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Chapter 3.1: Palestine
and Cyprus
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Palestine: Early Settlements
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This chapter
covers 3 phases of development in Prehistoric Palestine (one should be
aware that those developments didn’t happen simultaneously in every
region).
The 1st
permanent settlements are those of the Natufian of which Ain Mellaha is the
most advanced example. The economy must have relied on fishing (the site
lies by the Lake Muleh).
No evidence of domestication has been found so far. Other remains of the
Natufians have been found in front of the Wadi Fallah cave. The houses are
round or oval, the walls are made of stones and the floors of rammed earth
or pebbles. Although the Natufian appears in the latest stage of
Mesolithic, this settlement displays small finds typical of Neolithic, a
progress from Ain Mellaha.
However, the
most significant site of Early Palestine is Jericho.
A rectangular area to the north surrounded by a stone wall must have been a
place of pilgrimage in Lower Natufian. In the middle
of the site lies a village of huts, also of Lower Natufian.
Above it appear mud-brick houses, which floors are a little below
ground-level, a settlement much bigger than that made of huts. At some
point, it was surrounded by a 1.5 m thick wall, flanked by a tower inside.
Later, the wall would be rebuilt parallely towards the west. The tower
itself is flanked by additional storage rooms or water-tanks, then enlarged
in yet another phase; meanwhile, the wall increases in height, and others
are built to the south and north. The purpose of the tower is not clear
yet.
There was a
strong flint industry, small obsidian tools and numerous objects made of
bone, in continuity with the Natufian phase. However, the architecture
shows a break from earlier traditions, certainly an import from Mediterranean.
The population (about 2000) suggests that the cultivation of plants was
mastered, yet there is no evidence of animals being domesticated. Trade may
also have played a part in Jericho’s
prosperity, obsidian coming from Anatolia, while
minerals could be exported. Jericho
must have been one of the most advanced settlements of its time.
Settlements
are also found in the semi-arid Judean desert, where phases of the Natufian
characterized by piercers and the development of arrows (not present at Jericho)
derive directly from the upper-Paleolithic phase, and will give birth to
the Tahunian culture. These settlements must have relied first on hunting,
and may not have been permanent.
After a
period during which Jericho was
abandoned, a new population (maybe coming from Syria)
settled there, more advanced than the Natufian but still not mastering
pottery. Both the architecture and the stone industry are markedly
different. Also, the first evidence of domestication of animals appears,
although the economy must still have relied heavily on hunting and
agriculture; trade was extended to the import of Turquoise from Sinai and
cowries-shell from the Mediterranean. A temple has
been discovered, and a small room in a secular building may have been a
domestic sanctuary. Clay statues of some religious significance have also
been recovered.
The same
phase is also represented at Beidha, near Petra, where the same flint
implements, double-saddled querns customs have been discovered. There was a
greater proportion of arrows in the flint industry, and axes of shapes
probably originating from Syria were found at Abu Gosh, near Jerusalem. The
last levels of Wadi Fallah revealed rectangular houses and the same kind of
small finds as in Jericho; it’s also the case at Mun hata and Shaikh Ali.
Even Tell Ramad, SW from Damascus, displays such likeness.
It is to be
noted that many of those evidences are mirrored at Catal Hüyük and aceramic
Hacilar. In other Palestinian regions. However, developments are slower.
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Palestine: farmers and potters
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At the time of
the first potteries, the economy was generally mostly based on domesticated
animals and/or agriculture. Now, the appearance of pottery doesn’t mean
that the general living conditions changed much, but it is a convenient
landmark for us. Yet in Palestine,
it happens that the first emergence of potters coincided with important
changes, and the repopulation of sites abandoned at the end of the 2nd
Pre-Pottery phase. New settlers then arrived with a pottery industry
already in place and a different kind of dwellings, huts with floors below
ground level.
Not much has
been discovered so far, so the following assumptions must be taken with
caution. One group of sites is that of the Mediterranean coast north Palestine
characterized by dark burnished ware sometimes incised creating different
designs. This pottery was in use in a region going as far as the Jordan
Valley. A Jericho-type pottery
also existed, first with simple shapes and a red slip, then a finer brown
one.
Soon the
stone industry improved, and in terms of pottery, minerals are added to the
clay, and the wheel is used, at least for the necks, and the quality is
generally better. The architecture remains unchanged compared to
pre-pottery levels. However, it is not sure that both types of pottery weren’t
contemporary, the second type the result of another influence. The flint
industry was different, there is evidence of pit-dwellings around which
were erected walls of mud and pebbles: buildings of solid walls appear at
the end of the period. The economy must have been similar to the former.
There is a
third type, represented at Sha’ar ha-Golan, in the Jordan
Valley called Yarmukian. It’s
defined by a coarse pottery; straw and quartz were mixed to the clay, it
was sometimes covered by a slip and was decorated with incisions only.
There are no remains of houses, but the guesses are they must have lived in
pit-dwellings as well. The Jericho B pottery has been found as far as
Murabba’at in the Judah
desert, while the Yarmukian was less diffused, appearing mostly with the
Jericho B type. However, at Ghrubba, there are examples of fine Jericho B
pottery, but nothing of the Yarmukian type. The exact chronology of these
types is still unknown.
The pottery
also reveals the place of Palestine
in the relations between the different populations. Palestine
was clearly under outside influences –exclusively from the north- while it
never exported its own style, and it didn’t play –yet- the role of cultural
bridge between Africa and Asia.
The people who arrived in Palestine
were farmers, the reason why the population was widely dispersed and the
settlements generally small and not always permanent (which explains the
pit-dwellings), with the exception of the coastal region, under the
influence of both Byblos and
Ras Shamra. It’s also why so few settlements have been found in the Judean
desert or in the mountains.
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Palestine: introduction of metal
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For a long
time, metal had been so rare that it didn’t change much the way of life itself,
but it created new occupations, as well as centers where the metal would be
worked, and so on. Copper appeared first in regions sometimes unpopulated
till then: the Dead Sea coast, the Negeb and the
Mediterranean cost.
One of the
sites is Te’eilat Ghassul. On three small tells are rectangular or
trapezoidal houses, with no obvious attempt to form a coherent town. The
walls were made of stone or brick. Many flint tools were found, and the
pottery was of coarse clay but well fired, with many characteristic shapes;
it was either painted or incised with simple geometric designs in dark
colors on cream or pink.
Wall-paintings
were also discovered, but their significance is still unclear to us. Metal
objects, such as 2 axes, the blade of yet another one and a few other
fragments were recovered. Ghassul must have relied mostly on farming, and
they have gone to the neighboring mountains for olives and other products.
This culture spread on the entire area.
During this
period, people settled for the first time in the Beersheba
region, with several settlements connected by isolated houses. At first,
dwellings were subterranean, interconnected with passages, with hearths and
silos. The first levels are separated by periods of abandon, probably
justified by major droughts. Afterwards, the houses are raised above ground
level, made of walls of brick on stone foundations. The stone and pottery
industries present similarities with those of Ghassul in general, but
differ in many little details.
Most people
were farmers, with different industries flourishing in each settlement:
ivory, bone and metal, among others. They traded with regions as far as the
Sinai (turquoise), or even the Nile
Valley (shellfish). This culture
extended over the northern Negeb region. However, the dwellings were never
completely subterranean (because of the nature of the soil), and the
pottery presented local variations. They must have been more pastoral
there, and therefore, their relation to the soil wasn’t as strong.
People living
in caves in the Judean desert also display great affinities with this
group. In some of the caves were found a great number of metal objects.
The origin
of this culture is still unsure, but evidence seems to point to Anatolia;
there are also similarities with SE Europe. It
disappeared in the same cloud of mystery it came from.
It scarcely
reached the north and the mountains, where a new culture succeeded to the
previous one discuss above. Evidence of this has been found mainly in the
Esdrealon plain, but also as far as the Jordanian plateau, down to the Jordan
Valley and south of Lake
Tiberias; it even merged with the Ghassul-Beersheba culture in
the coastal plain
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Cyprus
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Cyprus is
known for having played, given its small size, a huge part in the strategy
and trade patterns of the powers in Mediterranean. But it had not always
been the case. From the 6th to the 2nd millennium,
the only evidence of foreign contacts were the various cultural changes,
only a handful during a period that covers more than 3 millennia. This
implies that during the whole Neolithic, we witness the development of a
Cypriot culture of its own.
Cyprus is a
mountainous island, an extension of Amanus and Casius, with a fauna
reminiscent of that of Western Asia. No Paleolithic or Mesolithic remains
have been found so far. The first traces of human occupation begin with the
Neolithic food producers, the earliest date fixed at 8500 circa
(the “Akrotiri man”), while the Bronze Age starts around 2500. The period
is divided into Neolithic I (or Aceramic Neolithic - 7000-6000), II
(4500-3900) and III and Chalcolithic (from 4000
to 2300) I and II.
For
Neolithic I, we don’t have much evidence outside that of the site of Khirokitia.
It occupies a hill on the west bank of the Maroni river. We don’t know its
origins. The architecture was characterized by tholoi and mud-bricks on
stone foundations; the walls tended to be built thinner with time. The
houses were close one to another, and a causeway traversed the entire site;
this feature is the only proof of some communal effort. The houses
themselves, rather small, denote no hierarchy.
The economy
was based on farming
and hunting; no evidence of domesticated animals has been found so far.
They must have been pretty successful at either producing or gathering
food, leaving time to develop their technical skills: beautiful stone
vessels were found; some must have also been made in wood. However, the
flint industry was average at best. Bone was also in use for small objects
and tools, and there’s evidence of both leather and textile. Statuettes
made of stone have also been recovered, but their purpose is still unclear.
Contracted bodies were buried soon after the death in small pits under the
floor of one’s house, and gifts were buried with them. Stones were laid
atop the bodies, as if to prevent them from escaping. Most bodies were
buried alone first, but double burials (mother and child, usually) became
more common later on.
The last
level at Khirokitia reveals some profound changes: suddenly, pottery
vessels known as “Combed ware” replace those made of stone. There seems to
be a gap in occupation, gap that may be as long as 1500 years, which
corresponds with the end of Neolithic I. That would bring Neolithic II at
about 4500. A part of the gap may be filled with what has been called the
Troulli culture, characterized by a
pottery with rings left reserved in the ground color, found on two different
sites.
The origins
of the Neolithic II people are unknown as well as those of the Neolithic I
culture. On top of the level previously mentioned at Khirokitia, simple
structures have been found at Kalavassos. On top of the combed ware were
found some of the red-lustrous type, as well as white fabric painted red.
Those last two types may actually be examples of the Neolithic III culture.
The most
representative Neolithic II site is that of Sotira, divided into 4 phases.
The first one ended when the houses all burnt down, but it was quickly followed
by phases 2 and 3, which ended with an earthquake.
They used
the debris during the fourth phase to form a retaining wall, and temporary
dwellings were built, until the site was abandoned. There was no
architectural uniformity, with six different plans being in use, from round
to rectangular, usually divided into 2-3 rooms. They were also built in mud-brick on
stone foundations, but the walls were flimsier than those of Late Neolithic
I. Most of the domestic occupations must have been conducted inside, with
very thin walls dividing the space, creating working or storage areas. The
deads were buried outside the houses, with no gift in the oblong pits; but
the stone on the body is still in practice (see above).
Neolithic
III hasn’t been clearly defined, although the red-on-white ware is often
linked to it. What we know is that there has been some continuity between
Neolithic II and Chalcolithic I, as some combed ware was still in use
during the later, until around 3000 BC. Most regions of the island were
then occupied, some pretty intensively. Erimi is the type-site, with houses
first partly cutting into the bedrock, before their floor was elevated
above the ground. They were following a simple round plan, with a central
post carrying the superstructureon a plateform of clay and small stones.
Part of the hearths were located outside or in attached constructions. Some
customs remind the burials during Neolithic II, and gifts to the dead
reoccur.
Red-on-White
ware is the trademark ware of the time, with some red lustrous still in
use. It was decorated with geometric and stylized flowers patterns in red
to brown color on a white slip. The shapes were few and unmatched in the
Neolithic II period. The stone industry is still quite poor, but
interesting stone and terracotta figures occur, in a style unique to the
island. Finally, metal first appears in the form of copper, abundant in
Cyprus.
Chalcolithic
I ends around 2500, while Early Bronze Age only starts in 2300 circa. We
don’t know much about the two centuries in between. This period seems best
represented at Ambelikou and Dikaios, where the Red-on-White ware
disappeared althogether, replaced by red lustrous and red and black
lustrous.
Chapter 4: Neolithic in the Agean:
COMING SOON!
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