifé, which are contemporary with Aswad II (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982). Of the Neolithic field crops, only fava bean is not included in this list; it first appeared at Yiftah’el (Kislev 1985)230. Both these sites are now regarded as Middle PPNB foundations.

It is unlikely that any other important domestic plants were cultivated in the southern Levant in the Neolithic. Although spices, green vegetables, and tubers are almost certainly under- represented in the archaeobotanical record, their contribution to subsistence was probably minor, compared to that of the grain crops. No new domesticates are attested until the late Chalcolithic or Early Bronze Age, when olives, and perhaps also grapes, figs, dates, and pomegranates were introduced (Zohary and Spiegel-Roy 1975).

It remains to be determined whether each of the Neolithic founder crops was domesticated only once, or whether the wild ancestor species were domesticated independently at several different times and places. At one extreme, Lev-Yadun et al (2000; Gopher et al 2001) argued that all the founder crops may have been domesticated within a ‘small core area’ in southeastern Turkey and northeastern Syria. Willcox (2002, 138), however, noting persistent regional differences in which cereal taxa were exploited in the early Neolithic, proposed that ‘the domestication of each species was a geographically independent event’.

230 Zohary (1996) regarded the evidence for the early Neolithic domestication of fava beans, rye, and grass pea as inconclusive.

179 Zohary (1996; 1999) has reviewed the genetic evidence from studies of modern populations of domesticates and their wild ancestors, noting the lack of genetic diversity among each of the domesticates, relative to its wild ancestors. In modern domestic emmer, einkorn, pea, and lentil populations, the mutation leading to morphological domestication is always found at the same location in the genome. Only in barley is morphological domestication apparently associated with mutations at two gene-loci. The apparent absence of parallel evolution (of similar morphological changes resulting from mutations of different genes) is consistent with each species having been domesticated only once. Likewise, the large number of relatives of the wild ancestral species that were apparently never domesticated points to the singularity of domestication events231.

Einkorn (Heun et al 1997), emmer (Salamini et al 2002), and barley (Badr et al 2000) have been investigated using DNA-fingerprinting techniques. Phylogenetic trees of modern populations (of domestic and wild varieties) have been constructed, on the basis of similarities and differences in amplified-fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) (Salamini et al 2002). In each case, all existing domestic varieties appear to be related to a single wild population, which implies that each of these cereals need only have been domesticated once.

Nevertheless, as noted by Willcox (2002), extant domestic varieties are those which were most competitive under agricultural conditions, and the earliest domestic strains of emmer, einkorn, and barley may now be extinct232. DNA-fingerprinting will be decisive only when ancient DNA is extracted from archaeobotanical remains. Even if each of the founder crops was only domesticated once, there is no reason to assume that all the founder crops were domesticated at the same time or in the same area, and indeed this seems unlikely if domestication was largely an unconscious process.

The apparent reliance on pre-domestication cultivation of barley at ZAD2 and Netiv Hagdud in Period I is consistent with Badr et al’s (2000) phylogenetic reconstruction of a single domestication of barley in the southern Levant233. Lack of new data from Period II is unfortunate, because this appears to be when the domestic Neolithic founder crops were dispersed throughout the Levant. The chronological framework used here naturally means that no conclusions could be

231 An indistinguishable species, Triticum timopheevi, is as common as wild emmer over much of the northern Fertile Crescent, but it was apparently not domesticated until much later (Zohary 1996). 232 The apparent extinction of domestic two-grained einkorn (van Zeist and Waterbolk-van Rooijen 1996), the early Neolithic rye variety at Abu Hureyra (Willcox 2002), and perhaps a compact free-threshing wheat in the southern Levant (Kislev 1979), lend support to this idea. 233 Strictly speaking, therefore, domestication may have occurred anywhere that the southern Levantine wild variety was cultivated. The large-grained wild variety apparently cultivated at Period I Jerf el Ahmar and Dja’dé (Willcox 2004) could have been introduced from the southern Levant. It could also have been a local variety, however, which was never domesticated, or which was later replaced by domestic varieties from the southern Levant.

180 drawn about the direction and rate of crop diffusion, even if additional data were available234. Wheat (emmer, and perhaps also einkorn) apparently became the preferred cereal in the southern Levant in Period II (8.2.4), despite the fact that barley is more tolerant of adverse growing conditions and requires less processing235.

The higher incidence of pulses in Periods I-II than subsequently probably stems from the need to roast these seeds to remove toxins, and not to differences in patterns of cultivation or consumption (8.2.5). Pulse domestication has received less attention than has cereal domestication, and is difficult to determine in archaeobotanical specimens. It may be assumed that in Period II beans and lentils were at least cultivated, if not morphologically domesticated, based on the large caches of these crops found at Yiftah’el (Kislev 1985). Although cultivation would have placed selective pressure on the traits that distinguish wild from domestic varieties (seed dormancy and pod dehiscence), it is less clear that the toxicity of pulses would automatically diminish under cultivation, particularly if roasting continued to be used to make pulse crops more palatable. The high incidence of pulses at Period II sites does not mean, therefore, that the pulses cultivated in Period II were not already domestic varieties. Even in Period III, the incidence of charred pulses was relatively high at Tell Rakan I. Dating the domestication of pulses remains problematic.

Free-threshing tetraploid wheat (durum wheat, and perhaps the small-grained variety referred to by Kislev (1979) as T. parvicoccum) evolved from domestic emmer, early in the history of farming (being found at Tell Aswad [Period II]; van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1982). The earliest free-threshing wheat in Jordan is from Basta (Period III; Neef in press). Compared to glume wheats, free-threshing varieties are probably under-represented in archaeobotanical assemblages. In this study, a small-grained free-threshing variety was tentatively identified in Period IV at Tell Rakan I, and more confidently in Period V and Pella and Teleilat Ghassul. This is assumed to have been a tetraploid236. Given the lack of new Period II data, and the paucity of new data from Period III, we cannot say whether free-threshing wheat was introduced with the first domestic plants, or whether it only appeared somewhat later.

234 It is argued in Chapter 1 that it is currently impossible to distinguish phases within each period, as many of the relevant radiocarbon measurements are relatively imprecise. Some phasing of uncalibrated radiocarbon ages may be apparent, but this could well be misleading. 235 From Period III onwards, the ratio of wheat to barley in archaeobotanical assemblages is probably determined by how much herbivore dung was used as fuel, and how much barley was used as fodder. As Period I sites did not have domestic herbivores, the relative abundance of barley in this period seems to reflect human consumption patterns. The increased incidence of wheat in Period II also does not fit with the use of dung as fuel, but apparently reflects the availability and cultivation of domestic wheat varieties. 236 How the hexaploid wheat varieties (spelt and bread wheat) evolved remains uncertain (Salamini et al 2002), although it apparently involved hybridisation between cultivated tetraploids and the wild diploid Aegilops tauschii, probably in northern Iran. The hexaploid taxa have not been positively identified in Jordanian archaeobotanical assemblages.

181 In contrast to the diffusion of the Neolithic founder crops across Europe, the diffusion of domestic species in the Levant took place within a long-established ‘interaction sphere’. Technological, architectural, and symbolic evidence demonstrates the cultural continuity that existed in the Levant in Period I, before plant domestication occurred. Given the limitations of current approaches to radiocarbon dating (Chapter 1), it is impossible to place Period II sites in chronological order. Using archaeological evidence, therefore, we are currently unable to distinguish between polycentric models, in which plant domestication arose independently in different locations within the western Fertile Crescent, and the alternative of a single centre of crop domestication, presumably in southeastern Anatolia.

Although most of the Neolithic founder crops are endemic to southeastern Turkey (Lev-Yadun et al 2000), and modern domestic einkorn and emmer populations are closely related to wild einkorn and emmer in the same region (Salamini et al 2002), barley is likely to have been domesticated in the southern Levant, and to have been diffused northwards (Badr et al 2000). Only the lack of well-dated Early PPNB sites in the southern Levant suggests that Middle PPNB settlements were established by immigrants, and that gap may now be closing (Edwards et al 2004)237.

The new data from Teleilat Ghassul, and to a lesser extent from Pella and Tell Rakan I, are relevant to olive domestication (Appendix F), and confirm earlier suggestions (Neef 1990; Meadows 2001b) that sites in the Jordan Valley provide the earliest known evidence of domestic olives. The apparent absence of domestic grape and date from Neolithic and Chalcolithic strata at most Jordanian sites supports the idea that these fruits were not cultivated in Jordan until the later fourth millennium cal BC (Fall et al 2002)238. Occasional reports of grape in late Chalcolithic contexts at Pella (Hoppè 1996a unpublished), Tell Rakan I (this study), and Tell Shuneh North (Zohary and Hopf 2000, citing Reinder Neef pers comm) should be treated with scepticism239.

237 Nesbitt (2004) notes that there is no evidence of domesticates in the western Fertile Crescent in the PPNA, that by the Middle PPNB domesticates are found throughout the region, and that ‘there are dating problems with virtually all the [Early PPNB] sites’. The solution, naturally, is to identify archaeobotanical specimens of domestic crops in EPPNB contexts, and date these by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. Given a sufficient number of directly-dated specimens, a Bayesian model of radiocarbon results may be able to reject some hypotheses about the dispersal of Neolithic crop species. 238 In the case of date (Phoenix dactylifera), which is not native to the Levant (Zohary and Hopf 2000), any remains must represent cultivation. Whether or not dates were cultivated at Ghassul in the Chalcolithic can be resolved by radiocarbon-dating the stones published by Zohary and Spiegel-Roy (1975). Date was not identified at Tell Abu Hamid (Neef forthcoming) or at other Chalcolithic sites in the Levant (Chapter 3). 239 At all three sites, Chalcolithic strata are overlain by Early Bronze levels in which (at Pella and Tell Rakan, at least) grape remains are relatively abundant. The scarce grape remains in Chalcolithic contexts at Tell Rakan may easily be intrusive. Only two grape seeds were identified at Pella in Chalcolithic samples, and neither identification is incontrovertible (personal observation). In any case, wild grape is known from Neolithic sites in the southern Levant (Kislev 1997; Kislev et al 2004), and the ‘Chalcolithic’ grapes at Shuneh and Tell Rakan may have been gathered from the wild. The ubiquity of grapes at Early Bronze Age sites, even in the arid zone (Wadi Fidan 4: Meadows 2001a; Bab edh-Dhra’: McCreery 1979) suggests that cultivation led to a greater emphasis on grape exploitation than at any time in the Neolithic or Chalcolithic.

182 9.2 Environmental determinism: climate change versus human impact

9.2.1 Climate change and changes in subsistence strategies

Environmental determinism seeks to explain archaeological phenomena in terms of human responses, or adaptations, to changes in the natural environment. The adoption of food production as a subsistence strategy has, for example, been explained as a response to growing scarcity of gathered plant foods, following climatic deterioration at the beginning of the Younger Dryas episode (ca 11,000 cal BC; eg Moore and Hillman 1992). Whether we believe that cultivation began before or after the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (ca 9500 cal BC) is, at the moment, a question of how we interpret the Abu Hureyra data (Hillman 2000).

There is currently no archaeobotanical evidence from sites in the southern Levant dated to the Younger Dryas episode. PPNA sites that have produced archaeobotanical data, such as ZAD2, were established in the early Holocene, under a more favourable climate than prevailed during the Younger Dryas episode (Chapter 2). These sites may all have depended to some degree on pre- domestication cultivation, although the evidence is far from conclusive240. Food production does appear to have facilitated, if not required, sedentism, at least on the dryer fringes (8.1.6). Even if these sites were fully dependent on food production, however, this would not demonstrate that food production was a response to either the Younger Dryas episode or to climatic amelioration at the start of the Holocene.

Agriculture and herding were then adopted under even more benign conditions, it appears (8.2.6). The major changes in settlement patterns and subsistence strategies in the early Neolithic occurred within the ‘early Holocene optimum’, and therefore do not appear to have been responses to climate change. It is conceivable that the favourable climatic conditions apparent in palaeoenvironmental records were interrupted by brief arid episodes, which may have contributed to the abandonment of some sites. The proposed global 6250 cal BC event (Alley et al 1997; 2.2.1), which would have fallen within the Yarmoukian phase of the Late Neolithic (Period IV), might account for the abandonment of some of the larger sites, but there are almost no radiocarbon dates from the relevant strata (8.4.6).

Only in the sixth millennium cal BC, during which the climate apparently deteriorated, does it appear that the abandonment of an entire region might be explained by climate change, as settlement shifted from the plateau and upper wadis to the Jordan Valley (8.5.6). Whether or not this movement was accompanied by changes in subsistence strategies is difficult to determine, due

240 Kislev (1997, 227) has pointed out that the evidence for barley domestication at Netiv Hagdud (ca 9000 cal BC) is no stronger than the evidence for barley domestication at Ohalo II, a site dated to 19,000BP. Without morphological domestication, cultivation can only be assumed if a taxon is clearly not indigenous.

183 to a lack of archaeozoological and archaeobotanical evidence. Where data have been collected, existing farming and herding strategies were apparently supplemented by olive exploitation, possibly because the climate changes favoured an expansion in the habitat of wild olives. Overall, however, the link between climate change and changes in subsistence behaviour is tenuous.

9.2.2 Site abandonment and human impact on the environment

An alternative approach to the explanation of changing subsistence strategies and settlement patterns, which is nevertheless environmentally-deterministic, is one that questions the environmental sustainability of early farming. The best-known example of this approach is the Rollefsons’ interpretation of changing architectural and subsistence data from ’Ain Ghazal (Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1989; 1993). The argument, that anthropogenic changes in the environment of ’Ain Ghazal led to seasonally-transhumant pastoralism and ultimately to the abandonment of the site, has been widely publicised (Diamond 1998). Rollefson (1996, 224) argued that the ’Ain Ghazal case was not unique: ‘This model of culturally-induced degradation of the local environment around ’Ain Ghazal applies equally well to the rest of the southern Levant’. Rindos (1980) had earlier suggested that the spread of agriculture was due to precisely this sort of repeated in situ failure.

The ’Ain Ghazal model (Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1989) had three main components:

• population growth and (assumed) soil exhaustion leading to a shortage of cultivable land within walking distance of the site, exacerbated by the absence of pack animals to transport crops back to the settlement

• a decreasing reliance on hunting, and increasing reliance on domestic goats

• the demand for timber for building purposes (plaster production and structural timbers), leading to local deforestation, compounded by the browsing behaviour of domestic goats.

Evidence to support the model consisted of population estimates, based on the site’s area; the faunal assemblage, which included a rich variety of woodland species in the MPPNB phase, and not subsequently; and architectural evidence of increasing timber scarcity (decreasing room spans and posthole diameters, and the declining plaster content of floor surfaces). Although the model as a whole is persuasive, elements of it are not. An archaeozoological assemblage is not a random sample of the local fauna: the decreased reliance on hunted woodland animals after the MPPNB was probably due to an increasing emphasis on herding, but not necessarily to a loss of woodland. The area calculated to have been deforested during the PPNB to provide timber for construction

184 (within a 2.6km radius of the site) falls within the area supposedly exhausted by agriculture over the same period (within a 3-4km radius; Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1989, 76; 79)241.

The Rollefsons’ model assumed that vegetation zone boundaries in the Neolithic were approximately where they would be today (Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1989, 76; 85), and that ’Ain Ghazal and other major PPNB/PPNC sites were located at the boundary of the woodland and steppe zones (Rollefson 1996, 224). If there was an ‘early Holocene optimum’, however, most of these sites could have been situated within the woodland zone (Chapter 2). Moreover, ’Ain Ghazal was occupied continuously for ca 2000 years (ca 8000–6000 cal BC; Chapter 3), and the ‘anthropogenic’ environmental changes apparently date to the first half of this period. Rather than showing that early farming and herding were environmentally unsustainable, it can be argued that ’Ain Ghazal demonstrates the opposite.

An aim of this thesis was to use archaeobotanical data to investigate the environmental impact of early farming. The archaeobotanical data from ’Ain Ghazal (Rollefson et al 1985) relate only to the PPNB phases (ie before ca 7000 cal BC). No plant remains were recovered from the PPNC and Yarmoukian phases, despite extensive sampling (Rollefson and Köhler-Rollefson 1993, 35).

Of the sites studied, two (Pella and Tell Rakan I) were apparently not abandoned during the periods of interest (the Neolithic and Chalcolithic). Both apparently depended on mixed farming and herding, and were located beside major springs. In each case, only a small area of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic strata was excavated, and the number of archaeobotanical samples was unsatisfactory. In neither case did the new data provide evidence of environmental change, anthropogenic or otherwise. Archaeobotanical assemblages from Wadi Fidan 1 and ash-Shalaf, which were abandoned in the Neolithic, were too sparse to show changes over time in either crop species or wild/weed taxa. There were at least three architectural phases at Wadi Fidan 1, and over 4m of cultural deposits, implying that it was a long-lived site (lasting perhaps several centuries). Ash-Shalaf, on the other hand, may have been very short-lived, and did not provide conclusive evidence of farming or herding.

Only at ZAD2 and Teleilat Ghassul was it possible to discern trends in the archaeobotanical data, and to interpret these in terms of the environmental impact of subsistence behaviour. In neither case do faunal data imply changes in the natural environment. The ZAD2 faunal assemblage (Metzger in Edwards et al 2001) was too small and poorly-preserved to show any trends, whereas

241 Decreasing posthole diameters and room spans do suggest that mature trees were becoming scarce, but this need not have been a local phenomenon. In Appendix A, it is argued that the Huleh pollen diagrams indicate a steep decline (at Huleh) in deciduous oak in the middle of the ninth millennium BP (ie coincident with the MPPNB/LPPNB transition at ’Ain Ghazal, where it is argued that evergreen oak woodland was depleted). These phenomena need not be connected, but suggest that changing woodland composition and extent may have taken place independently of human impact.

185 the rich assemblage at Ghassul (Mairs in Bourke et al 2000; Bourke 2002) consisted mainly of domestic species.

Correspondence Analysis hinted at the gradual replacement of some steppe taxa at ZAD2 by taxa of more arid environments (6.3.2), despite the apparent climatic amelioration in the early ninth millennium cal BC (Chapter 2). If there was localised ‘desertification’ at ZAD2, therefore, it might be due to pre-domestication cultivation (or even intensive foraging). As the incidence of cereal and pulse fragments apparently increased over time, relative to wild food resources, an increasing emphasis on pre-domestication cultivation can also be hypothesised.

Interpreting these patterns is complicated by the fact that it is impossible to tell which of the minor taxa were weeds of cultivation, and which were gathered intentionally from the wild. Trends in the wild/weed assemblage may thus represent changes in the weed flora, suggesting soil degradation, or a shift in emphasis between cultivation and reliance on gathered food resources. A decreasing reliance on plant resources gathered in the steppe zone in the hills to the east of the site could account for the apparent ‘desertification’ at ZAD2.

On the other hand, given a significantly more humid climate, it is conceivable that the larger- seeded grasses (Avena, Stipa, and Bromus), grew on the Dead Sea Plain itself, and that their apparent demise was caused by pre-domestication cultivation. Whether or not such cultivation was environmentally sustainable, however, the archaeobotanical data presented here do not relate to the final occupational phases, as plant remains in the upper 50cm of deposits were very poorly preserved. These data cannot show whether the environmental impact of pre-domestication cultivation contributed to the abandonment of the site.

It also appears that the final occupational phase was not sampled at Teleilat Ghassul. The site was apparently exposed in the early 20th century, due to erosion caused by flash flooding. A final occupational stratum (referred to as Hennessy’s A+) was probably lost at the same time, or soon afterwards (Stephen Bourke pers comm 2003)242. The archaeobotanical data therefore would not indicate if local vegetation changed abruptly shortly before the site was abandoned.

At Ghassul, there were clear trends in the wild/weed assemblage over the course of the fifth millennium cal BC (6.2.6). The sharp decline in all three Cyperaceae taxa, the increasing incidence of Liliaceae taxa, and the replacement of Lolium by Bromus, seem to imply that the

242 Rapid population growth on the Madaba Plains from the 1880s onwards (eg Abujaber 1985) and the accompanying loss of natural vegetation cover would have destabilised vegetation and land surfaces in the lower reaches of wadis entering the Jordan Valley, leading to a greater incidence of flash flooding (Harlan 1982; 1985). A particularly wet winter was recorded in 1920-21 (Enzel et al 2003), just before Teleilat Ghassul was discovered. Recent truncation of the final occupational phase would perhaps explain why plant remains found just below the contemporary ground surface are relatively well preserved: unless these strata were buried rapidly, plant remains would have suffered greater damage from bioturbation and other taphonomic processes (eg Neef forthcoming).

186 environment became steadily more arid. This is inconsistent with the sum of palaeoclimatic evidence (Chapter 2), which indicates that, if there was any change in climate, it was towards more humid conditions. On the available evidence, the site’s abandonment at the start of the fourth millennium cal BC cannot be attributed to climatic deterioration. Environmental changes may, however, be attributed to human impact243.

Webley (1969) found that the ‘natural’, pre-occupation surface in Area A at Ghassul was alluvial sand. Pollen preserved in this unit included alder (Alnus spp.), sedge (Scirpus spp.), and reed (Juncus sp.), as well as aquatic taxa, which implied that the site was established on ‘a sand bank or island near to muddy water’ (ibid, 21). By the late Chalcolithic, occupation had spread to the surrounding Lisan marl sediment, which suggested to Webley that the water table dropped during the Chalcolithic244. The archaeobotanical evidence (in particular, the decline in sedges) appears to be consistent with this suggestion. The composition of Area E samples (6.2.5.4), however, suggests that damp alluvium was also cultivated in the later Chalcolithic. As argued above (7.6.4), changes in the composition of the wild/weed assemblage probably reflect changing cultivation patterns. In particular, population growth probably required drier areas to be cultivated, including perhaps the poorer saline soils on Lisan marl sediments.

If the environmental impact of subsistence behaviour contributed to Ghassul’s abandonment, we may ask whether the early Chalcolithic economy was itself unsustainable, or whether what replaced it in the later Chalcolithic was unsustainable, even if it supported a larger population in the short term. The archaeobotanical data suggest that agriculture became more diversified and perhaps more productive over the course of the Chalcolithic, however (7.6.3). Environmental impact may have actually decreased over time, if, as sheep/goat mortality patterns suggest, flocks were grazed away from the site for part of the year in the later Chalcolithic (Bourke 2002)245.

243 Wood charcoal, which might provide further evidence of environmental change, has not been identified. Under a climate similar to today’s (al-Eisawi 1996), it is assumed that natural woody vegetation nearby would consist mainly of taxa that thrive in hot, dry habitats (eg Acacia spp., Ziziphus spp.) or hydrophitic trees (Tamarix spp., Salix spp.), in addition to cultivated olive (Neef 1990). Only the introduction of the Mediterranean olive would thus be regarded as evidence of human impact on the environment, although this might have been at the expense of the hydrophytes. 244 As Webley observed, however, the Lisan sediments surrounding the site were ‘higher than the base of the mound’. If the base of the mound was dry enough to occupy in the early fifth millennium cal BC, it stands to reason that the surrounding land was also above the water table at that time. The water table did not need to fall further, therefore, for the Lisan sediments to be occupied in the later Chalcolithic. The fact that a sand bank or island at Ghassul was occupied at ca 5000 cal BC suggests that the water table had already fallen in the sixth millennium, consistent with the overall palaeoclimatic picture (Chapter 2). This does not mean that the water table did not fall further in the fifth millennium, only that it need not have. 245 Crop diversification and changes in herding practices can, of course, be regarded as strategies to cope with environmental degradation, which is equivalent to saying that the unsustainability of earlier Chalcolithic practices was recognised at the time. Whether or not this was the case, it does not show that the site was ultimately abandoned because subsistence behaviour in the earlier Chalcolithic was environmentally unsustainable.

187 A third environmentally-deterministic explanation, which cannot be tested with these data, is that it was the impact of human activity elsewhere that led to Teleilat Ghassul’s abandonment. The argument is that in the late fifth and early fourth millennia, as in the late 19th century, the population of the Mediterranean zone in the upper wadis and on the Jordanian plateau increased rapidly, after several centuries of virtual depopulation (3.6; Bourke 2001). Vegetation clearance and overgrazing in the uplands would have reduced the infiltration of rainwater, leading to decreased spring flows and a lowering of water table at downstream sites. Hennessy (1969, 1) noted that although there was no spring at Teleilat Ghassul in 1967, there were two large springs a kilometre west of the site, which ‘may have been moved from the immediate vicinity of the site by one of a series of disastrous earthquakes’. A lowering of the water table may have had the same effect. It is doubtful that this could have been achieved by the extraction of groundwater for irrigation, without modern pumps. Minor changes in the level of the water table may be attributed to the removal of deep-rooted hydrophytes, such as Tamarix, and the cultivation of olives. A significant lowering of the water table, without a change in climate, implies that human activity upstream had upset the hydrological balance.

This hypothesis suggests two reasons why the site may have been abandoned: either farming at Ghassul became unproductive (as spring flows reduced and the area of naturally damp alluvial soil decreased), or the frequency and severity of flash flooding increased, to the point that it was not worthwhile to repair and maintain the site. If the final occupational stratum is indeed missing, evidence of either situation will have been erased. Such explanations are plausible, in that they do not contradict the archaeobotanical data, but difficult to prove.

9.3 Adaptation versus repeated failure

Just as the ’Ain Ghazal case can be used as an example of both environmental sustainability and unsustainability, so can the trajectory of subsistence strategies from the beginning of food production to the rise of complex societies be regarded as a record of adaptation or maladaptation. In arguing that the traditional ‘Mediterranean agrosystem’ was sustainable, Butzer (1996) suggested that the first five thousand years of food production were period of ‘experimentation’, characterised by ‘trial and error’ adjustments. Not until the Early Bronze Age was the combination of seasonally-transhumant herding and cereal, pulse, olive, and grape cultivation finally completed. This package, in Butzer’s view, was sufficiently flexible, productive, and ecologically-sensitive to avoid both famine and ecosystemic collapse, despite having to support much larger populations than existed in the Neolithic. Citing the case of ’Ain Ghazal, Butzer (1996, 146) concluded: ‘early agriculture was experimental in nature, and initial technostrategies were exploitative, and often ephemeral’.

188 Starting from a rather different perspective, Winterhalder and Goland (1997, 151) reached a similar conclusion: ‘this apparent jump in sporadic food crises corresponds to the period in which high-density domesticates had significantly elevated subsistence risk… but before risk- management practices had developed…. because of the sociopolitical complexity of shifting to intrahousehold field dispersion or some other means of risk management.’ Under the Winterhalder and Goland model, social mechanisms of managing subsistence risk (ie rules governing reciprocity) had to adjust from what worked among bands of foragers, whose ‘production interval’ is measured in hours or days, to what would work with an annual (or longer) production interval. Early farming, therefore, was bound to suffer repeated food crises, because farmers retained the social obligations of their foraging ancestors.

Indeed, Rindos (1980) argued that it was the ecological unsustainability of early farming that caused it to spread. Domestication favoured genetic uniformity among cultivated plants, and the evolution of more productive domestic varieties reduced early farmers’ dependence on (and knowledge of) wild plant foods. At the same time, farming allowed human populations to increase dramatically, and led to dependence on highly localised food resources that were more vulnerable to climatic variations, as well as to new threats such as insect predation. Localised food shortages were therefore inevitable, to which the easiest response was for part of the population to emigrate into areas where farming was not already practised.

Nevertheless, changes in subsistence behaviour between the start of food production and the development of the Mediterranean ‘agrosystem’ can be regarded as adaptations as well as maladaptations. Patch selection and diet breadth models, which are based on behavioural ecology, have been adapted from optimal foraging theory and applied to early farming (eg Grigg 1988; Russell 1988; Gremillion 1996). Under such models, domesticates were added (or abandoned) as they became (or ceased to be) more reliable than the alternatives, and less-attractive environmental niches were only filled when more favourable niches were occupied. Under diet- breadth models, for example, the exploitation of wild olives in the Late Neolithic represents the addition of a lower-ranked resource, which suggests that higher-ranked alternatives (perhaps Pistacia) were becoming scarce.

Russell (1988) used ethnographic observations of the productivity of traditional farming and herding methods to model anticipated energetic returns, relative to effort expended, and thus to predict the order in which different subsistence strategies would have been adopted. Early Neolithic farmers would have cultivated cereals in garden plots only in optimal locations (alluvial fans and terraces), which were either naturally irrigated or could easily be irrigated by ‘water- spreading’, and which could be cleared of natural vegetation relatively easily (Sherratt 1980). Yields (per unit of area) in such locations were probably high, relative to those obtained under

189 extensive cultivation by traditional methods (Russell (1988, 111) estimated 2t/ha in optimal locations, and 0.5–0.6t/ha in rain-fed agriculture).

Russell (1988, 157–8) found a satisfactory fit between model predictions and the archaeological record in the Near East: the earliest agricultural settlements were sited only in ‘optimal’ locations; pastoralism was adopted once these niches had been filled, and extensive rain-fed agriculture began after pastoralism246. Russell’s estimates of labour requirements, yields, and energetic returns from rain-fed agriculture (without traction animals) were tested by Akkermans (1993) at Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, in northeastern Syria. Akkermans found that, without irrigation, the site could barely have been self-sufficient in cereals.

As Russell (1994) stressed, location was more critical to the viability of early farming than the choice of crops or techniques. If early farming was characterised by repeated demographic explosions, followed by subsistence crises, as Rindos (1980) suggested, we might expect there to have been frequent competition for access to optimal sites. Demographic pressure can hardly have been relieved by emigration to the northern Levant, as the same subsistence strategies were followed there, creating the same demographic pressures. There is a striking lack of evidence of territorial competition during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic, however, despite Russell’s (1988, 160) suggestion that, given the optimal location of Jericho, its PPNA wall ‘makes sense’ as a defensive structure.

The use of models derived from optimal foraging theory has been criticised from the perspective of evolutionary archaeology. Optimising models, it is argued, assume that changes in subsistence strategies are based on anticipated returns; potential future benefits are thus regarded as causal (Winterhalder and Goland 1997). Under the selectionist (evolutionary archaeology) paradigm, cultural evolution is not driven by long-term benefits at the systemic level. Individual intention, rather than directing adaptation, simply represents a source of variation on which selection can act. Changes in subsistence strategy should be driven by the failure of existing strategies. It is perhaps surprising that the selectionist paradigm has not been applied to the evolution of subsistence strategies more often, as there is a direct relationship between the success of a subsistence strategy and the number of individuals surviving to continue that strategy in the next generation. For such an approach to be tested with archaeological data, however, it would have to operate at an appropriate time scale. Given the resolution of the archaeological record (which gave subsistence snapshots at 1000-year intervals), it is not clear that the selectionist paradigm would lead to different explanations or predictions than the behavioural ecology approach.

246 The main flaw in this case is that, according to Russell’s (1988, 152) estimates, pastoralism yielded better returns than dry farming only if dairy products were as important as meat production. More recent faunal studies indicate that early pastoralism was based on meat-only strategies (Martin 2000).

190 Whether early farming was more often characterised by adaptation or maladaptation, by food security or by subsistence crises, is essentially a question of whether cultivation of the ‘package’ of Neolithic founder crops, combined with mixed herding, was environmentally sustainable at optimal locations. Given the longevity of sites such as Pella and Tell Rakan I, and even ’Ain Ghazal and Wadi Shu’eib, these environments were probably not as fragile as has been assumed. The development of arboriculture, plough cultivation, and seasonally-transhumant pastoralism in the late Chalcolithic created a new subsistence niche, as rain-fed agriculture and arboriculture on upland terra rossa soils became viable. These developments provided new opportunities for storage and exchange, and hence risk mitigation, and may have improved labour scheduling. Such developments may have been detrimental to the established settlements at more ‘optimal’ locations, however, which may account for the abandonment of many lowland sites in the fourth millennium cal BC.

191 Conclusions

The relationship between changes in early food production strategies in the southern Levant and environmental change is far from straightforward. To begin with, as Chapter 1 shows, our chronological control over archaeological data from the early Holocene is much poorer than has often been assumed. To a good approximation, archaeological phenomena can be dated to the right millennium on the calendrical scale. More precise chronological schemes, based on the use of uncalibrated radiocarbon dates, are likely to be misleading. The millennial framework adopted here inevitably limits discussion of issues such as the rate of diffusion of domestic crop varieties, the longevity of individual sites, and the contemporaneity of adjacent sites dated to the same period. Nevertheless, it avoids having to ignore information that can only be dated by association with a particular material culture.

As Chapter 2 shows, however, the chronological resolution of the palaeoenvironmental record is often worse than that of the archaeological record. In particular, it is argued that the radiocarbon chronologies of the Huleh pollen diagrams are utterly misleading (Appendix A). When the various palaeoenvironmental records are brought together, a relatively consistent overall scheme can be obtained (Table 2.1), in which climatic amelioration following the Younger Dryas episode led to an ‘early Holocene optimum’, which lasted until ca 6000 cal BC. During the sixth millennium, the climate apparently deteriorated, reaching modern conditions by ca 5000 cal BC, and then perhaps improving somewhat over the course of the fifth millennium. This scheme may obscure short but severe climatic shocks, however, which might have led to site abandonment or changes in subsistence practices.

The archaeological record (Chapter 3) remains rather uneven, with a continued focus on the Pre- Pottery Neolithic and the late Chalcolithic. For a variety of reasons, little is known about Late Neolithic subsistence behaviour. Late Neolithic strata at Jordanian sites are usually either inaccessible (eg at Pella) or heavily disturbed (eg at ’Ain Ghazal). It is therefore easy to ignore this period, and to focus on either the earlier Neolithic or the Chalcolithic. It is in the Late Neolithic, however, that climate change is most likely to have had an adverse impact on the sustainability of existing subsistence strategies, and to have favoured the emergence of new solutions. Given the fragmentary archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence, however, it is unclear whether subsistence practices changed significantly in the Late Neolithic, or whether the observed changes in settlement patterns followed or preceded any change in climate.

A programme of archaeobotanical sampling was undertaken at six excavations of sites spanning the entire period 9000–4000 cal BC (Chapter 4). Environmental archaeology is now regarded as essential to most prehistoric excavations in Jordan, but logistical constraints continue to limit the

192 number and volume of samples collected and processed. Together with the poor preservation of plant remains at some sites, this meant that the new data presented here (Chapter 5) maintain the existing focus (in western Jordan) on the PPNA (ca 9000 cal BC) and the Chalcolithic (ca 5000– 4000 cal BC).

Data analysis (Chapter 6) initially sought to explain patterning within these assemblages in terms of recovery biases, post-depositional taphonomy, and site formation processes. When these filters were taken into account, there were clear trends in sample composition at Teleilat Ghassul, and probably also at ZAD2 and Tell Rakan I. It was seldom possible to identify charred plant remains to species level, which limited the possible scope of palaeoeconomic reconstructions and palaeoenvironmental inferences (Chapter 7). It may be possible to study the material again in future, and to identify the better-preserved specimens further.

The new data were largely consistent with existing subsistence data from contemporary sites in the southern Levant (Chapter 8). In western Jordan, as in Israel/Palestine, the cultivation of wild cereals (and perhaps pulses) was probably widespread by ca 9000 cal BC, and was accompanied by a continued dependence on hunting and gathering. By ca 8000 cal BC, pre-domestication cultivation had apparently been replaced by farming of the Neolithic ‘founder crops’; goats were probably herded, but hunting remained significant. No new data were obtained for this period, and it is still unclear whether all the Neolithic domesticates were grown throughout the region. By ca 7000 cal BC, hunting had given way to an almost-complete reliance on herding. Some gathered food plants were still used, but agriculture had allowed much larger settlements to develop on the fringes of the Jordanian plateau.

These sites may have been abandoned by ca 6000 cal BC, possibly as a result of a temporary climatic deterioration, or the environmental impact of 1000–2000 years of farming. Olives were widely exploited from ca 5000 cal BC onwards, by which time most settlements were located in the Jordan Valley and lower wadis. During the fifth millennium, olives were domesticated, and seasonally-transhumant pastoralism and the use of traction and pack animals were established by ca 4000 cal BC. A different trajectory was apparently followed at sites in the eastern desert, however: mixed farming, foraging, and pastoralism may have continued as separate subsistence strategies throughout much of the period under discussion.

Whether there was a relationship between environmental change and changes in subsistence behaviour remains unclear (Chapter 9). The sharpest changes in settlement patterns and subsistence strategies apparently occurred during the most benign climatic conditions. When the climate did deteriorate, the archaeological data are too sparse to show that this deterioration was quickly followed by the abandonment of settlements and changes in subsistence strategies.

193 Most relevant data are from the earlier occupational strata at long-lived settlements; the poor preservation of organic remains in the uppermost strata often means that the abandonment of these sites cannot be dated precisely, and that any changes in the local environment shortly prior to abandonment will not be recognised. The more ephemeral sites are poorly dated and have produced little or no data relevant to subsistence behaviour. Where we can identify trends in faunal and archaeobotanical data at a particular site, there are usually several explanations that can account for the same observations. In these circumstances, it is easy to choose the explanation that fits our preconceptions. Differences in site visibility and organic preservation mean that the archaeological record is inevitably biased towards more sustainable solutions: short-lived sites and subsistence strategies tend not to be recorded.

Nevertheless, the locations that were most productive under early farming appear to have been occupied repeatedly, if not continuously. More marginal areas, such as the Dead Sea Plain and the Faynan region, tend to contain single-period sites. This seems to suggest that although early farmers were limited in their capacity to adapt to a new or changing environment, subsistence failures were the exception rather than the rule.

Much remains to be discovered. Questions that are currently unanswerable may be addressed as chronological resolution improves, but, for taphonomic reasons, dating the abandonment (and hence the longevity) of sites will always be difficult. As subsistence data from more sites are published, it should be possible to find consistent differences between sites in different zones, which cannot be dismissed as accidents of preservation. The re-excavation of known sites, using modern methods and sampling priorities, may clear up some apparent anomalies in the existing archaeological record.

194 Appendix A. Chronologies of Huleh pollen diagrams

This appendix investigates the radiocarbon chronologies of the Huleh pollen diagrams in more detail than was possible in the body of the thesis (Chapter 2). The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate that the modest corrections for radiocarbon reservoir effects proposed by the palynologists are unsustainable, and that corrections of up to one half-life of radiocarbon are justified scientifically. Corrections of this order would bring the terrestrial pollen sequences into line with that found in pollen diagrams from eastern Mediterranean marine sediment cores, as proposed by Rossignol-Strick (1995; 1999). A shorter version of this argument has recently been accepted for publication (Meadows 2005).

As discussed in the text (Chapter 2), the vegetational sequence found at Huleh by Tsukada (in van Zeist and Bottema 1982; 1991) and Baruch and Bottema (1991; 1999) is similar to that found in offshore pollen cores by Rossignol-Strick (1995; 1999). There are major discrepancies between the chronologies of the Huleh diagrams and the marine core sequence, however, perhaps due to large radiocarbon reservoir effects at Huleh. The palaeobotanists have themselves attempted to correct the Huleh radiocarbon results for reservoir effects (Cappers et al 1998; 2002).

Alternative explanations of discrepancies in the Huleh and marine core chronologies include:

• that the marine cores are misdated, due to unknown variation in the marine reservoir effect. This would have global implications, and does not fit with other lines of evidence, such as well-dated lava flows (Rossignol-Strick 1995, fig 4)

• that the Huleh sequence is a strictly local record, and need not be consistent with the regional sequence found in the marine cores. This (although it seems unlikely) is harder to refute, but if true implies that the Huleh diagrams cannot be used as records of climate and vegetation history outside the Huleh basin, as they have been (eg Moore and Hillman 1992; Wright 1993; Bottema 1995; Hillman 1996).

The preferred approach, which is explained in the following pages, is to accept Rossignol-Strick’s zonation and chronology, and to fit the Huleh sequence to this framework by a revision of the Huleh radiocarbon chronology. This appendix seeks to demonstrate that such a revision is scientifically defensible. Were the relevant sample details to be published, it is very likely that a similar revision could be carried out on the new Ghab chronology, given that it is supposed to be consistent with the new Huleh diagram (Yasuda et al 2000).

195 A1 The new Huleh diagram (Baruch and Bottema 1991; 1999)

A1.1 Radiocarbon results from the Baruch and Bottema core

The new Huleh radiocarbon results have been published almost fully (Table A1). The list provided by Cappers et al (2002, table 1) is regarded as exhaustive. With one exception (GrN- 22833), the samples consisted of sediment, separated by acid washes into bulk organic (humin) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) fractions. Two subsamples of humic acid (extracted during an alkali wash) were also dated. All 20 subsamples were dated by proportional gas counting at Groningen University, The Netherlands. Procedures employed at this laboratory were described by Mook and Streurman (1983), who warned against dating sediment: ‘It is extremely difficult to obtain meaningful ages from samples of this type’ (ibid, 51).

Potential problems include the presence of inorganic ‘allochthonous’ carbon that resists dispersal during sample pretreatment, and the presence of residual organic matter, which cannot be separated chemically from the organic material being dated (Mook and Streurman 1983, 50). Both these contaminants would increase the apparent age of the sample. Contamination by (often younger) humic and fulvic acids can be detected by dating subsamples of the alkali extract. Bulk sediment samples usually contain a variety of materials with different true or apparent ages, which sample pretreatment may or may not be able to separate. For this reason, it is better to date ‘single-entity samples’ (Ashmore 1999), such as individual plant macrofossils247.

Nevertheless, the radiocarbon results from bulk organic fractions seem to be in sequence, relative to sample depth, both before calibration (Figure A1) and afterwards (Figure A2). This implies a fairly steady rate of sedimentation, allowing the palynologists to estimate the ages of undated levels by interpolating between the radiocarbon results. Closer to the surface, however, it appears that either the rate of sedimentation slowed, or that (as Baruch and Bottema (1999, 78) concluded) the radiocarbon results are unacceptably old. The peak of olive pollen influx in zone 9, at 159cm, was thought to date to the Byzantine period (eg cal AD 500–600), but the result from this level (GrN-22394: 3080±70BP, 1520–1120 cal BC) corresponds to a date in the Late Bronze Age. The palynologists therefore ignored this result, and used the zonation of a late Holocene pollen diagram from the Sea of Galilee to date the upper levels at Huleh (idem).

A1.2 Previous revisions of the Baruch and Bottema radiocarbon chronology

Radiocarbon results from the remaining humin fractions were ‘corrected’ in two articles by Cappers et al (1998; 2002), possibly in response to criticism by Rossignol-Strick (1995, 909; 913)

247 One of the Huleh samples, GrN-22833, consisted of unidentified ‘macrofossils’. These appear to have been from aquatic plants, and thus to be subject to an unknown reservoir effect, as the result is consistent with the radiocarbon age of a carbonate fraction from the same level (see below).

196 of the publication of the first section of the new Huleh core (Baruch and Bottema 1991). In a paper given in 1997, three palaeobotanists (Cappers, Bottema, and Woldring) proposed two methods of correcting the radiocarbon results from humin fractions at Huleh and at the Anatolian site of Eski Acıgöl. One used stable isotope (δ13C) measurements to estimate the proportion of each sample derived from submerged aquatic plants. The second, the ‘extrapolation method’, used a regression line to show which results were ‘too old’, and how much they had to be corrected by to fit the assumption of a constant rate of sedimentation (Cappers et al 1998, 160–1).

The stable isotope method proposed an additional correction for δ13C after the conventional correction for isotopic fractionation (Mook and Streurman 1983, 44–5). The method assumed that submerged plants, which photosynthesise dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in lake water, have a lower 13C/12C ratio (ie more negative δ13C) than emerged plants, which obtain their carbon from the atmosphere. The 13C/12C ratio in the humin fraction thus depends on the proportion of humin from submerged plants, and therefore on the proportion of carbon in the sample derived from lake water. If the DIC includes fossil carbon, then the concentration of 14C in lake water (referred to as its ‘initial activity’) will be less than that of the contemporary atmosphere. The initial activity of aquatic plants will then be less than that of contemporary terrestrial plants, resulting in artificially old radiocarbon dates.

To correct the humin fraction results, Cappers et al assumed the values of three parameters: the average δ13C values of emerged (-16‰) and submerged (-34‰) plants, and the ‘initial activity’ of the lake water (80 pMC, equivalent to a radiocarbon age of 1800BP). They then used the δ13C measurements of individual samples to estimate the contribution of submerged plants, and used this proportion to correct the ‘initial activity’ of each sample. Its radiocarbon age was then recalculated according to the standard formula (Cappers et al 1998, 163)248. Age reductions of 500–1100 radiocarbon years were obtained.

The largest correction possible under this method was dictated by the assumed value of lake water ‘initial activity’. In this case, the maximum correction of 1800 radiocarbon years would only apply if the sample δ13C measurement was -34‰ or less (ie the sample was thought to consist entirely of aquatic plant remains). Some correction would apply to any result with measured δ13C below -16‰. The value of δ13C chosen for emerged plants is very high, however. Typically, emerged plants have δ13C measurements between -22‰ and -28‰ (Boutton 1991, figure 3; Burleigh et al 1984, figure 5; Mook and Streurman 1983, figure 8), which is the range of the δ13C measurements of the Huleh organic samples. Without the choice of an extreme value of δ13C for emerged plants, therefore, there would be no reason to ‘correct’ the Huleh results at all, under the

248 This gives a corrected radiocarbon age, t = -8033 ln Am/Ac, where Am is the measured sample activity and Ac is the corrected initial activity (Cappers et al 1998, 163).

197 stable isotope method249. The value chosen for submerged plants (-34‰) is plausible, but arbitrary, as observed values vary widely (eg -10 to -42‰; Boutton 1991, figure 3; Marcenko et al 1989). Stable isotope measurements therefore cannot detect the presence of emerged or submerged plant material in a bulk humin sample. The assumed ‘initial activity’ of 80 pMC, however, is the basic weakness of the method250. As discussed below, the Huleh results themselves show that this parameter value was untenable.

The stable isotope method proposed a correction based on a measured attribute of each sample, δ13C. The extrapolation method, however, assumed unquantified ‘contamination with older carbon-containing material’ (Cappers et al 1998, 160). A regression line was calculated, using the uncorrected radiocarbon results from three humin fractions (GrN-22396, GrN-22397, and GrN- 22398) that appeared to be too old, and its intercept at depth 0cm (1350BP) was subtracted from the uncorrected radiocarbon age of the three samples251.

The extrapolation method assumes a constant sedimentation rate, and gives different intercepts (and hence corrections) as individual data points are added or removed. Each corrected data point is shifted by the same amount, to compensate for the apparent contamination of these samples by older carbon. A sample is assumed to have been contaminated by a fixed amount of old carbon, or not to have been contaminated at all. If some results do not need correction, the reservoir effect is effectively negligible.

Neither method proposed in the 1998 paper, therefore, is scientifically robust. In practice, the zone boundaries of interest in the 1999 Huleh diagram were each moved about 1000 radiocarbon years later under the stable isotope method (Table A2), and (in the case of the zone 4/5 boundary252) 1350 radiocarbon years later under the extrapolation method. This placed the beginning of zone 3

249 13 It is assumed that we are only dealing with C3 plants at Huleh. An alternative interpretation of the δ C measurement of each sample is that it reflects the relative contributions of C3 and C4 plants, since C4 plants 13 have δ C values of about -11‰ to -15‰ (Goodfriend 1999, 503). In the southern Levant, C4 plants only occur in semi-arid and arid areas (idem), and anyway would not predominate among marsh and lakeshore plants; aquatic plants almost invariably use the C3 photosynthetic pathway (Boutton 1991, 181–2). In the second revision (Cappers et al 2002, discussed below) there is a hint that emerged aquatic plants may have 13 higher δ C values than terrestrial C3 plants, but this is not referenced. Stuiver and Polach (1977, figure 1) suggest that sedges and papyrus have an average δ13C of about -14‰, but the same figure shows submerged freshwater plants with an average δ13C of -16‰. 250 According to Fontes (1992, 245), Vogel and Ehhalt proposed the value 85±5% for the initial activity of dissolved inorganic carbonate in 1963, and the number was still widely used. The lower the initial activity, the greater are the age corrections that would be applied under the stable isotope method. 251 The use of only these three results to calculate the regression line meant that a relatively large correction was obtained. Had all the organic fraction results been used, the intercept (and correction) would have been about 800 radiocarbon years. If all the organic fraction results in Cappers et al’s (1998) table 1 are used, a correction of only 580 radiocarbon years is obtained. These values were calculated with the 2002 edition of the Microsoft program Excel, using the function INTERCEPT. 252 This is the zone 5/6 boundary (ca 600cm) in the Baruch and Bottema (1999, figure 2) diagram. Zone 4 in Cappers et al (1998, 167; figure 3) includes both zones 4 and 5 of the 1999 diagram. The 1998 article (ibid, table 2) uses the uncorrected GrN-22397 (7000±70BP) as its zone 4/5 boundary.

198 (marked by a steep fall in deciduous oak pollen influx) at ca 11,000BP, and its end at about 9500BP, soon after the start of the Holocene (Cappers et al 1998, table 2). Baruch and Bottema (1999, 81) identified zone 3 (1130–1220cm) with the Younger Dryas episode, as they had in the original publication of that part of the diagram (Baruch and Bottema 1991, 17).

The second revision of the Huleh radiocarbon results was presented at a conference in 1998, but not published until 2002. The authors of the first revision were joined by two scientists from the Groningen radiocarbon laboratory, van der Plicht and Streurman. The two methods proposed in 1998 were repeated, with some additional details. The assumed δ13C value for emerged plants of - 16‰, for example, was said to apply specifically to ‘plants representing surface water’ (Cappers et al 2002, 8; ie reeds and other littoral species, which may be enriched in 13C, relative to terrestrial plants253). Importantly, it was acknowledged that the reservoir age need not have been constant, and in fact appeared to increase with depth (idem).

The extrapolation method was said to yield a correction of 1700 radiocarbon years at Huleh, but it is unclear which results were used to obtain this number254, or which were to be corrected by this amount. On this basis, the authors concluded that the corrections estimated using the stable isotope method were insufficient, suggesting that lower ‘initial activity’ (‘closer to 60%’) should be assumed. With a constant ‘initial activity’ of 60 pMC, the organic fraction radiocarbon results can be corrected by the stable isotope method, producing similar corrections to those obtained by extrapolation (Figure A3).

The approach taken in the 2002 paper is perhaps more rigorous scientifically, but the dates of the zone boundaries are a thousand or so radiocarbon years later than under the 1998 revision (Table A2). The obvious problem raised by the second revision is that, under either method of correction, the Younger Dryas (ca 11,500–10,200BP), the coldest and driest episode since the Last Glacial Maximum, coincides with zone 2, which has the highest influx of arboreal pollen on record. This outcome is at odds not only with the regional vegetation sequence recorded in the marine cores, but with the global climate record as well. Nevertheless, the second revision of the uppermost

253 No evidence is advanced in support of this, however. Such plants may obtain some carbon from the atmosphere and some from the lake water, and thus be affected by the reservoir age (Marcenko et al 1989). See above. 254 A regression line based on all organic fractions from 1238cm upward (including the alkali extracts and the plant macrofossils sample) has an intercept of 1766BP (all intercepts calculated using the INTERCEPT function of Microsoft Excel, 2002 edition). An intercept of 1699BP was obtained using only the results in the 1999 pollen diagram from 1238cm upwards (Baruch and Bottema 1999, figure 2). Inclusion of the earlier samples, however, gives an intercept of less than 1000BP, whatever the combination of later samples used. The exact value of the intercept depends not only on which results are included, but on the precise depth of each sample (samples actually spanned several centimetres). Cappers et al (2002, 10) state that ‘Also for carbonate datings we can construct 14C age/depth profiles. For Huleh, the extrapolation yields a correction of ca. 1700 years’. No permutation of the Huleh carbonate results gives this intercept. If all six carbonate results are used, the intercept is 456BP.

199 radiocarbon result (GrN-22394: 3080±70BP) is acceptable (stable isotope method: 1243±70BP; extrapolation: 1380±70BP) if zone 9 corresponds to the Byzantine period, as Baruch and Bottema (1999) believed. The basic problem, however, is the palynologists’ belief that zone 3 in the Huleh diagram corresponds to the Younger Dryas. If this is set aside, it is possible to reconcile the various palaeoenvironmental records.

A2 The Huleh and marine core pollen sequences

On the basis of the marine core chronology, Rossignol-Strick (1995, 893) proposed three regional ‘chronozones’:

• 11,000–10,000BP: Younger Dryas chronozone, recognised in the marine core diagrams as a ‘Chenopodiaceae phase’, with maxima of Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia pollen influx

• 10,000–9000BP: Preboreal chronozone, in which the influx of deciduous oak pollen increases rapidly

• 9000–6000BP: a ‘Pistacia phase’, in which grass pollen influx increases and Pistacia (which produces relatively little pollen) is at a maximum.

This sequence is also found in pollen diagrams from Greece, Anatolia, and the Levant, but the radiocarbon dates at some terrestrial sites imply that the same sequence unfolded earlier on land than at sea. Rossignol-Strick (1995, 913) rejected this idea, arguing that ‘These 14C dates are too old. We suggest that the dated sedimentary material might have been contaminated in situ by allochthonous material of older age’.

The marine core sequence is readily identifiable in the Huleh pollen diagram (Baruch and Bottema 1999, 79; figure 2):

• zone 1 (ca 1620–1500cm): lowest arboreal pollen influx on record, no Pistacia, maxima of grass, Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia pollen influx (the latter at least twice as frequent as they are in later spectra)

• zone 2 (ca 1500–1200cm): rapid increase in arboreal pollen influx, dominated by deciduous oak, which reaches a maximum in this zone; Pistacia begins to appear

• zone 4 (ca 1130–850cm): steady influx of Pistacia, evergreen and deciduous oak, occasional olive pollen; a sustained increase in Cerealia-type pollen255.

255 The influx of ‘cereal’ pollen is as high in zone 4 as in any later zone, which suggests that agriculture was already established by the beginning of zone 4 (or that agriculture left no trace in the pollen record). Cereal pollen is not recorded in the marine cores, but this is to be expected, as cereals are predominantly self- pollinating and cereal pollen production is relatively low.

200 Between zones 2 and 4 (at ca 1200–1130cm), deciduous oak pollen influx declines sharply, while the influx of grass pollen (particularly Cerealia-type) increases (zone 3). Baruch and Bottema (1999, 81) identified this as the Younger Dryas episode, suggesting that ‘this event was marked … not only by a drop in temperatures … but also by the return to severe aridity, nearly comparable to the times of the Last Glacial Maximum’. Yet zone 3 is different to zone 1, which Baruch and Bottema identified with the latter part of the Last Glacial Maximum (ibid, 80), in several important respects.

In zone 1, there is:

• a near-absence of evergreen oak and a complete absence of olive and Pistacia (indicators of mild winters)

• much higher influx of Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia pollen (indicators of aridity) than in later zones, and

• a lower influx of deciduous oak (an indicator of humidity) than in later zones.

Zone 3 features:

• a steady influx of evergreen oak and Pistacia pollen, and occasional olive pollen

• the same influx of Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia as zones 2 and 4, and

• the same (or greater) influx of deciduous oak pollen as zone 4.

If zone 3 can be identified with the Younger Dryas episode, so can zone 4. The decline in arboreal pollen during zone 3 (from its peak in zone 2) is never entirely reversed, and the influx of deciduous oak pollen does not exceed its level in zone 3 until zone 6. On palynological grounds, therefore, zone 3 is an unlikely candidate for the Younger Dryas episode. The uncorrected radiocarbon results at 1238cm (GrN-14986: 11,540±100BP) and 1130cm (GrN-17068: 10,440±120BP) seem to have persuaded the palynologists to identify this section of the diagram with the end of the Pleistocene. If, as argued here (and by Rossignol-Strick 1995, 908–9; figure 11), zone 1 at Huleh is identified with the Younger Dryas episode, zone 3 is unnecessary, and can be included in zone 4. According to the marine core chronostratigraphy, therefore, zone 1 at Huleh may span ca 11,000–10,000BP, zone 2 ca 10,000–9000BP, and zones 3/4 ca 9000– 6000BP256. This implies corrections of several thousand years to the humin fraction radiocarbon results, as Table A3 indicates257.

256 The end of Rossignol-Strick’s Pistacia phase is not as well dated as its beginning. 257 Using the extrapolation method Cappers et al (1998; 2002) suggested corrections of this order at the Anatolian site of Eski Acıgöl. Uranium-series dating of carbonate fractions from the same samples confirmed that the Eski Acıgöl humin radiocarbon results had to be corrected by at least 3000 years (Roberts et al 2001).

201 A3 Reservoir age and reservoir effects

The reservoir age of lake water is governed by the proportion of dissolved inorganic carbonate

(DIC) derived from atmospheric and biogenic CO2 (with initial activity of ca 100 pMC) and the proportion from dissolved mineral carbonates (with initial activity close to zero). The reservoir effect is defined here as the shift in the apparent radiocarbon age of a humin sample due to the absorption of DIC by aquatic plants during photosynthesis. The reservoir effect must be less than or equal to the reservoir age, as a bulk humin sample can include material from emerged plants, which photosynthesise atmospheric carbon, as well as from aquatic plants258.

Rossignol-Strick (1995, 913) suggested that the terrestrial pollen cores produced artificially-old dates due to contamination by allochthonous carbon259. Allochthonous inorganic carbon should be removed during the acid wash stage of sample pretreatment, but can be resistant (Mook and Streurman 1983, 50–1). If any inorganic carbon in the Huleh humin fractions was precipitated DIC, its ‘initial activity’ would have been equivalent to the reservoir age. Neither the reservoir effect nor contamination by precipitated DIC, therefore, can increase the radiocarbon age of a sample by more than the reservoir age. If, however, any allochthonous inorganic carbon includes detrital material (particles of sediment carried in suspension, not in solution), its initial activity may be less than that of lake water. Under such circumstances, the necessary correction could exceed the reservoir age.

A3.1 Reservoir age in the Huleh Basin

It is not necessary, however, to conclude that the Huleh humin fractions were contaminated by detrital or precipitated inorganic carbon260. Rather, it is argued here that the reservoir age of lake water was much greater than Cappers et al (1998) assumed. If we assume that humin fractions were derived mainly from submerged plants, reservoir effects and reservoir age are essentially identical. The question then becomes whether a reservoir age of up to one half-life (ie initial activity of 50 pMC) is possible, and whether there is any evidence of this at Huleh.

Cappers et al (2002, 8) admit that the reservoir age was probably greater in the lower section of the Huleh core than in the upper section. This trend cannot be quantified without radiocarbon dates on terrestrial plant macrofossils, or an alternative method of dating sediments directly. As

258 The reservoir effect on the Ghab radiocarbon results, which were obtained from shell samples (Yasuda et al 2000), is probably the same as the reservoir age there, as freshwater mollusc shell carbonate is derived entirely from dissolved inorganic carbon. 259 Cappers et al (1998, 160) used possible ‘contamination with older carbon-containing material’ as the rationale for using the extrapolation method of correction. 260 It is possible, however, that the difference between GrN-22833 (7550±130BP) at 826cm and GrN-22398 (8670±120BP) at 831cm (or 823–834cm: Cappers et al 1998, table 1) is due to contamination of the latter by detrital carbon, rather than to a hiatus in sedimentation (Figure A1).

202 well as Roberts et al’s (2001) work at Eski Acıgöl, attempts to measure changes in reservoir age have been made using uranium-series dating (Bangong Lake: Fontes et al 1996) and varve chronology (Gościąż Lake: Pazdur et al 1995; Schleinsee: Geyh et al 1998).

Fontes et al (1996, table 1) found that modern river and spring waters entering Bangong Lake in Tibet have apparent radiocarbon ages of between 2600 and 12,300 years, depending on their source. The 14C content of Bangong Lake water thus depends on location and season, but is usually less than half that of contemporary atmospheric carbon. A pollen core was collected, and dated by both radiocarbon and uranium-series methods. Uranium-series dates on carbonate fractions suggested corrections to radiocarbon ages of humin fractions from the same levels of ca 5000 14C years (ibid, table 2). This was less than the correction required for aquatic plant 14 macrofossils, shells, and CaCO3 fractions, which incorporated the full reservoir age (>6000 C years). The humin fractions evidently included some atmospheric carbon from emerged plants. The Bangong Lake pollen diagram, with a conventional radiocarbon age (on a sample of aquatic plant macrofossils) of over 16,000BP at its base, was found to fall almost entirely within the Holocene. The estimated average reservoir age was 6670 14C years.

A paper by Carmi et al (1985), apparently unknown to Cappers et al (1998; 2002), shows that in the recent past the reservoir age at Huleh was of a similar order. This study measured the initial activity of DIC in water upstream and downstream of the Huleh Basin in 1972 and 1983. In both years, DIC in water entering the basin had an initial activity just below half that of contemporary atmospheric CO2. This suggested that lake water would have had an initial activity of close to 50 pMC in the recent past261, which could result in reservoir effects of over 5000 radiocarbon years. Although this fits well with the proposed revision of the zone 1 and 2 chronology in the Baruch and Bottema (1999) diagram, it does not explain the lower apparent ages of samples from the upper section of the diagram. This tends to imply that initial activity at Huleh fluctuated between 50 and 80 pMC (Meadows 2005).

A3.2 Estimating reservoir ages at Huleh in the past

One approach to the problem lies in the radiocarbon ages of six of the Huleh carbonate fractions, which should consist mainly of precipitated DIC. It is assumed that these results incorporate the full reservoir age at the time the sediment was deposited, as well as subsequent radioactive decay. In this case, if the humin fraction has the same radiocarbon age as the carbonate fraction, all the organic carbon must be from submerged plants (provided that the reservoir age is not negligible). If the organic fraction has a younger radiocarbon age than the carbonate fraction, some organic

261 Some 20km downstream of the Huleh basin, DIC in the Jordan River had an initial activity of about two- thirds of that of contemporary atmospheric carbon dioxide, due to isotope exchange between the water and the atmosphere between the two sampling sites (Carmi et al 1985).

203 carbon may have come from emerged plants262. Assuming that any detrital carbon has been removed by pretreatment, the reservoir age must be at least as great as the difference between the radiocarbon ages of organic and carbonate fractions from the same sample, as no more than 100% of organic carbon can be from emerged plants.

The organic fractions of the four uppermost samples gave nearly identical radiocarbon results to the carbonate fractions from the same levels, and should therefore be assumed to incorporate the full reservoir age. The two lowermost carbonate results, however (GrN-22404: 12,130±90BP and GrN-22405: 18,950±200), are much older than the results from their respective humin fractions (GrN-22398: 8670±120BP and GrN-22399: 15,580±220BP). This suggests a reservoir age of at least 3500 radiocarbon years at ca 830cm and 4500 radiocarbon years at 1487cm, or the presence of detrital inorganic carbon in the carbonate fractions. If the humin fraction results incorporate large reservoir effects, and if GrN-22399 actually corresponds to a corrected date of ca 10,000BP (as Rossignol-Strick’s chronostratigraphy requires), the estimated reservoir ages at these levels would be much greater (ca 9000 radiocarbon years at 1487cm).

A reservoir age of 9000 radiocarbon years means an initial activity (A0) of 33 pMC. It implies that at 10,000BP two-thirds of DIC was derived from ancient mineral carbonate (A0 ≈ 0 pMC), and only a third from contemporary atmospheric or biogenic CO2 (A0 ≈ 100 pMC). For ancient 2+ - calcium carbonate to dissolve, however, a chemical reaction (H2CO3 + CaCO3 = Ca + 2HCO3 ) must take place in which an equal amount of contemporary CO2 is dissolved (during the formation of carbonic acid by H2O + CO2 = H2CO3). The reaction is reversed when the carbonate is precipitated, but by this point the fossil and contemporary carbon is thoroughly mixed. The initial activity of precipitated DIC should therefore be at least 50 pMC (Fontes et al 1996).

Nevertheless, lake and spring water is sometimes found to contain less than half the 14C of contemporary atmospheric carbon. Fontes et al (1996, 33–4) suggest several reasons why this is the case at Bangong Lake:

• the presence of detrital inorganic carbon in the carbonate fractions (at Bangong Lake, this was excluded because shells had the same apparent radiocarbon ages as carbonate fractions, but it cannot be ruled out at Huleh)

• water entering the lake may have a long ‘residence time’ in an aquifer (ie the carbon it contains was dissolved long ago, and has lost 14C by radioactive decay)

262 For example, Garcia et al (1992) estimated that an organic fraction (264-MO, = UBAR-146) contained ca 80% aquatic (submerged) organisms, based on the similarity between its radiocarbon age and that of the carbonate sample from the same level, and the difference between the radiocarbon ages of the organic fraction and a wood sample (100% atmospheric carbon) from that level.

204 • DIC includes carbon from isotope exchange with older organic matter, such as eroded peat (this appears unlikely at both sites, due to the δ13C measurements of the carbonate fractions)

• ancient ‘crustal’ CO2, in addition to contemporary soil CO2, was used in the reaction that

initially dissolved the CaCO3 (at Bangong Lake there is evidence that there is more CO2 in the soil than decomposing vegetation alone would produce).

Simpson and Carmi (1983) found that over 90% of water entering the Huleh basin had a residence time of under three years, and Carmi et al (1985) found that this water had less than half the radiocarbon content of contemporary atmospheric CO2. Although the water supply may have had a longer residence time in the past (particularly during arid episodes), it is not necessary to invoke this to explain the apparently large reservoir ages in the late Pleistocene.

Various models have been developed to estimate the initial activity of DIC in groundwater

(Fontes 1992; Pearson 1992). In the presence of sufficient soil CO2 and mineral carbonate, relative to rainfall, groundwater in the recharge zone would reach an initial activity of 50 pMC, - 2+ 14 with carbonate (HCO3 ) and calcium (Ca ) ions in solution. It may then acquire more C by 14 12 - 12 14 - isotope exchange with the atmosphere (by the reaction CO2 + H CO3 = CO2 + H CO3 ), increasing its initial activity, as well as losing 14C to solid carbonates, such as chalk or limestone 14 - 12 12 - 14 (H CO3 + Ca CO3 = H CO3 + Ca CO3; Fontes 1992, 245). Isotope exchange with the atmosphere was the basis of the proposed standard value of A0 for dissolved inorganic carbonate of 85±5 pMC (idem). Groundwater is unlikely to lose much 14C to mineral carbonate by isotope exchange, ‘because of the very slow rate of diffusion of ions within solids’ (Pearson 1992, 264). Far more 14C is removed by ‘incongruent dissolution’, however, in which one mineral carbonate is dissolved as another is precipitated, usually in thermal situations (idem). This has the same effect on initial activity as isotope exchange between water and mineral carbonate.

Under the Pearson model, the δ13C measurement of DIC is an indication of the ratio of contemporary to fossil carbon, due to the difference between the stable isotope ratio of soil CO2 13 13 (δ C ≈ -20‰ to -22‰ where C3 plants are dominant) and that of mineral carbonate (δ C ≈ 0‰ to +5‰). The higher (less negative) the sample δ13C measurement, the larger should be the contribution of mineral carbon. The Huleh carbonate fractions (δ13C = -4.2 to -0.9) are enriched in

13 263 C, consistent with a minor contribution by contemporary CO2 .

263 Another source of variation in carbonate δ13C is the level of biotic activity in the lake water. As aquatic organisms preferentially take up the lighter isotope, 12C, inorganic carbonates tend to become enriched in 13C; the δ13C measurement may therefore indicate the lake’s trophic level (Stiller and Hutchinson 1980). The carbonate δ13C measurement at 1488cm (GrN-22405: -4.2‰) may thus reflect a lower level of biotic activity in the lake water in zone 1 than subsequently (δ13C = -0.9 – -3.3‰). The same trend is visible in Stiller and Hutchinson’s stable isotope curve from Huleh (ibid, figure 1).

205 13 Pearson’s original (1965) formula (cited by Pearson 1992), A0 = δ C/-25, implies that the initial activity of Huleh lake water was under 20 pMC, if the carbonate fractions consist mainly of precipitated DIC. The Pearson chemical balance formula cited by Fontes (1992, 245)264 estimates initial activity at up to 30 pMC under reasonable assumptions (δ13C of mineral carbonate = +2‰, 13 265 δ C of soil CO2 = -22‰). Under the IAEA model (cited by Fontes 1992, 247) , estimated initial activity at Huleh is somewhat higher, at up to 40 pMC. The Pearson model does not account for isotope exchange with the atmosphere, and therefore underestimates the initial activity of water in an open lake. Direct isotope exchange between lake water and the atmosphere would increase the water’s initial activity, but does not by itself explain the high δ13C measurements. Compared to 13 13 soil CO2, however, atmospheric CO2 is enriched in C (δ C ≈ -7‰); the greater its contribution to DIC, relative to soil CO2, the more enriched the carbonate fractions will be. For example, using the Pearson chemical balance formula and equal quantities of dissolved CO2 from soil and atmosphere (hence δg = -15‰ in the formula), estimated initial activity at Huleh is up to 69 pMC.

The difficulty with attempts to quantify initial activity is that the models are increasingly sensitive to parameter values as sample δ13C approaches that of mineral carbonate. Although we can estimate the initial activity of DIC with a δ13C below -10‰ fairly precisely, Pearson (1992, 273) concluded that ‘waters with 13C values less negative than around -6 to -4‰ approach isotopic equilibrium with the aquifer and may yield uncertainties as large as one half-life [50 pMC] or more. In situations where rapid dissolution and reprecipitation is possible … even young waters may have no measurable 14C.’ One sample (14C = 13.28±0.14 pMC, δ13C = -4.6‰) had a radiocarbon age of 16,200BP, corrected to -1000±4400BP by Pearson’s full model. Its calendar age, measured by the potassium/argon method, was 800 years (ibid, 271–2).

A3.3 Basin geometry

The extent of Lake Huleh clearly changed over time, as the succession of peat horizons and lacustrine deposits in Pleistocene sections of earlier cores (Cowgill 1969; Horowitz 1971) demonstrates. The latest peat horizon is dated to ca 21ka BP in the Merom III core (41m), and ca 19ka BP in Horowitz’s K-Jam core. These dates should be relatively reliable, as the contribution of aquatic plants to peat should be minimal. The Baruch and Bottema core does not have a peat horizon, and may therefore begin later than either of these dates, but the cores are not all from the same location and the transition from marsh to lake need not have been simultaneous at each spot.

264 A0 = [(Ag - Ac)(δT - δc)/(δg - δc)] + Ac, where A0 = initial activity of water, Ag = initial activity of CO2 in 13 13 13 soil, Ac = initial activity of mineral carbonate, δT = δ C of sample, δc = δ C of mineral carbonate, δg = δ C of soil CO2. 265 A0 = [(δT - δc)(Ag - Ac) + (δg - εgb - δc)Ac]/(δg - εgb - δc), where εgb = the stable isotope enrichment factor - between dissolved carbonate (HCO3 ) and soil CO2 (equal to ca -8‰ in this context).

206 One of the factors influencing the initial activity of lake water is the contribution of atmospheric

CO2 to total DIC by isotope exchange, which depends on the ratio of the surface area of the lake to its depth (Geyh et al 1998, 927). Shallow lakes acquire proportionally more carbon from the atmosphere than do deeper lakes, as Geyh et al (ibid, 928; figure 6) found by comparing the actual ages of varved (annually laminated) sediments at Schleinsee to their radiocarbon ages. These showed that as the lake had filled up with sediment, the reservoir age fell from ca 1550 to ca 580 radiocarbon years. At Lake Proscansko, in Croatia, the reservoir age increased over time, as a travertine barrier formed a growing dam at the lake’s outlet, gradually increasing its depth. Pazdur et al (1995) used changes in the reservoir age to calculate 14C dilution, used as a proxy measure of change in lake volume. Changes in the volume of the former Lake Huleh are therefore likely to have been reflected in a variable reservoir age.

A4 Detrital mineral carbonate

The large corrections proposed for the zone 1 radiocarbon results are more plausible if the presence of detrital carbon in the carbonate fractions is also admitted. At 1487cm, for example, three measurements on humin fractions gave results of ca 15,000BP (ca 15 pMC), whereas the marine core chronostratigraphy requires this level to date to ca 10,000BP (≈ 28 pMC). If the organic carbon was all from submerged species, this means a reservoir age at this level of ca 5000 radiocarbon years (ie lake water had an initial activity of ca 53 pMC, using Am/A0 ≈ 28/100 (≈ 15/53)). The carbonate result (GrN-22405: ≈ 10 pMC) would then indicate that about two-thirds of the carbonate fraction was precipitated DIC (A0 ≈ 53 pMC, measured activity after 10,000 radiocarbon years ca 15 pMC) and a third was detrital in origin (A0 ≈ 0 pMC).

There is, in fact, some evidence of an influx of detrital mineral carbonate in Zone 1. Tsukada’s Huleh pollen diagram (van Zeist and Bottema 1982; 1991) shows a vegetation sequence clearly consistent with that found by Baruch and Bottema. Mineralogical (Cowgill 1969; 1973), chemical (Hutchinson and Cowgill 1973), and stable isotope (Stiller and Hutchinson 1980) analyses of the core studied by Tsukada (‘Merom III’) have also been carried out. Using pollen zonation and the uncorrected radiocarbon results from both cores, zone 1 in the Baruch and Bottema diagram can be equated with zone B1 in Stiller and Hutchinson’s (1980, figure 7) diagram. According to Stiller and Hutchinson, only about half the carbonate in zone B1 samples was authigenic (autochthonous), compared to over 80% in later zones. A high proportion of carbonate in the B1 samples was dolomite (Cowgill 1973), which under normal conditions is not precipitated, and was therefore regarded as detrital.

As with the Baruch and Bottema core, there are large disparities (> 3000 14C years) between the apparent radiocarbon ages of humin and carbonate fractions from two samples in the lower part of the Merom III core (Stuiver 1969; Cowgill 1969), where the dolomite influx is significant. In

207 upper levels, where the dolomite influx is negligible, humin and carbonate results are consistent. Detrital inorganic carbon may therefore be responsible for the large differences between organic and inorganic fraction dates at 828 and 1488cm in the Baruch and Bottema core266.

A5 A suggested timescale for the Holocene section of the Huleh core

Attempts by Cappers et al (1998; 2002) to correct the Huleh radiocarbon dates for the reservoir effect are unconvincing. There are both methodological objections to these efforts and problems with their outcomes, as they do not reconcile the Huleh pollen record with the regional sequence recorded in the marine cores, and in the second case push the zone identified with the Younger Dryas episode well into the Holocene. The scenario proposed by Rossignol-Strick in 1995, in which the first zone of the new Huleh pollen diagram is identified with the Chenopodiaceae phase in the marine cores and with the Younger Dryas episode, appears to be more reasonable.

Acceptance of Rossignol-Strick’s chronology, however, requires us to accept either that the humin fractions of the Huleh radiocarbon samples were contaminated with detrital carbon, or that the reservoir age at Huleh in the late Pleistocene was very high. Detrital carbon appears to be responsible for the more extreme carbonate fraction results, but it probably does not explain the humin fraction results. The reservoir age implied for the late Pleistocene is not unknown elsewhere, however. In fact, given Carmi et al’s (1985) measurements of the radiocarbon content of modern water entering Huleh, it is more difficult to explain the relatively young radiocarbon ages of samples from upper levels of the Baruch and Bottema core than the exaggerated ages of samples in the lower zones. Nevertheless, Rossignol-Strick’s revision remains an hypothesis to be tested with further data, such as AMS 14C dates on plant macrofossils from emerged (terrestrial) species, or uranium-series dates on the carbonate fractions from the same core267.

Only the zone 1/2 boundary in the Baruch and Bottema diagram (1487cm) can be dated using Rossignol-Strick’s pollen zonation. If we assume that this level corresponds to the beginning of the Holocene (ca 10,200BP), the ‘corrected’ radiocarbon age of every level between 1487cm/10,200BP and the surface/0BP can be estimated by interpolation, assuming that the rate of sedimentation during the Holocene was constant268. Table A3 indicates the predicted ages, in

266 Contamination by detrital mineral carbon (δ13C ≈ 0‰) may not be apparent from the 13C content of carbonate fractions (δ13C ≈ -4‰ – -1‰), but should affect δ13C measurements of humin fractions. As all these are below -20‰, the detrital carbon content of humin fractions was probably negligible. 267 Weinstein-Evron et al (2001) found that uranium-series dating of peat deposits in the Huleh Basin (ie from the marsh surrounding the lake itself) was unreliable, due to the presence of allochthonous thorium (in detrital carbonates that would have been dissolved in more acidic conditions). 268 The assumption of a constant sedimentation rate on the radiocarbon timescale implicitly contains another assumption, that the relationship between calendar and radiocarbon years is linear. While wrong, this assumption is relatively insignificant. At most, it results in errors of less than 300 years, well within the uncertainty of many of the uncorrected radiocarbon results. This can be demonstrated by (1) converting the

208 radiocarbon years, of the Huleh humin fractions, based on linear interpolation between the surface and the beginning of the Holocene at ca 1487cm (Figure A4).

The assumption of a constant rate of sedimentation is not realistic, although there is no evidence that sedimentation was interrupted at any point in the Holocene. Furthermore, the predicted dates of zone boundaries fit reasonably well with other palaeoenvironmental data. The deciduous oak maximum (1240cm) is reached after 8500BP under this scheme, coincident with the rise of the Dead Sea recorded by Yechieli et al (1993). The increase in cereal pollen influx shortly afterwards can be correlated with the Late PPNB, when a farming settlement existed nearby at Beisamun. The steep rise in olive pollen influx after 850cm is dated to the Chalcolithic, in agreement with the archaeological evidence for the start of olive cultivation (Appendix F). The olive peak at ca 600cm is dated to the Early Bronze Age, when there is evidence of large-scale olive oil production in Palestine (Liphschitz et al 1989; 1991). Only the most recent olive peak, at 159cm, appears to be too recent to be identified with the Byzantine period269. The interpolated dates are also in agreement with Rossignol-Strick’s chronostratigraphy, with the end of zone 4 at ca 6000BP corresponding to the end of the Pistacia chronozone. The end of zone 2 (ca 8300BP) appears to be somewhat later than the end of the Preboreal chronozone at 9000BP.

A6 The Huleh diagrams and other palaeoenvironmental records

As Chapter 2 makes clear, there are few well-dated, high-resolution palaeoenvironmental records in the Levant, and not all of these cover the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. It might be argued, however, that the Soreq Cave speleothem (Bar Matthews et al 1997) ‘confirms’ Baruch and Bottema’s radiocarbon chronology for the Huleh core, based on a major downswing in δ18O in the speleothem at ca 14ka cal BP, which was interpreted as evidence of a shift to a wetter climate.

There is enough uncertainty in the uranium-series dating of the speleothem, and in the calibration of the (corrected270) Huleh radiocarbon results, to allow this event to coincide with the start of zone 2 at Huleh (the rise in deciduous oak). If, however, as has been argued here, the Huleh diagram does not extend beyond the Younger Dryas episode (zone 1), the δ18O downswing at ca 14ka cal BP in the Soreq Cave speleothem is irrelevant to Huleh, whatever its climatic

uncalibrated endpoints (0BP and 10,200BP) to calibrated dates, (2) calculating the average rate of sedimentation in calendar years, (3) dating the zone boundaries in calendar years by the interpolation method, (4) converting these dates back into radiocarbon years and comparing them to the uncalibrated zone boundaries obtained by interpolation. 269 This could be because the uppermost 30-40cm of sediment is missing. Lake Huleh was drained in the early years of the 20th century, and subsequent farming activity probably truncated the lacustrine sequence before the first cores were collected in the 1960s. Under the constant sedimentation rate model, the dates of the earlier zone boundaries would be almost unchanged by the addition of another 30-40cm of sediment at the top of the core, but zone 9 would be pushed back to the Byzantine period.

209 implications. Bar Matthews et al’s (1997) use of δ18O as a proxy for total precipitation is not, in any case, the only possible interpretation of this indicator, which elsewhere has been used as a proxy for temperature (eg Stiller and Hutchinson 1980271) or seasonality of precipitation (eg Stevens et al 2001).

The only high-resolution palaeoenvironmental record that can be confidently correlated with the Baruch and Bottema diagram is, of course, the Tsukada pollen diagram from Huleh272. As indicated above, the Tsukada diagram came from the Merom III core, which has also been the subject of chemical and mineralogical studies273. Several uncorrected radiocarbon results indicate that the upper 35m of the 54m-long core cover a similar period of time to the 16m-long Baruch and Bottema (1999) core (assuming similar reservoir effects). Pollen zonation in the upper 35m of the Tsukada diagram fits well with that of Baruch and Bottema (Meadows 2005). The Merom III stable isotope record (Stiller and Hutchinson 1980) can thus be used as a proxy for stable isotope trends in the Baruch and Bottema core.

The Merom III oxygen isotope curve is notable for the absence in zones B2 to B5 (16,000BP– present, before correction; Stiller and Hutchinson 1980, figure 6) of any real changes in δ18O to mark the beginning and end of the Younger Dryas episode274. The authors noted this anomaly, but suggested it indicated that climate change was less extreme in the Levant than in Europe (ibid, 296). The slightly lower average value in zone B2 (ibid, table 4) was therefore regarded as evidence of temperatures somewhat lower than today’s, in keeping with the uncorrected Late Glacial radiocarbon dates (ibid, table 5). An alternative explanation, preferred here, is that zones B2 to B5 of the Stiller and Hutchinson diagram fall entirely within the Holocene. In this case, the δ18O downswing at Soreq Cave (Bar Matthews et al 1997) might fall in zone B1 of the Merom III core, although there is no obvious δ18O event in this zone either. Stiller and Hutchinson (1980)

270 Baruch and Bottema (1999) used the Cappers et al (1998) stable isotope method corrections, which are relatively insignificant (500–1100 radiocarbon years). 271 Stiller and Hutchinson acknowledged that use of δ18O as a proxy for temperature change required the assumption that precipitation was unchanged (Stiller and Hutchinson 1980, 287). 272 Since this appendix and Meadows (forthcoming) were written, a pollen diagram from Birkat Ram in the Golan Heights has been published (Schwab et al 2004), spanning the last 6500 calendar years (after correction for modest reservoir effects, estimated from the disparity between the radiocarbon ages of aquatic plant macrofossils and wood samples from the same depth; according to the chronology proposed here, this is equivalent to Zone 5 onwards in Baruch and Bottema’s Huleh diagram). The vegetation sequence at Birkat Ram is consistent with that at Huleh. Local Pollen Assemblage Zones (LPAZ) 1 and 2, which cover the late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, feature relatively high influxes of olive and deciduous oak pollen. Olive influx decreases sharply at the start of LPAZ 3, whereas deciduous oak reaches a maximum (cf. the Zone 5/6 transition at Huleh). The peak olive influx at Birkat Ram, LPAZ 5, dated to the Byzantine period, is followed by a maximal influx of evergreen oak pollen (LPAZ 6-7), which lasts until the 20th century (cf. zones 9 and 10 at Huleh). 273 The publication of the Tsukada diagram by van Zeist and Bottema (1982; 1991) did not mention this, but the radiocarbon results and sample depths in the Tsukada diagram are identical to those in Merom III publications by Cowgill and colleagues. This can hardly be a coincidence.

210 excluded Zone B1 from their climatic reconstruction, however, due to the quantity of detrital mineral carbonate in these samples.

Nevertheless, at Soreq Cave δ18O measurements at the end of the Pleistocene were only slightly higher than in the early Holocene (Bar-Matthews et al 1997, figure 4). The Younger Dryas episode, which must fall in zone G or H, is not marked by a major shift in δ18O. This may be because the effect on δ18O of a cold, arid episode is unpredictable (increasing aridity and lower temperatures would shift δ18O in opposite directions). Whether or not we should expect the same δ18O downswing at Huleh at 14ka cal BP as at Soreq Cave, the fact that it cannot be located in the Merom III core fits with the theory that the Baruch and Bottema core does not extend beyond the Younger Dryas episode.

A7 Summary

The uncorrected radiocarbon chronologies of the Huleh pollen cores have been used to support various theories of the origin of agriculture, particularly as a response to climate change. For example, Wright (1993, 468) wrote:

‘details of the reconstruction presented here are based primarily on the pollen sequence at a single site (Huleh), but other potential sites in the Levant need to be analysed… along with radiocarbon dating by accelerator mass spectrometry of identifiable organic remains to minimize some of the errors common in conventional dating of bulk sediment.’

Whether or not the Huleh pollen record should be used to infer a regional vegetation history, the reality is that it has been so used, and for this reason it is imperative that the chronology of the pollen diagrams be as accurate as possible.

The approach taken here is that the Huleh core is a record of regional vegetation history, and that this major corrections to the radiocarbon chronologies, as the regional pollen record at terrestrial sites cannot be out of step with the terrestrial vegetation sequence recorded in marine cores. If this assumption is incorrect, and the Huleh cores record a strictly local vegetation sequence that could have followed a different trajectory to the regional sequence, they cannot be dated correctly by reference to the chronology of the marine cores. If the Huleh cores only provide a localised vegetation sequence, however, they cannot be used as they have been, to explain events that took place in the northern Levant and beyond.

What this appendix has tried to do is to show that the Huleh radiocarbon results are not inconsistent with the marine core chronology. Instead, they are the outcome of the factors

274 In contrast, for example, to the sharp downswing in δ18O observed at the start of the Holocene at Lake Bangong (Fontes et al 1996).

211 governing the carbon cycle in the Huleh Basin, and at face value are completely misleading. It is plausible, given the radiocarbon results, that zone 1 at Huleh was contemporary with Rossignol- Strick’s Chenopodiaceae phase, as the composition of the pollen influx suggests, despite the large corrections necessary to the Huleh radiocarbon results. It is even more credible, then, that zone 2 can be equated with the deciduous oak phase in the marine diagrams, and zones 3/4 with Rossignol-Strick’s Pistacia phase.

On the other hand, the uncorrected radiocarbon chronology is indefensible, and earlier attempts to revise it (Cappers et al 1998) while maintaining that zone 3 represents the Younger Dryas episode (which is what the uncorrected results implied) are not convincing. The greater corrections (ca 1700 radiocarbon years) suggested more recently (Cappers et al 2002) are plausible for the upper part of the diagram, but push zone 3 entirely into the Holocene, contradicting its identification with the Younger Dryas episode, without synchronising Huleh with the marine core chronology. The scheme advanced here is not necessarily correct, but it does not suffer from the inconsistencies of previous revisions.

212 Appendix B. Experiment to compare the results of manual and machine flotation

B1 Background

During the 1994, 1995, and 1997 seasons of excavations at Teleilat Ghassul, all plant remains were recovered using a flotation machine hired from the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL), similar to that described and illustrated by Nesbitt (1995). Large volumes of sediment were processed (5.6 cubic metres in the 1997 season alone), but the resulting species lists (Hoppè 1996b unpublished; Meadows 1998b unpublished) were disappointingly short. More taxa were identified by Reinder Neef (unpublished data) in a few small samples collected on a visit to the site in 1987. Several factors could account for this, including Neef’s experience, laboratory methods, and access to comparative material. One question raised in discussions with Neef in 1998 was whether machine flotation was more destructive of plant remains than the wash- over, or bucket, method of flotation, which Neef preferred.

The wash-over method (manual flotation hereafter) is useful when the water supply is limited. With sandy sediment, the quantity of water required is only about double the volume of the sediment to be processed. The only equipment needed is a geological sieve or a supply of fine mesh cloth, and a few buckets. For these reasons, manual flotation was used on two excavations (ash-Shalaf and ZAD2).

Where possible, however, the CBRL flotation machine was used (at Pella, Wadi Ziqlab, Wadi Fidan and Ghassul). The same equipment has been used by Amanda Kennedy (Kennedy forthcoming) and Russell Adams (Meadows 2001a) at sites in the Wadi Faynan, and a similar machine was used by Sue Colledge at sites in the Azraq basin (Colledge 2001, 60). On the other hand, Neef used manual flotation at some important sites (eg ’Ain Ghazal, Basta, Tell Abu Hamid), and Colledge processed samples from other sites by the bucket method (Colledge 2001, 60). If the flotation method used significantly affected the results, then it is important to find out exactly how, so that assemblages from different sites can be meaningfully compared.

B2 The experiment

With these concerns in mind, an experiment was carried out during the 1999 Ghassul season. Before machine flotation, a small bag of sediment from each sample (ca 4L) was set aside to be processed manually. Not all the manual subsamples were eventually processed, partly due to time constraints. If the subsample processed by machine was either very rich in plant remains, or very poor, the manual subsample was only wet-sieved for artefacts. Poor samples were not expected to

213 yield enough identifiable material for statistical comparison, and it was deemed preferable to discard manual subsamples from rich contexts (whose machine subsamples would produce enough identifications to be statistically useful) than subsamples from average contexts.

In all, then, 53 of the subsamples were processed by manual flotation. A number of other small samples were also processed manually, but did not form part of the experiment, because subsamples from these contexts were not processed by machine. The combined volume of the 53 manual subsamples was 207.5L, while 767.5L of sediment from the same samples was processed by machine. The light fractions (flots) of each subsample, including the ‘fine flots’ from machine flotation, were fully sorted (Table 5.6).

A total of 6754 identifications (excluding flax pod fragments, and converting olive stone fragments to whole stones) was obtained from the manual subsamples, whereas the machine subsamples yielded 8953 identifications. This equates to 32.55 identifications/L of sediment processed manually, against only 11.67 identifications/L of sediment processed by machine. Machine flotation thus recovered no more than a third of identifiable plant remains – a surprisingly low proportion, considering that the sediment was relatively dry and sandy.

The total number of specimens of each taxon found in manual subsamples was then compared to the total count of the same taxon in machine subsamples, after standardisation for the volume of sediment processed by each method. In Table B1, the standardised counts are expressed as concentrations – the number of specimens of each taxon per cubic metre of sediment processed. These numbers are probably not reliable in the case of rare taxa, here defined as those with fewer than 10 identifications overall.

B3 Discussion

If manual flotation recovered three times as many specimens of every taxon as machine flotation, machine flotation’s lower recovery rate would be offset by processing larger samples, and the assemblages obtained by each method would lead to the same interpretation. The disparity in recovery rates varied widely between taxa, however, with seven times as many fragments of Avena/Stipa awns per cubic metre of sediment in the manual subsamples, but only 0.3 times as many seeds of Fimbristylis.

Table B1 ranks 66 taxa according to the ratio of each taxon’s concentration in manual subsamples to its concentration in machine subsamples. The median ratio is 1.59. Taxa with a ratio above 1.59 are therefore over-represented in the manual assemblage, and those with a ratio below 1.59 under- represented, by comparison to the machine assemblage. Half the taxa (the inter-quartile range) have ratios between 1.20 and 2.15. The 16 taxa with ratios below 1.20 are conspicuously under-

214 represented in the manual assemblage, and the 16 taxa with ratios above 2.15 are conspicuously over-represented.

The taxa most under-represented by manual flotation include five very small seed types: Aizoon, Fimbristylis, Type A (small Fabaceae or Brassicaceae), Scirpus kernels, and small grass seeds. These may be relatively more common in the machine flots due to their size, as the minimum mesh size used (0.3mm) for machine flotation was smaller than the 0.5mm mesh used for manual flotation. Nevertheless, some cereal grains (wild barley, indeterminate barley, free-threshing wheat, and indeterminate wheat) were also conspicuously under-represented in the manual flots, as were seeds of Asteraceae indet., Arnebia, Liliaceae indet., Scorpiurus, and Astragalus, ‘pellets’, and rachis internodes of free-threshing wheat.

The taxa most under-represented by machine flotation included small chaff components such as wheat spikelet forks and glume bases, indeterminate wheat and barley rachis internodes, flax pod and Avena/Stipa awn fragments, and an unknown grass floret base. Conspicuously over- represented seeds included Ficus, Apiaceae indet., Heliotropium, Chenopodium, Carex, Melilotus/Trifolium type, Bellevalia type, and Phalaris. Many of these taxa are close in size to the 1.0–1.5mm apertures of the mesh used to contain the heavy fraction of machine subsamples, and may thus have been lost during machine flotation.

The main food grains (free-threshing and glume wheat, hulled barley, lentils and other legumes, as well as flax) were moderately under-represented in the manual flots. Olive stone and Pistacia shell fragments were moderately over-represented, as were large chaff components (straw, culm nodes, and culm bases). The small-seeded legumes (Scorpiurus, Medicago, Astragalus, and Trigonella types, as well as indeterminates) were moderately or severely under-represented by manual flotation. Some wild grasses (Avena, Bromus, Phalaris, and indeterminates) were over- represented by manual flotation, but Lolium was moderately under-represented, and Hordeum and small grasses were conspicuously under-represented.

Such patterns may well affect the interpretation of archaeobotanical assemblages. Many differences between the results of manual and machine flotation of the same samples are similar to the differences identified at Ghassul after the 1997 season (when only machine flotation was employed) between samples from the earlier and later phases.

The initial impetus for the experiment was a concern that machine flotation may have been overly destructive of plant remains. Although the lower overall recovery rate of machine flotation appears to support to this theory, a detailed inspection of the data suggests the reverse. Manual flotation gave a higher overall recovery rate due to the higher sediment load of overflow water under this method. Less buoyant taxa, such as wood charcoal and bones, which are usually found in the heavy fraction of machine-processed samples, were conspicuously over-represented in

215 manual flots. More specimens of every taxon were floated by manual flotation, but the modest increase in the recovery rate of identified grains and pulses (on average, only 20-40%) suggests that machine flotation is reasonably effective with the larger seeds.

Remains from machine subsamples were often identified to a higher taxonomic level. Indeterminate cereal grains and indeterminate rachis internodes were over-represented in manual flots, whereas identified grains and rachis internodes of wild barley, 2-row barley, 6-row barley, and free-threshing wheat were under-represented. There are exceptions, but on these data one could argue that manual flotation is more destructive than machine flotation.

Moreover, the taxa most over-represented in manual flots were often the most fragmented. For example, the manual flots contained 2.5 times as many unbroken spikelet forks as the machine flots, but more than five times as many fragments of broken spikelet forks (glume bases and rachis internodes). Flax pod fragments were conspicuously more numerous in the manual flots (with a ratio of 2.92), but flax seeds (whose count was based on the number of seed apices, rather than fragments) were under-represented (1.29). Of barley rachis internode categories, the most over-represented in manual flots was the indeterminate cultivated type, which is the easiest to identify, as only one diagnostic feature (the rough abscission scar) needs to be preserved. Three or four diagnostic features have to be preserved for identification as 6-row barley rachis, and 6-row rachis was under-represented in the manual flots. Again, this suggests that manual flotation is more destructive than machine flotation. On the other hand, straw remains in the manual flots were not appreciably more fragmented: the mean length of straw fragments in machine flots (4.13mm, N = 113) was only slightly greater than the mean length of straw fragments in manual flots (4.00mm, N = 39).

Of the 100 or so wild taxa listed, ten were found only in manual flots, and 21 only in machine flots (nine and 20 taxa respectively if all samples are compared, including those that did not form part of the experiment; Tables B2 and B3). In most cases, only single specimens of these taxa were found; occasionally two or three specimens were recovered. Most of the taxa concerned were only tentatively identified, if identified at all. The greater number of rare taxa in machine flots is presumably due to the greater volume of sediment processed by machine.

Neither method of flotation therefore guarantees a longer ‘species list’. Manual flotation yielded more rare species per cubic metre of sediment processed, but machine flotation allowed more sediment to be processed in the same time. The main reason that more species were found in 1999 than in 1994-97 was that the ‘fine flots’ from machine flotation were not sorted in the earlier seasons. Among 48 machine subsamples with separate counts for coarse flots (>1.0mm) and fine flots (<1.0mm, >0.3mm), there were 28 wild taxa found only in fine flots (against 14 found only in coarse flots, and 22 wild taxa found in both). It should also be noted that there may be many

216 more taxa at Ghassul that have yet to be identified, as the rate of discovery of new taxa did not apparently diminish during the sorting of the 1999 samples.

The experiment demonstrated that machine flotation cannot be blamed for lack of diversity in archaeobotanical assemblages. The recovery rate of identifiable plant remains may be low, relative to the manual method, but that may be offset by processing a greater volume of sediment, and perhaps by reduced fragmentation. Manual flotation may be preferable when the volume of sediment available is small, or if water is in short supply. When the volume of sediment available is effectively unlimited, as at Ghassul, machine flotation appears to offer the more efficient means of obtaining a representative assemblage of plant remains.

217 Appendix C. Catalogue of identified wild/weed taxa

Scanning electron micrographs of representative specimens of the identified wild/weed taxa are shown in the following pages. Problems encountered in producing these illustrations are described in Appendix D. The incidence of wild/weed taxa by site is summarised in Table C1. Other than the Pistacia sp. nut, from Wadi Fidan 1, the illustrated specimens are from ZAD2 or Teleilat Ghassul.

Aizoaceae Anacardiaceae

Aizoon hispanicum Pistacia sp. Apiaceae

cf. Bifora sp. Bupleurum sp.

Eryngium sp. Apiaceae indet.

218

Asteraceae

Centaurea sp. Anthemis sp.

cf. Calendula sp. Carthamus sp.

Picris sp. Asteraceae indet. seed cluster

219

Boraginaceae

Arnebia sp. Lithospermum sp.

Heliotropium sp. Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae indet. Brassicaceae indet.

Brassicaceae/Fabaceae Type A cf. Brassicaceae Type D

220

Capparidaceae

Capparis sp. Caryophyllaceae

Cerastium sp. cf. Minuartia sp.

Silene spp.

Caryophyllaceae indet. Type Q Type R

221

Chenopodiaceae

Beta vulgaris capsule Chenopodium sp.

cf. Salsola sp. Suaeda sp.

Atriplex sp. bract Type Y cf. Chenopodiaceae Type Z Convolvulaceae Cucurbitaceae

cf. Convolvulaceae Citrullus colocynthis

222

Cyperaceae

Carex sp. Carex sp. detail

Scirpus sp. Scirpus sp.

cf. Scirpus kernel Type P Fimbristylis sp.

223

Fabaceae

Astragalus type

Hippocrepis sp. Medicago type

Trifolium/Melilotus Scorpiurus muricatus lateral and dorsal

cf. Coronilla sp. Trigonella sp. type Trigonella astroites type

224

Fumariaceae Geraniaceae Hypericaceae

Fumaria sp. cf. Erodium ‘beak’ Hypericum sp. Juncaceae Lamiaceae

cf. Juncus sp. Teucrium sp. Liliaceae

Bellevalia type Ornithogalum type Liliaceae indet. Type B

225

Malvaceae

Malva sp. Moraceae Papaveraceae

Ficus sp. Papaveraceae indet. Plantaginaceae

Plantago spp.

226

Poaceae

Aegilops sp. Avena sp. grains, awn fragment

Bromus spp. Echinaria sp. Eremopyrum sp.

weedy Hordeum sp. Lolium sp. Phalaris sp.

Panicum/Setaria cf. Poa bulbosa bulbil Stipa sp. grain, awn fragments

227 small grass type or Phragmites? small grass types

Polygonaceae Ranunculaceae

cf. Polygonum sp. cf. Rumex sp. Adonis sp. Resedaceae Rubiaceae

cf. Reseda sp. Galium sp.

228

Scrophulariaceae

Verbascum sp. Scrophulariacae indet. Type AE Solanaceae

Solanaceae indet. cf. Withania sp. Thymelaeaceae Valerianaceae Verbenaceae

cf. Thymelaea sp. cf. Valerianella sp. Verbena sp.

229

Unknown types

Type N Type W Type AA

Type AG Type AI Type AK

Type AM Type AO Type AP

Type AQ ZAD2 unknown taxon

230 Appendix D. Scanning Electron Microscopy

D1 Background

Representative specimens of each of the identified taxa were photographed for archival purposes (Appendix C), using the JEOL model JSM6340F scanning electron microscope (SEM) in the Advanced Electron Microscopy Facility, La Trobe University, with the assistance of Denise Fernando and Dr Rob Glaisher. Use of the equipment for four days was funded by a small Humanities Research Grant from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University. This was the first occasion on which the La Trobe SEM had been used with archaeobotanical material.

The best-preserved specimens of each taxon were selected under the Wild low-power optical microscope used for sorting and identification (Chapter 5). They were mounted on cylindrical aluminium stages, using carbon-coated adhesive tape. Each stage, of ca 25mm diameter, held 20 to 50 specimens, depending on the taxa concerned. Duplicate specimens of most taxa were mounted at different angles. A sketch was drawn of each stage, showing the position of every specimen.

The first two stages, on which the ZAD2 specimens were mounted, were then placed in a sputter- coater, and sprayed with a fine coating of platinum. Sputter-coating improves the conductivity of the specimen surface, which helps to minimise ‘charging’ (the build-up of electrons at points on uneven surfaces that causes extreme contrasts of light and dark). The SEM images obtained were very disappointing, however. Although the imaging equipment worked as intended, the specimens were more degraded than they had appeared under the optical microscope. Some specimens had apparently cracked or burst, while the surfaces of others had disintegrated.

At first it was suggested that SEM imaging merely revealed damage that was invisible under the optical microscope. The damage was visible at the lowest magnification used by the SEM (×25), however, well within the range used in selecting the specimens (×20–×45). Evidently the damage had occurred after the samples were mounted on the stages, which had been inspected under the optical microscope for any damage done during the mounting process.

Both the sputter-coater and the SEM worked under vacuum conditions, and the most likely cause of damage appeared to be the escape of air bubbles trapped within the specimens, during either the sputter-coating or imaging process. A rapid reduction of external air pressure would have caused any trapped air to expand, potentially shattering the fragile specimens.

231 D2 The experiment

An experiment was designed, to answer two questions:

1. was more cracking visible under the SEM than under the optical microscope?

2. were seeds being damaged by the intense vacuum in the SEM?

Forty-one fig seeds, all from the same sample275, were selected for the experiment and mounted on a single aluminium stage. Thirty-one seeds were intact when viewed under the optical microscope (at ×20–×45). Nine showed slight cracking, and one had a larger crack that made it unsuitable for illustration (Table D1).

The stage was put directly into the SEM, without sputter-coating. Under the SEM, at ×25–×50 magnification, slight cracking was visible on seven of the 31 previously-intact seeds. Six previously-intact seeds were seriously cracked or (in two cases) broken, but the other 18 were still intact (Table D1). Of the ten already-damaged seeds, five showed no more cracks than were visible under the optical microscope, but five (including the seriously-cracked seed) showed further slight cracking.

The stage was then removed from the SEM, and examined under the optical microscope. Only nine of the 18 undamaged seeds were still intact. Thirteen seeds that had showed minor or serious cracks under the SEM showed no further damage under the optical microscope. Seven seeds that were apparently intact under the SEM now showed slight cracking, and two of the previously- intact seeds showed serious cracking. The two seeds that were seen to be broken under the SEM suffered further serious damage, while two of the seeds with minor cracking visible under the SEM were now broken. Two more seeds with minor cracking under the SEM were now seriously damaged, while the other four seeds with minor cracks suffered further slight damage (Table D1).

D3 Discussion

Damage visible under the SEM and not under the optical microscope (prior to SEM use) may have been caused by the SEM, or may only become visible under the SEM. Based on the results of the experiment, however, the latter possibility can be rejected. Cracking visible under the SEM (at ×25–×50) was always visible under the optical microscope afterwards at the same magnification, and minor cracking (barely visible under the SEM at ×40) was seen under the optical microscope before the SEM was used. Consequently, the new cracks seen under the SEM are attributed to the use of the SEM itself (and not to the sputter-coater, which was not used in the

275 This ensured that the specimens used in the experiment had a similar age and taphonomic history.

232 experiment). The rapid change in air pressure on removal from the SEM apparently damaged the seeds as much as the extreme vacuum in the SEM chamber.

The experiment did not aim to identify damage that might have taken place in the sputter-coating machine. This may have been a mistake. Although the SEM uses a more intense vacuum than the sputter-coater, it is probably the rate of change of air pressure that determines whether the seeds are damaged, not the minimum air pressure reached. The sputter-coater pump may extract air more rapidly than the SEM pump. In any case, the damage observed after the seeds were removed from the SEM suggests that the seeds may also have been damaged when the stages were taken out of the sputter-coater.

233 Appendix E. A homemade sample splitter

In 1996, I designed and made a small sample splitter, and carried out an experiment to demonstrate that it was as effective as a commercially-produced riffle box used in the environmental archaeology laboratory of the Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield, to divide archaeobotanical samples276. The design and the experiment were reported at the time, but the report was not submitted for publication. Although this was not an element of my PhD research, the sample splitter was used with several of the larger samples analysed, and it seems appropriate to include a description of the sample splitter and the experiment in a thesis appendix.

The sample splitter was made from two cardboard boxes and 64 plastic tubes, each 1×1cm in cross-section. The tubes were glued together in a chessboard pattern, half open at the bottom and half closed, so that any seed falling on this grid was as likely to be captured in a closed tube as to fall through an open tube. A 1.5cm high strip of cardboard was fixed around the edge of the grid to prevent material falling over the sides. A square tray with one flat edge was made to fit neatly inside the rim. This tray was used to pour the sample evenly across the tubes. A box was placed under the tubes to catch material falling through the grid.

To test the effectiveness of the sample splitter, the following experiment was devised. A sample was prepared, containing 40.00g of fenugreek seeds and 10.00g of mustard seeds. These were mixed together thoroughly and poured carefully over the sample splitter grid. One ‘half’ (always the fraction which went through the splitter) was then weighed (‘splitter half’). This half was then divided into its fenugreek and mustard seed components, which were also weighed. The test was carried out ten times. The experiment was repeated using the departmental riffle box. In each trial, the same ‘half’ was weighed (‘riffle box half’).

The results (Table E1) show that the sample splitter was, on average, more accurate than the riffle box over the ten trials. The mean value of the sample splitter measurements was closer to the ‘correct’ value in each case (‘half’ the sample should have weighed 25.00g, of which 20.00g should have been fenugreek and 5.00g mustard, giving a ratio of 4:1). Eight of ten sample splitter trials produced estimates of between 3.9 and 4.1 grams of fenugreek per gram of mustard,

276 Riffle boxes are used routinely to divide samples (of sediment etc) into unbiased halves. The sample is tipped over a grate consisting of 12 equal-sized parallel chutes, six of which are directed into one bin, and six into another. Each item in the sample therefore has a 50% probability of landing in either bin.

234 compared to five out of ten trials of the riffle box. The splitter’s worst estimate was better than the worst of the riffle box results (Figure E1)277.

Closer inspection, however, shows that there was little difference between the performance of the two devices. The quantity of fenugreek in the splitter half was slightly more variable than the quantity of fenugreek in the riffle box half, whereas the quantity of mustard in the splitter half was less variable than that in the riffle box half278. Overall, there was not a statistically-significant difference between the two devices in the variability of the estimated ratio of fenugreek to mustard in the parent sample.

Given these results, it seems unlikely that use of the homemade sample splitter added avoidable bias to the data. The splitter was used with fine flot fractions (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) from several of the larger Teleilat Ghassul samples. Table 5.6 shows the raw data in each case (actual counts in the half or quarter sorted), but statistical analysis in Chapter 6 used combined coarse and fine flot counts. As the coarse flot fraction (>1.0mm diameter) of these samples had been sorted in full, it was necessary to multiply the fine flot counts by the appropriate factor (2 if the fine flot was halved, 4 if only a quarter of the fine flot was sorted) before combining these data with the coarse flot counts.

277 One riffle box trial was repeated after the ‘riffle box half’ was found to weigh only 23.61g (easily the worst result). The sample in this case had been poured only slightly faster than normal, and in everyday use the unequal split would not have been noticed. Had this test been included in the results, the worst riffle box estimate of the fenugreek: mustard ratio would have been about 4.8:1. 278 An F-test can be used to compare the variances of the two sets of results. The test statistic (Table E1) is the one-tailed probability that two variances are not statistically different. Only in the case of mustard seeds was one device significantly more consistent than the other (at the 0.05 level of significance). In this case, the sample splitter was more consistent, but the riffle box was almost significantly more consistent at dividing the fenugreek.

235 Appendix F. Olive stone measurements

F1 Background

In a short paper at a 1998 postgraduate student conference at the University of Melbourne, I argued that measurements of olive stones recovered at Teleilat Ghassul from 1994 to 1997 could be used to support an argument that olives were first domesticated in the Jordan Valley during the Chalcolithic. The paper was eventually published (Meadows 2001b), but it has not been widely circulated or critically accepted. Additional laboratory work needs to be done with the Teleilat Ghassul olive stones and with other Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic olive assemblages before the issue can be dealt with satisfactorily.

The Jordan Valley may not provide the earliest evidence of olive cultivation, as olive stones appear regularly at Ras Shamra, on the Mediterranean coast of Syria, from ca 7000 cal BC (Chapter 3). Measuring olive stones may not be the best way to detect domestication; the approach of Terral (1996) and colleagues is completely different. Nevertheless, nothing has appeared since the 1998 conference to challenge the conclusions drawn then. In fact, new data from Teleilat Ghassul reinforce the pattern observed in the 1994–97 material. The argument is therefore repeated here, with the addition of the 1999 data.

Archaeobotanical research during the 1999 season at Teleilat Ghassul more than doubled the number of measurable olive stones from the earlier phases of the site. An even larger olive assemblage would have been obtained had samples from a couple of Very Late Chalcolithic pits in Area NIII been sorted. These samples were seen to be extremely rich in carbonised olive remains, and were not sorted because of the emphasis on secondary contexts in sample selection (Chapter 5).

The 1999 olive stones, therefore, like those in earlier seasons, came from many different contexts, in every area of the site. This is useful, because it means that these remains probably represent all stages of olive exploitation, not single events (which might, for example, relate to a singularly good or bad growing season). It is also likely that at least some of the olive stones found in later Chalcolithic strata were reworked from early and middle Chalcolithic contexts. This means that any morphological changes over time at the population level will be somewhat obscured, as the late Chalcolithic olive stone sample includes some older stones.

236 F2 Prehistoric olive exploitation in the southern Levant

As the survey in Chapter 3 makes clear, there is little evidence that olives were exploited at all in the southern Levant prior to ca 5000 cal BC. Olives are native to the region, however, and olive wood was found at PPNC Atlit Yam. Olive pollen is present, though scarce, in zones 1 to 4 of the Huleh pollen diagram (Baruch and Bottema 1999), which according to the scheme proposed here (Appendix A) span the Younger Dryas episode and the early Holocene. Olive pollen influx at Huleh increased rapidly in zone 5, which the palynologists regard as representing the start of olive cultivation. The uncorrected radiocarbon results indicate a maximum age of 8670±120BP (GrN- 22398) for the beginning of this zone, and a maximum age of 7000±70BP (GrN-22397) for the highest prehistoric influx of olive pollen. After correcting these dates for reservoir effects, however, it is likely that the olive curve begins to rise in the fifth millenium cal BC and peaks in the early third millennium (Appendix A).

If this revision is correct, Baruch and Bottema are probably right to view the olive rise at Huleh as the consequence of olive cultivation, rather than its cause. Smaller corrections to the Huleh radiocarbon chronology give the opposite impression: that olive exploitation intensified in response to an expansion in the natural population of wild olive trees. As Chapter 3 shows, every archaeobotanical assemblage in northern Jordan and Israel/Palestine at ca 5000 cal BC appears to include olive stones, whereas earlier assemblages do not.

The archaeobotanical record for the Late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic is extremely patchy, however, as most of the key sites were excavated before environmental sampling was done routinely. There is one outstanding assemblage of olive remains in this period, from the submerged Wadi Rabah site of Kfar Samir (Galili and Sharvit 1994-95). Kislev (1994-95) concluded that the waterlogged remains (found in an installation interpreted as an olive press) were from wild olive trees, because there was much more variability among the olive stones than in a similarly-sized assemblage from Tel Keisan, an Iron Age site.

Kislev’s interpretation does not prove that olives were not cultivated in the Late Neolithic, however. Not only does the Kfar Samir assemblage represent a single episode of olive exploitation, in an environment ideally suited to wild olive trees; there are simply no metrical data from other sites of this period. In any case, the absence of a genuinely-wild modern olive population means that we can only guess what a wild olive stone assemblage from the Late Neolithic would be like (see below). It is possible, therefore, that olives were domesticated by the start of the Chalcolithic, although such a position would be controversial.

By the late Chalcolithic, olive remains are widespread and relatively abundant, except perhaps in the most arid zones. In 1975, Zohary and Spiegel-Roy argued that olives from Teleilat Ghassul (presumably collected by the Pontifical Biblical Institute: Chapter 4) were cultivated, as the site

237 was well outside the presumed range of wild olives. Neef (1990) described olive stones and olive wood charcoal from three Chalcolithic sites in the Jordan Valley, including Ghassul. The charcoal finds suggested that olive trees were cultivated locally, as firewood would not have been carried far, and the sites were beyond the natural habitat of wild olive trees. These authors did not suggest how to distinguish between wild and domestic olive stones, nor did they try to explain the domestication process.

Despite the increasing evidence of Chalcolithic olive cultivation, Liphschitz et al (1996) argued that cultivation began in the Early Bronze Age, noting that olive stones from several Chalcolithic sites were shorter and more variable in length than were olive stones from two Late Bronze and Hellenistic sites. The incidence of olive wood charcoal appeared to increase in the Early Bronze Age, however. Liphschitz et al did not attempt to explain why the Chalcolithic olives were apparently less variable than those at Kfar Samir, or why the longer olive stones were from sites in more humid regions. Olive remains are so abundant at late Chalcolithic sites in the Jordan Valley, however (Chapter 3), that the burden of proof now appears to lie with the sceptics. It is difficult to believe that these remains represent the exploitation of a wild resource, particularly considering the very limited evidence of the exploitation of other wild plant species in the late Chalcolithic.

F3 Olive remains at Teleilat Ghassul

Most olive stones at Ghassul were probably crushed before they were carbonised, and may be referred to as jift, a local word for the waste product of olive oil production (Neef 1990). The Kfar Samir olive remains were also from jift (gefet in Hebrew; Kislev, 1994-95). Kislev estimated that 73 percent of olive stones were crushed when the olives were pressed for oil. Damage during charring, deposition, excavation, and flotation probably account for the higher breakage rate at Ghassul279. The number of measurable olive stones recovered, particularly from the earlier phases, was relatively low.

The Teleilat Ghassul olive stone assemblage was therefore split into two ‘samples’: 75 measurable stones from Neolithic–middle Chalcolithic contexts and 76 from later Chalcolithic levels. The latter were all collected during the 1994-97 seasons. The later Chalcolithic sample could certainly be augmented by measuring olives collected in 1999, but the earlier sample can only be increased by further excavation.

279 In the 1999 season, 25 whole and 25 half olive stones were found in the flotation samples analysed, against over 300cm2 of crushed olive stones, estimated to represent ca 300 olives.

238 Only olive stone length and width were measured (Table F1), partly because these are the only data reported from most other relevant sites (in Neef 1990; Liphschitz et al 1996)280. Table F2 shows summary statistics for the Ghassul olive stones. These indicate a significant reduction in the mean length of olive stones during the Chalcolithic281, and in its variance282.

When these data are plotted (Figure F1), the reduced range of olive stone dimensions in the late Chalcolithic is obvious. Nearly one in four of the earlier olive stones was over 11.0mm in length, against only two such stones from late Chalcolithic contexts. The longer of these may well have been residual: when only the later Chalcolithic dimensions are plotted (Figure F2), the specimen is clearly an outlier283. If it was possible to remove residual or intrusive stones, any contrast between the two samples would become clearer284.

Summary statistics of the lengths of olive stones at other sites in the southern Levant (Table F3) can be deduced from Kislev (1994-95), Liphschitz et al (1996), and Neef (1990). These show no clear trend in mean length, but indicate that stones from late Chalcolithic and later assemblages are less variable in length than are the Kfar Samir stones and the early sample at Teleilat Ghassul. If the Kfar Samir olives were collected from wild trees, then, it can be argued that the earlier sample at Ghassul also represents foraging, as the two samples’ variances are not significantly different. The later sample from Ghassul, on the other hand, is not significantly more variable than a Late Bronze Age assemblage285.

It should be borne in mind that summary statistics can be misleading, if a sample includes elements of two populations (wild and domestic olives, for example). Scatter graphs or histograms (Kislev 1994-95; Meadows 2001b) may be used to show that the scatter of measurements is consistent with variation within a single population. The Shoham and Tel Jerisheh samples are probably also too small to be statistically useful.

280 Kislev (1994-95) recorded several other attributes of the Kfar Samir and Tel Keisan stones. It would be interesting to collect similar data at Ghassul and Jebel Sartaba. 281 The reduction in mean width of stones is not statistically significant, at the 5% significance level. 282 Means were compared using Student’s t-test; variances were compared using the F-test, again at the 5% significance level. The one-tailed test is more demanding than the two-tailed test. The apparent increase in variance in the width of olive stones is clearly not statistically significant. 283 Figure F2 also shows that there is no real spatial patterning in olive stone dimensions during the later phases of the site. The outlier from Area E may have been residual, but the rest of the Area E olives seem to belong to the same population as the Area A and Area G olives. 284 For example, if the later Chalcolithic outlier is placed in the earlier sample, its variance increases from 3.29 to 3.39, while the variance of the later sample decreases from 1.46 to 1.26. 285 The critical value of the F-test statistic, at the 5% significance level, when comparing samples with 75 and 27 degrees of freedom respectively, is 1.764. The ratio of the later Ghassul variance (1.46) to the Tel Jerisheh variance (0.94) is 1.553, well short of the critical value. The two variances are therefore not significantly different. The critical value for the Kfar Samir and earlier Ghassul samples (99 and 74 degrees of freedom respectively) is 1.440, whereas the ratio of variances in length is 1.082.

239 F4 Discussion

The reduction in variance of olive stone lengths (and perhaps other, unmeasured, attributes) may be key to understanding the domestication process. Olive cultivation can explain the reduction in variance in two ways. Firstly, olive stone length may be determined by the tree’s growing conditions, and cultivated trees may have grown under a more limited range of conditions than wild trees. Secondly, the greater variability of wild olive stones may reflect greater genetic diversity of the parent trees. A reduction in variability might be expected if olive cultivation was associated with a loss of genetic diversity.

There has been little practical research into the mechanics of olive domestication, but the process must have been quite different to that by which the Neolithic founder crops (cereals, pulses, and flax) were domesticated. The wild relatives of the field crops are predominantly self-pollinated annual plants, and can thus be reproductively isolated relatively easily. Any mutation that conveys a selective advantage under cultivation, such as non-dehiscence of legume pods, can quickly become dominant, not least because of the short generation span.

Olive trees, however, are wind-pollinated. It is thus almost impossible to isolate them reproductively in regions where wild olive trees occur; back-breeding will undo any evolution by artificial selection. Olives, like most other fruit trees, are therefore usually propagated by planting genetically-identical cuttings, not seeds. Without propagation by seed, however, useful mutations cannot occur. Genetic and morphological differences between wild and cultivated varieties can therefore only have emerged gradually286.

Because individual olive trees can live for centuries, moreover, cultivated varieties could have been in existence for a lengthy period before wild-type trees stopped producing fruit and contributing to the archaeobotanical record. Furthermore, the parts of the plant most often recorded, olive stones, are not intrinsically useful, and would thus not have faced the same selective pressure under cultivation as (for example) cereal chaff. Other things being equal, an increase in the size of the olive stone probably means a greater fruit yield, but other attributes, such as a higher oil content, were probably more useful to early olive cultivators287. We would therefore expect a significant time lag between the start of olive cultivation and the first archaeobotanical evidence of domestic varieties.

286 Cultivated trees would certainly have been pollinated by wild trees, but the value of such outcrossing would not have been evident unless hybrids were allowed to grow for several years. Few hybrids, in any case, would have been more useful than existing cultivated trees. 287 An obvious difference between wild and domestic trees is that the former have spiky bark (Zohary and Hopf 1993), which presumably serves a protective purpose in natural woodland but became redundant under orchard conditions. It seems unlikely that bark texture was the most valued characteristic of early cultivated varieties, however.

240 We have to assume that olive cultivation was preceded by a period of time in which wild olive trees were exploited intensively. From the forager’s perspective, the longevity of olive trees probably meant that particular trees could be recognised as being more productive than others, or as producing superior fruit. Consciously or not, these may have been fostered by the removal of competing but less useful trees. Eventually, farmers must have consciously chosen to propagate cuttings of favoured wild trees. The decision to propagate and cultivate olive trees, rather than any genetic mutation or morphological change in olives, can be regarded as the critical threshold defining olive domestication. Even after crossing this threshold, people probably continued to forage for wild olives.

It is assumed that wild olive trees grew within foraging distance of Ghassul in the Late Neolithic (contra Zohary and Hopf 1993), perhaps as survivors of the early Holocene humid phase (Chapter 2). Otherwise, we would have to assume that even in the Late Neolithic olives were cultivated nearby. It may be assumed that, without pack animals, whole olives were not routinely transported over long distances, although the more valuable olive oil may have been carried further.

Nevertheless, the Jordan Valley must have been at the margin of the natural habitat of wild olives, as the climate in the fifth millennium appears to have been similar to today’s (Chapter 2). This may have assisted the emergence of olive cultivation, particularly if the olive’s natural habitat was shrinking. In the earlier phases at Ghassul, olive remains are far more abundant than are remains of other wild plant foods. Increasing human impact during the Chalcolithic would eventually have led to domestication or to local extinction of wild olives.

F5 Summary

New olive stone measurements from Teleilat Ghassul show that the pattern found in earlier data (Meadows 2001b) is statistically robust. Olive stones from the later Chalcolithic phases are significantly less variable in length than are those from the Late Neolithic and earlier Chalcolithic phases. The contrast is similar to that between the Late Neolithic assemblage at Kfar Samir and late Chalcolithic assemblages at North Shuneh and Tell Abu Hamid.

It is assumed that this pattern is the result of olive cultivation, but it is unclear how great a time lag there would have been between the start of cultivation and its expression in the archaeobotanical record. It is harder to be persuaded that the Late Neolithic-early Chalcolithic olives at Ghassul and Kfar Samir were from wild trees than it is to accept that olives were domesticated by the late Chalcolithic. This is because there are no real wild olive populations left; olives growing in the wild are either feral cultivars, or products of cross-pollination by domestic or feral olive trees (Kislev 1994-95). Consequently, modern ‘wild’ olive material is genetically more ‘domestic’ than the earliest cultivated olives.

241 Cultivation would have been accompanied by a loss of genetic diversity, because olives are propagated from cuttings, not from seeds. Whether the reduction in phenotypic diversity (the reduced variance in olive stone lengths) was directly due to loss of genetic diversity, or to cultivation within a narrower range of growing conditions than prevailed in nature, has not been investigated. The fact that all late Chalcolithic and later assemblages (from sites in a wide range of environments) were less variable than the ‘wild’ olives at Kfar Samir and Teleilat Ghassul suggests that restricted growing conditions do not account for the uniformity of cultivated olives.

The location of Teleilat Ghassul, and the other Jordan Valley sites, probably favoured the early attempts at olive cultivation. In more mesic regions to the north and west, the incentive to protect and propagate valuable wild olive trees would have been lower. When olives were domesticated, however, these regions held greater potential than the Jordan Valley.

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267 Tables

Table 1.1: plateaus in the radiocarbon calibration curve, early Holocene

calibrated date radiocarbon age material cultures (see Chapter 3)

9900–9300 cal BC 10,200–9900BP ‘Khiamian’ PPNA?

9200–8300 cal BC 9700–9100BP ‘Sultanian’ PPNA/Early PPNB (?)

8200–7600 cal BC 9000–8600BP Middle PPNB

7500–7060 cal BC 8400–8100BP Late PPNB

7030–6500 cal BC 8000–7700BP PPNC

Table 1.2: periodisation used in this thesis

calibrated date uncalibrated notional period includes range equivalent snapshot

I 9200–8300 cal BC 9700–9100BP 9000 cal BC later PPNA, ‘EPPNB’

II 8200–7600 cal BC 9000–8600BP 8000 cal BC MPPNB

III 7500–6500 cal BC 8400–7700BP 7000 cal BC LPPNB, PPNC

IV 6400–5500 cal BC 7500–6600BP 6000 cal BC Jericho IX/PNA, Yarmoukian

Jericho VIII/PNB, Qatifian, Ghrubba, V 5400–4400 cal BC 6500–5500BP 5000 cal BC Wadi Rabah, early Chalcolithic

VI 4300–3700 cal BC 5500–4900BP 4000 cal BC late/‘developed’ Chalcolithic

268 Table 2.1: summary of palaeoenvironmental data, 10,000–4000 cal BC. Chronology of pollen diagrams follows Appendix A and Meadows (forthcoming) Soreq Cave sedimentology marine pollen Ghab pollen diagrams snail shell Dead Sea level Huleh pollen diagram stable isotopes (Hourani and Courty date (Rossignol-Strick (Niklewski and van Zeist stable isotopes (Frumkin et al 1994; overall trends (Baruch and Bottema 1999) (Bar-Matthews 1998; Gvirtzman and 1995; 1999) 1970; Yasuda et al 2000) (Goodfriend 1999) Yechieli et al 1993) et al 1997) Wieder 2001)

Yasuda et al zone 3: zone 5: steep rise in olive, hiatus? then increases in δ18O and δ13C drier, probably 4000 cal BC δ13C depleted phase 3/E5: erosion, no data decline in Pistacia and oak evergreen oak, pine and values ~ modern above -390m, rising similar to (ca 5200BP) (moderately as dry as at present influx olive, sharp fall in after 5000 cal BC today’s climate humid) deciduous oak influx

δ18O rising;

minimum ca phase 2/E6: 5000 cal BC 6000BP below -404m? pedogenesis, (ca 6100BP) zone 4: AP 30-40%; moderately wet Pistacia remains high, spike in δ18O Niklewski and van Zeist increasing evergreen oak, ca 6000 cal BC: Z2-3: AP >60%; rising early Holocene olive, cereal-type steady dry episode? Pistacia phase, olive, high Pistacia phase 2/E7: optimum: warm 6000 cal BC above -360m, but humid with mild zone 3: sharp fall in 18 erosion, dry interval and wet, with (ca 7100BP) lowest δ O, dropping rapidly winters and dry deciduous oak influx, Yasuda et al zone 2: peak 13 13 (6000 cal BC?) acute but brief δ C depleted highest δ C, summers Pistacia increases, cereal in deciduous oak, rising arid episode ca (very humid) in last 25ka: type rises, olive appears evergreen oak, first cereal- 6000 cal BC rainfall ‘almost 7000 cal BC type and olive pollen δ18O falling twice’ modern phase 1/E8: (ca 8000BP) peaks above -270m pedogenesis,

rainfall ~double 8000 cal BC rising rapidly after today’s (ca 8900BP) 8000 cal BC

zone 2: AP >50%; (E9: brief dry episode) transitional: rapid deciduous oak dominant, 13 18 (possibly below -410m) Yasuda et al zone 1: sharp δ C depleted δ O falling rise in deciduous some Pistacia and warmer, wetter: 9000 cal BC rise in deciduous oak, (very humid) (relatively wet) phase 1/E10: oak; warmer, evergreen oak ca 9000 cal BC: perhaps wetter (ca 9500BP) decreases in chenopods, pedogenesis, spring/summer above -410m? than today Artemisia δ18O near modern low δ13C relatively wet rainfall

10,000 cal Chenopodiaceae/ Niklewski and van Zeist peak of halite formation: zone 1: AP <30%; peaks in spike in δ18O: Younger Dryas: Artemisia phase, Y5: AP <30%; peaks in no data below -420m; complete E11: loess, arid BC Chenopodiaceae, Artemisia arid episode? cold and arid (ca 10,300BP) cold and arid chenopods, Artemisia desiccation?

269 Table 3.1: summary of subsistence data, 9000–4000 cal BC

period, dates, material settlement archaeobotanical evidence archaeozoological evidence economic basis comment culture(s) pattern Jordan VI. 4000 cal BC Abu Hamid: domestic cereals and pulses, most data from Jordan Valley, Teleilat Ghassul: sheep-goat, cattle, Valley, arboriculture established; hunting and (5200BP) abundant olive remains, rare flax; some fig, no even if highlands are settled; pigs; some gazelle foothills, gathering insignificant other wild fruits nothing much in desert zone late Chalcolithic highlands V. 5000 cal BC Tabaqat al Buma: domestic cereals Teleilat Ghassul: sheep-goat, cattle, (6100BP) mixed farming hamlets, wild olive data from Tell Abu Hamid pigs; gazelle rare Jordan Valley Tell Wadi Faynan: domestic cereals; occasional widely exploited; early phases not yet available; early Chalcolithic, and side pulse, fig, Pistacia? Tell Wadi Faynan: mainly sheep, few dearth of data in central and Wadi Rabah, Jericho wadis coastal sites have more pigs, cattle cattle eastern Jordan VIII/PNB, Qatifian Tell Tsaf: domestic cereals, pulses; fig and olive Abu Thawwab: mainly sheep-goat, some gazelle, cattle ’Ain Ghazal: 70% sheep-goat, rest ’Ain Rahub: domestic cereals, flax pigs, cattle, gazelle, equid

Abu Thawwab: domestic cereals, pulses Azraq 31: no aurochs, more sheep- almost no plant data from goat, but still mainly hunted species IV. 6000 cal BC Tabaqat al Buma: domestic cereals highlands: mixed farming and Jordan; poor preservation at (7100BP) small herding; hunting and gathering of Sha’ar Hagolan; best data from Burqu’ 27: mainly sheep-goat Ras Shamra: several domestic cereal varieties, dispersed minor importance north Syria (Ras Shamra, Sabi Yarmoukian, Jericho lentils, peas, flax; pulses less important than in Dhuweila: mainly gazelle settlements Abyad) IX/PNA period III; wild fruits and nuts relatively rare desert: pastoralists and hunting camps Jebel Na’ja: sheep-goat, hare, gazelle pulses never predominate Tell Sabi Abyad: wheat and barley dominant, plus flax; occasional pulses Tabaqat al Buma: mainly sheep-goat; cattle, pig Wadi Shu’eib: mainly sheep-goat, some pig/boar, cattle, and gazelle

270 ’Ain Abu Nekheileh: sheep-goat pastoralists? ’Ain Ghazal: 70% sheep-goat, rest ’Ain Ghazal: cache of pulses in LPPNB, nothing pigs, cattle, gazelle in PPNC Azraq 31: mainly aurochs, wild Azraq 31: mainly wild plants, rare domestic equids, gazelle; some hare, sheep-goat cereals most data from small eastern Basta: majority domestic sheep-goat, integrated farming and herding desert sites; reliant on Basta, Basta: domestic wheat, barley, pulses, plus wild equids, aurochs, and gazelle economy, decreasing reliance on ’Ain Ghazal for information III. 7000 cal BC large central gathered Pistacia, almond, and fig common; possible domestic pig, cow hunting and gathering; emphasis about large settlements in (8000BP) places in Dhuweila: mostly gazelle hunting; reversed in desert zone, where Jordan; best archaeobotanical LPPNB/PPNC Dhuweila: wild plants only highlands occasional hare, equid, domestic hunting and gathering are still data from Atlit Yam, Tell Jilat 13: local cultivation of domestic cereals; few sheep-goat dominant Ramad, Ras Shamra (where pulses, some wild food plants olive stones first appear) Jilat 13: hare, gazelle as important as as-Sifiya: domestic field crops sheep-goat Ghoraifé: declining use of gathered plant foods as-Sifiya: domestic sheep-goat, wild cattle and pig Wadi Shu’eib: mainly sheep-goat, some pig/boar, cattle, and gazelle ’Ain Ghazal: peas and lentils, plus domestic cereals, chickpeas; fig, almond, pistachio ’Ain Ghazal: 50% domestic goat plus wide variety of wild animals only Beidha and Jilat 7 data Beidha: domestic wheat and barley; pulses, fig, fully published; full publication and Pistacia Beidha: 85% wild (?) bezoar goat, of ’Ain Ghazal and Ghwair I is farming (of all the founder crops) II. 8000 cal BC plus gazelle, boar, aurochs, onager shift to critical Jilat 7: wild and domestic cereals; pulses, fig, and supplemented by gathered plant (8900BP) highlands, Pistacia Jilat 7: hare, gazelle, fox foods; herding and hunting equally eastern desert MPPNB important Jericho: complete suite of ‘founder crops’? Jericho: sheep-goat herding, plus curious phenomenon of pulse- Yiftah’el: caches of beans, lentils gazelle, boar, aurochs dominated assemblages (’Ain Ghazal, Yiftah’el, Çayönü) Çayönü: pulses predominate, no barley; many Çayönü: no domesticates wild fruits and nuts

I. 9000 cal BC hunting and gathering supplemented nothing published in Jordan Netiv Hagdud: pre-domestic cultivation? of sites on (9500BP) by pre-domestic cultivation of cereals comparable to Netiv Hagdud or barley; wide range of wild species exploited alluvial fans PPNA (later) and ?pulses Tell Aswad

271 Table 4.1: archaeobotanical samples processed, ZAD2

Structure 1 Structure 2NW Structure 2SE Structure 3 vol vol vol vol square context square context square context square context (L) (L) (L) (L) E26 2.3 4.0 J22 3.3 0.5 M27 2.1 5.0 U22 2.3 1.0 E26 5.1 4.0 J22 4.1 3.0 M27 2.2 4.0 U22 2.2 1.0 E27 2.1 4.0 J22 5.1 2.5 M27 2.3 3.5 U22 4.1 2.0 E27 2.2 4.0 J22 6.1 1.0 M27 3.1 3.0 U22 4.2 1.5 E27 2.3 4.0 J22 6.2 5.0 M27 4.1 2.5 U22 5.1 1.5 E27 2.4 4.0 J23 4.1 3.5 N27 2.1 2.5 U22 5.2 3.0 E28 6.2 4.0 J24 2.1 4.0 N27 2.2 3.0 V22 3.2 1.5 E28 6.3 4.0 J24 2.3 4.0 N27 2.3 3.0 V22 4.1 1.0 E28 6.4 4.0 L22 2.3 3.0 N27 3.1 3.0 V22 5.1 1.3 E28 6.5 4.0 J25 3.1a 5.0 N27 3.2 3.5 V22 6.1 0.8 E28 10.1 4.0 J25 3.1b 1.5 N27 4.1a 3.0 V22 7.1 2.0 E28 10.2 4.0 J25 3.5 5.0 N27 4.1b 4.0 V22 7.2 1.0 E28 11.1 4.0 J25 3.1 0.5 O27 2.1–3 4.0 U22 5.3 1.0 E28 12.1 4.0 K20 1.1 4.5 O27 3.1–2 4.0 U22 5.4 2.0 E28 12.2 4.0 K22 3.4 0.5 O27 4.1a 4.0 U22 5.5 1.0 E28 13.1 4.0 K22 5.1 1.5 O27 4.1b 2.0 V22 5.2 1.0 E28 14.1a 0.5 K22 6.1 2.0 Structure 2NE V22 5.3 1.0 E28 14.1b 4.0 K22 6.3 1.5 M20 1.1 5.0 V22 5.5 1.5 E28 14.2 4.0 K23 3.1 3.0 M20 3.2 6.5 V22 7.3 1.0 E28 15.1a 4.0 K23 3.2 2.0 N20 3.1 6.0 V22 7.4a 2.0 E28 15.1b 4.0 K23 3.3 2.0 N20 3.2 5.0 V22 7.4b 0.5 E28 16.1 4.0 K23 4.1 2.0 O20 3.1 6.0 V22 7.5 1.0 E28 17.1 4.0 K23 5.1 3.0 O20 3.2 5.0 V22 8.2 1.0 E28 18.1 4.0 L20 1.1 4.5 P21 2.1 4.5 V22 8.3 1.0 E28 18.2 4.0 L20 2.1 4.0 P21 2.2 4.0 V22 8.4 3.0 E28 20.3 1.5 L20 3.1 5.0 P21 3.1 5.0 V22 9.2 3.0 E28 21.3 4.0 L20 3.2a 6.0 Structure 2 exterior V22 10.1 3.0 E28 22.1a 2.0 L22 3.2b 2.0 N28 2.1 3.0 V22 11.1 3.5 E28 22.1b 0.5 L22 3.3a 1.5 N28 2.2 1.0 Structure 4 E28 22.2 4.0 L22 3.3b 1.5 N28 3.1 3.0 Q9 1.3 3.0 E28 24.2 0.5 L22 4.1 3.5 N28 3.2 3.0 Q10 1.2 4.0 E28 25.1 0.5 L23 3.1 4.0 N28 4.1a 0.5 Q10 2.1 3.0 F26 8.2 4.0 L23 3.2 4.0 N28 4.1b 3.0 Q10 2.2 3.0 Burial L23 4.1 1.5 I25 1.3 4.0 L23 5.1 2.0 I25 1.4 4.0

272 Table 4.2: archaeobotanical samples processed, JHF001

Area J square ‘locus’ basket vol (L) J16 247 11597 46 K17 259 11887 6 K17 265 12081 14 K17 265 12115 14 K17 266 12011 15 L16 242 11629 7 L17 265 11999 22 Area M L14 12 10067 7 M15 49 10890 8 M15 51 10595 12

Table 4.3: archaeobotanical samples processed, WZ120

sample trench context bag no. vol (L) 397013 S5 007 10 14 397016 S5 015 24 12 397018 S5 015 32 10 397028 S5 013 16 17 397030 S5 011 23 15 397032 S5 010 17 14 397034 S5 012 15 8 397036 S5 010 14 17 397040 S5 017 34 13 397043 P5 032 33 5 397044 P5 034 34 1 952086 T6 013 22 20 952088 T6 014 23 14 952090 T6 015 24 23 952092 T6 016 25 13 952094 T6 017 27 14 952096 T6 018 29 8 952097 T6 012 19 17 952099 T6 019 30 14 952101 T6 020 31 6 952104 T6 022 33 13 962011 R5 012 16 24 962013 R5 015 17 18 962016 R5 016 20 10 962017 R5 018 22 22 962019 R5 019 23 20 962022 R5 022 27 22 962025 R5 023 28 24 962027 R5 024 29 24 962030 R5 026 30 13 962032 R5 025 31 20 962042 R5 027 33 8

273 Table 4.4: archaeobotanical samples processed, ash-Shalaf

sample trench context vol (L) 7700 1 17 1.7 7701 1 17 5.0 7702 1 17 6.5 7704 1 19 2.0 7705 1 22 0.6 7706 1 23 0.1 7707 1 17 2.5 7708 1 17 2.8 7709 1 17 2.8 7710 1 19 7.0 7711 1 19 6.3 7712 1 19 1.2 7713 1 19 11.5 7714 1 22 3.0 7715 1 17 6.5 7716 M7 53 3.5 7717 M7 54 2.5 7718 1 65 0.8 7719 M7 57 0.1 7720 M8 50 0.3 7721 M6 12 2.5 7722 L8 87 0.1 7723 L7 91 0.2 7724 M6 15 0.6 7725 M6 14 0.5 7726 M6 13 1.0 7727 M6 18 0.2 7728 L7 93 0.7 7729 L7 99 0.5 7730 M8 97 1.0 7731 L7 93 1.5

Table 4.5: archaeobotanical samples processed, Pella

trench context vol (L) phase XXXIID 72.01 19 Early Bronze Age XXXIIF 17.03 29 late Chalcolithic XXXIIF 17.09 44 late Chalcolithic XXXIIF 17.18 50 late Chalcolithic XXXIIF 20.03 53.5 late Chalcolithic XXXIIF 20.11 3 late Chalcolithic XXXIIF 20.16 50 late Chalcolithic XXXIIF 20.19 10 middle Chalcolithic XXXIIF 20.39 35 middle Chalcolithic XXXIID 87.01 13 early Chalcolithic XXXIID 88.01 55 early Chalcolithic XXXIIF 20.37 54 early Chalcolithic XXXIIF 20.42 52 Late Neolithic XXXIIF 20.45 51 Late Neolithic

274 Table 4.6: archaeobotanical samples processed, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season

trench context vol (L) excavator’s description AXI 76.02 25 compacted buff occupation layers AXI 76.05 26 pit AXI 76.06 24 floor deposit AXI 76.07 25 floor and surfaces AXI 76.10 10 occupation surface AXI 76.13 11 AXI 76.14 - AXI 76.15 7 burnt ... on surface AXI 76.18 27 AXI 76.19 26 pit AXI 76.22 25 occupation surfaces AXI 76.24 30 occupation surfaces AXI 76.26 22 pit (first sample) AXI 76.26 5 pit (second sample) AXI 76.29 11 AXI 78.01 21 occupation surfaces AXIII 1.05 4 ash pit AXIII 2.01 18 plaster floor AXIII 2.02 17 (fill of plaster-lined orthostat bin) AXIII 2.04 8 top (of) pit AXIII 2.06 - (fabric of plaster bin) AXIII 2.06 - (contents of) possible grain storage bin AXIII 2.10 11 plaster floor remnants occupation surfaces AXIII 6.03 11 occupation surface inside room AXIII 6.03 6 bottom of occupation surface inside room AXIII 6.04 36 occupation surface inside room AXIII 7.05 23 stone-lined pit AXIII 7.13 18 between two walls AXIII 8.01 31 occupation surfaces against wall AXIII 9.01 17 occupation surfaces AXIII 9.02 17 occupation surfaces AXIII 9.03 13 plaster-lined pit AXIII 9.10 15 bricky wall fill and good floor deposit below AXIII 9.11 5 plastery bin fill with grey-brown silt below it AXIII 9.13 17 floor deposit EXXIV 12.12 17 EXXIV 12.13 20 orange-brown fill EXXIV 12.15 17 grey compact EXXIV 12.24 17 dark brown clayey fill between plaster floors EXXIV 12.27 18 brown clayey sub-surface EXXIV 12.32 18 sandy fill, thick layer, possibly windblown EXXIV 12.35 16 mudbricky collapse, possibly onto floor EXXIV 12.36 14 hard compact grey surface against wall Sanctuary B EXXIV 12.39 14 sandy fill EXXIV 12.42 15 patches of orange and black under F27 EXXIV 12.46 16 fill above destruction EXXIV 12.48 14 destruction layer over surface EXXIV 12.50 12 surface below destruction EXXIV 12.52 11 clayey-brown compact above plaster surface EXXIV 12.56 12 orange clayey fill? above white surface EXXIV 12.58 13 grey soft below plaster floor EXXIV 12.60 - black burnt deposit EXXIV 12.62 5 fill F29 EXXVII 2.14 - contents firepit/oven? EXXVII 2.16 - contents firepit/oven? EXXVII 2.25 10 plaster surface with orange clay subfloor EXXVII 2.28 11 beneath orange-brick tumble (F7)

275 EXXVII 2.29 13 under brick slurry, on plaster floor EXXVII 2.40 17 plaster surface, chopped up with mudbrick EXXVII 2.41 16 white plaster surface EXXVII 2.44 38 laminated surfaces EXXVII 2.45 15 laminated plaster surfaces EXXVII 2.45 - laminated plaster surfaces Wall 4 south face EXXVII 2.52 16 mudbrick/plaster, very compact EXXVII 2.54 9 laminated surfaces EXXVII 2.55 5 GIV 30.03 6 laminated surfaces associated with Wall 1 GIV 30.05 6 soft brown and grey associated with Wall 1 GIV 30.10 - grey ashy lenses GIV 30.11 10 GIV 30.12 6 Wall 1 mudbrick GIV 30.13 5 soft brown silt GIV 30.15 12 mixed fill GIV 30.18 24 mudbrick collapse GIV 30.22 14 GIV 30.23 - GIV 30.24 - GIV 30.27 11 laminated surfaces GIV 30.28 7 GIV 30.28 - very fine pit fill GIV 30.31 12 soft brown GIV 30.35 12 laminated surfaces GIV 30.36 12 soft grey-brown sub-floor GIV 30.41 7 mixed surfaces cut by F11 GIV 30.42 15 laminated surfaces GIV 30.43 11 laminated surfaces GIV 30.44 16 NI 12.05 16 surface NI 12.09 11 fire pit NI 12.12 16 surface NI 12.15 5 NI 12.17 - NI 12.19 - NI 12.20 5 surface NI 12.21 7 surface NI 12.22 17 laminated surfaces NI 12.26 5 pit fill NI 12.29 11 pit fill NI 14.02 - Wall 12 NI 14.03 - NI 15.01 4 NI 15.02 20 pit fill NI 15.04 10 NI 15.05 18 carbonised seeds amid bricky slurry NI 15.07 17 NI 15.11 - NIII 1.04 - top plaster floor in NE corner NIII 2.01 10 plaster-flecked floor, near surface NIII 2.01 - 4th of 6 floor layers in NE corner NIII 2.02 5 charcoal-rich F.O. pit NIII 2.02 6 fire pit NIII 2.02 5 5cm below previous samples of 2.2 NIII 2.04 - 5th of 6 floor layers in bldg E of F1 NIII 2.09 - ash/charcoal towards base of F9 NIII 3.01 24 white plaster-flecked compact sandy silt floor NIII 3.02 22 dark brown sandy silt under 3.1 NIII 3.03 6 brown silty sand under 3.2

276 NIII 3.06 4 plaster floor NIII 6.01 16 plaster floor level NIII 6.04 5 brown silty sand fill of posthole F15 NIII 6.05 - sandy silt fill of posthole F16 NIII 6.07 8 brown loose silty sand fill of F17 NIII 7.03 - mixed-up floor level NIII 7.04 - fill of F20 NIII 7.05 - fill of F21 NIII 8.01 6 sandy silt plaster-flecked fill of brick-lined pit NIII 8.02 9 silty sand deposit...within F13 NIII 8.02 - black organic sandy silt within 8.1 NIII 8.05 - black charcoal deposit within F13 NIII 8.10 - NIII 8.12 - fill of F19 NIII 8.13 - fill of posthole F18 NIII 9.03 - yellow white floor with charcoal flecks NIII 9.18 17 50cm spit off baulk E.S.2 NIII 9.20 6 primary fill of F9 QI 15.04 25 100% fill of shallow pit, probably relatively modern QI 15.10 50 burial QI 15.10 49 100% of large pit (burial) QI 15.16 2.5 grey ‘puffy’ deposit - residue over surface? QI 15.18 15 secondary fill of F36, 5% of deposit QI 15.20 - fill of small pit at base of F36 posthole? QI 15.21 16 primary fill of F36, 5% of deposit QI 15.26 22 courtyard surfaces dug in 10cm spits QI 15.27 18 3rd 10cm spit, mixed courtyard deposits QI 15.30 19 6th 10cm spit, mixed courtyard deposits QI 15.31 20 7th 10cm spit, mixed courtyard deposits QI 17.04 ? ashy fill, interior of structure QI 17.06 ? 75% deposit, shallow pit cut into mudbrick feature QI 17.09 6 thin light grey surface 100% sampled QI 17.09 8 ashy surface QI 17.10 52 surface 100% QI 17.10 13 floor surface, deposit south of sondage QI 17.11 16 vestigial plaster floor QI 17.12 11 fill of pit QI 17.13 5 top 10cm of fill QI 17.13 11 fill of F40, 5% of deposit QI 17.13 - fill of F40 pit, second spit, 10-20cm down QI 17.18 4 fill of plaster channel installation F38 QI 17.21 14 primary fill of F40 pit QI 17.28 17 4th 10 cm spit courtyard mixed deposits QI 21.1 15 ash-filled pit, equals 17.04 QI 21.6 18 mixed interior deposits, 10cm spits QI 22.1 17 dark reddish-brown occupation/production? surface QI 22.3 5 debris over occupation surface QIII 1.04 21 floor, 2cm from modern surface QIII 1.07 9 fill of ‘horseshoe’ installation QIII 1.08 16 floor QIII 1.09 16 floor QIII 2.02 15 laminated floors QIII 3.01 5 bin fill QIII 4.02 - fill of firepit QIII 4.06 34 fill of plastered bin QIII 4.06 17 fill of plastered bin QIII 5.3 18 courtyard surfaces QIII 5.5 13 primary surface (associated with) Wall 2 QIII 7.3 7 pit fill (upper sample) QIII 7.3 5 pit fill (lower sample)

277 Table 5.1: identified plant remains, Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2, by context (Structure 1)

Structure 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Locus 02 05 06 08 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 21 22 24 25 samples 5 1 4 1 2 1 2 1 3 2 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 volume (L) 20 4 16 4 8 4 8 4 8.5 8 4 4 8 1.5 4 6.5 0.5 0.5 wheat (Triticum sp.) grain 1 . 1 ...... 1 ...... wheat spikelet fork ...... wheat glume base ...... 2 . 1 1 ...... ‘wild’ barley (Hordeum sp.) grain . . . . . 2 3 . 1 2 . 1 1 . . . . . ‘domestic’ barley grain ...... 3 ...... 1 . 1 . . barley grain indet. 1 . . . . . 1 2 2 2 1 . . . . 2 . . barley lateral floret base . . 1 . 1 7 84 25 33 18 8 6 6 1 . 9 3 . ‘wild’ barley rachis internode 1 . . . . . 2 . 1 2 . 1 1 . . 1 . . ‘domestic’ barley rachis . . . . 1 . 1 . 1 1 ...... indet. barley rachis . . . . . 3 11 1 1 3 . 2 2 . . 5 1 . cereal grain fragments 34 3 20 15 18 50 180 40 31 87 9 19 20 6 1 11 2 . cereal culm node ...... 1 ...... cereal culm base ...... 1 ...... lentil (Lens sp.) 1 . 2 . . . 2 2 2 1 1 1 . . . 1 . . pea/vetch (Vicieae) type 1 . 2 . 1 1 1 2 2 4 1 5 1 . . 5 . . grass pea (Lathyrus) type ...... indet. pulse fragments 56 4 54 6 20 24 50 75 69 96 35 50 27 1 1 9 6 . Pistacia sp. fragments 1 . 1 1 1 20 21 3 15 44 12 15 13 . 4 24 5 . cf. Pistacia fragments 34 4 16 50 23 210 260 60 299 780 270 225 365 . 62 199 44 2 fig (Ficus sp.) seeds 13 1 3 . 1 12 17 12 40 191 28 58 21 2 1 32 12 2 Aizoon hispanicum m m m m m m m m m m m 2 1 . m 1 . . Carthamus/Centaurea ...... Asteraceae indet...... Cerastium sp...... 1 ...... Silene sp...... 1 ...... Heliotropium sp...... 1 ...... Arnebia/Lithospermum ...... m . . . . . m 1 . . Salsola sp...... Chenopodiaceae 1 . . m 1 1 1 1 1 . 4 . 1 . . . . . Carex type ...... 1 . . . . . Cyperaceae ...... small-seeded legumes indet. 1 . 2 . . . 3 1 2 . . . 1 . 1 . . . Onobrychis sp...... Onobrychis pod fragments? ...... 5 1 2 1 . . 12 . . Geraniaceae ‘twist’ ...... Bupleurum sp...... Ornithogalum-type ...... 1 . . . . 1 . 1 . 1 . . Liliaceae indet...... Malva sp...... Plantago sp. . 1 . . . m . . 6 3 4 3 1 . . 2 1 . Bromus sp...... Stipa sp...... 1 3 . 1 2 ...... Avena sp...... Avena/Stipa awn frag.ment ...... 1 . 4 4 3 2 3 . 1 2 . . Setaria type ...... 1 . . grass bulbil - cf. Poa sp...... small grass - sharp apex ...... 1 . . . . . small grass - blunt apex ...... grass seeds indet. m ...... 2 ...... grass seed fragments . . . . . 3 8 5 6 11 . . 1 . . 4 . . Solanaceae indet...... Verbena sp...... Thymelaea? ...... unknown - Cyperaceae? ...... indeterminate seeds ...... 2 . 10 2 . total identifiable 20 2 11 2 5 29 139 47 102 249 57 88 46 7 4 88 19 2 identifiables/L 1.0 0.5 0.7 0.4 0.7 7.3 17.4 11.7 12.0 31.2 14.2 22.1 5.7 4.7 0.9 13.6 39.0 4.0

278 Table 5.1: identified plant remains, Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2, by context (Structure 2)

Structure 2NW 2NW2NW 2NW 2NW 2SE 2SE 2SE J25 N28 N28 Locus 02 03 04 05 06 02 03 04 03 03 04 samples 3 10 5 4 4 2 4 5 3 2 2 volume (L) 11 21.5 13.5 9 9.5 6.5 12 15.5 7 3 2 wheat (Triticum sp.) grain ...... 2 1 . . wheat spikelet fork . . . . . 1 1 . . . . wheat glume base . 3 . . . 3 9 4 2 . . ‘wild’ barley (Hordeum sp.) grain . 1 . . . 2 1 9 . . . ‘domestic’ barley grain . . 2 . . 1 . 5 . . . barley grain indet. 1 1 1 . . . 1 13 . . . barley lateral floret base . 40 24 12 4 14 60 81 5 2 1 ‘wild’ barley rachis internode . 3 2 1 . 1 6 4 . 1 . ‘domestic’ barley rachis . 2 . . . . . 5 . . . indet. barley rachis 1 9 6 2 . 7 20 14 . 1 . cereal grain fragments 54 18 5 3 2 113 284 403 1 . . cereal culm node 1 ...... cereal culm base ...... lentil (Lens sp.) . . . . . 4 9 5 1 . . pea/vetch (Vicieae) type 1 6 . . 1 5 20 20 2 . . grass pea (Lathyrus) type ...... 2 . . . . indet. pulse fragments 32 52 13 1 . 90 200 182 62 1 . Pistacia sp. fragments 5 37 35 9 1 41 224 276 15 5 3 cf. Pistacia fragments 163 1060 670 434 17 2257 8976 10300 918 73 114 fig (Ficus sp.) seeds 1 25 21 7 2 13 150 76 2 . 2 Aizoon hispanicum m 13 1 m m 1 25 64 m m m Carthamus/Centaurea ...... 7 . . . Asteraceae indet...... 2 12 . . . . Cerastium sp...... Silene sp. m ...... Heliotropium sp. m ...... Arnebia/Lithospermum ...... Salsola sp...... 1 . . . Chenopodiaceae . m m . . 4 3 3 . . . Carex type ...... Cyperaceae ...... 1 . . . . small-seeded legumes indet. 1 . 1 . . . 3 5 . . . Onobrychis sp. . . 1 ...... Onobrychis pod fragments? ...... 3 . . . Geraniaceae ‘twist’ ...... 1 . . . . Bupleurum sp...... 1 1 . . . . Ornithogalum-type . . . . . 2 2 2 . 1 . Liliaceae indet. . 1 . 1 ...... Malva sp...... 1 . . 1 . . Plantago sp...... Bromus sp. . 1 1 ...... Stipa sp. . 1 1 . . . 12 8 . . . Avena sp. . 3 . . . . 1 1 . . . Avena/Stipa awn frag.ment . 3 3 1 . 2 9 20 6 . 1 Setaria type . 1 . . . 1 24 24 . . . grass bulbil - cf. Poa sp...... 8 59 . . . small grass - sharp apex . . . . . 5 14 5 . . . small grass - blunt apex . 1 ...... grass seeds indet. . 1 1 . . 3 3 21 . . . grass seed fragments . 21 2 2 . 20 37 55 5 . . Solanaceae indet...... 1 . . . Verbena sp...... 1 . . . . Thymelaea? ...... 2 . . . . unknown - Cyperaceae? ...... 212 344 . . . indeterminate seeds . 36 13 4 . 56 200 117 7 7 . total identifiable 8 164 85 32 7 152 905 1029 36 13 5 identifiables/L 0.7 7.6 6.3 3.6 0.8 23.4 75.4 66.4 5.2 4.3 2.6

279 Table 5.1: identified plant remains, Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2, by context (Structure 3)

Structure 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 total frequency frequency Locus 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 (ancient) % samples % loci samples 2 1 3 9 1 6 3 1 1 1 N = 105 N = 39 volume (L) 2 1.5 4.5 13.3 0.75 7.5 5 3 3 3.5 256 wheat (Triticum sp.) grain . . 1 ...... 6 7 10 wheat spikelet fork ...... 2 . . . 4 3 8 wheat glume base . . . . . 2 1 . . . 26 21 26 ‘wild’ barley (Hordeum sp.) grain . . . . . 2 . 1 . . 26 17 31 ‘domestic’ barley grain . . . 3 . . . . . 2 18 14 21 barley grain indet. . . 1 ...... 29 15 31 barley lateral floret base . . 2 25 . 10 23 30 7 10 544 72 77 ‘wild’ barley rachis internode . . . 5 . . 2 . . . 33 23 41 ‘domestic’ barley rachis ...... 2 . 13 10 18 indet. barley rachis 1 . . 8 . 2 6 12 1 2 120 47 59 cereal grain fragments 6 1 11 34 1 32 25 6 9 15 1568 76 90 cereal culm node . . . 1 . . . 1 . . 4 4 10 cereal culm base ...... 1 1 3 lentil (Lens sp.) . . 1 . . . 1 . . . 33 20 33 pea/vetch (Vicieae) type . . 1 ...... 80 30 41 grass pea (Lathyrus) type ...... 1 3 3 5 indet. pulse fragments . . 4 7 . 3 1 3 1 1 1173 67 82 Pistacia sp. fragments . 1 . 16 1 . 5 7 2 5 845 67 85 cf. Pistacia fragments 7 4 23 339 7 47 138 144 38 27 27554 96 97 fig (Ficus sp.) seeds . . 2 12 . 4 5 1 1 1 767 77 79 Aizoon hispanicum m m m m m m 1+m . m m 108 18 23 Carthamus/Centaurea ...... 7 2 3 Asteraceae indet...... 14 4 5 Cerastium sp...... 1 1 3 Silene sp...... 1 1 3 Heliotropium sp...... 1 1 3 Arnebia/Lithospermum . . . m . m m m . m 1 1 3 Salsola sp...... 1 1 3 Chenopodiaceae ...... 21 13 21 Carex type ...... 1 1 3 Cyperaceae ...... 1 1 3 small-seeded legumes indet. . . . 1 . . 1 1 . . 24 17 33 Onobrychis sp...... 1 1 3 Onobrychis pod fragments? ...... 1 1 . 26 10 15 Geraniaceae ‘twist’ ...... 1 . . . 2 2 5 Bupleurum sp...... 2 2 5 Ornithogalum-type ...... 10 10 21 Liliaceae indet...... 2 2 5 Malva sp. . . 1 m ...... 2 3 8 Plantago sp...... 1 . . . 22 10 21 Bromus sp...... 2 2 5 Stipa sp. . . 1 4 . . . 4 1 2 41 22 33 Avena sp. . . . 1 ...... 6 5 10 Avena/Stipa awn frag.ment . . . 5 . . 1 1 2 1 68 32 54 Setaria type 1 ...... 52 12 15 grass bulbil - cf. Poa sp. . . . 1 ...... 68 7 8 small grass - sharp apex ...... 25 8 10 small grass - blunt apex . . . 1 ...... 2 2 5 grass seeds indet. . . 1 2 ...... 34 11 21 grass seed fragments . . . 6 . 2 3 4 2 3 195 37 51 Solanaceae indet...... 1 1 3 Verbena sp...... 1 1 3 Thymelaea? ...... 2 1 3 unknown - Cyperaceae? ...... 556 7 5 indeterminate seeds . . . 8 . . 1 5 1 1 455 38 41 total identifiable 3 0 12 81 0 20 46 59 17 20 3613 identifiables/L 1.5 0.03 2.7 6.1 0.1 2.7 9.3 19.5 5.8 5.8 14.1

280 Notes to Table 5.1:

1. all identifications are somewhat uncertain, due to fragmentary nature of remains; counts and frequencies include probable and doubtful identifications 2. unless specified, plant organ identified was seed (broadly defined) 3. m = modern (not included in count or frequency results) 4. ‘total identifiable’ includes all taxa except: cereal grain fragments, pulse fragments, grass seed fragments and modern remains; total includes Pistacia fragments divided by 100 (estimated number of fragments per whole nut) 5. ‘frequency % sample’ is the percentage of samples analysed containing that taxon 6. ‘frequency % loci’ is the percentage of loci containing that taxon 7. Structure 2NW includes excavation squares J22, J23, K22, K23, L22 and L23; Structure 2SE includes excavation squares M27, N27 and O27 8. J25 samples came from a burial feature against the outside wall of Structure 2NW 9. N28 samples were from deposits against the outside wall of Structure 2SE.

281 Table 5.2: identified plant remains, Wadi Fidan 1 (JHF001) square L14 L/K14 K15 M15 M15 J16 L16 K17 L17 K17 K17 K17 locus 12 43 61 51 49 247 242 259 265 266 265 265 sample 10067 10309 10578 10595 10947 11597 11629 11887 11999 12011 12081 12115 volume (L) 7 4 5 12 8 46 7 6 22 15 14 14 einkorn grain . . . . cf.1 ...... emmer grain cf.2 . . . . cf.1 ...... wheat grain indet. . . 2 . . 1 . . cf.6 . . . wheat spikelet fork 15 . 4 . 10 1 (648) . 54 4 7 2 wheat glume base 49 . 9 . 21 1 (161) 4 64 14 2 2 wild barley grain . . cf.2 . . cf.1 . . cf.2 3 . . wild/dom. barley grain 1 ...... 1 . . . wild barley rachis ...... cf.2 . . . 2-row cult. barley rachis ...... cf.2 . . . cult. barley rachis indet. 7 . . . . 1 . 2 5 2 1 8 barley rachis indet. 5 . ? . ? . . . 8 1 2 3 cereal grain indet. cf.2 . 1 . ? . . . cf.2 2 ? . cereal culm node . . . . . 1 (1) 1? 13 5 . 1 cereal culm base ...... 2 26 . 1 lentil 1 ...... large legume indet. 1 ...... 1 2 . . . Pistacia sp. cf.1 . ? . . cf.1 . . cf.9 3 ? cf.1 Ficus sp. 15 . cf.4 . 2 2 . . 5 16 cf.14 1 Aizoon hispanicum ...... 1 . Lithospermum sp. . . . . 1 ...... Arnebia sp...... cf.1 . . . Chenopodium sp...... 1 + cf.1 . . . 1 . . Cyperaceae . . . . cf.1 ...... Medicago sp. . . cf.1 cf.1 ...... cf.1 . Scorpiurus sp. . . . . 1 . . . 1 cf.1 . . small legume indet...... 2 2 . . Teucrium/Ajuga sp. 1 ...... Liliaceae 5 ...... 1 . . . Malva sp. . . cf.11 . cf.1 . . (3) . . . . Plantago sp...... 1 . . indet. grass 2 . 3 . . 1 . 1 1 . . . Androsace maxima ...... cf.1 . . . . . Galium cf.1 ...... unknown seed . . 1 . . . . 1 2 2 . 2 total identifiable identifiables/L wood charcoal (g) 3.52 0.01 5.61 0.28 4.75 5.79 0.40 2.24 17.19 33.55 7.12 1.12 dung pellets . (6) . (++) (1) . (2) 3, (5) 20, (1) 1 . (13) snail shell . . . 2 . 1 . . 2 . . . bone 1 + . 2+ 3 5+ 3+ 1 5 . 2 1+

(.) = uncharred + = present ++ = common cf. = probable ? = possible identification identification

282 Table 5.3: identified plant remains, Tell Rakan I (WZ120)

(a) PPNB and later PPNB (027) contexts trench P5 P5 R5 R5 R5 R5 R5 R5 locus 032 034 022 023 026 025 024 027 sample 397043 397044 962022 962025 962030 962032 962027 962042 bag number 33 34 27 28 30 31 29 33 volume (L) 5 1 22 24 13 20 24 8 emmer wheat cf.1 . 1 2 . . . cf.1 glume wheat indet. cf.1 . . . 1 cf.1 3 1 + cf.1 wheat spikelet fork . . 4 . 3 1 . . terminal spikelet fork . . 1 2 1 . . . wheat glume base . . 27 29 64 24 27 13 free-threshing wheat ...... wheat grain indet...... hulled barley grain . . 1 1 cf.1 cf.1 . . barley rachis internode . . . . 1 wild . . . wheat/barley grain . . 5 2 2 1 1 5 lentil 1 . 5 4 + cf.2 4 + cf.1 3 + cf.1 cf.1 2 + cf.1 chickpea cf.1 ...... other pulse (pea/vetch) 1 . 3 3 . cf.1 cf.2 . olive stone fragment ...... grape seed ...... fig seed . . 6 + cf.1 1 + cf.3 . 1 + cf.3 1 . Pistacia shell fragment . . cf.3 cf.5 2? cf.2 cf.7 . flax pod fragment ...... Asteraceae . . . cf.1 . . . . Lithospermum sp...... (85) Boraginaceae ...... Caryophyllaceae ...... Chenopodiaceae ...... Cucurbitaceae ...... Scorpiurus sp...... small Fabaceae . . . 1 . . . . Fabaceae/Brassicaceae ...... Fumaria sp...... Ornithogalum type . . . . 1 . . . Malva sp...... Avena sp...... spiral awn frag. (Avena?) . . . . 2 . . . Lolium sp...... 2 + cf.7 Phalaris sp...... large grass indet. 1 . 1 1 . . . . small grass indet. . . . . cf.2 cf.1 . 1 Polygonaceae ...... unknown seed . . . (1) 1 + (4) 2 + (2) (3) . indeterminate seed 1 . 9 + (2) 6 2 2 . . snails . . + ++ ++ + ++ ++ wood + + + + + + + +

283 Table 5.3: identified plant remains, Tell Rakan I (WZ120)

(b) Yarmoukian contexts trench S5 S5 T6 T6 T6 T6 T6 T6 S5 locus 015 015 014 015 016 018 020 019 017 sample 397016 397018 952088 952090 952092 952096 952101 952099 397040 bag number 24 32 23 24 25 29 31 30 34 volume (L) 12 10 14 23 13 8 6 14 13 emmer wheat . . . cf.3 . . . cf.1 . glume wheat indet. 3 1 + cf.4 3 + cf.9 4 + cf.9 4 + cf.7 6 3 + cf.3 6 + cf.3 1 + cf.1 wheat spikelet fork . 1 7 3 5 2 1 2 3 terminal spikelet fork . . 1 ...... wheat glume base 18 9 87 35 16 25 11 26 26 free-threshing wheat . . . cf.1 . . . . . wheat grain indet. . 1 1 . 1 . . . . hulled barley grain . cf.1 1? 1 cf.cult. cf.1 1 . 1 cf.cult. . barley rachis internode . . cf.1 . . cf.1 cult. 1 cult. . . wheat/barley grain 2 2 . 1 3 1 . 2 . lentil 2 . 2 3 3 3 . 1 1 chickpea ...... other pulse (pea/vetch) . 2 1 ...... olive stone fragment ...... 2 grape seed ...... fig seed . . 1 ...... Pistacia shell fragment ...... cf.1 flax pod fragment cf.1 ...... Asteraceae . . 1? ...... Lithospermum sp...... Boraginaceae ...... Caryophyllaceae ...... Chenopodiaceae . 1 (2) (1) . (2) . . (1) Cucurbitaceae ...... Scorpiurus sp. . . cf.1 . 1 cf.1 . 3 + cf.2 . small Fabaceae 1 . . . . 1 . . . Fabaceae/Brassicaceae ...... Fumaria sp. (3) . . . . (1) . . (1) Ornithogalum type ...... 1 . Malva sp. . (1) . . cf.1 . . . . Avena sp...... spiral awn frag. (Avena?) 1 . 2 . . 1 . . 1 Lolium sp. 1 3 + cf.1 7 + cf.6 9 + cf.7 11 + cf.12 10 + cf.6 1 2 + cf.3 . Phalaris sp...... large grass indet. 2 1 2 1 2 . 2 . 1 small grass indet...... Polygonaceae . . . . . (1) . . . unknown seed ...... indeterminate seed . . 1 1 . 1 . 1 . snails + + ++ ++ + + . + ++ wood ++ ...... +

284 Table 5.3: identified plant remains, Tell Rakan I (WZ120)

(c) other late Neolithic contexts trench R5 R5 R5 R5 T6 T6 locus 016 015 019 018 017 022 sample 962016 962013 962019 962017 952094 952104 bag number 20 17 23 22 27 33 volume (L) 10 18 20 22 14 13 emmer wheat . . . . 1 cf.wild 1 glume wheat indet. . cf.2 6 3 4 + cf.7 6 + cf.1 wheat spikelet fork 1 . 1 1 7 2 terminal spikelet fork 1 1 2 . . . wheat glume base 50 54 71 29 38 10 free-threshing wheat ...... wheat indet. . 2 . . 1 . hulled barley grain . 1 . 1 . . barley rachis internode ...... wheat/barley grain 4 2 5 1 2 1 lentil . 3 7 2 1 . chickpea ...... other pulse (pea/vetch) 1 2 3 4 3 . olive stone fragment . 1 . . . . grape seed ...... fig seed cf.1 . . 1 . cf.1 Pistacia shell fragment . . . . 1? . flax pod fragment ...... Asteraceae . . (1) . . . Lithospermum sp. (2) (8) (490) (1) . . Boraginaceae . . 1 + (6) . . . Caryophyllaceae ...... Chenopodiaceae 1 . . . . . Cucurbitaceae ...... Scorpiurus sp. . . . . cf.1 . small Fabaceae . 1 . . . . Fabaceae/Brassicaceae ...... Fumaria sp. . (1) . . . . Ornithogalum type ...... Malva sp. . . (1) . . . Avena sp. 1 . . . . . spiral awn frag. (Avena?) 1 . . . 1 . Lolium sp. 7 + cf.5 1 + cf.3 8 2 + cf.5 10 + cf.7 4 + cf.2 Phalaris sp. . . 1 . . . large grass indet. 2 4 18 1 1 2 small grass indet. . 1 . 1 . . Polygonaceae ...... unknown seed . (1) . . 1 (1) indeterminate seed 2 . . . 1 . snails + ++ + + + . wood ......

285 Table 5.3: identified plant remains, Tell Rakan I (WZ120)

(d) Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age contexts trench T6 T6 S5 S5 S5 S5 S5 R5 S5 locus 012 013 010 010 012 013 011 012 007 sample 952097 952086 397032 397036 397034 397028 397030 962011 397013 bag number 19 22 17 14 15 16 23 16 10 volume (L) 17 20 14 17 8 17 15 24 14 emmer wheat . . 1 . . . . cf.1 . glume wheat indet. 1 3 + cf.9 3 + cf.3 2 3 + cf.1 1 + cf.2 cf.2 6 + cf.4 1 wheat spikelet fork 4 13 2 . 1 4 1 1 . terminal spikelet fork ...... 2 . wheat glume base 31 50 44 22 9 53 28 17 1 free-threshing wheat ...... wheat indet...... cf.3 . 3 . hulled barley grain . . . 1 cf.wild . . . 1 + 1 cf.wild . barley rachis internode ...... wheat/barley grain 1 . . 2 1 4 2 8 1 lentil 1 1 3 . 1 4 + cf.1cf.2 5 . chickpea ...... other pulse (pea/vetch) 1 . 1 3 + cf.1 . . . 2 . olive stone fragments 4 8 + 1 stone . 9 . ? 4 . cf.1? grape seed cf.1 + (1) 1 cf.1 2 . . . . . fig seed . . . cf.1 . 1 cf.1 . . Pistacia shell fragment 1 ? . . cf.1 1? . . . flax pod fragment ...... Asteraceae ...... 1 Picris . Lithospermum sp. (31) . . (3) . . . (17) (6) Boraginaceae . . . 1 . . . . . Caryophyllaceae . . cf.1 ...... Chenopodiaceae (37) (1) ...... Cucurbitaceae . (1) ...... Scorpiurus sp...... cf.2 . . small Fabaceae . . 1 . cf.1 . . . . Fabaceae/Brassicaceae 1 ...... Fumaria sp. . . . (1) . . . . (5) Ornithogalum type . 1 . . . cf.1 . . . Malva sp. cf.1 ...... Avena sp...... spiral awn frag. (Avena?) ...... cf.1 . . Lolium sp. cf.2 10 + cf.11 9 + cf.3 1 + cf.2 4 + cf.3 1 + cf.5 1 9 + cf.10 cf.1 Phalaris sp...... large grass indet. . 7 5 2 4 3 . 4 . small grass indet...... Polygonaceae ...... unknown seed (1) . . 1 . . . . . indeterminate seed . 2 . 2 . 1 1 . . snails ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ + wood ......

286 Table 5.4: identified plant remains, ash-Shalaf (1998 season, Trench 1 deep sounding) sample 7700 7701 7702 7704 7705 7706 7707 7708 7709 7710 7711 7712 7713 7714 7715 level 17 17 17 19 22 23 17 17 17 19 19 19 19 22 17 volume (L) 1.7 5 6.5 2 0.6 0.1 2.5 2.8 2.8 7 6.3 1.2 11.5 3 6.5 glume wheat grain . . cf.1 . . . . cf.1 . . . . . cf.4 cf.2 wheat glume base cf.1 5 cf.5 5 1 2 . . cf.4 4 3 2 34 5 6 wheat spikelet fork . . . 1 . 1 ...... 2 . . terminal spikelet fork ...... 1 . barley grain ...... cf.2 cf.1 . cereal grain indet. cf.1 cf.2 cf.2 2 cf.1 cf.1 cf.1 cf.1 cf.1 . . . cf.4 cf.4 cf.3 lentil . 1 . cf.2 . cf.1 cf.1 . . . 1 . cf.1 . 1 nutshell fragment . . 1 ...... (Pistacia type) Boraginaceae (2) (39) (33) (1) . . (12) (9) (17) (14) (20) (3) (25) (1) (59) Chenopodiaceae . . . (1) ...... cf.1 . . . . Cyperaceae ...... 1 . . Astragalus . cf.1 . cf.5 . cf.1 . . . cf.16 . cf.3 cf.28 . cf.1 small legume indet. . . 2 12 . 6 2 . . 39 11 3 65 . 2 Papaver sp...... (cf.1) . . . . . (1) Fumaria sp. . . (4) cf.1 ...... (2) Ornithogalum type ...... cf.1 . . grass seed indet. . . cf.1 . . . . . cf.1 . . . cf.2 . . wood fragments . . 4 . 5 ...... 3 30 1 charred fragments indet. 9 18 38 55 >20 >20 8 17 11 142 54 7 363 110 43 snails 23 39 67 11 . . 12 17 18 16 16 4 39 16 46 pellets 1 11 1 1 . . . 1 . 3 . . 17 . 3 mineralised dung . . 1 ......

Note: preliminary results (Bienert and Vieweger et al 1999) were obtained by sorting the samples under a ×10 magnifying glass, the only instrument available at the time. In January 2001, I sorted the samples again under a binocular microscope with ×7–×40 magnification, changing some identifications and finding some identifiable fragments that had previously been overlooked. These results supersede those in the preliminary report.

287 Table 5.4: identified plant remains, ash-Shalaf (1999 season) sample 7716 7717 7718 7719 7720 7721 7722 7723 7724 7725 7726 7727 7728 7729 7730 7731 trench M7 M7 Tr.1 M7 M8 M6 L8 L7 M6 M6 M6 M6 L7 L7 M8 L7 level 53 54 65 57 50 12 87 91 15 14 13 18 93 99 97 93 volume (L) 3.5 2.5 0.8 0.1 0.3 2.5 0.1 0.2 0.6 0.5 1.0 0.2 0.7 0.5 1.0 1.5 glume wheat grain ...... wheat glume base . 1 . . . . cf.1 ...... wheat spikelet fork ...... terminal spikelet ...... fork barley grain ...... cereal grain indet...... cf.1 ...... lentil ...... nutshell fragment ...... (Pistacia type) Boraginaceae (1) (1) . . . (11) . . (8) (1) (2) (1) . . (1) . Chenopodiaceae ...... Cyperaceae ...... Astragalus ...... small legume indet...... Papaver sp...... Fumaria sp. . (7) ...... Ornithogalum type ...... grass seed indet...... wood fragments . . . . . 3 4 . . 1 . . . 2 . . charred fragments 7 . 1 . . 9 60 2 16 20 7 . 9 8 . 6 indet. snails 4 11 1 . . 19 . . 15 3 1 . 1 . . 8 pellets . 1 ...... mineralised dung ......

288 Table 5.5: identified plant remains, Pella (1996-97 season, area XXXII) sample F20.42 F20.45 D 87.1 D 88.1 F20.37 F20.19 F20.39 F 17.3 F 17.9 F17.18 F 20.3 F20.11 F20.16 phase LN LN EC EC EC MC MC LC LC LC LC LC LC volume (L) 52 51 13 55 54 10 35 29 44 50 53.5 3 50 Food plants glume wheat grain 136 70 . . 7 26 10 100 40 39 32 1 47 wheat spikelet fork 25 26 . . 2 2 2 . . 2 8 . . terminal spikelet fork 2 6 . . . . 2 . . 4 6 . 4 wheat glume base 174 264 2 1 45 94 161 45 10 108 270 1 98 free-threshing wheat 1 4 . . . 1 ...... wheat grain indet. 85 123 . . . 15 2 15 11 13 27 . 28 wild/cult.barley grain 23 5 . . . 3 . 7 6 1 1 . 7 cult. barley grain 84 26 . . 2 6 4 19 8 18 9 . 16 barley grain indet. 3 ...... 1 . 2 . 1 cult.barley rachis 5 ...... cereal grain indet. 82 85 3 3 6 14 9 33 40 19 18 2 24 cereal culm node/base 2 1 ...... lentil 40 15 . 1 28 17 9 2 8 8 1 2 3 large legume indet. 4 7 1 . 4 4 3 . 6 8 . . 2 Linum (linseed/flax) ...... flax pod fragment ...... cf.2 Pistacia nutshell . . . . . 1 ...... Ficus (fig) seed 2 3 . 1 4 . . 2 2 . . . . Olea (olive) stone 16 5 1 . . 1 . 1 5 3 2 . .

(continued next page)

289 Table 5.5: identified plant remains, Pella (1996-97 season, area XXXII) (continued) sample F20.42 F20.45 D 87.1 D 88.1 F20.37 F20.19 F20.39 F 17.3 F 17.9 F17.18 F 20.3 F20.11 F20.16 Wild taxa Aizoon hispanicum 1 ...... Apiaceae 1 27 . . . 2 ...... Anthemis sp. . 1 . . . 2 4 . . . 2 . . Asteraceae indet. 1 ...... Heliotropium sp. 3 ...... Boraginaceae indet. 1 3 . . 1 . 1 ...... Brassicaceae indet. . 2 ...... 1 . . . 2 Brassica/Chenopodiaceae 15 85 . . . 58 8 8 3 66 62 . 36 Caryophyllaceae indet. 1 3 ...... 4 . . . Chenopodiaceae indet. 1 ...... 1 . . 2 . 2 Carex sp. 10 12 . . . . . 4 2 . . . . Fimbristylis sp. 38 90 . . . 2 . 8 3 2 10 . . Cyperaceae indet. 2 6 . . 1 4 1 . 3 2 4 . . Scorpiurus type . . . . . 2 ...... Medicago type ...... Astragalus type . 4 ...... 6 . . . cf. Trigonella astroites 6 11 . . . . . 4 2 10 24 . 10 Trigonella type ...... 2 . . . 20 . 8 Hippocrepis sp...... Melilotus/Trifolium type . 3 ...... Fabaceae indet. 62 154 2 4 1 323 37 10 37 111 30 1 46 Fumaria sp. . 1 ...... Teucrium/Ajuga 1 ...... Bellevalia type 2 5 . . . . 1 . . . . . 1 Ornithogalum type 6 32 . . . . 2 . 1 . . . . Liliaceae indet. 1 ...... Malva sp. 1 6 . . . 2 . . 1 . . . 2 Papaveraceae indet...... Avena sp. 3 1 . . . 2 . . 1 2 . . . spiral awn fragment 2 . . . . 2 . . . 6 16 . 4 Bromus sp. 8 6 . . . 2 2 . . . 2 1 2 Lolium sp. 133 351 . . 12 56 24 6 . 15 33 . 25 Phalaris sp. . 11 . . . 2 . . . 4 . . . Panicum/Setaria 1 ...... small grass type 14 15 . . . . 2 . . 10 16 . . Poaceae indet. 8 10 2 . 3 7 20 . 15 17 3 2 2 Polygonaceae indet. 2 34 ...... 2 . . . Galium type 1 ...... Rubiaceae indet. 1 ...... Valerianella sp...... 2 . . Verbena sp. . 10 . . . 4 . . . . 2 . . not identifiable 33 24 . 2 1 41 17 28 4 30 11 . 19 total count 1043 1547 11 12 117 696 325 293 210 514 615 10 393 density (count/volume) 20.1 30.3 0.8 0.2 2.2 69.6 9.3 10.1 4.8 10.3 11.5 3.3 7.9

290 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

421351 421351 421361 421361 421371 421371 421381 421381 421391 421391 sample 422102 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF provenance NI 15.1 NI 15.1 NI 15.2 NI 15.2 NI 15.4 NI 15.4 NI 15.5 NI 15.5 NI 15.7 NI 15.7 NI 15.11 volume (L) 4 . 20 . 10 . 18 . 17 . 3 Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain 1 . cf.1 ...... glume wheat indet. . . 2 . . . . . 2 . 1 spikelet fork 3 . 10 1 1 1 1 1 3 . 11 terminal spikelet fork ...... 2 glume base . 7 4 11 6 6 2 6 4 7 43 f.t. wheat grain ...... f.t. wheat rachis ...... wheat grain indet...... wheat chaff indet. . . . 1 ...... 3 Barley wild barley . . cf.1 ...... naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley ...... wild/cult. hulled barley . . 2 ...... 2 cult. hulled barley indet. . . 6 . 4 . . . cf.1 . . wild barley rachis ...... wild/cultivated rachis . . . . 1 . . . . 2 . 2-row barley rachis . . 1 ...... cf.1 6-row barley rachis ...... cf.2 cult. barley rachis indet. . . 2 6 . 3 . . . 1 7 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 5 . 8 . 6 . 1 . . . 3 cereal grain vol (mL) 0.1 . 0.3 . 0.1 . 0.1 . . . 0.1 culm node 1 ...... 1 culm base . . 1 ...... straw (frags) . . . . 1 ...... straw (mm) . . . . 9 ...... Pulses lentil ...... chickpea ...... pea ...... vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. . . cf.1 ...... Other food plants flax seed ...... flax pod fragments . . . 1 1 . . . . . 9 Pistacia fragments . . cf.2 ...... Ficus . . . . . 2 . . . . . olive stones . . 0.5 ...... olive fragments (cm2) 0.1 . 0.75 . . . 0.1 . 0.1 . 0.1 date stone ......

291 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

421351 421351 421361 421361 421371 421371 421381 421381 421391 421391 sample 422102 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum . 3 ...... Eryngium ...... Bupleurum ...... Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea ...... Anthemis . . . cf.1 ...... Carthamus ...... Picris ...... 1 Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium ...... Arnebia type . . 2 ...... Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis ...... Silene . . . cf.1 ...... Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium . . . 2 . 1 . . . . . Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda . . cf.1 1 ...... Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract ...... Chenopodiaceae indet. . 1 . . . 1 . . . . . Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex ...... Fimbristylis ...... Scirpus . . 1 ...... 1 Scirpus kernel . 1 . 2 . 3 . . . . 1 Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type 1 . . . 1 . . . 2 . . Medicago type 2 5 1 + cf.1 2 ...... Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type 2 ...... Trigonella astroites type . cf.1 ...... T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type ...... Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae . 3 . 2 . . . . . 2 cf.1

292 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

421351 421351 421361 421361 421371 421371 421381 421381 421391 421391 sample 422102 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Fumaria ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type . . 2 ...... 1 Ornithogalum type ...... Liliaceae indet...... Malva . . . . 1 ...... Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp...... 1 P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena ...... Avena/Stipa awn frag...... Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp...... B. sterilis ...... B. danthoniae ...... small grass seed . 2 . 3 . 1 . . . 1 2 Echinaria ...... cf.1 . Lolium . . 8 . 2 . 2 . 1 . 2 Aegilops ...... Hordeum ...... Phalaris ...... Stipa ...... floret base indet...... grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 4 . 5 . 2 . . . 1 . . Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

293 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

421351 421351 421361 421361 421371 421371 421381 421381 421391 421391 sample 422102 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Unknown types A ...... (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) . cf.1 ...... E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) . 1 ...... V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... AC ...... AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable . 7 3 3 3 . 2 . . . 3 wood >2.8mm (mL) 0.7 . 0.3 . 0.1 . 0.2 . 0.3 . 0.2 Non-plant finds snails 6 5 29 31 12 15 16 33 14 30 5 bones . 1 . 1 . 1 . 1 . . . pellets ...... dung ...... ‘biscuit’ (mL) ...... coarse flot (g) 0.53 . 2.30 . 0.80 . 0.40 . 0.87 . 0.61 fine flot (g) . 0.98 . 6.08 . 1.70 . 1.09 . 4.76 . context NI 15.1 NI 15.1 NI 15.2 NI 15.2 NI 15.4 NI 15.4 NI 15.5 NI 15.5 NI 15.7 NI 15.7 NI 15.11 phase EC EC EC EC EC EC EC EC EC EC EC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

294 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433281 433281 433291 433291 433301 433301 431341 431341 sample 433282 433292 433302 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF provenance NI 12.5 NI 12.5 NI 12.5 NI 12.9 NI 12.9 NI 12.9 NI 12.15 NI 12.15 NI 12.15 NI 12.26 NI 12.26 volume (L) 16 . 4 11 . 4 5 . 4 5 . Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain 1 . . . . . 3 . . . . glume wheat indet. 2 + cf.2 . . 1 . . 4 . 2 . . spikelet fork 8 1 4 4 . 5 6 . 13 2 . terminal spikelet fork . . 1 . . 1 1 . . . . glume base 17 20 65 6 9 32 16 10 70 8 7 f.t. wheat grain . . . cf.1 . . 3 . . . . f.t. wheat rachis . . . . cf.1 ...... wheat grain indet. 2 . . cf.2 . . . . 2 1 . wheat chaff indet. 1 1 ...... 2 . 2 Barley wild barley cf.4 ...... cf.4 . . naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley ...... cf.1 . . wild/cult. hulled barley 6 . 3 4 . . 4 . . . . cult. hulled barley indet. 5 + cf.3 . 3 6 . 2 1 . 6 1 . wild barley rachis ...... wild/cultivated rachis 2 1 2 . . . 1 . . . . 2-row barley rachis . . . 2 . 1 1 1 3 . . 6-row barley rachis ...... cult. barley rachis indet. . 1 7 . 6 3 6 2 9 3 . Other cereal cereal grain indet. 9 . 3 4 . 3 7 . 6 4 . cereal grain vol (mL) 0.4 . 0.1 0.2 . 0.1 nr . 0.3 0.1 . culm node . . . 2 . 1 1 . . . . culm base ...... straw (fragments) ...... straw (mm) ...... Pulses lentil 5 . 4 . . . 5 . 3 . . chickpea ...... pea ...... vetch ...... 1 . . . . vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. . cf.1 ...... 1 . . Other food plants flax seed ...... 1 . . flax pod fragments 5 . 5 4 2 4 . . 8 4 . Pistacia fragments ...... Ficus . . . . . cf.1 . . . . . olive stones ...... olive fragments (cm2) 0.25 . 0.1 2 . 0.25 . . . . . date stone ......

295 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433281 433281 433291 433291 433301 433301 431341 431341 sample 433282 433292 433302 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum ...... 3 . . . Eryngium ...... cf.1 . . . Bupleurum . . . . . 1 . . . . . Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea ...... Anthemis ...... Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium ...... Arnebia type ...... Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis ...... Silene ...... Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium ...... 2 . . . Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda ...... Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract . . . . . 1 . . . . . Chenopodiaceae indet. . . 3 . . cf.1 . . . . 1 Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex ...... Fimbristylis . 1 . . 11 ...... Scirpus ...... Scirpus kernel . . . . 1 ...... Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type 16 . 1 2 . 2 9 . 3 2 . Medicago type 3 7 1 1 2 4 1 2 5 . . Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type 2 . 1 ...... 1 Trigonella astroites type ...... T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type ...... Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae . 1 . . . . 4 . . . .

296 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433281 433281 433291 433291 433301 433301 431341 431341 sample 433282 433292 433302 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Fumaria ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type ...... Ornithogalum type ...... Liliaceae indet...... cf.1 Malva cf.1 cf.1 1 + cf.1 cf.1 . cf.1 . cf.1 1 . . Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp. . cf.1 ...... P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena cf.2 . 1 cf.1 . . . . 1 + cf.1 . . Avena/Stipa awn frag. . 1 . . 1 1 . 2 . . . Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp...... B. sterilis cf.1 . . . . . cf.1 . 2 . . B. danthoniae ...... small grass seed . . . . 2 . . . . . 2 Echinaria ...... Lolium 1 . . cf.2 . . 1 . 3 . . Aegilops ...... Hordeum ...... Phalaris . cf.2 cf.1 ...... Stipa ...... cf.1 . . floret base indet...... grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 3 . 1 . . 2 5 . 1 2 . Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium . . 1 ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

297 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433281 433281 433291 433291 433301 433301 431341 431341 sample 433282 433292 433302 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Unknown types A ...... (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) . 1 ...... E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) . 2 ...... AC ...... AD ...... 1 . . AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable 4 2 2 . 5 ...... wood >2.8mm (mL) 1.0 . 1.0 2.0 . 1.5 0.3 . 0.2 0.3 . Non-plant finds snails 16 3 9 21 6 8 5 1 8 3 7 bones . . 1 ...... 1 pellets ...... dung ...... ‘biscuit’ (mL) 0.1 . . 0.1 . . 0.1 . 0.1 . . coarse flot (g) 3.42 . 4.85 1.85 . 0.89 1.91 . 2.15 0.46 . fine flot (g) . 4.53 . . 0.63 . . 2.75 . . nr context NI 12.5 NI 12.5 NI 12.5 NI 12.9 NI 12.9 NI 12.9 NI 12.15 NI 12.15 NI 12.15 NI 12.26 NI 12.26 phase LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

298 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433311 433311 433341 433341 431331 431331 sample 432082 432092 432122 433312 433342 CF FF CF FF CF FF provenance NI 12.17 NI 12.19 NI 14.3 NI 12.20 NI 12.20 NI 12.20 NI 12.29 NI 12.29 NI 12.29 NI 12.12 NI 12.12 volume (L) 4 4 0.5 5 . 4 11 . 4 16 . Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain . . . cf.1 . 1 + cf.1 . . . cf.4 . glume wheat indet. 2 3 . 5 . 2 2 . . 5 . spikelet fork 10 8 . 9 1 15 6 . 1 13 . terminal spikelet fork 1 2 . . . 3 . . 1 2 2 glume base 48 52 . 15 17 87 9 17 5 17 31 f.t. wheat grain ...... 1 . f.t. wheat rachis . . . . . cf.1 . . . . . wheat grain indet...... 3 . wheat chaff indet. 2 . . . . 4 1 . . . . Barley wild barley . . . cf.1 . cf.1 . . . cf.4 . naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley ...... wild/cult. hulled barley . 1 . 2 . . 2 . . 7 . cult. hulled barley indet. cf.3 . . 7 . 3 cf.4 . 1 10 . wild barley rachis ...... wild/cultivated rachis ...... 1 . . . . 2-row barley rachis cf.1 . . 2 1 1 3 . . . 1 6-row barley rachis ...... cf.2 . cult. barley rachis indet. 5 4 . 3 2 4 1 1 cf.3 9 9 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 4 3 . 7 . 4 7 . 2 . . cereal grain vol (mL) 0.1 0.1 . 0.3 . 0.1 0.3 . 0.1 . . culm node ...... 1 2 . culm base 1 ...... 1 3 . straw (fragments) 1 . . . . . 1 . 1 2 . straw (mm) 3 . . . . . 4 . 3 24 . Pulses lentil . . . 9 . 6 1 . . 5 . chickpea ...... pea ...... 1 . vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. . . . 2 . 4 . . . 3 . Other food plants flax seed 1 . . cf.3 ...... flax pod fragments 1 10 . 2 . 3 . . 1 6 2 Pistacia fragments ...... Ficus 1 ...... olive stones ...... olive fragments (cm2 ) . . . 1 . . 0.5 . 0.1 0.3 . date stone ......

299 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433311 433311 433341 433341 431331 431331 sample 432082 432092 432122 433312 433342 CF FF CF FF CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum ...... 1 1 . 1 Eryngium ...... 1 . . . Bupleurum ...... Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea . cf.1 ...... Anthemis ...... cf.1 2 . . Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium ...... Arnebia type ...... 1 . . 2 . Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis ...... Silene ...... 1 Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... 1 . . . Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium ...... 3 . 1 1 Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda ...... Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract ...... Chenopodiaceae indet. . . . 1 4 2 . 1 + cf.1 . 1 . Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... 1 . Carex ...... cf.2 . . . Fimbristylis ...... 5 . . . Scirpus . . . 1 . . 6 1 2 . . Scirpus kernel . . . . 7 1 . 5 . . . Cyperaceae indet...... cf.1 . . . Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type . . . 1 . 2 13 . . 5 . Medicago type cf.1 3 . cf.1 3 4 2 15 3 . 1 Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type . . . . . 1 . 1 . 1 . Trigonella astroites type . 1 ...... 1 T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type ...... Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae . . . . . 1 1 3 cf.2 . .

300 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433311 433311 433341 433341 431331 431331 sample 432082 432092 432122 433312 433342 CF FF CF FF CF FF Fumaria ...... 1 . Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type ...... 2 . Ornithogalum type ...... 1 . Liliaceae indet...... Malva cf.1 . . 2 1 11 3 cf.1 1 . . Malvaceae indet. . . cf.1 ...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp...... P. ovata type ...... 1 4 . . . P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena ...... 1 . Avena/Stipa awn frag. . 2 . . 2 1 . 5 . . 4 Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp...... B. sterilis . . . . . 1 . . . 2 1 B. danthoniae 1 ...... small grass seed . . . . 1 2 . 11 + cf.3 . . . Echinaria . . . . cf.2 . . cf.2 cf.1 . . Lolium 2 2 . 5 . 2 11 1 1 6 . Aegilops ...... Hordeum ...... 1 . Phalaris ...... 1 . . cf.2 Stipa . . . . 1 ...... floret base indet...... grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 3 2 . 5 . 2 9 1 . 2 . Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... 1 . . . Crataegus ...... Galium ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella ...... cf.1 . Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

301 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433311 433311 433341 433341 431331 431331 sample 432082 432092 432122 433312 433342 CF FF CF FF CF FF Unknown types A ...... (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) . . . . . 1 . . . . . D (unknown seed) ...... E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... AC ...... AD . . . . . 1 . . . . . AE . . . . 1 ...... AF . . . . 1 ...... AG . . . . 1 ...... AH (same as AC?) 1 ...... AI ...... 2 . . . AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable 2 . . 5 . 2 1 9 3 . 6 wood >2.8mm (mL) 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.5 . 1.0 2.0 . 2.0 13.0 . Non-plant finds snails 3 10 . 9 1 9 19 13 22 30 1 bones 5 1 . . . 1 51 32 102 . . pellets ...... dung 1 ...... ‘biscuit’ (mL) 0.1 . . 0.1 . 0.1 . . . 0.2 . coarse flot (g) 0.76 1.16 0.12 4.41 . 8.32 2.51 . 0.96 10.52 . fine flot (g) . . . . 2.70 . . 2.42 . . 6.28 context NI 12.17 NI 12.19 NI 14.3 NI 12.20 NI 12.20 NI 12.20 NI 12.29 NI 12.29 NI 12.29 NI 12.12 NI 12.12 phase LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

302 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433331 433331 433091 433091 431121 431121 sample 432112 433321 433322 433332 433092 CF FF CF FF CF FF AXIII AXIII provenance NI 14.2 NI 12.21 NI 12.21 NI 12.22 NI 12.22 NI 12.22 AXI 78.1 AXI 78.1 AXI 78.1 9.11 9.11 volume (L) 0.5 7 4 17 . 4 21 . 4 5 . Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain . 1 1 1 . . 1 . . . . glume wheat indet. . 1 2 2 . . 5 . . cf.2 . spikelet fork . 17 35 11 . . 22 1 8 5 . terminal spikelet fork . 2 13 1 . 1 . 2 4 1 . glume base . 28 167 2 22 10 34 28 129 5 4 f.t. wheat grain . . . 1 . . 1 . . . . f.t. wheat rachis ...... wheat grain indet. . 2 ...... wheat chaff indet. . 2 12 . . . . . 2 . . Barley wild barley . cf.1 ...... naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley ...... wild/cult. hulled barley . . 2 3 . . 3 . 2 . . cult. hulled barley indet. . cf.3 4 9 . . 5 . . . . wild barley rachis ...... wild/cultivated rachis . 1 4 ...... 2-row barley rachis . . . 1 . . 2 . . . . 6-row barley rachis ...... cult. barley rachis indet. . 3 . 2 1 1 . 3 3 . 1 Other cereal cereal grain indet. . 8 5 10 . 2 6 . 6 1 . cereal grain vol (mL) . nr 0.1 0.3 . 0.1 0.4 . 0.3 0.1 . culm node . 1 1 1 ...... culm base . 1 . . . . 5 . 1 . . straw (fragments) . 2 . 1 . . 4 . . . . straw (mm) . 7 . 4 . . 12 . . . . Pulses lentil . . . 1 . . 1 . 1 . . chickpea ...... pea ...... vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet...... Other food plants flax seed . . 1 1 + cf.1 ...... flax pod fragments . 1 7 3 3 3 1 1 11 . . Pistacia fragments ...... cf.1 . . . . Ficus ...... olive stones ...... olive fragments (cm2) . 0.1 . 0.2 . . 3.5 . 1 0.5 . date stone ......

303 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433331 433331 433091 433091 431121 431121 sample 432112 433321 433322 433332 433092 CF FF CF FF CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum . . . . 1 . . 1 1 . . Eryngium ...... Bupleurum ...... Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea ...... Anthemis ...... Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium ...... Arnebia type . 1 ...... Brassicaceae indet. . . . . 1 ...... Capparis ...... Silene ...... Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium ...... 1 . . . Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda ...... 1 . . Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract ...... 1 . . Chenopodiaceae indet. . . . 1 1 . cf.1 . . . . Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex ...... 3 . . . Fimbristylis ...... Scirpus ...... Scirpus kernel ...... Cyperaceae indet. . . cf.1 ...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type . 4 . 1 . 2 12 . 1 2 . Medicago type . 4 . 3 20 2 5 4 . . . Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type . . 1 1 . . 1 1 . . . Trigonella astroites type ...... T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type ...... 1 . . . Onobrychis pod frag...... cf.1 . . . . small Fabaceae . 1 2 1 1 . 7 1 2 2 .

304 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433331 433331 433091 433091 431121 431121 sample 432112 433321 433322 433332 433092 CF FF CF FF CF FF Fumaria ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type ...... 1 . . . . Ornithogalum type ...... Liliaceae indet...... Malva . 1 1 3 1 . cf.1 cf.1 . 1 . Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp...... P. ovata type . . . 1 ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena . . 1 . . . . . cf.1 . . Avena/Stipa awn frag...... Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp...... B. sterilis . . . 1 ...... B. danthoniae . . . 1 ...... small grass seed . . . . 4 ...... Echinaria ...... Lolium . . 2 20 . 2 2 . 1 1 . Aegilops ...... Hordeum ...... 1 . . . . Phalaris ...... Stipa ...... floret base indet...... 2 . . grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... 1 . . Poaceae indet. . 2 2 2 . . 3 1 . . . Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania . . . . 1 ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

305 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433331 433331 433091 433091 431121 431121 sample 432112 433321 433322 433332 433092 CF FF CF FF CF FF Unknown types A . . . . 1 ...... (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) ...... E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... AC ...... AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... 1 . . AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable . . . 1 1 . 2 5 1 . . wood >2.8mm (mL) trace 2.5 0.5 1.5 . 4.0 0.6 . 0.2 0.2 . Non-plant finds snails . 19 9 6 1 7 39 12 10 2 . bones . 2 2 1 . 1 1 . . . . pellets ...... dung ...... 1 . . ‘biscuit’ (mL) . 0.2 . 0.1 . 0.1 . . 0.1 . . coarse flot (g) 0.03 3.40 5.97 12.43 . 3.91 5.72 . 1.69 0.72 . fine flot (g) . 1.54 . . 5.97 . . 5.03 . . 0.39 AXIII AXIII context NI 14.2 NI 12.21 NI 12.21 NI 12.22 NI 12.22 NI 12.22 AXI 78.1 AXI 78.1 AXI 78.1 9.11 9.11 phase LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

306 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433181 433181 433191 433191 431131 431131 433161 433161 sample 433182 433192 433162 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII provenance 9.3 9.3 9.3 9.10 9.10 9.10 9.13 9.13 9.1 9.1 9.1 volume (L) 13 . 4 15 . nr 17 . 17 . 4 Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain . . . . . 1 . . . . . glume wheat indet. 3 . . . . 1 2 . 6 . . spikelet fork 20 . 6 8 2 8 4 . 17 2 8 terminal spikelet fork 2 1 1 . . 3 2 . 1 1 3 glume base 26 31 66 17 18 69 25 24 50 22 66 f.t. wheat grain ...... f.t. wheat rachis ...... wheat grain indet. . . . 2 . . 2 . . . . wheat chaff indet. . 3 4 . 1 1 . 1 1 1 1 Barley wild barley . . cf.1 ...... naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley . . cf.1 ...... wild/cult. hulled barley 5 . . 3 . 2 . . 4 . 2 cult. hulled barley indet. 1 . . 2 . 2 4 . 2 + cf.3 . 2 wild barley rachis ...... wild/cultivated rachis 1 . . 1 ...... 2-row barley rachis ...... 1 . 1 . . 6-row barley rachis ...... cult. barley rachis indet. 1 2 1 . 1 2 . 1 2 3 1 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 4 . 2 7 . 1 4 . 8 . 4 cereal grain vol (mL) 0.1 . 0.1 0.2 . 0.1 0.2 . 0.4 . 0.1 culm node . . 1 1 ...... culm base 1 . . 1 . 1 . . 1 . 2 straw (fragments) 2 ...... 1 . 1 straw (mm) 15 ...... 3 . 4 Pulses lentil 3 . . 2 . . 3 . 1 . . chickpea ...... pea ...... vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet...... cf.1 . . . . 1 Other food plants flax seed ...... flax pod fragments 1 1 1 1 . 2 1 1 3 . 1 Pistacia fragments ...... Ficus ...... olive stones ...... 1 . 0.5 . . olive fragments (cm2) 1.5 . 0.5 2 . 0.5 0.5 . 0.25 . 0.5 date stone ......

307 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433181 433181 433191 433191 431131 431131 433161 433161 sample 433182 433192 433162 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum ...... Eryngium ...... Bupleurum ...... Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea ...... 1 . . Anthemis ...... Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium ...... 1 . . . . Arnebia type . . . 1 ...... Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis 1 . . . . . cf.1 . . . . Silene ...... Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium . 1 ...... 1 Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda ...... Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract ...... 1 . . Chenopodiaceae indet. . 2 ...... Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex ...... Fimbristylis . 1 ...... 1 . Scirpus ...... Scirpus kernel . . . . 1 . . 1 . 1 . Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type 2 . . . . . 1 . cf.1 . 1 Medicago type . 1 1 . 4 . 1 . 2 4 . Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type 1 ...... 1 . . Trigonella astroites type . 1 cf.1 ...... 1 . T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type . . . cf.1 ...... Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae . . . . . 2 . . 4 . .

308 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433181 433181 433191 433191 431131 431131 433161 433161 sample 433182 433192 433162 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Fumaria 1 ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type . . . . . 1 . . . . . Ornithogalum type ...... Liliaceae indet...... Malva . 1 1 . . cf.1 . 1 + cf.1 3 . . Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp...... cf.1 . P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena . . . 1 ...... Avena/Stipa awn frag. . . 1 ...... 1 Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp...... 1 . . 1 . . B. sterilis ...... B. danthoniae ...... 2 . . . . small grass seed ...... 1 . 1 . Echinaria ...... Lolium 5 . 2 4 1 2 5 . 9 . 2 Aegilops ...... Hordeum ...... cf.2 . . Phalaris ...... 1 . Stipa ...... floret base indet...... grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 2 . 1 2 2 3 . . 8 . 1 Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium ...... Verbena . . . . . 1 . . . . . Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ...... 1

309 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433181 433181 433191 433191 431131 431131 433161 433161 sample 433182 433192 433162 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Unknown types A ...... (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) . cf.1 ...... E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... AC ...... AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) 1 ...... AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable . . . . 4 . . 3 2 2 2 wood >2.8mm (mL) 0.5 . 0.3 0.3 . 0.1 0.2 . 0.5 . 0.3 Non-plant finds snails 21 3 4 13 3 11 19 4 24 7 10 bones 5 . . . . 2 . 1 2 . . pellets ...... dung ...... ‘biscuit’ (mL) 0.1 . . 4 . 1.5 0.1 . 0.1 . . coarse flot (g) 3.08 . 1.74 4.91 . 3.21 1.69 . 2.72 . 1.10 fine flot (g) . 8.25 . . 4.27 . . 4.29 . 3.10 . AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII context 9.3 9.3 9.3 9.10 9.10 9.10 9.13 9.13 9.1 9.1 9.1 phase LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC LEC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

310 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433171 433171 453011 453011 453021 453021 453031 453031 sample 433172 453012 453022 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF AXIII AXIII AXIII provenance AXI 76.2 AXI 76.2 AXI 76.2 AXI 76.6 AXI 76.6 AXI 76.6 AXI 76.7 AXI 76.7 9.2 9.2 9.2 volume (L) 17 . 4 25 . 4 24 . 4 25 . Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain . . . 1 ...... emmer grain cf.2 ...... glume wheat indet. . . 2 7 . 1 . . . 2 . spikelet fork 26 . 6 4 1 4 1 . 4 4 1 terminal spikelet fork 2 . . 1 1 . . . 1 . . glume base 37 24 23 9 4 32 1 28 32 7 16 f.t. wheat grain ...... f.t. wheat rachis 1 cf.1 ...... wheat grain indet. 2 . . . . . 5 . . 1 . wheat chaff indet...... 1 Barley wild barley 1 + cf.1 . . cf.1 . . . . . 1 . naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley ...... wild/cult. hulled barley 3 . . 4 . 2 4 . 1 5 . cult. hulled barley indet. 3 . cf.1 5 . . cf.4 . 1 10 + cf.5 . wild barley rachis ...... wild/cultivated rachis . 2 2 ...... 1 2-row barley rachis ...... 2 6-row barley rachis ...... cf.1 cf.1 cult. barley rachis indet. 3 1 3 1 . cf.2 . 1 2 1 4 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 6 . 3 10 . 6 6 . 6 10 . cereal grain vol (mL) 0.3 . 0.1 0.3 . 0.1 0.2 . 0.2 0.3 . culm node 1 . . 3 . 1 . . . 2 1 culm base 2 . . 3 . . 1 . . 4 . straw (fragments) . . . 2 . 1 8 . . 7 . straw (mm) . . . 6 . 2 34 . . 28 . Pulses lentil cf.2 . . 7 . 1 2 . 1 . . chickpea ...... pea ...... vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. . . . 1 . . 3 . . cf.1 . Other food plants flax seed ...... flax pod fragments . 1 1 . . 7 . 6 3 1 1 Pistacia fragments ...... Ficus . cf.1 . 2 . cf.1 . . . . 1 olive stones . . . 1 . . . . . 1 . olive fragments (cm2) 1 . 1 1 . 0.3 1.5 . 1 2.5 . date stone ......

311 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433171 433171 453011 453011 453021 453021 453031 453031 sample 433172 453012 453022 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum . 3 ...... Eryngium ...... Bupleurum ...... 1 . . . Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea ...... Anthemis ...... Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium ...... 1 cf.1 cf.1 Arnebia type . . . . . 1 1 . . . . Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis . . . 1 ...... Silene ...... Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium . 1 . . . . . 1 . . . Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda ...... Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract ...... Chenopodiaceae indet. . 2 cf.1 ...... Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex ...... 1 . Fimbristylis ...... Scirpus ...... Scirpus kernel ...... 1 Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type 5 . . 43 . 6 17 . 1 17 . Medicago type 2 3 . 5 . . 1 1 1 4 2 Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type cf.1 ...... Trigonella astroites type . 3 ...... T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type ...... Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae . . . 7 . 2 . 2 . 3 3

312 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433171 433171 453011 453011 453021 453021 453031 453031 sample 433172 453012 453022 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Fumaria ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type ...... 1 . . . . Ornithogalum type . . . 1 ...... 1 Liliaceae indet...... cf.1 . . Malva . . cf.1 ...... Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp. . cf.1 ...... P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena . . 1 ...... Avena/Stipa awn frag...... 1 . . Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp. . . . cf.1 . 1 cf.1 . . 1 . B. sterilis ...... B. danthoniae ...... small grass seed . . 2 ...... Echinaria ...... Lolium 6 . 1 cf.2 . . 2 . . 1 . Aegilops cf.1 . . cf.1 . . cf.1 . . . . Hordeum ...... Phalaris . . cf.1 . . 1 . . . . . Stipa ...... floret base indet. . . 1 . . 1 . . . . 1 grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 10 2 1 . 1 4 . . . 3 . Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

313 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

433171 433171 453011 453011 453021 453021 453031 453031 sample 433172 453012 453022 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Unknown types A ...... (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) . . . . 1 ...... E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... AC ...... AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable 1 . 1 3 . . . 2 . . 3 wood >2.8mm (mL) 0.4 . 0.3 2.0 . 0.2 0.7 . 0.1 2.5 . Non-plant finds snails 9 6 3 11 . 1 5 2 . 10 . bones ...... pellets ...... dung . . 1 ...... ‘biscuit’ (mL) . . . 0.5 . 0.1 . . . 0.5 . coarse flot (g) 3.31 . 1.08 6.10 . 2.27 2.01 . 1.45 15.25 . fine flot (g) . 3.20 . . 19.58 . . 34.66 . . 16.80 AXIII AXIII AXIII context AXI 76.2 AXI 76.2 AXI 76.2 AXI 76.6 AXI 76.6 AXI 76.6 AXI 76.7 AXI 76.7 9.2 9.2 9.2 phase LEC LEC LEC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

314 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

453041 453041 453051 453051 453061 453061 sample 453032 453042 453052 453062 CF FF CF FF CF FF AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI provenance AXI 76.7 76.18 76.18 76.18 76.22 76.22 76.22 76.24 76.24 76.24 volume (L) 4 27 . 4 25 . 4 30 . 4 Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain ...... glume wheat indet. . 3 + cf.2 . . 5 . . 5 . . spikelet fork 2 7 2 8 9 1 4 6 1 1 terminal spikelet fork 1 1 1 . . . 3 . . 1 glume base 17 17 24 24 28 42 37 4 11 16 f.t. wheat grain ...... f.t. wheat rachis ...... wheat grain indet. . . . . 5 . 2 . . . wheat chaff indet...... 1 . . 1 . Barley wild barley . 1 + cf.5 ...... cf.1 naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley ...... wild/cult. hulled barley 3 2 . . . . 1 2 . . cult. hulled barley indet. . 2 . 1 2 . . 3 . . wild barley rachis ...... wild/cultivated rachis ...... 2-row barley rachis ...... 6-row barley rachis ...... cult. barley rachis indet. 3 . 1 4 2 4 2 . 2 1 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 7 7 . 3 4 . 3 4 . 3 cereal grain vol (mL) 0.2 0.3 . 0.1 0.2 . 0.1 0.1 . 0.1 culm node 1 3 . 1 2 . . 1 . . culm base . 2 . 2 5 . . . . . straw (fragments) . 2 . 3 7 . . . . . straw (mm) . 7 . 8 27 . . . . . Pulses lentil . 1 . . 5 . . 1 . . chickpea ...... pea ...... vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. . . . . 2 . . . . . Other food plants flax seed . . . 1 ...... flax pod fragments 23 . 2 . 1 7 1 . . . Pistacia fragments ...... Ficus . . 1 ...... olive stones ...... 1 . . . olive fragments (cm2) 0.5 4 . 0.75 9 . 0.75 3.5 . 0.5 date stone ......

315 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

453041 453041 453051 453051 453061 453061 sample 453032 453042 453052 453062 CF FF CF FF CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum ...... Eryngium ...... Bupleurum ...... Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea ...... Anthemis ...... Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet. . 1 ...... Heliotropium ...... Arnebia type ...... Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis . . . . cf.2 . . . . . Silene ...... Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium . . cf.1 . . cf.1 . . . . Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda ...... Salsola . . . . cf.1 . . . . . Atriplex fruiting bract . 1 ...... Chenopodiaceae indet. 1 ...... Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex . . 1 . . . . . 2 . Fimbristylis ...... Scirpus . 1 ...... Scirpus kernel ...... 4 . . Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type 6 12 . cf.1 6 . . 1 1 . Medicago type . 3 cf.1 ...... 1 Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type cf.1 1 cf.1 ...... Trigonella astroites type ...... T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type ...... Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae 3 . 2 . 2 1 2 3 . .

316 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

453041 453041 453051 453051 453061 453061 sample 453032 453042 453052 453062 CF FF CF FF CF FF Fumaria ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type ...... cf.1 . . . Ornithogalum type ...... Liliaceae indet. . cf.1 ...... Malva ...... 1 . . Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp...... P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena . . . 1 . . . 1 . . Avena/Stipa awn frag. 1 ...... Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp...... B. sterilis . . . . cf.1 . . . . . B. danthoniae ...... small grass seed . . 1 . . 2 . . . . Echinaria ...... cf.1 . Lolium 1 . . . 5 . 2 cf.1 . cf.2 Aegilops ...... Hordeum ...... Phalaris . . 1 ...... Stipa ...... floret base indet...... grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet...... 1 . 3 . . Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium . 1 ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

317 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

453041 453041 453051 453051 453061 453061 sample 453032 453042 453052 453062 CF FF CF FF CF FF Unknown types A ...... (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) ...... E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... AC ...... AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... 1 . . . AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable 1 4 4 4 2 3 . . . . wood >2.8mm (mL) 1.5 1.0 . 0.0 0.5 . 0.1 0.2 . . Non-plant finds snails . 8 1 2 3 2 3 5 1 1 bones ...... pellets ...... dung ...... ‘biscuit’ (mL) . . . 0.2 0.1 . 0.1 . . 0.1 coarse flot (g) 8.88 6.05 . 0.98 6.88 . 3.78 3.42 . 1.48 fine flot (g) . . 7.60 . . 12.39 . . 2.95 . AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI context AXI 76.7 76.18 76.18 76.18 76.22 76.22 76.22 76.24 76.24 76.24 phase EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

318 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

453071 453071 453081 453081 451011 451011 451021 451021 sample 453072 453082 CF FF CF FF CF FF/4 CF FF AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI provenance AXI 76.5 AXI 76.5 76.26 (i) 76.26 (i) 76.26 (i) 76.26 (ii) 76.26 (ii) 76.26 (ii) 76.10 76.10 volume (L) 22 . 4 5 . 4 nr . 10 . Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain cf.1 . . . . . 6 . . . glume wheat indet. 4 . 1 8 + cf.8 . 8 10 . . . spikelet fork 10 2 4 23 1 33 11 . 1 . terminal spikelet fork . . 2 1 1 4 1 . . . glume base 31 11 40 34 30 71 13 9 3 . f.t. wheat grain ...... f.t. wheat rachis . . . . . cf.1 . . . . wheat grain indet. . . . 3 1 cf.1 . . 1 . wheat chaff indet. 2 . 1 1 . 3 . . . . Barley wild barley cf.2 . . . . . 1 . . . naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley ...... cf.3 . . . wild/cult. hulled barley 5 . . . . 1 4 . . . cult. hulled barley indet. 4 . cf.1 cf.8 . 7 12 + cf.3 . 2 . wild barley rachis ...... wild/cultivated rachis 2 ...... 2-row barley rachis . . . 1 . 1 2 . . . 6-row barley rachis . . . . . 2 . . . . cult. barley rachis indet. 1 . . 7 2 9 . . . . Other cereal cereal grain indet. 7 . 5 16 . 8 3 . 2 . cereal grain vol (mL) 0.2 . nr 0.5 . 0.7 0.2 . 0.1 . culm node 1 . . 1 ...... culm base . . . 1 . . 2 . 1 . straw (fragments) 1 ...... 2 . straw (mm) 3 ...... 10 . Pulses lentil 3 . . 4 . 3 6 . 1 . chickpea ...... pea ...... vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. . . . cf.1 ...... Other food plants flax seed . . . . . cf.1 . . . . flax pod fragments . . 1 . . 2 . . . . Pistacia fragments ...... Ficus . . . . . cf.1 1 1 . . olive stones 3 . . . . . 3 . . . olive fragments (cm2) 3 . 1.5 . . 0.25 2 . 1.25 . date stone ......

319 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

453071 453071 453081 453081 451011 451011 451021 451021 sample 453072 453082 CF FF CF FF CF FF/4 CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum . . . . 6 2 . . . . Eryngium ...... Bupleurum ...... Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea ...... Anthemis ...... Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium ...... Arnebia type . . . 1 ...... Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis ...... Silene ...... Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium . . . . 1 3 . . . . Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda ...... Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract ...... 1 . Chenopodiaceae indet. . . 1 . 1 2 . . . . Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex . . . . 16 21 . . . 1 Fimbristylis . . . . 8 2 . . . 5 Scirpus ...... Scirpus kernel . 1 ...... Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type 5 . . 5 1 1 32 . 2 . Medicago type 1 1 . 13 3 12 2 . 1 . Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type . . . 1 . 3 1 . . . Trigonella astroites type . . cf.1 . 1 2 . . . . T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type . . . . . 1 . . . . Onobrychis pod frag. cf.1 ...... small Fabaceae . . . 2 2 1 2 . . .

320 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

453071 453071 453081 453081 451011 451011 451021 451021 sample 453072 453082 CF FF CF FF CF FF/4 CF FF Fumaria 1 ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type ...... 1 . . . Ornithogalum type ...... 2 . . . Liliaceae indet...... Malva cf.1 cf.2 . . . . cf.1 . . . Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp...... P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena . . . . . 1 . . . . Avena/Stipa awn frag. . 1 ...... Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp...... B. sterilis ...... B. danthoniae ...... small grass seed . . . 1 . 3 . . . 1 Echinaria ...... Lolium 3 . 2 + cf.1 16 . 16 . . . . Aegilops ...... Hordeum ...... Phalaris . . . . cf.1 cf.1 . . . . Stipa ...... floret base indet. . . 1 ...... grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 4 1 1 10 . 8 2 . 2 1 Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

321 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

453071 453071 453081 453081 451011 451011 451021 451021 sample 453072 453082 CF FF CF FF CF FF/4 CF FF Unknown types A ...... (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) ...... E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... AC ...... AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable . 1 . . . 8 . 1 . . wood >2.8mm (mL) 1.0 . 0.2 0.3 . 0.5 600.0 . 0.2 . Non-plant finds snails 42 18 10 5 2 . 16 1 . . bones ...... pellets ...... dung . . . 22 . 7 . . . . ‘biscuit’ (mL) ...... coarse flot (g) 2.91 . 0.97 3.56 . 3.73 115.60 . 1.42 . fine flot (g) . 6.91 . . 11.77 . . 54.78 . 1.86 AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI context AXI 76.5 AXI 76.5 76.26 (i) 76.26 (i) 76.26 (i) 76.26 (ii) 76.26 (ii) 76.26 (ii) 76.10 76.10 phase EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

322 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

451031 451031 451041 451041 451051 451051 451061 451061 453141 453141 sample 452012 CF FF CF FF CF FF/2 CF FF CF FF AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXIII AXIII provenance 76.13 76.13 76.15 76.15 76.19 76.19 76.29 76.29 76.14 7.13 7.13 volume (L) 11 . 7 . 26 . 11 . 4 18 . Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain 1 ...... glume wheat indet. 2 . . . 11 . . . 1 3 . spikelet fork 8 2 5 . 40 4 2 . 12 25 . terminal spikelet fork 1 . . 3 8 1 . . 1 2 . glume base 5 9 13 28 67 31 1 . 57 39 25 f.t. wheat grain ...... 1 . f.t. wheat rachis cf.1 . . . 1 ...... wheat grain indet. 3 . . . 2 ...... wheat chaff indet. . 1 ...... Barley wild barley . . . . cf.2 cf.1 cf.1 . . . . naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley ...... wild/cult. hulled barley 1 . 1 . 5 . . . 3 2 . cult. hulled barley indet. 5 . 1 . 3 + cf.7 . 1 . 5 2 . wild barley rachis ...... wild/cultivated rachis ...... 2-row barley rachis ...... cf.2 6-row barley rachis 1 ...... cf.1 . . cult. barley rachis indet. 4 . . 2 2 1 . . . . . Other cereal cereal grain indet. 5 . 2 . 12 . 3 . 5 . . cereal grain vol (mL) 0.2 . 0.1 . 0.5 . 0.1 . 0.2 . . culm node 3 1 . . 1 ...... culm base 1 . 1 . 15 . . . 5 . . straw (fragments) 5 . 1 . 7 ...... straw (mm) 24 . 4 . 27 ...... Pulses lentil . . cf.2 . 4 . . . 1 1 . chickpea ...... pea ...... vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. . . . . 4 . . . 1 . . Other food plants flax seed . . . . 1 . . . . . cf.1 flax pod fragments 1 . 1 . 1 4 . . 31 . . Pistacia fragments ...... Ficus . . . 1 cf.1 ...... olive stones ...... olive fragments (cm2) 0.75 . . . 9 . 0.75 . 1 1 . date stone ......

323 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

451031 451031 451041 451041 451051 451051 451061 451061 453141 453141 sample 452012 CF FF CF FF CF FF/2 CF FF CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum . . . . . 1 . . 1 . 4 Eryngium . . . . . cf.1 . . . . . Bupleurum ...... Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea cf.1 ...... Anthemis ...... 2 Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium 1 . . . 2 1 . . . . . Arnebia type ...... Brassicaceae indet...... cf.1 . . . . . Capparis ...... 1 . . . . Silene ...... Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... cf.2 . Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium ...... 2 . . Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda ...... Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract ...... Chenopodiaceae indet. . . . 1 + cf.2 . 5 . . . . . Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex 1 . . 1 . 2 . . . . . Fimbristylis ...... Scirpus ...... Scirpus kernel . . . . . 1 . . 1 . . Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type 4 . 7 . 34 . . . 1 . . Medicago type . . . . 5 2 1 1 2 . . Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type . . 3 . 2 . . . . . 2 Trigonella astroites type ...... T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type ...... Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae 5 . 4 . 3 2 . . 1 . 1

324 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

451031 451031 451041 451041 451051 451051 451061 451061 453141 453141 sample 452012 CF FF CF FF CF FF/2 CF FF CF FF Fumaria ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type . . . . 1 ...... Ornithogalum type ...... Liliaceae indet...... Malva ...... 1 cf.1 cf.2 cf.1 cf.1 Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp...... P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena . . . . 1 ...... Avena/Stipa awn frag...... 1 . . 3 . 1 Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp. . . . . 1 ...... B. sterilis ...... B. danthoniae ...... 1 . small grass seed . 1 ...... 3 Echinaria ...... Lolium . . . . 3 . 3 . 1 14 . Aegilops ...... Hordeum ...... Phalaris . 1 . . . 3 . . 1 . . Stipa ...... floret base indet...... 1 . . grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 1 . . 1 13 1 . . 2 5 . Rumex ...... cf.1 . Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium ...... Verbena . . . . . 1 . . . . . Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ...... cf.1

325 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

451031 451031 451041 451041 451051 451051 451061 451061 453141 453141 sample 452012 CF FF CF FF CF FF/2 CF FF CF FF Unknown types A . 1 ...... 2 (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) ...... 2 E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... 2 R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... 1 AC ...... AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... 1 AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable . . . 3 4 4 . 1 3 2 4 wood >2.8mm (mL) 0.5 . 0.3 . 7.0 . 1.5 . 12.0 0.5 . Non-plant finds snails 3 1 . . 32 5 2 . 9 34 13 bones . . . . 1 1 . . . . . pellets ...... dung ...... 1 . . ‘biscuit’ (mL) . . 0.2 . . . . . 0.1 . . coarse flot (g) 6.51 . 6.99 . 15.36 . 1.73 . 13.68 3.21 . fine flot (g) . 6.13 . 9.78 . 21.58 . 0.45 . . 6.22 AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXI AXIII AXIII context 76.13 76.13 76.15 76.15 76.19 76.19 76.29 76.29 76.14 7.13 7.13 phase EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

326 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

453131 453131 453151 453151 463121 463121 sample 453142 453132 453152 463122 CF FF CF FF CF FF AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII provenance 7.13 7.5 7.5 7.5 8.1 8.1 8.1 6.3 (ii) 6.3 (ii) 6.3 (ii) volume (L) 4 23 . 4 31 . 4 6 . 4 Wheat einkorn grain . . . . 2 . . . . . cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain . 1 . . 3 . . 1 . 1 glume wheat indet. . 6 . 1 13 . 1 3 . 2 spikelet fork 6 22 . 6 152 22 4 12 . 55 terminal spikelet fork . 5 3 . 9 9 . 1 1 15 glume base 94 38 97 52 189 221 22 29 16 301 f.t. wheat grain ...... f.t. wheat rachis . . . . 2 2 . cf.1 . . wheat grain indet. . 2 . 1 5 . . 3 . 3 wheat chaff indet. . . 1 . 2 5 . 1 . 15 Barley wild barley . 1 2 . 1 + cf.5 1 . cf.1 . . naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley . 1 . . cf.3 . . . . . wild/cult. hulled barley 1 4 . . 15 . . 2 . 8 cult. hulled barley indet. . 9 . cf.1 13 . . 2 . 4 wild barley rachis ...... wild/cultivated rachis . . . . . 1 . . . . 2-row barley rachis 2 1 . . 12 6 3 . 2 15 6-row barley rachis . . . . cf.1 . . . . . cult. barley rachis indet. 2 1 3 . 20 14 . 2 3 11 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 3 8 . 4 nc . 2 3 . 10 cereal grain vol (mL) 0.2 0.5 . 0.1 1.5 . 0.1 0.2 . 0.5 culm node 1 . . . 5 . . 2 . 4 culm base . 3 . . 1 . . 4 . 7 straw (fragments) . 1 . . 3 . . 2 . 3 straw (mm) . 3 . . 13 . . 7 . 12 Pulses lentil . 1 . . 3 . 1 3 . 5 + cf.1 chickpea ...... pea ...... vetch . . . . 1 . . . . . vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. . 1 . . 5 . . . . 1 Other food plants flax seed . cf.1 . . 2 + cf.3 3 . . . . flax pod fragments 2 1 2 . 148 nc 2 . 3 . Pistacia fragments ...... cf.1 . . Ficus ...... olive stones . 1 ...... olive fragments (cm2) 1 2 . 0.3 1 . 0.5 4 . 3 date stone ......

327 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

453131 453131 453151 453151 463121 463121 sample 453142 453132 453152 463122 CF FF CF FF CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum . . 2 . . 1 . . . . Eryngium ...... Bupleurum . . . . . cf.1 . . . . Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea ...... Anthemis ...... Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet. . . . cf.1 ...... Heliotropium cf.1 . . . . 1 . . . . Arnebia type . . . . 1 . 1 . . . Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis ...... Silene ...... Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium ...... Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda . . . . . 1 . . . 1 Salsola ...... cf.1 . Atriplex fruiting bract 1 . . . 2 . . . . . Chenopodiaceae indet. . . 1 1 . 3 . . . 1 Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex . . . . . 1 . . . . Fimbristylis ...... 1 Scirpus . . . 1 ...... Scirpus kernel . . 6 ...... Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type . cf.3 . . 2 . . cf.1 . 1 Medicago type . . 1 1 3 6 . cf.1 1 . Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type . 1 2 . . 1 . . 1 . Trigonella astroites type cf.1 . 5 . . 1 . . . . T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type . . 1 ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type ...... Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae . 2 2 . 2 . 1 . . 1

328 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

453131 453131 453151 453151 463121 463121 sample 453142 453132 453152 463122 CF FF CF FF CF FF Fumaria ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type ...... Ornithogalum type ...... Liliaceae indet...... Malva . 4 . . 4 + cf.2 2 . . . 1 Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp...... P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena . 1 . . cf.1 . . . . 1 Avena/Stipa awn frag. 1 . 2 1 . 2 . . 1 2 Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... cf.1 . . Bromus sp...... 1 . . B. sterilis . . . . 3 1 . . . . B. danthoniae . 1 . . 2 . . . . . small grass seed . . 6 . . 1 . . . 2 Echinaria . . cf.1 ...... Lolium . 20 . . 14 . 1 3 . 7 Aegilops ...... Hordeum . . . . 1 . . . . . Phalaris ...... 1 . . Stipa ...... floret base indet. 1 . . . 1 . . . . 1 grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 1 9 . 2 13 4 . . . 5 Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... cf.1 . . Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

329 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

453131 453131 453151 453151 463121 463121 sample 453142 453132 453152 463122 CF FF CF FF CF FF Unknown types A ...... (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) . . 1 . . 1 . . . . E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) . . 1 ...... AC ...... AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) 1 ...... AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable . . 7 2 . 5 . . . 2 wood >2.8mm (mL) 0.4 0.5 . 0.1 10.0 . 4.0 0.5 . 0.2 Non-plant finds snails 21 37 20 13 17 5 1 13 3 11 bones . 2 . 1 2 1 . . . . pellets ...... dung ...... ‘biscuit’ (mL) . . . 0.1 0.1 . 0.1 0.2 . 0.1 coarse flot (g) 2.13 3.77 . 0.66 22.58 . 4.57 1.95 . 4.81 fine flot (g) . . 5.52 . . 10.55 . . 1.41 . AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII context 7.13 7.5 7.5 7.5 8.1 8.1 8.1 6.3 (ii) 6.3 (ii) 6.3 (ii) phase EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC EMC MC MC MC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

330 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

461111 461111 463111 463111 471101 471101 471091 471091 471071 471071 sample 463112 CF FF/2 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII provenance 6.4 6.4 6.3 (i) 6.3 (i) 6.3 (i) 2.10 2.10 2.2 2.2 1.5 1.5 volume (L) 36 . 11 . 4 11 . 17 . 4 . Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain 3 + cf.3 . . . . cf.1 . 1 . cf.1 . glume wheat indet. 11 + cf.5 . . . cf.1 3 . 39 . 4 . spikelet fork 64 5 6 2 7 2 1 237 10 19 1 terminal spikelet fork 1 2 . 1 . . . 20 9 3 1 glume base 62 100 12 12 35 3 6 442 110 29 12 f.t. wheat grain . . . . . cf.1 . . . . . f.t. wheat rachis . . cf.2 . . . . cf.5 1 . . wheat grain indet. 3 . 1 . . . . 5 . . . wheat chaff indet. 1 2 . 1 . . . 19 1 . 4 Barley wild barley cf.5 . cf.2 . . cf.1 . cf.11 . cf.1 . naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley cf.2 ...... wild/cult. hulled barley 4 . 3 . . . . 15 . 10 . cult. hulled barley indet. 22 + cf.6 . 3 . 3 4 . 4 . 11 . wild barley rachis ...... 1 . . . wild/cultivated rachis . . 1 . 1 . . 2 1 . . 2-row barley rachis 2 1 1 1 cf.2 . 1 5 . . . 6-row barley rachis . cf.1 cf.1 . cf.1 . . . . 1 . cult. barley rachis indet. 7 5 1 3 6 1 1 7 3 4 4 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 7 . 4 . 2 8 . nc . 14 . cereal grain vol (mL) 0.5 . 0.2 . 0.1 0.2 . 5 . 0.7 . culm node 7 . 2 . . . . 2 . 1 . culm base 5 . 3 . . . . 26 . 6 . straw (fragments) 1 . 1 . 4 . . 18 . 4 . straw (mm) 6 . 3 . 16 . . 63 . 19 . Pulses lentil 8 . 1 . . 3 . 11 . 11 . chickpea cf.1 ...... pea ...... 1 . vetch ...... cf.1 . vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. 1 ...... 14 . Other food plants flax seed ...... 1 + cf.1 . flax pod fragments 1 . . . 2 . . 15 2 1 10 Pistacia fragments ...... Ficus 5 7 . . . . . 2 cf.1 . 1 olive stones 1.5 ...... 4.5 . olive fragments (cm2) 4 . 2 . 1 0.25 . 1 . 37 . date stone ......

331 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

461111 461111 463111 463111 471101 471101 471091 471091 471071 471071 sample 463112 CF FF/2 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum . 2 ...... Eryngium ...... Bupleurum ...... Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea ...... Anthemis . 2 ...... 1 Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium ...... cf.1 . . . Arnebia type . . . . . 1 . . . . . Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis 1 ...... Silene ...... 1 Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet. . 1 ...... Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium . 4 ...... 3 . . Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda . 2 ...... Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract ...... Chenopodiaceae indet. 2 14 ...... 4 . . Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis cf.1 . . . cf.1 ...... Carex ...... Fimbristylis ...... 31 . . Scirpus ...... Scirpus kernel . 2 . 1 ...... Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type 2 . 1 . 4 1 . 1 + cf.1 . 2 . Medicago type 1 6 . 1 . . . 1 + cf.2 4 1 5 Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type . . 1 ...... 2 1 Trigonella astroites type ...... T. coelesyriaca type ...... 1 . . . . Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type ...... Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae 4 . 2 2 . 1 1 . . 4 5

332 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

461111 461111 463111 463111 471101 471101 471091 471091 471071 471071 sample 463112 CF FF/2 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Fumaria ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type ...... Ornithogalum type ...... Liliaceae indet...... Malva 10 4 + cf.3 . . . . 1 cf.1 1 2 . Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp...... 1 2 P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena cf.1 . . . cf.1 cf.1 . . . 1 . Avena/Stipa awn frag...... Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp. . 1 ...... 4 . B. sterilis . . . . cf.1 . . cf.4 . . . B. danthoniae . . . . cf.1 . . cf.7 . . . small grass seed . 108 . 1 1 . . . 1 . . Echinaria ...... Lolium 10 . 2 . 2 1 . 14 . 6 . Aegilops ...... Hordeum ...... cf.2 . Phalaris ...... 3 . . Stipa ...... floret base indet. . . . 1 ...... 1 grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 10 3 3 1 2 1 . 22 3 12 . Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium 1 . . . 1 ...... Verbena . 1 ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania . cf.1 ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

333 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

461111 461111 463111 463111 471101 471101 471091 471091 471071 471071 sample 463112 CF FF/2 CF FF CF FF CF FF CF FF Unknown types A ...... (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) ...... E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... AC ...... AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... AI . 1 ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable 3 7 ...... 7 wood >2.8mm (mL) 20.0 . . . 0.5 0.1 . 0.2 . 2.0 . Non-plant finds snails 39 6 13 6 10 10 8 4 . 4 2 bones . . 2 ...... pellets ...... dung ...... ‘biscuit’ (mL) . . 0.5 . . 0.1 . 0.1 . . . coarse flot (g) 47.18 . 2.43 . 1.43 1.07 . 4.20 . 12.55 . fine flot (g) . 16.53 . 8.01 . . 1.71 . 5.63 . 3.55 AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII context 6.4 6.4 6.3 (i) 6.3 (i) 6.3 (i) 2.10 2.10 2.2 2.2 1.5 1.5 phase MC MC MC MC MC LMC? LMC? LMC? LMC? LMC? LMC?

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

334 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

471081 471081 473101 473101 sample 472022 462032 473102 483501 483502 483511 483512 CF FF CF FF AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII GIV GIV provenance GIV 30.5 GIV 30.5 2.1 2.1 2.6 (i) 2.6 (ii) 2.4 2.4 2.4 30.12 30.12 volume (L) 18 . 4 4 8 . 3.5 6 4 6 4 Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain 1 ...... 1 2 glume wheat indet. 4 . 3 cf.1 2 . 5 . 4 3 . spikelet fork 10 . 41 6 18 1 11 33 18 21 32 terminal spikelet fork 1 . 11 2 1 6 3 . . 2 7 glume base 9 17 347 65 26 32 98 44 110 29 133 f.t. wheat grain ...... cf.1 . f.t. wheat rachis . cf.1 2 . . . cf.2 . . 1 . wheat grain indet. 1 . 2 . 3 . . 2 . . . wheat chaff indet. . . 7 4 . 1 3 2 2 . 1 Barley wild barley 1 + cf.1 . cf.3 . . . . 2 + cf.1 cf.3 cf.2 . naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley cf.1 . . cf.1 . . . . . cf.5 cf.2 wild/cult. hulled barley 3 . 7 1 3 . . 4 . 3 3 cult. hulled barley indet. cf.1 . 7 1 3 . cf.1 3 4 4 5 wild barley rachis ...... cf.2 . . . wild/cultivated rachis . . . . . 3 1 6 . 2 3 2-row barley rachis . . 6 1 1 . 1 6 3 7 5 6-row barley rachis ...... 13 3 11 3 cult. barley rachis indet. . . 9 1 . . 1 39 30 2 22 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 6 . 8 4 15 . 6 5 3 5 2 cereal grain vol (mL) 0.2 . 0.5 0.1 0.3 . 0.2 0.3 0.2 nr 0.1 culm node . . . 1 . . 1 6 . 8 . culm base 2 . 3 1 7 . . 12 16 18 12 straw (fragments) 2 . . 3 2 . . 1 3 6 3 straw (mm) 13 . . 19 9 . . 4 17 24 7 Pulses lentil 5 . 5 2 . . . 4 2 2 cf.3 chickpea ...... pea ...... vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet...... 2 . Other food plants flax seed . cf.1 3 . . . . . 1 . 1 flax pod fragments . . 7 . . 4 2 18 17 31 26 Pistacia fragments ...... cf.1 . . cf.1 Ficus . . . . . cf.1 . . . . 1 olive stones 1 . 4 . . . . . 1 . . olive fragments (cm2) 13 . 40 12 1 . 0.5 4 2 2.5 1.5 date stone ......

335 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

471081 471081 473101 473101 sample 472022 462032 473102 483501 483502 483511 483512 CF FF CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum . 1 1 . . . . . 3 . . Eryngium ...... 1 1 . Bupleurum ...... Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... cf.1 . . Centaurea . 1 . . . . . 3 . . . Anthemis ...... 1 . cf.1 . Carthamus ...... cf.1 . . Picris ...... cf.1 . Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium . . cf.1 . . . . 1 . . . Arnebia type ...... Brassicaceae indet...... cf.1 . Capparis ...... Silene ...... Cerastium ...... 1 . . Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... Beta vulgaris . . . . . 1 . . . . . Chenopodium ...... 4 . Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda . . 5 . . . 3 . . . . Salsola . . cf.1 ...... Atriplex fruiting bract . . . 1 . . . 1 1 1 . Chenopodiaceae indet. . 1 . . . . . 4 . 3 . Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex . . . . . 1 . . . 1 . Fimbristylis . . . . . 13 . . . . . Scirpus ...... 1 Scirpus kernel . . . . . 1 1 1 2 3 . Cyperaceae indet...... cf.1 cf.1 . . Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type 7 . 1 cf.1 1 . . 8 6 12 4 Medicago type . 1 2 1 . . . 5 7 3 12 Medicago pod frag...... 1 Astragalus type . . . . 1 . . 1 . 2 . Trigonella astroites type . . 1 . . . . 2 . . . T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type ...... 1 Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae 2 2 . . . . . 6 1 8 4

336 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

471081 471081 473101 473101 sample 472022 462032 473102 483501 483502 483511 483512 CF FF CF FF Fumaria ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... 1 . . . Bellevalia type ...... 1 Ornithogalum type ...... 1 1 . . Liliaceae indet...... Malva . 2 . . . . 1 . . . . Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... 1 . . . . . Plantago sp. . . 1 . . . . . 2 . . P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena . . . . 1 . . cf.2 . . . Avena/Stipa awn frag...... 3 1 7 Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp...... 3 . . . B. sterilis 4 . . 1 ...... B. danthoniae ...... small grass seed . 2 1 . . 1 . 1 2 8 1 Echinaria ...... Lolium 7 . 2 cf.2 cf.1 . . 2 1 11 5 Aegilops ...... 1 . . . Hordeum ...... 2 . . Phalaris . . 1 1 . cf.1 1 2 3 2 1 Stipa ...... floret base indet...... 1 1 3 . 5 grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... 1 . . Poaceae indet. 2 . 5 . 10 . 3 4 4 7 . Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

337 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

471081 471081 473101 473101 sample 472022 462032 473102 483501 483502 483511 483512 CF FF CF FF Unknown types A ...... 1 . (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) . 1 . . . . . cf.1 . . . E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) . . 1 ...... R (unknown seed) ...... 1 . . . V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... AC . . . 1 . . . 1 . 3 . AD . . 1 ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... 1 3 . AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... 1 . . AL ...... 1 . AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable 1 2 3 . . 1 3 7 6 . 6 wood >2.8mm (mL) 0.5 . . . 0.3 . . 3.0 3.0 5.0 3.0 Non-plant finds snails 27 4 6 6 5 6 4 12 10 3 2 bones ...... 1 2 . pellets ...... 1 . . . dung . . . . 1 ...... ‘biscuit’ (mL) ...... 0.1 . 0.2 0.2 coarse flot (g) 7.03 . 9.74 2.38 2.26 . 1.23 3.98 6.57 5.51 8.36 fine flot (g) . 4.29 . . . 2.60 . 2.85 . 1.37 . AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII AXIII GIV GIV context GIV 30.5 GIV 30.5 2.1 2.1 2.6 (i) 2.6 (ii) 2.4 2.4 2.4 30.12 30.12 phase LMC? LMC? LMC? LMC? LMC? LMC? LMC? ELC ELC ELC ELC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

338 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season) sample 483521 483522 483531 483532 483541 483542 493231 493232 493241 493242 493251 GIV GIV GIV GIV GIV GIV EXXIV EXXIV EXXIV EXXIV EXXVII provenance 30.13 30.13 30.42 30.42 30.43 30.43 12.32 12.32 12.39 12.39 2.40 volume (L) 5 4 15 4 11 4 18 4 14 4 17 Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain 1 ...... 1 glume wheat indet. . 2 4 . 3 . 3 . 1 . 5 spikelet fork 25 31 11 10 13 5 22 10 27 10 9 terminal spikelet fork 3 1 3 . 1 . . . 2 1 1 glume base 26 94 40 55 13 54 46 47 39 102 20 f.t. wheat grain ...... cf.3 cf.1 1 . 3 f.t. wheat rachis . . . . cf.2 ...... wheat grain indet. . . 1 . . cf.1 . . 1 . 5 wheat chaff indet. . 4 3 1 . 2 2 3 . 1 . Barley wild barley cf.2 1 . . . . . cf.1 . . . naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley ...... cf.1 wild/cult. hulled barley 1 . 2 . . 1 2 . 2 . 7 cult. hulled barley indet. 8 + cf.1 3 + cf.5 3 . cf.6 . 2 + cf.2 . . . 16 wild barley rachis . . . . . cf.1 . . . . . wild/cultivated rachis 4 3 1 . 2 1 1 . . . . 2-row barley rachis 11 6 5 . 3 1 3 . . . . 6-row barley rachis 4 2 . . . . 1 . . . . cult. barley rachis indet. 37 26 4 3 7 2 10 . cf.2 1 2 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 5 10 7 . 3 1 2 2 2 3 15 cereal grain vol (mL) 0.2 0.4 0.1 . 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 1.5 culm node 4 4 . . 2 1 . . . . . culm base 19 15 1 . 2 1 cf.1 1 7 1 . straw (fragments) 14 4 . . 2 . 1 4 1 2 1 straw (mm) 51 34 . . 8 . 4 11 6 6 7 Pulses lentil 1 1 2 . cf.1 . . . . 1 . chickpea ...... pea ...... vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. . 1 cf.2 cf.1 . . . cf.1 . . . Other food plants flax seed cf.1 cf.2 1 . 1 ...... flax pod fragments 16 17 12 25 13 13 5 2 . 1 5 Pistacia fragments . 1 + cf.2 ...... Ficus 1 cf.1 ...... olive stones . . 0.5 . 1.5 ...... olive fragments (cm2) 2 2 2 1 1 1.5 1 0.5 3 0.5 0.1 date stone ......

339 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season) sample 483521 483522 483531 483532 483541 483542 493231 493232 493241 493242 493251 Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum 3 . 2 . . . 1 . . 1 . Eryngium ...... Bupleurum ...... Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea ...... Anthemis cf.3 . cf.1 ...... Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula cf.1 . . . cf.1 ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium . . . . . 1 . . . . . Arnebia type ...... Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis ...... Silene . . 1 ...... Cerastium cf.1 ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium 4 3 ...... Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda . 1 ...... 1 Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract 1 1 ...... Chenopodiaceae indet. . . . . 1 . 3 . . . 1 Convolvulaceae indet...... cf.1 . . Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex ...... Fimbristylis ...... Scirpus ...... Scirpus kernel 1 . 3 . . 1 1 . 3 2 2 Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type 6 7 3 . . 2 8 1 13 2 . Medicago type 3 2 3 . 2 . 2 . . 1 1 Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type 1 . . . . . 2 . 2 . 1 Trigonella astroites type . cf.2 . . . . 1 . . . 1 T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type 1 ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type ...... Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae 3 . 3 . . . 7 . 2 . .

340 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season) sample 483521 483522 483531 483532 483541 483542 493231 493232 493241 493242 493251 Fumaria ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type ...... Ornithogalum type 2 1 . . 1 ...... Liliaceae indet...... Malva . cf.1 ...... Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp...... P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena cf.1 ...... Avena/Stipa awn frag. 1 6 . . . 2 . 1 . 1 2 Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum cf.1 ...... Bromus sp. 1 . 1 . . . . cf.1 . . . B. sterilis ...... B. danthoniae . 1 . . 2 ...... small grass seed 6 1 4 . 1 1 2 . . 2 2 Echinaria cf.2 ...... cf.1 . . Lolium cf.1 cf.4 cf.4 2 1 1 . 2 . . . Aegilops . cf.1 ...... Hordeum cf.1 ...... Phalaris 3 3 . . 1 . 1 . . . . Stipa ...... floret base indet. 1 1 . 2 ...... grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 1 3 . 3 2 4 . 2 . . 5 Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet. . cf.1 ...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

341 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season) sample 483521 483522 483531 483532 483541 483542 493231 493232 493241 493242 493251 Unknown types A ...... (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) 1 ...... E (immature fruit?) . . 1 ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) . 1 ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... 1 . AC ...... AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable 3 1 4 . . . 2 . 2 3 3 wood >2.8mm (mL) 3.0 5.0 1.5 0.5 0.5 0.1 0.5 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.1 Non-plant finds snails 8 14 27 21 24 24 34 19 23 13 24 bones 2 2 . 1 . 1 . 2 . . . pellets ...... dung . 1 ...... ‘biscuit’ (mL) 0.1 0.1 . . 0.1 . 0.1 . 0.1 . . coarse flot (g) 4.38 18.76 1.40 1.14 1.24 12.47 1.69 1.50 2.70 1.48 2.55 fine flot (g) 2.11 . 2.42 . 3.08 . 0.74 . 2.67 . 7.24 GIV GIV GIV GIV GIV GIV EXXIV EXXIV EXXIV EXXIV EXXVII context 30.13 30.13 30.42 30.42 30.43 30.43 12.32 12.32 12.39 12.39 2.40 phase ELC ELC ELC ELC ELC ELC LC LC LC LC LC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

342 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

493261 493261 sample 493252 493262 493271 493272 493371 493372 493381 493382 493391 CF FF/2 EXXVII EXXVII EXXVII EXXVII EXXVII EXXVII provenance NIII 6.4 NIII 6.4 NIII 9.18 NIII 9.18 NIII 9.20 2.40 2.44 2.44 2.44 2.52 2.52 volume (L) 4 38 . 4 16 4 5 4 17 4 6 Wheat einkorn grain . 1 . . . . . cf.1 . . . cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain . cf.2 . . 2 . . . cf.4 cf.1 1 glume wheat indet. 5 7 . 2 8 . . . 8 3 6 spikelet fork 3 37 . 10 8 8 1 . 9 6 9 terminal spikelet fork . 1 ...... 3 . glume base 31 16 16 31 29 52 10 3 28 29 22 f.t. wheat grain 2 ...... 1 . . f.t. wheat rachis ...... wheat grain indet. . . . . 1 . . . 2 + cf.3 1 . wheat chaff indet. . . . . 2 . . . 2 1 . Barley wild barley ...... cf.6 cf.1 cf.1 naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley ...... cf.1 . . . . wild/cult. hulled barley . 4 . . 1 . 1 . 12 3 4 10 + cult. hulled barley indet. cf.5 9 . cf.1 7 2 1 1 1 6 cf.11 wild barley rachis . . . . . cf.1 . . . . . wild/cultivated rachis . 1 1 ...... 4 1 2-row barley rachis . . 2 . . . . . cf.2 cf.3 4 6-row barley rachis ...... cf.6 cf.2 1 cult. barley rachis indet. 2 3 1 3 4 . 1 . 31 5 9 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 7 13 . 2 4 2 2 2 8 5 6 cereal grain vol (mL) 0.7 0.5 . 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.5 0.2 0.3 culm node ...... 4 1 2 culm base . 1 ...... 3 1 4 straw (fragments) . 1 ...... 6 2 3 straw (mm) . 4 ...... 23 7 24 Pulses lentil . cf.1 . . cf.1 . . 1 9 1 3 chickpea ...... pea ...... vetch ...... vetch/grass pea . . . . . 1 . . . . . bean ...... pulse indet...... 1 . 2 . . Other food plants flax seed . . . . 1 . . . . 2 . flax pod fragments 1 . 4 5 5 3 . . 14 3 6 Pistacia fragments ...... 1 Ficus . . . 1 1 . cf.1 . 4 . . olive stones ...... 2 . . . . olive fragments (cm2) 0.1 2 . 1 0.25 0.25 2 0.5 1 0.5 2.5 date stone ......

343 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

493261 493261 sample 493252 493262 493271 493272 493371 493372 493381 493382 493391 CF FF/2 Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum . . 1 . 1 . . . 1 . . Eryngium ...... Bupleurum ...... Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... 1 . . . . Apiaceae indet...... Centaurea ...... 1 Anthemis ...... Carthamus ...... Picris ...... 1 Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium ...... Arnebia type . . . 1 ...... Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis ...... Silene ...... Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... cf.1 . . . . Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium ...... 3 . Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda ...... Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract ...... 2 . . Chenopodiaceae indet...... cf.1 Convolvulaceae indet...... cf.1 . . Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex . . . . . cf.1 . . . 1 2 Fimbristylis ...... Scirpus . 1 . 1 ...... Scirpus kernel . . . . 1 . . . . . 1 Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type . 18 . cf.2 4 . . 3 33 12 11 Medicago type . 1 . . 3 cf.2 . . 10 9 6 Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type . 1 . . 2 . . . 6 1 2 Trigonella astroites type . . 1 . 3 . . . . . cf.1 T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... 1 Melilotus/Trifolium type . . . . 2 . . . cf.1 . . Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae . 1 . . . . 1 . . 3 4

344 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

493261 493261 sample 493252 493262 493271 493272 493371 493372 493381 493382 493391 CF FF/2 Fumaria ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type ...... cf.1 . 1 . 2 Ornithogalum type ...... 1 1 4 . 2 Liliaceae indet...... Malva . cf.1 cf.1 . cf.3 . . . . . 1 Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp...... P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena ...... 1 . . Avena/Stipa awn frag. . . . . 2 . 1 . . . . Avena floret base, ...... 1 . wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp. 2 ...... 1 . B. sterilis . . . . cf.2 . . . cf.3 . 2 B. danthoniae . . . cf.1 cf.1 . . . . . cf.2 small grass seed . . 1 . 3 3 . . 4 cf.1 1 Echinaria ...... Lolium . 3 . . 7 1 . . 4 2 1 Aegilops ...... Hordeum ...... cf.1 . Phalaris ...... 3 1 . Stipa ...... 2 . . floret base indet...... 3 . . . . grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 2 5 . 3 5 3 1 . 6 . 1 Rumex ...... Polygonum . . . . . 1 . . . . . Polygonaceae indet...... Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium ...... Verbena . . . . 1 ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

345 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

493261 493261 sample 493252 493262 493271 493272 493371 493372 493381 493382 493391 CF FF/2 Unknown types A ...... (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... 3 D (unknown seed) . . . . 1 cf.1 cf.1 . . . . E (immature fruit?) . . . . 1 ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) ...... 1 V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) . . 1 ...... AC . . . . . 1 . . . . . AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable 2 . 4 . 6 3 . . 7 . . wood >2.8mm (mL) 0.1 3.0 . 0.2 1.0 0.1 30.0 10.0 5.0 1.5 0.3 Non-plant finds snails 16 55 . 10 22 7 7 4 10 2 1 bones . . . . 2 . 2 1 1 . 1 pellets ...... dung ...... 4 ‘biscuit’ (mL) . 0.1 ...... 0.1 . . coarse flot (g) 1.29 8.56 . 4.79 5.95 2.92 13.45 5.95 13.57 19.53 3.19 fine flot (g) . . 38.49 . 8.29 . 3.35 . 10.84 . 5.02 EXXVII EXXVII EXXVII EXXVII EXXVII EXXVII context NIII 6.4 NIII 6.4 NIII 9.18 NIII 9.18 NIII 9.20 2.40 2.44 2.44 2.44 2.52 2.52 phase LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC LC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

346 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season) sample 493392 543451 543452 543461 543462 543411 543412 543421 543422 543441 543442 QI 17.13 QI 17.13 QI 17.9 QI 17.9 provenance NIII 9.20 QI 17.18 QI 17.18 QI 15.16 QI 15.16 QI 17.6 QI 17.6 (i) (i) (ii) (ii) volume (L) 4 5 4 4 4 2.5 4 nr 4 8 4 Wheat einkorn grain . cf.1 cf.1 ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain . cf.4 cf.1 . . . cf.3 1 . . . glume wheat indet. 2 6 9 2 4 3 5 3 + cf.3 . 5 . spikelet fork 12 62 62 3 5 24 32 8 6 10 5 terminal spikelet fork . 2 2 1 1 2 7 . 1 2 . glume base 38 81 192 18 49 51 112 26 39 29 13 f.t. wheat grain ...... cf.1 . f.t. wheat rachis . . cf.13 ...... wheat grain indet. 1 5 . . . 6 cf.2 1 . 2 2 wheat chaff indet. 1 11 13 2 5 1 . . . . . Barley wild barley 1 . cf.3 cf.2 ...... naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley . cf.2 . . . cf.1 cf.1 . . . . wild/cult. hulled barley 3 10 9 2 3 3 7 3 . 4 1 cult. hulled barley indet. 4 13 18 5 2 8 + cf.6 7 cf.3 cf.2 4 2 wild barley rachis . cf.2 cf.2 ...... wild/cultivated rachis ...... 1 . . . . 2-row barley rachis cf.1 cf.7 4 + cf.3 . cf.1 2 cf.3 . cf.1 . . 6-row barley rachis cf.1 5 + cf.9 cf.6 cf.8 cf.2 cf.2 cf.1 . . . . cult. barley rachis indet. 8 59 51 . 7 17 16 2 . 5 2 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 5 14 19 3 4 8 8 6 2 5 4 cereal grain vol (mL) nr 0.5 0.5 0.1 0.1 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 culm node 2 5 6 . 1 3 2 . . . . culm base . 8 . 2 . 5 . . . . . straw (fragments) . 8 . . . 2 1 . . . . straw (mm) . 43 . . . 7 4 . . . . Pulses lentil cf.1 1 1 2 1 5 1 1 1 5 1 chickpea . . 1 ...... pea ...... vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. . 2 1 + cf.1 . . 2 . 2 . 1 . Other food plants flax seed . 1 + cf.3 cf.1 cf.2 cf.1 cf.15 1 . cf.1 . . flax pod fragments 10 110 107 20 27 . 6 3 1 15 6 Pistacia fragments . . . . . cf.2 . cf.1 . cf.1 . Ficus 2 cf.2 cf.1 . 3 1 . 7 . 2 + cf.1 cf.1 olive stones 1 1 . 0.5 1.5 2 1 . . . . olive fragments (cm2) 0.5 5 2 3 3 17 7 2 1 7 2 date stone ......

347 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season) sample 493392 543451 543452 543461 543462 543411 543412 543421 543422 543441 543442 Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum . . . . 1 ...... Eryngium . 3 3 1 1 . 1 . . . . Bupleurum . . cf.1 ...... Bifora . . . . . cf.1 . . . . . Type C (Apium?) . 2 cf.1 ...... Apiaceae indet. . . 2 + cf.3 ...... Centaurea . 1? ...... Anthemis ...... Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet. . 1 2 ...... cf.1 . Heliotropium ...... Arnebia type ...... 1 . . . Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis . . 1 + cf.1 . 1 ...... Silene ...... Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... 1 . . . . Beta vulgaris ...... Chenopodium 2 . . . 2 . 2 . . . 2 Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... 10 . Suaeda . . . . . 11 . . . . . Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract ...... Chenopodiaceae indet...... 1 . . . Convolvulaceae indet. . . . cf.1 ...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex ...... Fimbristylis ...... Scirpus ...... Scirpus kernel ...... 1 1 . . . Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... Scorpiurus type 6 30 14 2 . 6 2 7 2 12 1 Medicago type 4 . . . . cf.1 2 3 . 3 2 Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type . . . 1 ...... Trigonella astroites type ...... T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type ...... cf.1 . . Melilotus/Trifolium type . . 1 . 3 . 1 . . 2 . Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae 2 4 7 1 . 3 . . . 2 cf.1

348 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season) sample 493392 543451 543452 543461 543462 543411 543412 543421 543422 543441 543442 Fumaria ...... 1 . . Hypericum . 3 3 ...... Teucrium . 1 1 ...... Bellevalia type . . . . 1 . cf.1 . . 1 2 Ornithogalum type cf.1 2 7 7 . 4 2 . 1 21 2 Liliaceae indet...... Malva ...... Malvaceae indet. . . 1 1 ...... Papaveraceae indet...... cf.1 . . . Plantago sp. . 1 cf.1 ...... P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena . 2 1 ...... 2 . Avena/Stipa awn frag. . 1 4 . 2 . 2 . . . . Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp. . 6 . . 3 2 . . . 2 . B. sterilis 1 . 7 . . . . cf.2 . 2 . B. danthoniae . 3 5 ...... small grass seed ...... 1 1 Echinaria ...... Lolium . 6 . . . 2 1 1 . 1 . Aegilops ...... Hordeum . . . 1 ...... Phalaris 1 1 . . 1 1 . . . . . Stipa . . 2 cf.1 ...... floret base indet...... grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. . 12 11 3 2 3 4 3 1 2 . Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet. . cf.1 cf.2 1 . . . 1 . . cf.1 Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium 1 +cf.1 ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum . . . 1 1 ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... cf.1 . . . Valerianella . . 1 ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

349 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season) sample 493392 543451 543452 543461 543462 543411 543412 543421 543422 543441 543442 Unknown types A . 3 . . . 1 . 1 . . . (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) . 2 . . . 1 . . . 1 . D (unknown seed) . 1 2 1? . 1? 1? . . 1 . E (immature fruit?) . 1 2 2 1 ...... G (immature fruit?) . 1 1 ...... N (unknown seed) . . . . 1 . 1 . . . . R (unknown seed) ...... 1 . . . V (immature fruit) ...... W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... AC ...... AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable 5 3 8 4 . 4 3 1 3 4 1 wood >2.8mm (mL) 0.2 1.5 0.5 1.0 0.5 0.5 1.0 0.5 0.1 0.7 1.0 Non-plant finds snails 4 7 10 14 3 . 1 51 13 4 2 bones . 6 1 1 . . . 1 . . . pellets ...... 28 11 . . dung . 2 ...... 1 ‘biscuit’ (mL) 1 0.5 0.2 . . . . 0.1 0.3 . . coarse flot (g) 3.88 ? 3.74 2.53 2.13 5.83 5.37 2.67 3.29 5.75 2.36 fine flot (g) . 2.34 . 2.57 . 3.95 . 6.64 . 7.61 . QI 17.13 QI 17.13 QI 17.9 QI 17.9 context NIII 9.20 QI 17.18 QI 17.18 QI 15.16 QI 15.16 QI 17.6 QI 17.6 (i) (i) (ii) (ii) phase LC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

350 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season) sample 543431 543432 543471 543472 543481 543482 543491 543492 543221 543222 QI 17.9 QI 17.9 QIII 7.3 QIII 7.3 QIII 7.3 QIII 7.3 EXXIV EXXIV provenance QIII 1.4 QIII 1.4 (i) (i) (i) (i) (ii) (ii) 12.15 12.15 volume (L) 6 4 21 4 7 4 5 4 17 4 Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf.1 . . . cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain ...... glume wheat indet. . 2 3 . 1 + cf.2 3 3 . 5 2 spikelet fork 4 7 10 4 15 23 21 32 12 9 terminal spikelet fork . 2 . . 2 4 1 2 1 3 glume base 10 49 30 43 41 172 43 178 24 65 f.t. wheat grain ...... f.t. wheat rachis ...... wheat grain indet. cf.4 . 1 1 . . 2 . . . wheat chaff indet. 2 . 1 . . 3 3 2 . . Barley wild barley . 1 cf.2 . cf.1 . . . . cf.1 naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley ...... wild/cult. hulled barley 2 1 . . 4 . 5 2 2 . cult. hulled barley indet. cf.3 . 5 1 2 3 1 2 + cf.3 6 4 wild barley rachis ...... wild/cultivated rachis . . . . 1 2 . . 2 . 2-row barley rachis . . cf.1 . cf.2 cf.4 cf.3 cf.3 cf.4 cf.1 6-row barley rachis . . . . 1 cf.1 cf.2 . cf.2 . cult. barley rachis indet. 2 3 5 4 8 11 10 10 5 3 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 4 2 3 . 6 4 ? 5 3 4 cereal grain vol (mL) 0.1 0.1 0.1 . 0.4 0.1 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.1 culm node cf.1 . 2 . 1 . 2 2 2 1 culm base . . . . cf.2 cf.1 2 2 3 2 straw (fragments) . . . . . 1 . 2 6 1 straw (mm) . . . . . 8 . 5 21 3 Pulses lentil 4 . cf.1 . cf.3 4 1 2 3 . chickpea . . . 1 ...... pea cf.3 ...... vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. cf.2 1 cf.2 2 2 1 . 2 1 1 Other food plants flax seed . . . . cf.1 1 cf.1 . . . flax pod fragments 18 18 6 2 15 34 21 20 8 6 Pistacia fragments 1 + cf.2 cf.2 1 + cf.3 . . cf.1 . . cf.2 . Ficus cf.2 . 1 4 4 4 cf.4 . . 1 olive stones ...... olive fragments (cm2) 1 3 3 2.5 4 4 2 4 0.2 1 date stone ......

351 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season) sample 543431 543432 543471 543472 543481 543482 543491 543492 543221 543222 Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum 2 ...... 1 . Eryngium . . . . . cf.1 . . . . Bupleurum . . . . . 1 . . . . Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet. . . . . cf.1 . cf.2 . . . Centaurea . cf.1 ...... Anthemis ...... 1 . . . Carthamus . . . . 1 . . . . . Picris . . . . . cf.1 . . . . Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... Heliotropium 1 . . . cf.1 . . . . . Arnebia type ...... 2 . Brassicaceae indet...... Capparis . . . . 1 + cf.1 . . . . . Silene . 1 ...... Cerastium ...... Minuartia . . 2 ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... Beta vulgaris 1 ...... Chenopodium 4 1 2 1 3 2 3 . . . Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda . . 1 ...... Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract ...... 1 . 1 . Chenopodiaceae indet. 6 . . . 5 5 . 2 2 . Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex ...... Fimbristylis . 1 ...... Scirpus ...... Scirpus kernel . . . . 2 1 . 1 . 1 Cyperaceae indet...... 1 . . Scorpiurus muricatus ...... 1 . . . Scorpiurus type 1 . 11 4 31 14 23 13 8 4 Medicago type 1 1 16 2 cf.4 2 7 2 1 3 Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type . . 2 . . . 1 . . . Trigonella astroites type . . . 1 1 . . . . . T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... 1 . . Hippocrepis type ...... Melilotus/Trifolium type ...... Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae . . 4 . 3 6 8 7 4 2

352 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season) sample 543431 543432 543471 543472 543481 543482 543491 543492 543221 543222 Fumaria ...... Hypericum ...... Teucrium 1 ...... Bellevalia type . . 1 1 2 cf.3 1 . 1 . Ornithogalum type 9 5 10 2 7 4 6 4 2 . Liliaceae indet. 2 ...... Malva ...... Malvaceae indet. . . . . 2 . . . . . Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp...... P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type ...... Avena . . . . 1 . . . 1 . Avena/Stipa awn frag. . . . 2 . 4 . 1 . 1 Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp. . . . cf.1 cf.1 4 . . . . B. sterilis ...... 10 3 . . B. danthoniae ...... 1 . . . small grass seed . . . . 1 3 . cf.1 2 . Echinaria ...... Lolium . . 2 . 3 . 4 4 . . Aegilops ...... Hordeum . . . . 3 . 1 . . . Phalaris . . . . 2 4 . 2 . . Stipa . . . . cf.1 . . . . . floret base indet...... grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 3 2 4 1 1 6 5 5 5 . Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... 1 . . Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... 1 . . . Galium ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella . . 1 ...... Vaccaria ...... Reseda ......

353 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season) sample 543431 543432 543471 543472 543481 543482 543491 543492 543221 543222 Unknown types A ...... 2 1 1 (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... 1 . . D (unknown seed) ...... E (immature fruit?) ...... G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) 1 ...... W (unknown seed) . 1 ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... AC ...... AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable 2 6 4 . 2 3 5 5 3 . wood >2.8mm (mL) 0.5 0.5 2.0 0.5 2.5 1.5 3.0 2.0 0.5 0.5 Non-plant finds snails 4 6 10 1 11 8 13 12 8 8 bones ...... pellets . . 39 4 17 11 6 1 . . dung . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . ‘biscuit’ (mL) 0.1 . . . 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 . . coarse flot (g) 1.42 3.75 6.40 4.39 4.21 5.52 3.27 4.30 1.56 1.44 fine flot (g) 2.26 . 10.18 . 2.10 . 2.03 . 1.95 . QI 17.9 QI 17.9 QIII 7.3 QIII 7.3 QIII 7.3 QIII 7.3 EXXIV EXXIV context QIII 1.4 QIII 1.4 (i) (i) (i) (i) (ii) (ii) 12.15 12.15 phase VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

354 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

543201 543201 543211 543211 sample 543202 543212 543351 543352 543361 543362 CF FF/2 CF FF EXXIV EXXIV EXXIV EXXIV EXXIV EXXIV provenance NIII 3.1 NIII 3.1 NIII 3.2 NIII 3.2 12.12 12.12 12.12 12.13 12.13 12.12 volume (L) 17 . 4 20 . 4 24 4 22 4 Wheat einkorn grain ...... cf. wild emmer grain ...... emmer grain . . . 2 . . cf.1 . cf.2 . glume wheat indet. 2 . 1 9 . cf.1 5 2 16 + cf.7 7 spikelet fork 15 1 6 41 6 23 22 1 27 10 terminal spikelet fork 2 . 2 2 1 2 3 . 1 . glume base 14 10 38 44 46 119 57 20 59 64 f.t. wheat grain . . . 1 ...... f.t. wheat rachis ...... wheat grain indet...... 1 . . 1 wheat chaff indet. . . . . 2 2 . . . 1 Barley wild barley . . . cf.5 . . 1 . cf.3 . naked barley ...... straight hulled barley ...... twisted hulled barley ...... wild/cult. hulled barley 2 . . 11 . 1 2 1 5 1 cult. hulled barley indet. 2 . . 21 . 5 5 + cf.3 1 8 + cf.5 6 wild barley rachis 1 ...... cf.2 wild/cultivated rachis 1 1 1 3 5 . . . . . 2-row barley rachis . 3 . 1 2 . 1 . cf.3 . 6-row barley rachis . 1 . 3 2 . . . . cf.1 cult. barley rachis indet. 4 6 4 21 30 11 6 3 8 9 Other cereal cereal grain indet. 3 . 2 10 . 7 10 2 35 11 cereal grain vol (mL) 0.1 . 0.1 0.6 . 0.2 1 0.1 2 0.5 culm node 2 . . 3 . . . 2 6 1 culm base . . . 1 ...... straw (fragments) 1 . . 8 . 2 1 . 4 1 straw (mm) 3 . . 30 . 7 4 . 19 2 Pulses lentil 1 . . 3 1 1 5 . 8 2 chickpea ...... 1 . pea ...... 1 . . . vetch ...... vetch/grass pea ...... bean ...... pulse indet. 1 . . . . . 10 1 17 2 Other food plants flax seed ...... 1 . flax pod fragments . . 1 3 1 4 14 7 9 5 Pistacia fragments ...... Ficus . . . . cf.1 . . . 2 4 olive stones ...... 2 . olive fragments (cm2) 1 . 0.25 2 . 1 1 . 3 0.1 date stone . . . 1 ......

355 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

543201 543201 543211 543211 sample 543202 543212 543351 543352 543361 543362 CF FF/2 CF FF Wild plants Aizoon hispanicum . . . . 1 . . . . . Eryngium ...... Bupleurum ...... Bifora ...... Type C (Apium?) ...... Apiaceae indet...... cf.2 . Centaurea ...... Anthemis ...... Carthamus ...... Picris ...... Calendula ...... Asteraceae indet...... 1 . . . Heliotropium ...... Arnebia type ...... 2 . Brassicaceae indet...... cf.1 . Capparis ...... 1 . Silene . . . . . cf.1 . . . . Cerastium ...... Minuartia ...... Caryophyllaceae indet...... Beta vulgaris ...... 2 . 1 1 Chenopodium . . . . 1 . 1 . 2 . Chenopodium/Atriplex ...... Suaeda . . . . 1 . . . . 1 Salsola ...... Atriplex fruiting bract ...... Chenopodiaceae indet. . . cf.1 cf.1 4 . . 2 2 1 Convolvulaceae indet...... Citrullus colocynthis ...... Carex . . . . 1 . . . . . Fimbristylis . . . . 1 . 2 . 5 . Scirpus ...... Scirpus kernel . . . . 5 . . . . . Cyperaceae indet...... Scorpiurus muricatus ...... 1 Scorpiurus type 5 . 1 16 . 3 40 8 107 26 Medicago type 2 . . 5 4 2 . 2 4 . Medicago pod frag...... Astragalus type . . . 2 . . . . 2 . Trigonella astroites type ...... T. coelesyriaca type ...... Coronilla type ...... Hippocrepis type . . . cf.2 cf.1 . . . . . Melilotus/Trifolium type . 1 ...... 1 . Onobrychis pod frag...... small Fabaceae . . 1 2 2 . 13 . 43 9

356 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

543201 543201 543211 543211 sample 543202 543212 543351 543352 543361 543362 CF FF/2 CF FF Fumaria . . . 1 . . . . . 1 Hypericum ...... Teucrium ...... Bellevalia type ...... 1 2 1 Ornithogalum type 1 . . . . . 3 . 4 3 Liliaceae indet. . . . 1 . . 3 . . . Malva ...... 1 . cf.1 . Malvaceae indet...... Papaveraceae indet...... Plantago sp. . . . . 1 . . . . . P. ovata type ...... P. lagopus/psyllium type . . cf.1 ...... Avena ...... 1 . . . Avena/Stipa awn frag...... 2 . . . 1 Avena floret base, ...... wild type Eremopyrum ...... Bromus sp. 1 . . . . . 2 . 3 cf.2 B. sterilis ...... 1 . . . B. danthoniae . . . 1 . . 1 . . . small grass seed . 1 . . 8 . 2 cf.2 2 2 Echinaria ...... cf.1 Lolium . . . 4 . . 1 . . cf.4 Aegilops ...... cf.1 . Hordeum ...... Phalaris . 1 1 2 . . 1 1 cf.1 . Stipa ...... floret base indet...... grass bulbil (Poa?) ...... Poaceae indet. 1 . . 7 1 2 6 . 9 5 Rumex ...... Polygonum ...... Polygonaceae indet...... cf.1 . Adonis ...... Crataegus ...... Galium ...... Verbena ...... Verbascum ...... Veronica ...... Withania ...... Valerianella ...... Vaccaria ...... cf.1 . Reseda ......

357 Table 5.6: identified plant remains, Teleilat Ghassul (1999 season)

543201 543201 543211 543211 sample 543202 543212 543351 543352 543361 543362 CF FF/2 CF FF Unknown types A ...... 1 . (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) B (Liliaceae?) ...... D (unknown seed) ...... cf.2 E (immature fruit?) ...... 1 . . . G (immature fruit?) ...... N (unknown seed) ...... 1 . . . R (unknown seed) ...... V (immature fruit) . . . . . 1 . . . . W (unknown seed) ...... AA (unknown seed) ...... AC ...... 1 AD ...... AE ...... AF ...... AG ...... AH (same as AC?) ...... AI ...... AJ (Polygonaceae?) ...... 1 . . AK (Lamiaceae?) ...... AL ...... AM ...... AN ...... seed, not identifiable . . . 2 . . 5 2 9 1 wood >2.8mm (mL) 1.0 . 0.2 0.5 . 1.0 1.4 0.5 1.5 1.0 Non-plant finds snails 20 . 7 55 5 12 . 5 16 1 bones . . 1 ...... pellets ...... dung ...... ‘biscuit’ (mL) 0.1 . . 0.2 . . . . . 0.1 coarse flot (g) 3.05 . 0.85 3.31 . 2.65 23.00 8.77 20.01 6.88 fine flot (g) . 24.49 . . 2.96 . 13.80 . 9.65 . EXXIV EXXIV EXXIV EXXIV EXXIV EXXIV context NIII 3.1 NIII 3.1 NIII 3.2 NIII 3.2 12.12 12.12 12.12 12.13 12.13 12.12 phase VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC VLC

Notes to Table 5.6: CF coarse flot (>1.0mm diameter) EC Early Chalcolithic FF fine flot (<1.0mm, >0.3mm diameter) LEC late Early Chalcolithic FF/2 one half fine flot sorted EMC early Middle Chalcolithic FF/4 one quarter fine flot sorted MC Middle Chalcolithic nr not recorded LMC late Middle Chalcolithic ELC early Late Chalcolithic LC Late Chalcolithic VLC Very Late Chalcolithic machine-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘1’ manually-processed samples and subsamples have codes ending in ‘2’

358 Table 6.1: identified plant remains in coarse flot and fine flot fractions, 48 machine-processed samples, Teleilat Ghassul 1999. Taxa are those used in Correspondence Analysis exercise (6.2.2). taxon CF count FF count total count % in CF % in FF glume wheat grain 269 0 269 100 0 glume wheat spikelet fork 970 84 1054 92 8 glume wheat terminal spikelet fork 73 49 122 60 40 glume wheat glume base 1485 1468 2953 50 50 free-threshing wheat grain 10 0 10 100 0 free-threshing wheat rachis internode 13 6 19 68 32 wheat grain indeterminate 57 1 58 98 2 wild barley grain 61 5 66 92 8 cultivated hulled barley grain 276 0 276 100 0 wild/cultivated barley grain 159 0 159 100 0 wild/cultivated barley rachis internode 19 20 39 49 51 2-row cultivated barley rachis internode 40 31 71 56 44 6-row cultivated barley rachis internode 10 7 17 59 41 cultivated barley rachis internode indeterminate 121 147 268 45 55 culm node 50 2 52 96 4 culm base 109 0 109 100 0 other straw fragment 98 0 98 100 0 lentil 126 1 127 99 1 legumes other than lentil 46 1 47 98 2 linseed 14 5 19 74 26 flax pod fragment 206 166 372 55 45 fig seed 11 29 40 28 73 olive stone (whole stone equivalent) 142 4 146 97 3 Aizoon sp. 0 36 36 0 100 Apiaceae 0 6 6 0 100 Asteraceae 3 10 13 23 77 Heliotropium sp. 6 4 10 60 40 Arnebia sp. 10 0 10 100 0 Capparis sp. 7 0 7 100 0 Caryophyllaceae 2 6 8 25 75 Chenopodiaceae 15 106 121 12 88 Cyperaceae 16 155 171 9 91 Scorpiurus type 322 2 324 99 1 Medicago type 78 121 199 39 61 Astragalus type 26 11 37 70 30 Trigonella astroites type 0 16 16 0 100 Fabaceae indet. 73 50 123 59 41 Bellevalia type 8 0 8 100 0 Ornithogalum type 5 1 6 83 17 Malva sp. 45 35 80 56 44 Plantago sp. 3 10 13 23 77 Avena sp. 13 0 13 100 0 Avena/Stipa awn fragment 0 24 24 0 100 Bromus sp. 43 4 47 91 9 Lolium sp. 226 2 228 99 1 large grass indeterminate 214 29 243 88 12 Phalaris sp. 3 22 25 12 88 small grass type 1 287 288 0 100

359 Table 6.2: summary of context types, archaeobotanical samples analysed, Teleilat Ghassul 1999

code description samples provenience AXI 76.6, 76.19. 76.26 (2 samples); 1 fire pit/hearth 5 AXIII 1.5; NI 12.9 2 localised burning 1 AXI 76.15 3 midden, rubbish pit 3 QI 17.6, 17.13, QIII 7.3 (2 samples) mainly AXIII and NI; 4 installations, storage pits 16 2 from NIII, 1 each from QI and GIV surfaces, floors, 5 32 all areas and phases occupation deposits 6 other, no information 19 all areas and phases

360 Table 6.3: ubiquity of plant taxa, ZAD2: number (#) and percentage (%) of contexts in which each taxon was found taxon # % taxon # % wood fragments >1mm 36 92 small-seeded legumes 13 33 wheat grain 4 10 cf. Onobrychis 1 3 spikelet fork 3 8 Onobrychis pod fragments 6 15 glume base 10 26 Erodium beak? (Geraniaceae twist) 2 5 wheat rachis 2 5 Bupleurum sp. 2 5 cf. wild barley grain 12 31 Ornithogalum type 8 21 cf. cult. barley grain 8 21 Liliaceae indet. 2 5 barley grain indet. 12 31 Malva sp. 3 8 barley floret base 30 77 Plantago sp. 8 21 wild barley rachis 16 41 cf. Solanaceae 1 3 cult. barley rachis 7 18 Avena/Stipa awn fragment 21 54 indet. barley rachis 23 59 Bromus sp. 2 5 cereal grain fragments 35 90 cf. Stipa 13 33 culm node 4 10 cf. Avena 4 10 culm base 1 3 Setaria type 6 15 Lathyrus type 2 5 grass bulbil cf. Poa sp. 3 8 lentil 13 33 floret base indet. 3 8 pea type 16 41 small grass - sharp apex 4 10 pulse fragments 32 82 small grass - blunt apex 2 5 Pistacia sp. fragments 33 85 grass seeds indet. 8 21 Ficus sp. seeds 25 64 grass fragments 20 51 cf. Ficus seeds 30 77 Verbena sp. 1 3 Aizoon hispanicum 923cf. Thymelaea 1 3 Carthamus/Centaurea? 1 3 unknown type 1 3 Asteraceae indet. 2 5 unknown - Cyperaceae? 2 5 Cerastium sp. 1 3 indet. seeds 16 41 Silene sp. 1 3 indet. fragments >1mm 35 90 Heliotropium sp. 1 3 taxon groups: # % Lithospermum cf. tenuiflorum 1 3 any wheat taxon 13 33 cf. Salsola 1 3 any barley taxon 32 82 Chenopodiaceae 8 21 any cereal taxon 37 95 Carex type 1 3 any non-cereal grass taxon 26 67 cf. Cyperaceae 1 3 any pulse taxon 34 87 any Pistacia fragments 38 97 any fig taxon 31 79

361 Table 6.4: archaeobotanical remains by context, ash-Shalaf 1998-99 seasons

density charred volume total wood level samples (count/ fragments, taxa identified (L) count fragments volume) indet. L12 1 2.5 0 0.0 3 9 none L13 1 1.0 0 0.0 0 7 none L14 1 0.5 0 0.0 1 20 none L15 1 0.6 0 0.0 0 16 none

4 glume wheat grains 21 glume bases 11 indeterminate cereal grains L17 7 27.8 50 1.8 4 144 3 lentils 1 Pistacia shell fragment 8 small-seeded legumes 2 indeterminate grass seeds

L18 1 0.2 0 0.0 0 0 none 48 glume bases 3 spikelet forks 2 barley grains 6 indeterminate cereal grains 4 lentils L19 5 28.0 251 9.0 3 621 182 small-seeded legumes 2 indeterminate grass seeds 1 Fumaria sp. 1 Cyperaceae 1 cf. Ornithogalum type 1 cf. Chenopodiaceae 4 glume wheat grains 6 glume bases L22 2 3.6 17 4.7 35 130 1 spikelet fork 1 barley grain 5 indeterminate cereal grains 2 glume bases 1 spikelet fork L23 1 0.1 12 120.0 0 20 1 indeterminate cereal grain 1 lentil 7 small-seeded legumes L50 1 0.3 0 0.0 0 0 none L53 1 3.5 0 0.0 0 7 none L54 1 2.5 1 0.4 0 0 1 glume base L57 1 0.1 0 0.0 0 0 none L65 1 0.8 0 0.0 0 1 none 1 glume base L87 1 0.1 2 20.0 4 60 1 indeterminate cereal grain L91 1 0.2 0 0.0 0 2 none L93 2 2.2 0 0.0 0 15 none L97 1 1.0 0 0.0 0 0 none L99 1 0.5 0 0.0 2 8 none total 31 75.5 333 4.4 52 1060

362 Table 6.5: archaeobotanical results, Wadi Fidan Site A (Colledge 1994) sample 7.19 7.10 7.04 6.04 total two-grained einkorn grain 1 . . . 1 one- or two-grained einkorn grain 1 . . . 1 emmer grain . . . 1 1 spikelet fork (einkorn/emmer) 1 5 3 4 13 glume base (einkorn/emmer) 10 108 72 34 224 wheat rachis internode . 4 . 2 6 wild/domestic barley grain 1 . . . 1 domestic barley grain 1 . . . 1 wild barley rachis internode . 4 . . 4 wild/domestic barley rachis . 2 4 6 12 domesticid barley rachis internode . 1 3 5 9 Vicia/Lathyrus spp. . 1 . . 1 large legume indet. . . . 1 1 Pistacia sp. 1 1 . . 2 cf. Pistacia sp. 1 3 1 1 6 Ficus sp. (fig) 1 . . . 1 Chenopodiaceae/Caryophyllaceae . 12 . . 12 smallid legume indet. . 2 . 1 3 Malva sp. . 1 . . 1 Aegilops sp. . 1 . . 1 Avena sp. . . . 1 1 indeterminate grass . 1 1 . 2 XXX type 3 . 2 2 7 unidentifiable items 1 14 . 1 16 total 22 160 86 59 327

363 Table 7.1: measurements of barley grain fragments, ZAD2 (1999-2001). Dimensions in mm

structure context sample identification condition breadth thickness 1 E28 11.1 9913 wild type average 1.4 0.8 1 E28 12.1 9914 indeterminate average 2.9 1.7 1 E28 12.1 9914 indeterminate average 1.8 0.8 1 E28 12.2 9915 indeterminate poor 2.0 0.8 1 E28 12.2 9915 indeterminate poor 1.6 1.2 1 E28 12.2 9915 indeterminate poor 1.6 1.3 1 E28 12.2 9915 indeterminate poor 2.6 1.7 1 E28 14.1 9918 indeterminate poor 2.7 1.6 1 E28 14.2 9919 wild type average 1.6 0.9 1 E28 15.1 9920 indeterminate average 2.3 1.3 1 E28 15.1 9920 indeterminate average 2.1 1.5 1 E28 15.1 9921 wild type good 2.0 0.9 1 E28 20.3 1001 cultivated type average 2.6 2.0 1 E28 22.1 1003 cultivated type average 2.6 1.9 2NW J22 4.1 1011 cultivated type poor 2.5 1.7 2NW K23 3.3 1027 indeterminate average 2.3 1.6 2NW L22 3.3 1035 cultivated type average 2.7 2.0 2NW L23 3.2 1039 wild type average 1.4 0.8 2SE M27 2.3 1046 wild type average 1.5 0.9 2SE N27 2.3 1053 wild type average 1.3 0.8 2SE N27 2.3 1053 cultivated type poor 2.8 1.8 2SE N27 3.1 1054 wild type average 1.5 1.0 2SE N27 3.2 1055 indeterminate average 2.1 1.3 2SE N27 3.2 1055 indeterminate poor 2.2 1.3 2SE N27 4.1 1056 wild type very good 1.7 1.1 2SE N27 4.1 1056 cultivated type good 2.3 1.8 2SE N27 4.1 1057 wild type average 1.6 1.0 2SE N27 4.1 1057 indeterminate average 1.9 1.1 2SE N28 4.1 1063 cultivated type good 2.2 1.4 2SE N28 4.1 1063 cultivated type average 2.7 1.7 2SE N28 4.1 1063 cultivated type good 2.3 1.5 2SE O27 4.1 1068 wild type average 1.6 1.0 2SE O27 4.1 1068 wild type good 2.4 1.3 2SE O27 4.1 1068 cultivated type poor 2.8 2.0 2SE O27 4.1 1069 indeterminate average 2.1 1.4 2SE O27 4.1 1069 indeterminate average 2.5 1.6 2SE O27 4.1 1069 cultivated type poor 2.6 1.7 3 V22 7.2 9941 wild type poor 1.3 0.8

364 Table 7.2: identification of food plants, by site. Solid circles: positive identification; open circles: probable identification; open squares: identified in earlier research (Hoppè 1996a unpublished) ZAD2 WF001 WZ120 Shalaf Pella Ghassul Cereals einkorn ○ ● emmer ○ ● ● ● einkorn/emmer ● ● ● ● ● ● free-threshing wheat ● ● ● wild barley ● ● ● ● hulled two-row barley ● ● ● ● hulled six-row barley ● cult. hulled barley indet. ● ● ○ ● ● Pulses lentil ● ● ● ● ● ● chickpea ○ □ ● grass pea ● ● field pea □ ● broad bean □ ● vetch □ ● pea/vetch ● ● ● ● ● Other food plants olive ● ● ● grape ● □ date ● flax/linseed ○ ○ ● Pistacia ● ● ● ○ ● ● fig ● ● ● ● ●

365 Table A1: radiocarbon results from the new Huleh pollen diagram

pollen zone sample fraction uncorrected depth laboratory (Baruch and trends in pollen influx (humin = bulk radiocarbon (cm) number Bottema 1999) organic residue) age BP humin GrN-22394 3080±70 159 late zone 9 olive dominant CaCO3 GrN-22400 3390±40 olive decline, last humin GrN-22395 3280±70 260 late zone 8 deciduous oak peak CaCO3 GrN-22401 3260±50 humin GrN-22396 4140±50 320 mid zone 7 small olive peak CaCO3 GrN-22402 3930±50 597 humin GrN-22397 7000±70 olive maximum 600 late zone 5 CaCO GrN-22403 7020±60 (before zone 9) 3 602 macrofossils GrN-22833 7150±200 humin GrN-22832(i) 7550±130 826 rapidly increasing humic acid GrN-22832(ii) 7450±250 early zone 5 828 olive CaCO3 GrN-22404 12130±90 831 humin GrN-22398 8670±120 1005 mid zone 4 evergreen oak, humin GrN-17067 9270±120 Pistacia and cereals 1130 start zone 4 humin GrN-17068 10440±120 increasing 1238 late zone 2 peak of deciduous oak humin GrN-14986 11540±100 humin GrN-22399 15580±220 1487 start of deciduous oak humin GrN-23322 15480±170 start zone 2 rise humic acid GrN-23164 14680±480 1488 CaCO3 GrN-22405 18950±200 low AP, maximum 1612 start zone 1 Chenopods and humin GrN-14463 17140±220 Artemisia

366 Table A2: dates of zone boundaries (uncal BP, rounded to the nearest century) under alternative correction methods (Cappers et al 1998; 2002). Corrections by the stable isotope method recalculated using formulae of Cappers et al (1998, 163) and their assumed δ13C values of -16‰ (emerged plants) and -34‰ (submerged plants). Intercept used in correction by extrapolation (1700BP) from Cappers et al (2002, 8). interpretation uncorrected stable isotope stable isotope extrapolation boundary (Baruch and Bottema date (A = 80 pMC) (A = 60 pMC) (- 1700 years) 1999) 0 0 start of start of olive 8670±120BP 7700BP 6600BP 7000BP zone 5288 cultivation (GrN-22398) 10,600BP? 9500BP? 8300BP? 8800BP? start of start of Holocene shortly before shortly before shortly before shortly before zone 4 (ca 10,200BP) 10,440±220BP 9400BP 8200BP 8700BP (GrN-17068) start of Younger start of 11,540±100BP Dryas episode 11,000BP 10,300BP 9800BP zone 3 (GrN-14986) (ca 11,500BP) start of late Pleistocene 15,580±220BP 14,500BP 13,400BP 13,900BP zone 2 pluvial (GrN-22399) late Last Glacial start of 17,140±220BP Maximum 16,000BP 14,800BP 15,400BP zone 1 (GrN-14463) (after 18,000BP)

Table A3: revised chronology of the Holocene section of the new Huleh pollen diagram, assuming constant sedimentation rate. Predicted age based on interpolation between 0BP at the surface and 10,200BP at 1487cm (start of zone 2). Initial activity estimated assuming that correction (estimated reservoir effect) and reservoir age are equal, ie humin fraction consists entirely of submerged species.

predicted uncorrected correction initial depth age BP sample age BP (14C years) activity (cm) (A) (B) (B-A) (pMC) 159 1091 GrN-22394 3080±70 1989 78 260 1783 GrN-22395 3280±70 1497 83 320 2195 GrN-22396 4140±50 1945 78 600 4116 GrN-22397 7000±70 2884 70 602 4129 GrN-22833 7150±200 3021 69 826 5666 GrN-22832 7550±130 1884 79 828 5680 GrN-22398 8670±120 2990 69 1005 6894 GrN-17067 9270±120 2376 74 1130 7751 GrN-17068 10440±120 2689 72 1238 8492 GrN-14986 11540±100 3048 68 1487 10200 GrN-22399 15580±220 5380 51 1487 10200 GrN-23322 15480±170 5280 52

288 Zone 5 in Baruch and Bottema’s (1999) zonation; as noted previously, Cappers et al (1998) included Baruch and Bottema’s zone 5 within their zone 4, and therefore did not recognise this boundary.

367 Table B1: comparison of recovery rates, manual and machine flotation

Teleilat Ghassul, 1999: actual count concentration manual: machine 3 53 samples with manual and machine (total of 53 subsamples) (count/m ) concentration subsamples; taxa identified at least 10 times median = 1.59 manual machine manual machine volume of sediment (L) 207.5 767.5 weight of coarse flot (g) 218.32 283.23 1052 369 weight of fine flot (g) 0 372.36 0 485 total weight of flot (g) 218.32 655.59 1052 854 1.23 wood >2.8mm diameter (mL) 54 102.4 260 133 1.95 snails 422 1012 2034 1319 1.54 bones 120 119 578 155 3.73 ‘pellets’ 27 91 130 119 1.10 dung 13 30 63 39 1.60 ‘biscuit’ (mL) 4.9 8.9 24 12 2.04 all glume wheat grains 97 270 467 352 1.33 all f.t. wheat grains 3 18 14 23 0.62 all indet wheat grains 18 76 87 99 0.88 all wheat grains 118 364 569 474 1.20 all spikelet forks 737 1091 3552 1421 2.50 glume base 3592 2495 17311 3251 5.33 all f.t. wheat rachis 4 13 19 17 1.14 wheat rachis indet. 90 61 434 79 5.46 all wild barley grain 19 59 92 77 1.19 all cultivated barley grain 199 520 959 678 1.42 all barley grain 218 579 1051 754 1.39 all wild barley rachis 31 57 149 74 2.01 all 2-row barley rachis 68 120 328 156 2.10 all 6-row barley rachis 25 76 120 99 1.22 cult. barley rachis indet. 316 464 1523 605 2.52 wheat/barley grain indet. 227 364 1094 474 2.31 culm node 36 83 173 108 1.60 culm base 66 136 318 177 1.80 straw fragments 39 113 188 147 1.28 lentil 50 130 241 169 1.42 pulses excl. lentil 26 73 125 95 1.32 flax seed 15 43 72 56 1.29 flax pod fragments 459 581 2212 757 2.92 Pistacia fragments 8 17 39 22 1.74 Ficus sp. 26 41 125 53 2.35 olive stones (reconstructed) 65.5 142.35 316 185 1.70 Aizoon hispanicum 9 36 43 47 0.93 Apiaceae 17 18 82 23 3.49 Asteraceae 7 25 34 33 1.04 Heliotropium sp. 4 6 19 8 2.47 Arnebia type 3 11 14 14 1.01 Capparis sp. 3 7 14 9 1.59 Caryophyllaceae 3 7 14 9 1.59 Chenopodium sp. 22 36 106 47 2.26 Suaeda sp. 7 15 34 20 1.73 Atriplex fruiting bract 5 11 24 14 1.68 Chenopodiaceae indet. 25 69 120 90 1.34 Carex sp. 23 31 111 40 2.74

368 Fimbristylis sp. 4 48 19 63 0.31 Scirpus sp. 5 10 24 13 1.85 Scirpus kernel 11 53 53 69 0.77 Scorpiurus type 170 598 819 779 1.05 Medicago type 90 227 434 296 1.47 Astragalus type 8 49 39 64 0.60 Trigonella type 8 23 39 30 1.29 Melilotus type 7 10 34 13 2.59 small Fabaceae indet. 63 188 304 245 1.24 Bellevalia type 13 14 63 18 3.44 Ornithogalum type 34 89 164 116 1.41 Liliaceae indet. 3 14 14 18 0.79 Malvaceae 26 52 125 68 1.85 Plantago sp. 4 11 19 14 1.35 Avena sp. 11 19 53 25 2.14 Avena/Stipa awn fragment 49 26 236 34 6.97 Bromus sp. 39 74 188 96 1.95 small grass types 32 99 154 129 1.20 Lolium sp. 79 210 381 274 1.39 Hordeum sp. 3 12 14 16 0.93 Phalaris sp. 23 31 111 40 2.74 unknown grass floret base 16 4 77 5 14.80 indeterminate grass seed 107 241 516 314 1.64 Polygonaceae indet. 6 7 29 9 3.17 Type A (Fabaceae/Brassicaceae) 3 11 14 14 1.01 Type D seed 5 13 24 17 1.42

369 Table B2: taxa identified in manual subsamples but not in machine subsamples taxon total comment Citrullus seed 1 found in machine samples not included in experiment Medicago pod fragment 1 Medicago seeds found in machine subsamples Coronilla seed 1 poorer specimens identified as Fabaceae indet. Avena floret base 1 other Avena remains in machine subsamples indet. grass bulbil 2 tentative identification Type W seed 2 not identified Type AD seed 3 not identified Type AJ seed 1 not identified Type AK seed 2 not identified

Table B3: taxa identified in machine subsamples but not in manual subsamples taxon total comment Bifora seed 1 tentative identification Calendula seed 1 probable identification Brassicaceae seed 3 probable identification Minuartia seed 2 probable identification probable identification; Salsola seed 2 1 specimen found in a manual flot not included in experiment Onobrychis pod 2 probable identification Papaveraceae seed 2 Eremopyrum seed 2 probable identification Triticoid seed 1 included in Poaceae indet. Rumex seed 1 probable identification Crataegus stone 1 probable identification Adonis seed 1 probable identification Withania seed 3 tentative identification Vaccaria seed 1 tentative identification Type R seed 3 not identified Type Z seed 3 not identified Type AE seed 1 not identified Type AF seed 1 not identified Type AG seed 1 not identified Type AI seed 2 not identified Type AL seed 1 not identified

370 Table C1: identification of wild/weed taxa, by site. Solid circles: positive identification; open circles: probable identification taxon ZAD2 WF001 WZ120 Shalaf Pella Ghassul Aizoaceae Aizoon hispanicum ● ○ ● ● Anacardiaceae Pistacia sp. ● ● ● ○ ● ● Apiaceae Apium sp. ○ Bifora sp. ○ Bupleurum sp. ● ● Eryngium sp. ○ ● Apiaceae indet. ● ● Asteraceae Anthemis sp. ● ● Calendula sp. ○ Carthamus sp. ● Centaurea sp. ● Carthamus/Centaurea ○ Picris sp. ● Asteraceae indet. ● ● ● ○ ●● Boraginaceae Heliotropium sp. ● ● ● Buglossoides sp ● ● Arnebia sp. ● ● Boraginaceae indet. ● ● ● ● ● ● Brassicaceae Brassicaceae indet. ● ● Capparidaceae Capparis sp. ● Caryophyllaceae Cerastium sp. ● ● ● Minuartia sp. ○ Silene sp. ● ● Vaccaria sp. ○ Caryophyllaceae indet. ● ● ● Chenopodiaceae Beta vulgaris ● Chenopodium sp. ○ ● ● Chenopodium/Atriplex ● Atriplex sp. bracts ● Salsola sp. ○ ○ Suaeda sp. ● ● Chenopodiaceae indet ● ● ○ ● ● Convolvulaceae Convolvulaceae indet. ○ Cucurbitaceae Citrullus colocynthis ○ ● Cyperaceae Carex sp. ○ ● ● Fimbristylis sp. ● ● Scirpus sp. ● cf. Scirpus kernels ● Cyperaceae indet. ○ ○ ● ● ●

371 taxon ZAD2 WF001 WZ120 Shalaf Pella Ghassul Fabaceae Astragalus type ○ ● ● Coronilla sp. ○ Hippocrepis sp. ○ ● Medicago type ○ ● ● Onobrychis sp. ○ ○ Scorpiurus muricatus ● Scorpiurus type ○ ● ● ● Trifolium/Melilotus ● ● Trigonella type ● ○ Trigonella astroites type ● ● small-seeded legumes ● ● ● ● ● ●● Fabaceae/Brassicaceae ● ● ● Fumariaceae Fumaria sp. ● ○ ● ● Geraniaceae Geraniaceae ‘twists’ ● Hypericaceae Hypericum sp. ● Juncaceae Juncus sp. ○ Lamiaceae Teucrium sp. ● ● Liliaceae Bellevalia type ● ● Ornithogalum type ● ● ○ ● ● Liliaceae indet. ● ○ ● ●● Malvaceae Malva sp. ○ ● ● Moraceae Ficus sp. ● ● ● ● ● Papaveraceae Papaveraceae indet. ○ ● Plantaginaceae Plantago spp. ● ● ● ●● Poaceae Aegilops sp. ● Avena sp. ○ ● ● ● Avena sp. awn fragment ● ● ● Bromus spp. ● ● ●● Echinaria sp. ○ Eremopyrum sp. ○ Hordeum sp. (weedy) ● Lolium sp. ● ● ● Phalaris sp. ● ● ● Panicum/Setaria ● ○ ● Poa bulbosa bulbil ○ ○ Stipa sp. ● ● Stipa sp. awn fragment ○ small grass types ● ● ● ● Poaceae indet. ● ○ ● Polygonaceae Polygonum sp. ● Rumex sp. ○ Polygonaceae indet. ● ●

372

ZAD2 WF001 WZ120 Shalaf Pella Ghassul Primulaceae Androsace sp. ○ Ranunculaceae Adonis sp. ○ ● Resedaceae Reseda sp. ○ Rosaceae Crataegus cf. azarolus ● Rubiaceae Galium sp. ○ ○ ● Scrophulariaceae Verbascum sp. ● Veronica sp. ● Scrophulariacae indet. ○ Solanaceae Withania sp. ○ Solanaceae indet. ○ Thymelaeaceae Thymelaea sp. ○ Valerianaceae Valerianella sp. ○ ○ Verbenaceae Verbena sp. ● ● ●

Unknown types D ○ ● N ● R ● W ● AA ● AC ● AD ● AE ● AF ● AG ● AI ● AK ● AM ● ● AO ● AP ● AQ ●

373 Table D1: observed damage to seeds before SEM use, under SEM, and after SEM use

condition before SEM condition under SEM condition after SEM specimen damage occurs (optical ×20–×45) (×25–×50) (optical ×20–×45) 1 intact minor cracks minor cracks under SEM 2 intact intact serious cracks after SEM 3 intact serious cracks broken under and after SEM 4 minor cracks minor cracks minor cracks under and after SEM 5 intact intact intact no change 6 serious cracks serious cracks serious cracks under SEM 7 intact serious cracks serious cracks under SEM 8 minor cracks minor cracks broken after SEM 9 intact intact intact no change 10 minor cracks minor cracks minor cracks no change 11 intact intact intact no change 12 intact intact minor cracks after SEM 13 intact minor cracks serious cracks under and after SEM 14 intact minor cracks minor cracks under SEM 15 intact intact intact no change 16 intact serious cracks serious cracks under SEM 17 intact minor cracks minor cracks under SEM 18 intact serious cracks serious cracks under SEM 19 intact intact minor cracks after SEM 20 intact intact serious cracks after SEM 21 intact intact minor cracks after SEM 22 intact broken broken under and after SEM 23 intact minor cracks minor cracks under and after SEM 24 intact intact intact no change 25 intact intact minor cracks after SEM 26 intact intact intact no change 27 intact intact intact no change 28 intact broken broken under and after SEM 29 minor cracks minor cracks minor cracks under SEM 30 minor cracks minor cracks minor cracks no change 31 intact minor cracks minor cracks under and after SEM 32 intact intact intact no change 33 intact intact minor cracks after SEM 34 intact minor cracks minor cracks under SEM 35 minor cracks minor cracks minor cracks under SEM 36 intact intact minor cracks after SEM 37 minor cracks minor cracks minor cracks after SEM 38 intact intact intact no change 39 intact intact minor cracks after SEM 40 minor cracks minor cracks serious cracks after SEM 41 minor cracks minor cracks minor cracks under SEM

374 Table E1: results of sample splitter experiment

trial 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 mean std devn F-test splitter half 25.35 24.68 25.11 25.20 25.66 25.14 25.63 25.14 25.01 25.02 25.19 0.29 0.714 riffle box half 24.67 24.72 24.49 24.59 25.02 24.15 24.81 24.83 24.79 25.02 24.71 0.26 splitter fenugreek 20.44 19.71 19.97 20.13 20.78 20.17 20.52 20.13 19.93 20.03 20.18 0.32 0.062 riffle box fenugreek 19.69 19.66 19.62 19.67 19.81 19.29 19.51 19.64 19.64 19.90 19.64 0.16 splitter mustard 4.92 4.95 5.10 5.02 4.88 4.94 5.06 4.99 5.07 4.97 4.99 0.07 0.037 riffle box mustard 4.95 5.04 4.86 4.90 5.18 4.86 5.28 5.17 5.15 5.11 5.05 0.15 splitter ratio 4.15 3.98 3.92 4.01 4.26 4.08 4.06 4.03 3.93 4.03 4.05 0.10 0.847 riffle box ratio 3.98 3.90 4.04 4.01 3.82 3.97 3.70 3.80 3.81 3.89 3.89 0.11

375 Table F1: olive stone measurements, Teleilat Ghassul (1994–99). Dimensions in mm (a) late Neolithic–middle Chalcolithic contexts context length width context length width AX 2.116 9.9 6.4 AXIII 1.5 13.3 6.2 AX 11.3 8.3 5.5 AXIII 1.5 9.6 6.0 AX 11.3 10.3 5.4 AXIII 1.5 8.7 6.2 AX 11.3 10.7 4.6 AXIII 1.5 7.7 5.6 AXI 2.3 8.6 5.0 AXIII 1.5 9.0 6.5 AXI 2.3 10.8 7.1 AXIII 1.5 12.6 7.3 AXI 2.3 11.0 6.9 AXIII 1.5 11.0 6.8 AXI 2.3 12.7 6.5 AXIII 1.5 11.1 7.2 AXI 2.6 9.4 5.5 AXIII 1.5 9.8 6.3 AXI 2.9 13.7 7.1 AXIII 1.5 11.6 5.7 AXI 7.2 8.4 5.8 AXIII 1.5 10.0 6.2 AXI 13.1 9.0 5.5 AXIII 1.5 9.6 5.6 AXI 13.1 9.0 5.5 AXIII 1.5 9.2 5.5 AXI 13.1 12.0 5.3 AXIII 1.5 5.7 4.8 AXI 76.2 12.3 6.3 AXIII 1.5 12.7 7.5 AXI 76.5 8.1 5.3 AXIII 1.5 9.0 5.8 AXI 76.5 8.3 5.8 AXIII 1.5 7.9 5.3 AXI 76.5 8.6 5.1 AXIII 2.1 9.8 5.6 AXI 76.5 7.7 4.6 AXIII 2.6i 10.5 6.5 AXI 76.13 11.2 6.3 AXIII 2.6i 11.4 5.5 AXI 76.26 8.2 4.8 AXIII 2.6i 6.9 4.0 AXI 76.26 9.1 4.9 AXIII 2.6i 8.6 5.5 AXI 76.26 9.0 6.2 AXIII 2.6i 9.2 5.9 AXI 77.2 13.2 5.9 AXIII 2.6i 13.4 5.9 AXI 100.5 9.0 6.0 AXIII 2.6i 8.7 5.8 AXI 100.5 7.5 5.0 AXIII 2.6i 7.9 5.9 AXI 100.5 8.1 5.1 AXIII 6.4 9.0 6.5 AXI 100.5 10.0 6.5 AXIII 6.4 9.3 5.5 AXI 100.6 9.0 4.5 AXIII 7.5 9.5 6.1 AXI 100.6 10.0 6.0 AXIII 7.8 14.3 6.0 AXI 100.7 8.9 5.5 AXIII 9.1 9.6 6.5 AXI 100.15 7.5 5.5 AXIII 9.13 10.3 6.7 AXI 100.16 6.5 4.5 GII 66.22 11.6 6.8 AXI 100.16 9.5 5.5 GII 66.22 13.3 6.7 AXI 100.16 8.1 5.0 NI 8.20 7.2 3.8 AXIII 1.5 10.0 6.4 NI 8.20 8.9 4.8 AXIII 1.5 9.6 5.9 NI 15.2 8.3 4.5 AXIII 1.5 10.3 6.1

376 Table F1: olive stone measurements, Teleilat Ghassul (1994–99). Dimensions in mm (b) late–very late Chalcolithic contexts context length width context length width AXI 55.4 8.2 5.2 EXXVI 6.15 7.8 4.8 AXII 7.5 9.0 5.0 EXXVI 6.15 9.0 4.8 AXII 7.5 9.1 5.1 EXXVI 6.15 8.5 5.0 AXII 8.1 7.0 4.0 EXXVI 6.15 8.9 5.1 AXII 8.1 7.4 4.2 EXXVI 6.15 9.0 5.3 AXII 8.1 7.5 4.6 EXXVI 6.15 10.0 6.0 AXII 8.1 9.3 4.6 EXXVI 6.15 8.2 6.1 AXII 8.1 8.5 4.8 EXXVI 6.15 8.0 6.2 AXII 8.1 8.1 4.9 EXXVI 6.15 10.0 5.4 AXII 8.1 10.5 4.9 EXXVI 6.15 8.9 5.7 AXII 8.1 10.2 5.1 EXXVI 6.15 9.7 5.7 AXII 8.1 6.7 5.3 EXXVI 6.15 10.0 5.8 AXII 8.1 9.5 5.5 EXXVI 6.15 9.8 5.9 AXII 8.1 7.0 5.8 EXXVI 6.15 10.2 5.9 AXII 8.1 7.8 5.9 GIII 10.1 8.0 5.6 AXII 8.1 9.4 6.0 GIII 10.1 7.6 5.8 AXII 8.1 7.8 6.5 GIII 10.1 8.3 5.8 AXII 8.1 8.0 6.9 GIII 10.1 8.3 5.8 AXII 8.5 7.4 4.0 GIII 10.1 10.0 7.2 AXII 8.5 8.0 4.0 GIII 10.10 9.5 4.8 AXII 8.5 9.8 5.5 GIII 10.10 9.8 5.7 AXII 8.5 8.0 5.8 GIII 11.5 10.2 6.0 AXII 8.5 9.5 6.3 GIII 11.6 7.6 5.5 AXII 8.5 10.5 6.9 GIII 11.6 9.1 5.5 AXII 9.4 8.8 5.5 GIII 11.6 10.5 6.7 AXII 9.4 10.2 6.2 GIII 12.4 7.0 5.2 EXXVI 5.10 7.5 3.8 GIII 12.4 9.7 5.7 EXXVI 5.10 8.9 4.5 GIII 12.4 10.0 6.3 EXXVI 5.10 8.8 4.7 GIII 13.2 8.8 4.7 EXXVI 5.10 7.0 5.0 GIII 13.2 9.4 5.6 EXXVI 5.10 10.0 5.2 GIII 13.2 9.1 6.2 EXXVI 5.10 13.0 5.8 GIII 13.2 9.1 6.5 EXXVI 5.10 10.0 6.9 GIII 13.2 10.2 6.6 EXXVI 5.10 10.0 7.0 GIII 13.2 10.5 6.6 EXXVI 5.10 10.3 7.0 GIII 13.2 10.5 6.9 EXXVI 6.9 7.5 5.0 HIII 2.13 9.6 4.7 EXXVI 6.9 10.3 5.8 HIII 2.13 7.5 6.0 EXXVI 6.15 7.6 4.8 QII 4.7 11.2 6.5

377 Table F2: summary statistics, olive stones, Teleilat Ghassul 1994–99. Dimensions in mm

late Neolithic–middle Chalcolithic late–very late Chalcolithic length width length width mean 9.73 5.78 mean 8.99 5.57 median 9.4 5.8 median 9.1 5.7 maximum 14.3 7.5 maximum 13.0 7.2 minimum 5.7 3.8 minimum 6.7 3.8 range 8.6 3.7 range 6.3 3.4 variance 3.29 0.60 variance 1.46 0.64 standard standard 1.81 0.78 1.21 0.80 deviation deviation comparison of mean comparison of variance t-test length width F-test length width 1-tailed 0.004 0.103 1-tailed 0.001 0.798

Table F3: summary statistics, olive stone length, various sites in the southern Levant. Dimensions in mm mean standard site source period sample variance length deviation late Neolithic Kfar Samir Kislev 1994-95 100 10.34 (1.89) 3.56 (Wadi Rabah) Teleilat late Neolithic– new data 75 9.73 1.81 3.29 Ghassul middle Chalcolithic Teleilat late–very late new data 76 8.99 1.21 1.46 Ghassul Chalcolithic Liphschitz et al Shoham late Chalcolithic 23 7.52 1.19 1.42 1996 North Neef 1990 late Chalcolithic 50 10.00 0.99 (0.98) Shuneh Liphschitz et al Tel Jerisheh Late Bronze Age 28 10.71 0.97 (0.94) 1996 Tel Keisan Kislev 1994-95 Iron Age 100 11.31 (0.98) 0.96 Liphschitz et al Gamla Hellenistic 64 12.85 1.19 (1.41) 1996

NB. Kislev (1994-95) reduced the Kfar Samir olive stone lengths by 10% to compensate for the fact that the remains at were waterlogged, not charred

378 Figures

Figure I.1: locations of sites sampled

Key: 1 – Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2 2 – Wadi Fidan 1 (JHF001) 3 – Tell Rakan I (WZ120) 4 – ash-Shalaf 5 – Pella 6 – Teleilat Ghassul

379 Figure I.2: location of trenches, Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2, 1999–2001. Based on Edwards et al (2002), figure 6

380 Figure I.3: location of trenches, Tell Rakan I. Based on a map from the Wadi Ziqlab project web site, http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~banning/Ziqlab/

381 Figure I.4: location of trenches, ash-Shalaf, 1998–99 seasons. Based on Bienert and Vieweger (1999), figure 2

382 Figure I.5: location of trenches, Pella, 1994–97 excavations. Based on Bourke (1997a), figure 1

383 Figure I.6: location of trenches, Teleilat Ghassul, 1994–99 excavations. Based on Bourke et al (2001), figure 1

384 Figure 1.1: radiocarbon calibration curve, 10,000–6500 cal BC, INTCAL98 data (Stuiver et al 1998). Produced using OxCal v3.5 (Bronk Ramsey 1995; 1998; 2001) 11500BP

11000BP

10500BP

10000BP

9500BP

Radiocarbon age Radiocarbon 9000BP

8500BP

8000BP

10000cal BC 9500cal BC 9000cal BC 8500cal BC 8000cal BC 7500cal BC 7000cal BC 6500cal BC Calibrated date

Figure 1.2: radiocarbon calibration curve, 6500–3000 cal BC, INTCAL98 data (Stuiver et al 1998). Produced using OxCal v3.5 (Bronk Ramsey 1995; 1998; 2001)

8000BP

7500BP

7000BP

6500BP

6000BP Radiocarbon age Radiocarbon 5500BP

5000BP

4500BP

6500cal BC 6000cal BC 5500cal BC 5000cal BC 4500cal BC 4000cal BC 3500cal BC 3000cal BC Calibrated date

385 Figure 1.3: global climate and residual radiocarbon trends, 10,000–4000 cal BC. Upper curve, inverted scale at left: δ18O (in ‰), GISP core, Greenland; higher (less negative) values correspond to higher global temperatures. Note sharp increase at ca 11,600 cal BP, marking the beginning of the Holocene. Lower curve, scale at right: residual ∆14C (in ‰), after removal of long-term downward trend. Major ∆14C spikes correspond to the beginning of radiocarbon plateaus. Note that timescale is in calibrated years before present; subtract 2000 to convert to cal BC. Diagram produced using CalPal (www.pangaea.de), 2003 edition. GISP data published by Shackleton and Hall (2000); residual ∆14C by Stuiver and Reimer (1993). Delta 18O [%.] 12000 11500 11000 10500 10000 9500 9000 8500 8000 7500 7000 6500 6000 80 -40 70 -38 60 50 -36 40 30 -34 20 -32 10 0 -30 -10 -28 -20

12000 11500 11000 10500 10000 9500 9000 8500 8000 7500 7000 6500 6000

386 Figure 1.4: 197 published radiocarbon determinations (with error terms of ±100 or less) from early Holocene archaeological sites in the Levant. Vertical scale: uncalibrated radiocarbon years BP. Bars represent 1-sigma range of uncalibrated radiocarbon results. Horizontal axis: no scale; samples ordered from earliest to latest. Scarcity of results at ca 9100BP, 8500BP, and 7700BP appears to be due to the shape of the calibration curve (see Figure 1.1), not to gaps in the archaeological record.

10300 10200 10100 10000 9900 9800 9700 9600 9500 9400 9300 9200 9100 9000 8900 8800 8700 8600 8500 8400 8300 8200 8100 8000 7900 7800 7700 7600 7500

387 Figure 1.5: calibrated probability distributions of 45 radiocarbon dates from early Neolithic sites in the Levant. Results with error terms between ±50 and ±80 only. Groningen data used to provide an adequate number of results without introducing additional biases (eg reliance on a few sites, areas or periods). Note the visual separation of probability distributions into 4 groups: before ca 8300 cal BC, ca 8200–7600 cal BC, ca 7500–7100 cal BC, and ca 7000–6500 cal BC. This is due to the truncation of probability distributions by steps in the calibration curve. An earlier group (ca 10,000–9300 cal BC) would be apparent if the data extended to the beginning of the Holocene.

GrN-17494 7825±65BP GrN-4820 7840±60BP GrN-13090 7880±60BP GrN-4823 7880±55BP GrN-4822 7900±50BP GrN-4427 7920±50BP GrN-10591 7945±50BP GrN-4819 7960±55BP GrN-13099 8025±50BP GrN-5954 8055±75BP GrN-13100 8080±50BP GrN-4821 8090±50BP GrN-10592 8110±50BP GrN-4818 8140±60BP GrN-14538 8155±50BP GrN-12972 8165±50BP GrN-4428 8200±80BP GrN-4426 8210±50BP GrN-13103 8285±50BP GrN-13104 8300±50BP GrN-8263 8330±80BP GrN-8078 8355±80BP GrN-13080 8365±50BP GrN-5063 8640±50BP GrN-6676 8650±55BP GrN-6677 8720±75BP GrN-6242 8795±50BP GrN-12969 8810±80BP GrN-5136 8810±50BP GrN-6679 8865±60BP GrN-6678 8875±55BP GrN-12967 8930±80BP GrN-12961 8930±60BP GrN-12964 8970±80BP GrN-12963 8970±80BP GrN-6244 8980±80BP GrN-12960 9030±80BP GrN-5062 9030±50BP GrN-12965 9050±80BP GrN-942 9140±70BP GrN-8821 9175±55BP GrN-10358 9180±80BP GrN-4459 9200±60BP GrN-8079 9250±60BP GrN-6243 9320±55BP

10000cal BC 9000cal BC 8000cal BC 7000cal BC 6000cal BC Calibrated date

388 Figure 1.6: calibration of 45 simulated radiocarbon results, corresponding to samples with calendar ages spaced at 40-year intervals, 8520–6760 cal BC, and errors of ±70 radiocarbon years. Simulated results generated using the R_Simulate function of OxCal v3.5 (Bronk Ramsey 1995; 1998; 2001). Compare the apparent periodisation of these ‘dates’ with that of actual radiocarbon dates from early Holocene sites in the Levant (Figure 1.5), which have been arranged in radiocarbon age order.

6760 cal BC -6760±70 6800 cal BC -6800±70 6840 cal BC -6840±70 6880 cal BC -6880±70 6920 cal BC -6920±70 6960 cal BC -6960±70 7000 cal BC -7000±70 7040 cal BC -7040±70 7080 cal BC -7080±70 7120 cal BC -7120±70 7160 cal BC -7160±70 7200 cal BC -7200±70 7240 cal BC -7240±70 7280 cal BC -7280±70 7320 cal BC -7320±70 7360 cal BC -7360±70 7400 cal BC -7400±70 7440 cal BC -7440±70 7480 cal BC -7480±70 7520 cal BC -7520±70 7560 cal BC -7560±70 7600 cal BC -7600±70 7640 cal BC -7640±70 7680 cal BC -7680±70 7720 cal BC -7720±70 7760 cal BC -7760±70 7800 cal BC -7800±70 7840 cal BC -7840±70 7880 cal BC -7880±70 7920 cal BC -7920±70 7960 cal BC -7960±70 8000 cal BC -8000±70 8040 cal BC -8040±70 8080 cal BC -8080±70 8120 cal BC -8120±70 8160 cal BC -8160±70 8200 cal BC -8200±70 8240 cal BC -8240±70 8280 cal BC -8280±70 8320 cal BC -8320±70 8360 cal BC -8360±70 8400 cal BC -8400±70 8440 cal BC -8440±70 8480 cal BC -8480±70 8520 cal BC -8520±70

10000CalBC 9000CalBC 8000CalBC 7000CalBC 6000CalBC Calibrated date

389 Figure 3.1: calibrated radiocarbon results from possible Period I sites in Jordan Sources: Edwards et al (2004) (ZAD2); Finlayson et al (2000) (WF16); Kuijt (2001) (’Iraq ed- Dubb); Kuijt and Finlayson (2001) (Dhra’)

Phase Period I Phase ZAD2 Wk-9444 9323±59BP OZE-606 9440±50BP OZE-607 9470±50BP OZE-605 9490±50BP Wk-9570 9528±61BP Wk-9455 9552±59BP Wk-9447 9603±59BP Wk-9568 9623±91BP Wk-9635 9635±59BP Phase WF16 Phase trench 1 Beta-1202007 9400±50BP Beta-1202006 9420±50BP Beta-1202005 9690±50BP Phase trench 2 Beta-1202011 9890±50BP Beta-1202010 10190±50BP Phase 'Iraq ed-Dubb AA-38140 9592±64BP AA-38145 9941±72BP OxA-2567 9959±100BP Phase Dhra' ISGS-3277 9610±170BP ISGS-A0248 9835±65BP ISGS-A0246 9913±59BP ISGS-3278 9940±180BP ISGS-2898 9960±110BP AA-38143 9984±67BP AA-38144 10000±68BP AA-38141 10031±69BP AA-38142 10059±73BP

13000cal BC 12000cal BC 11000cal BC 10000cal BC 9000cal BC 8000cal BC Calibrated date

390 Figure 3.2: calibrated radiocarbon results from Jericho PPNA strata and Netiv Hagdud Sources: Kuijt and Bar-Yosef (1994) (Jericho); Bar-Yosef and Gopher (1997) (Netiv Hagdud); Not shown: BM-250: 10,300±500BP; GL-46: 7300±200BP (Jericho)

Phase Netiv Hagdud RT-762D 9400±180BP RT-762B 9600±170BP Pta-4556 9660±70BP RT-762A 9680±140BP OxA-744 9700±150BP Pta-4590 9700±80BP Pta-4555 9750±90BP Pta-4557 9780±90BP RT-502A 9790±380BP RT-762C 9970±150BP RT-502C 10180±300BP Phase Jericho PPNA GL-40 8690±150BP GL-39 8770±150BP GL-43 8895±150BP BM-1789 9200±70BP BM-1321 9230±80BP BM-1326 9230±220BP BM-1787 9280±100BP BM-252 9320±150BP BM-1322 9380±85BP BM-1323 9380±85BP BM-251 9390±150BP BM-1324 9430±85BP BM-1327 9560±65BP P-377 9580±90BP P-379 9655±85BP P-378 9775±110BP BM-110 10180±200BP BM-105 10250±200BP BM-106 10300±200BP

14000cal BC 13000cal BC 12000cal BC 11000cal BC 10000cal BC 9000cal BC 8000cal BC 7000cal BC Calibrated date

391 Figure 3.3: calibrated radiocarbon results from Period II sites in Jordan Sources: Simmons et al (2001) (Wadi Ghwair I); Kuijt and Bar-Yosef (1994) (’Ain Ghazal, Beidha) Not shown: DRI-3255: 8755±311BP (Wadi Ghwair I); Beta-1990?: 10260±1300BP; UCR-1722: 8070±230BP; UCR-1718: 8470±650BP; UCR-1721: 8620±320BP (’Ain Ghazal)

Phase Wadi Ghw air I Hd-17221-17359 8528±89BP Hd-17220-17550 8627±46BP DRI-3254 8659±178BP DRI-3256 8754±52BP DRI-3521 8806±52BP Hd-17219-17541 8812±61BP DRI-3523 9027±116BP Phase Beidha GrN-14538 8155±50BP GrN-14537 8380±100BP P-1379 8545±100BP K-1085 8550±160BP GrN-5063 8640±50BP K-1083 8640±160BP P-1378 8715±130BP K-1412 8720±150BP K-1084 8730±160BP P-1381 8765±100BP K-1082 8770±160BP K-1411 8770±150BP BM-111 8790±200BP GrN-5136 8810±50BP K-1410 8850±100BP P-1382 8890±115BP K-1086 8940±160BP GrN-5062 9030±50BP P-1380 9130±105BP Phase 'Ain Ghazal AA-1167 8570±180BP Beta-19907 8520±110BP GrN-12970 8650±200BP OxA-1742 8660±80BP GrN-12962 8680±190BP OxA-1743 8700±80BP AA-5200 8780±180BP GrN-12969 8810±80BP GrN-14258 8810±160BP GrN-12961 8930±60BP GrN-12967 8930±80BP GrN-12963 8970±80BP Beta-19906 8970±150BP GrN-12964 8970±80BP GrN-12968 8970±110BP GrN-12959 9000±90BP GrN-12960 9030±80BP GrN-12965 9050±80BP AA-1164 9100±140BP GrN-12966 9200±110BP 10000cal BC 9000cal BC 8000cal BC 7000cal BC Calibrated date

392 Figure 3.4: more calibrated radiocarbon results from Period II sites Sources: Simmons et al (2001) (Wadi Shu’eib); Garrard et al (1994) (Wadi Jilat); Kuijt and Bar- Yosef (1994) (Jericho) NB Beta-35083 and Beta-35087 (Wadi Shu’eib) were collected from PPNC and LPPNB contexts respectively, but appear to represent residual material from the MPPNB

Phase Wadi Shu'eib Beta-35081 8600±100BP Beta-35082 8670±210BP Beta-35083 8760±280BP Beta-35087 9100±140BP Beta-35089 9160±190BP Phase Wadi Jilat Phase Jilat 7 OxA-2413 8390±80BP OxA-527 8520±110BP OxA-526 8810±110BP Phase Jilat 26 OxA-1802 8690±110BP Phase Jericho PPNB GL-38 7800±160BP GL-28 8200±200BP GL-36 8390±200BP BM-1320 8540±65BP P-380 8610±75BP P-381 8660±100BP BM-1771 8660±260BP BM-1793 8660±130BP GL-41 8670±150BP BM-1770 8680±70BP BM-1769 8700±110BP GL-42 8700±200BP BM-253 8710±150BP BM-1773 8730±80BP BM-1772 8810±100BP P-382 8955±105BP GrN-963 9025±100BP GrN-942 9140±70BP BM-115 9170±200BP 12000cal BC 11000cal BC 10000cal BC 9000cal BC 8000cal BC 7000cal BC 6000cal BC Calibrated date

393 Figure 3.5: calibrated radiocarbon results, Jordanian Period III sites Sources: Neef (1995) (Basta); Betts (1993) (Dhuweila, Burqu’ 35); Kuijt and Bar-Yosef (1994) (Azraq 31); Colledge (1994), Garrard (pers comm, 2005) (Wadi Jilat 13); Rollefson et al 1992 (’Ain Ghazal); Banning et al (1994) (WZ120) Not shown: AA-1166: 8950±390BP; GrN-14259: 8310±230BP; AA-1165: 7824±240BP (’Ain Ghazal)

Phase Period III Phase Basta GrN-14538 8155±50BP GrN-14537 8380±100BP Phase Dhuw eila BM-2349 8190±60BP OxA-1637 8350±100BP Phase Burqu' 35 OxA-2769 8180±80BP OxA-2768 8140±90BP OxA-2770 8270±80BP Phase Wadi Jilat 13 UBunknow-3462 n 7829±89BP OxA-1801 7870±100BP OxA-2411 7900±80BP OxA-1800 7920±100BP Phase 'Ain Ghazal LPPNB-PPNC AA-5196 7670±100BP GrN-17494 7825±65BP AA-5205 7895±95BP GrN-17495 7915±95BP AA-5198 7960±75BP AA-5206 7990±80BP AA-5197 8090±75BP GrN-12972 8165±50BP AA-5203 8200±75BP AA-5201 8235±70BP AA-5199 8270±75BP AA-5202 8310±70BP GrN-12971 8460±90BP Phase Tel Rakan (WZ120) TO-3986 8100±70BP TO-3987 8430±70BP 9000cal BC 8000cal BC 7000cal BC 6000cal BC Calibrated date

394 Figure 3.6: calibration of Period IV radiocarbon results Sources: Kafafi (1993) (’Ain Rahub); Neef (2001) (Abu Thawwab); Garfinkel (1999) (Sha’ar Hagolan); Gopher and Gophna (1993) (Munhata, Nahal Qanah); Betts (1993) (Burqu’ 3 and 27, Jebel Na’ja); Bourke (2001) (Pella); Banning et al (1994) (Tabaqat al Buma) Not shown: M-1792: 7370±400BP (Munhata)

Phase Period IV Phase 'Ain Rahub GrN-14539 7480±90BP Phase Abu Thaw w ab GrN-13321 6350±90BP Phase Sha'ar Hagolan OxA-7884 6980±100BP OxA-7920 7245±50BP OxA-7885 7270±80BP OxA-7917 7410±50BP OxA-7918 7465±50BP OxA-7919 7495±50BP Phase Munhata Ly-4927 7330±70BP Phase Nahal Qanah RT-861D 6980±180BP RT-1544 7050±78BP Phase Burqu' 3 OxA-2808 6900±100BP Phase Burqu' 27 OxA-2764 7270±80BP OxA-2765 7350±80BP OxA-2766 7390±80BP Phase Jebel Na'ja OxA-375 7430±100BP Phas e Pel l a OZD 015 7146±70BP OZD 017 7317±83BP Phase Tabaqat al Buma TO-1086 5740±110BP TO-3408 6190±70BP TO-3410 6350±70BP TO-3412 6380±70BP TO-4277 6490±70BP TO-2114 6590±70BP TO-2115 6630±80BP TO-3411 6670±60BP TO-3409 6900±70BP TO-1407 7800±70BP

9000cal BC 8000cal BC 7000cal BC 6000cal BC 5000cal BC 4000cal BC Calibrated date

395 Figure 3.7: calibrated radiocarbon results, Period V sites in Jordan Sources: Lovell (2001) (Abu Hamid); Bourke (2001) (Pella, Teleilat Ghassul); Najjar et al (1990), Simmons and Najjar (2002) (Tell Wadi Faynan); Not shown: Ly-6258: 5205±95BP (Abu Hamid Lower); TO-9614: 6370±300BP (Tell Wadi Faynan)

Phase Period V Phase Teleilat Ghassul early Chalcolithic OZD 032 5682±71BP OZD 028 5694±67BP OZD 031 5726±80BP OZD024 5791±86BP OZD026 5851±117BP OZD025 5902±71BP Phase Pella late Neolithic/early Chalcolithic OZD 021 5757±88BP OZD 018 5835±83BP OZD 022 5839±86BP OZD 020 5877±65BP OZD 016 5968±163BP OZD 019 6053±93BP Phase Abu Hamid Low er Ly-6259 6135±80BP Ly-6255 6160±70BP Ly-6254 6190±55BP Ly-6174 6200±80BP Phase Tell Wadi Faynan Phase 1988 season HD12338 6110±75BP HD12335 6360±45BP HD10567 6410±115BP Phase 2000 season TO-9615 6130±89BP TO-9616 6260±90BP TO-9617 6440±60BP 7000cal BC 6000cal BC 5000cal BC 4000cal BC Calibrated date

396 Figure 3.8: calibrated radiocarbon results, Period VI sites in Jordan Source: results cited by Bourke (2001); Bourke et al (in press)

Phase Period VI Phase North Shuna Chalcolithic OxA-4641 5020±75BP OxA-4642 5080±75BP GrN-15199 5115±25BP GrN-15200 5125±25BP Phase Pella Chalcolithic SUA-2391 5430±60BP OZG-609 5580±50BP Phase Abu Snesleh Hv-20791 5445±195BP Phase Abu Hamid Phase Upper Level Ly-6258 5205±95BP GrN-17496 5651±40BP GrN-14623 5670±40BP GrN-16358 5745±35BP Phase Middle Level Ly-6257 5325±140BP Ly-6251 5580±95BP Ly-6248 5650±75BP Ly-6249 5655±210BP Phase Ghassul late Chalcolithic OZG-251 5100±50BP GrN-15196 5110±90BP GrN-15195 5270±100BP OZG-252 5320±60BP OZF-423 5370±40BP OZF-420 5400±40BP OZF-417 5450±40BP OZF-419 5490±40BP Phase Tell Wadi Faynan Chalcolithic HD-12336 5375±30BP

7000cal BC 6000cal BC 5000cal BC 4000cal BC 3000cal BC Calibrated date

397 Figure 6.1: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Axes 1 (horizontal) and 2 (vertical). Only subsamples from the processing-method experiment were included in this analysis. Solid symbols represent manual subsamples; open symbols represent machine-processed subsamples. The cluster of manual subsamples is associated with various small chaff elements (glume bases, spikelet forks, awn fragments) in the corresponding taxa plot (Figure 6.2)

398 Figure 6.2: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Axes 1 (horizontal) and 2 (vertical), analysis of all subsamples used in processing-method experiment. The cluster of small chaff elements (glume bases, spikelet forks, indeterminate wheat rachis internodes, and Avena/Stipa awn fragments) with negative scores on Axis 1 is associated with manual subsamples in the corresponding sample plot (Figure 6.1).

399 Figure 6.3: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Axes 1 (horizontal) and 2 (vertical), analysis of all subsamples used in processing-method experiment. The plot is identical to that shown in Figure 6.1, but manual subsamples are represented by crosses. Triangles represent machine subsamples from early and middle Chalcolithic contexts; squares represent machine subsamples from late and very late Chalcolithic contexts.

400 Figure 6.4: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Axes 1 (horizontal) and 2 (vertical), subsamples from the processing-method experiment. Taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B). The three manual subsamples with fewer than 30 identifications (before correction) were excluded from this analysis. Solid symbols represent manual subsamples; open symbols represent machine-processed subsamples.

401 Figure 6.5: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Axes 1 (horizontal) and 2 (vertical). Data from 48 machine-processed samples. Triangles represent data from coarse flot fractions (>1.0mm) only. Circles represent combined data from coarse and fine flot (>0.3mm) fractions of the same samples. Sorting on Axis 1 is due to skewed distribution of small grass seeds, most of which were found in a single sample, and which were almost completely absent from coarse fractions.

402 Figure 6.6: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Axes 3 (horizontal) and 4 (vertical). Data from 48 machine-processed samples. Triangles represent data from coarse flot fractions (>1.0mm) only of 24 samples. Circles represent combined data from coarse and fine flot (>0.3mm) fractions of another 24 samples. Taxa found mainly in fine fractions (Table 6.1) tend to have negative scores against Axis 3 and positive scores against Axis 4. Taxa found mainly in coarse fractions tend to have positive scores against Axis 3 and/or negative scores against Axis 4.

403 Figure 6.7: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Axes 1 (horizontal) and 2 (vertical), using coarse flot and fine flot data from 48 machine-processed samples. Some taxa with low statistical mass are not shown in this plot. Flax pod fragments and small grass type seeds have been down-weighted in the analysis

404 Figure 6.8: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Axes 1 (horizontal) and 2 (vertical), using only coarse flot data from 48 machine-processed samples. Some taxa with low statistical mass are not shown in this plot. Flax pod fragments and small grass type seeds have been down-weighted in the analysis.

405 Figure 6.9: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul 1997 and 1999 seasons, Axes 1 (horizontal) and 2 (vertical). Data from coarse flots (>1.0mm) of machine- processed samples only. Symbols denote 1997 samples (solid triangles) and 1999 samples (open circles).

406 Figure 6.10: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Teleilat Ghassul 1997 and 1999 seasons, Axes 3 (horizontal) and 4 (vertical). Data from coarse flots (>1.0mm) of machine- processed samples only. Symbols denote 1997 samples (solid triangles) and 1999 samples (open circles).

407 Figure 6.11: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Teleilat Ghassul 1997 and 1999 seasons, Axes 3 (horizontal) and 4 (vertical). Data from coarse flots (>1.0mm) of machine- processed samples only. For clarity, only the seven statistically most important taxa are shown. Axis 3 contrasts samples rich in cereal grains (cultivated hulled barley, glume wheat, and indeterminate cereal) with samples rich in small-seeded legumes. Axis 4 contrasts samples rich in Lolium with those rich in wheat glume bases.

408 Figure 6.12: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999. Early Chalcolithic machine-processed samples, by excavation area (open circles = AXI, filled circles = AXIII, triangles = NI). Taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B)

409 Figure 6.13: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999. Early Chalcolithic machine-processed samples. Taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B)

410 Figure 6.14: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999. Early Chalcolithic samples, by context type (filled circle = fire pit, triangle = installation, square = surface, cross = no description). Taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B)

411 Figure 6.15: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999. Early Chalcolithic samples, by excavation area (open circles = AXI, filled circles = AXIII, triangles = NI). Taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B). Wheat glume bases and spikelet forks omitted

412 Figure 6.16: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999. Early Chalcolithic samples, by context type (filled circle = fire pit, triangle = installation, square = surface, cross = no description). Taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B). Wheat glume bases and spikelet forks omitted from analysis

413 Figure 6.17: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 3, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, middle Chalcolithic samples. Solid circles represent samples and subsamples from Area AXIII; open circles represent samples and subsamples from Area AXI. Taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B). Axis 2 contrasts one sample, 461111, with all others, due to the skewed distribution of the small grass seed taxon

414 Figure 6.18: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Axes 1 and 3, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, middle Chalcolithic samples. Only the 18 statistically most important taxa shown. Taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B). Axis 2 contrasts one sample, 461111, with all others, due to the skewed distribution of the small grass seed taxon

415 Figure 6.19: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 3, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, middle Chalcolithic samples. Samples classified by context type (filled circle = fire pit, diamond = burnt patch, triangle = installation, square = surface, cross = no description). Taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B). Axis 2 contrasts one sample, 461111, with all others, due to the skewed distribution of the small grass seed taxon

416 Figure 6.20: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 3, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, middle Chalcolithic samples. Solid circles represent samples and subsamples from Area AXIII; open circles represent samples and subsamples from Area AXI. Taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B). Axis 2 contrasts one sample, 461111, with all others, due to the skewed distribution of the small grass seed taxon. Samples from contexts other than occupation surfaces were made supplementary in this analysis

417 Figure 6.21: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Axes 1 and 3, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, middle Chalcolithic samples. Only the 18 statistically most important taxa shown. Taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B). Axis 2 contrasts one sample, 461111, with all others, due to the skewed distribution of the small grass seed taxon. Samples from contexts other than occupation surfaces were made supplementary in this analysis

418 Figure 6.22: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 3, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, middle Chalcolithic samples. Samples classified by context type (filled circle = fire pit, diamond = burnt patch, triangle = installation, filled square = AXI surface, open square = AXIII surface, cross = no description). Taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B). Axis 2 contrasts one sample, 461111, with all others, due to the skewed distribution of the small grass seed taxon. Samples from contexts other than occupation surfaces were made supplementary in this analysis

419 Figure 6.23: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, later Chalcolithic samples. In this analysis, taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B). Samples and subsamples are labelled by area of excavation (filled circles = EXXIV; open circles = EXXVII; triangles = GIV; squares = NIII; open diamonds = QI; filled diamonds = QIII)

420 Figure 6.24: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, later Chalcolithic samples. In this analysis, taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B). Only the 31 statistically most important taxa are shown

421 Figure 6.25: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, later Chalcolithic samples. In this analysis, taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B). Samples and subsamples are labelled by context type (filled triangles = middens; open triangles = features/installations; squares = occupation surfaces; crosses = other)

422 Figure 6.26: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, later Chalcolithic samples. Samples are labelled by area of excavation (filled circles = EXXIV; open circles = EXXVII; triangles = GIV; squares = NIII; open diamonds = QI; filled diamonds = QIII) and by sample code (see Table 5.6); the final digit ‘0’ is used to denote manually-processed subsamples whose taxon counts have been corrected for over-representation, relative to machine flotation. Note the apparent similarity of many pairs of subsamples after this correction. For clarity, not all samples are shown

423 Figure 6.27: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, later Chalcolithic samples. In this analysis, taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B), and samples from contexts other than occupation surfaces were made supplementary. Samples and subsamples are labelled by area of excavation (filled circles = EXXIV; open circles = EXXVII; triangles = GIV; squares = NIII; open diamonds = QI; filled diamonds = QIII)

424 Figure 6.28: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, later Chalcolithic samples. In this analysis, taxon counts in manual subsamples were corrected for over-representation due to differential recovery rates (Appendix B), and samples from contexts other than occupation surfaces were made supplementary. Only the statistically most important 26 taxa are shown

425 Figure 6.29: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Area Q samples only. Samples are labelled by context type (filled triangles = rubbish pit/midden; open triangles = installation; squares = occupation surfaces) and by sample code (see Table 5.6); the final digit ‘0’ is used to denote manually-processed subsamples whose taxon counts have been corrected for over-representation, relative to machine flotation. Note the apparent similarity of many pairs of subsamples after this correction

426 Figure 6.30: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Area Q samples only. Only the statistically most important 25 taxa are shown

427 Figure 6.31: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Area E samples. Samples are labelled by area of excavation (filled circles = EXXIV; open circles = EXXVII). Taxon counts in manually-processed subsamples were corrected for over-representation, relative to machine flotation.

428 Figure 6.32: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Area E samples only. Samples are labelled by context type (square = occupation surface; cross = other/unspecified) and sample code (see Table 5.6); the final digit ‘0’ is used to denote manually-processed subsamples whose taxon counts have been corrected for over- representation, relative to machine flotation

429 Figure 6.33: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, Area E samples only. Only the 22 statistically most important taxa are shown

430 Figure 6.34: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, all 123 samples and subsamples with at least 30 identifications. For clarity, 13 samples with low scores against both axes are not shown. Samples are labelled by area of excavation (asterisks = AXI; crosses = AXIII; open circles = EXXIV; filled circles = EXXVII; triangles = GIV; open squares = NI; filled squares = NIII; open diamonds = QI; filled diamonds = QIII). Taxon counts in manually-processed subsamples were corrected for over-representation, relative to machine flotation

431 Figure 6.35: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 1 and 2, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, all 123 samples and subsamples with at least 30 identifications. Samples labelled by phase (triangles = early Chalcolithic; diamonds = middle Chalcolithic; circles = later Chalcolithic). Taxon counts in manually-processed subsamples were corrected for over- representation, relative to machine flotation

432 Figure 6.36: Canonical Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples and taxa, constrained axes, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, all 134 samples and subsamples. Samples labelled by phase (triangles = early Chalcolithic; diamonds = middle Chalcolithic; circles = later Chalcolithic). Only the 20 statistically most important taxa are shown

433 Figure 6.37: Canonical Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples and taxa, constrained axes, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, all 134 samples and subsamples, food plant taxa only. Samples labelled by phase (triangles = early Chalcolithic; diamonds = middle Chalcolithic; circles = later Chalcolithic).

434 Figure 6.38: Canonical Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples and taxa, constrained axes, Teleilat Ghassul 1999 season, all 134 samples and subsamples, wild/weed plant taxa only. Samples labelled by phase (triangles = early Chalcolithic; diamonds = middle Chalcolithic; circles = later Chalcolithic).

435 Figure 6.39: Ubiquity of plant taxa (% of sampled contexts containing each taxon), ZAD2. Not shown: taxa found in only 1 context (Table 6.3)

0 102030405060708090100

Pistacia fragments

any cereal taxon

indet. cereal fragments

any pulse taxon

indet. pulse fragments

any barley taxon

fig

barley floret base

any non-cereal grass taxon

indet. barley rachis

Avena/Stipa aw n fragment

grass fragments

w ild b a r le y r a c h is

pea type

cf. Stipa

lentil

small-seeded legumes

any w heat taxon

cf. w ild barley grain

barley grain indet.

w heat glume base

Aizoon hispanicum

cf. cult. Barley grain

large grass seeds indet.

Chenopodiaceae

Ornithogalum type

Plantago s p.

cult. barley rachis

Setaria ty pe

Onobrychis pod fragments

w heat grain

culm node

cf. Avena

small grass - sharp apex

w heat spikelet fork

floret base indet.

grass bulbil cf. Poa sp.

Malva sp.

w heat rachis

Bromus sp.

small grass - blunt apex

Lathyrus type

Asteraceae indet.

Erodium beak?= Geraniaceae tw ist

Bupleurum sp.

Liliaceae indet.

unknow n (Cyperaceae?)

436 Figure 6.40: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, ZAD2, Axes 1 and 2. Circles represent samples from Structure 1; filled diamonds represent samples from within Structure 2; open diamonds represent samples from outside Structure 2; triangles represent samples from Structure 3

437 Figure 6.41: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, ZAD2, Axes 1 and 2. Circles represent samples from Structure 1; filled diamonds represent samples from within Structure 2; open diamonds represent samples from outside Structure 2; triangles represent samples from Structure 3. Labels include structure (first digit) and locus (context) number (last two digits). See Table 5.1

438 Figure 6.42: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, ZAD2, Axes 2 and 3. Circles represent samples from Structure 1; filled diamonds represent samples from within Structure 2; open diamonds represent samples from outside Structure 2; triangles represent samples from Structure 3. Labels include structure (first digit) and locus (context) number (last two digits). Diagonal lines separate samples from upper levels (left), middle levels (centre), and lower levels of each structure (right).

439 Figure 6.43: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, ZAD2, Axes 2 and 3. Only the 26 statistically most important taxa are shown

440 Figure 6.44: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, ZAD2, Axes 1 and 2. Only the 26 statistically most important taxa are shown

441 Figure 6.45: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Wadi Fidan 1, Axes 1 and 2. Samples with 10309, 10595, and 11629 were omitted from the analysis. Filled circles represent samples from the 1989-90 sounding, analysed by Colledge (1994); open circles represent 1999 season samples. Not shown: 10578, which contained 11 of the 13 Malva seeds in the assemblage, and scored > +3 against Axis 2

442 Figure 6.46: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Wadi Fidan 1, Axes 1 and 2. Samples with 10309, 10595, and 11629 were omitted from the analysis. Not shown: Malva, which scored > +3 against Axis 2. Sample 10578 contained 11 of the 13 Malva seeds in the assemblage

443 Figure 6.47: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Tell Rakan I (WZ120), Axes 1 and 2. Samples with <10 identifications omitted from analysis. Context phasing indicated by symbols (filled circle = PPNB; open circle = later PPNB; filled triangle = Yarmoukian; open triangle = possibly Yarmoukian; square = other Late Neolithic; diamond = Chalcolithic)

444 Figure 6.48: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Tell Rakan I (WZ120), Axes 1 and 2. Samples with <10 identifications omitted from analysis. Only the 19 statistically most important taxa are shown

445 Figure 6.49: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, ash-Shalaf, Axes 1 and 2

446 Figure 6.50: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, ash-Shalaf, Axes 1 and 2

447 Figure 6.51: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of samples, Axes 2 and 4, Pella late Neolithic and Chalcolithic. Symbols represent late Neolithic contexts (circles), early and middle Chalcolithic contexts (open triangles), and late Chalcolithic contexts (filled triangles). The smallest samples (32D8701, 32D8801, and 32F2011) are ‘supplementary’ (ie have zero weight in the analysis)

448 Figure 6.52: Correspondence Analysis scatter plot of taxa, Axes 2 and 4, Pella late Neolithic and Chalcolithic. Rare taxa have been downweighted automatically. For clarity, only the 17 statistically most important taxa are shown

449 Figure 7.1: Measurements of barley grain fragments, Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2 (1999-2001). Dimensions in mm. Triangles: wild-type grains; circles: domestic-type grains; diamonds: indeterminate grains

2.5

2

1.5 thickness (mm

1

0.5 11.522.53 breadth (mm)

450 Figure A1: age vs depth, Baruch and Bottema (1999) core: 2-sigma ranges, uncorrected radiocarbon results from humin fractions of 14C samples. The dotted line is not exactly the line of best fit through these ranges

radiocarbon years BP 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000 0

200

400

600

800 )

1000 depth (cm 1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

Figure A2: age vs depth, Baruch and Bottema (1999) core: 95% confidence intervals of calibrated uncorrected radiocarbon results from humin fractions of 14C samples. The dotted line is drawn from the origin (0cm, cal AD 1950)

calendar years BC 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000 0

200

400

600

800

1000 depth (cm) 1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

451 Figure A3: age vs. depth, Baruch and Bottema (1999) radiocarbon results: 2-sigma ranges, radiocarbon results from organic fractions, before and after correction by the stable isotope method of Cappers et al (2002), using an initial activity of 60 pMC for aquatic plants

uncorrected (├─┤) and 'corrected' (┼) 2-sigma ranges, radiocarbon years BP 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 0

200

400

600 ) 800

1000 depth (cm

1200

1400

1600

1800

452 Figure A4: proposed chronology of the Holocene section of the Baruch and Bottema core, assuming a constant rate of sedimentation since 10,200BP/1487cm. Uncorrected ages are 2-sigma ranges of radiocarbon results from humin fractions. See Table A3

actual correction predicted age+- uncorrected age radiocarbon years BP 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 0

200

400

600

800 depth (cm) 1000

1200

1400

1600

453 Figure E1: Sample splitter vs riffle box performance: ratio of lentil to fenugreek in one half of a split sample, 10 trials of each device. Ratio in original sample was 4.0:1

4.4 splitter ratio riffle box ratio

4.3

4.2

4.1

4.0

3.9

3.8

3.7

3.6 01234567891011

454 Figure F1: scatter plot of length vs width, Teleilat Ghassul olive stones 1994–99, by phase (‘early’: late Neolithic–middle Chalcolithic; ‘late’: late–very late Chalcolithic)

Ghassul 1994-99, measured olive stones

early late

8.0

7.0

6.0

width (mm) 5.0

4.0

3.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0 11.0 12.0 13.0 14.0 15.0 length (mm)

Figure F2: scatter plot of length vs width, Teleilat Ghassul olive stones 1994–97, late–very late Chalcolithic only, by area

Ghassul 1994-97, late-very late Chalcolithic, measured olive stones

area A area E area G

8.0

7.0

6.0

width (mm) 5.0

4.0

3.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0 11.0 12.0 13.0 14.0 15.0 length (mm)

455