Neolithisation and sustainable sedentarisation of the Arabian Peninsula

This contribution’s broad and in parts essayistic approach to Arabia’s Neolithic is less a discussion of findings than an explicit advocacy for future holistic research strategies. Based on the contribution’s meta‐theoretical inputs, it suggests two sets of theses to be tested by the hitherto gained fragmentary information and future research on Arabia’s Neolithic. It aims to encourage an “emancipation” of Arabia’s early to mid‐Holocene research from conceptions developed outside its regions, and to identify the Neolithic elements and developments of the Arabian lands by distinguishing incursions from primarily autochthonous and/or autonomous adaptations in their own right. It is suggested that productive lifeways are considered to be the only crucial parameter to testify a Neolithic status. In our view this is the case, provokingly enough, for the productive foraging management of natural resources which attests surplus and pre‐planning strategies and contacts with established Neolithic socio‐economies. Polylinear incursions and autochthonous adaptations are discussed as the two poles between which early to mid‐Holocene developments in Arabia took place. A set of basic and a set of trajectory hypotheses on Arabia’s neolithisation and finally sustainable sedentarisation (reliance on oases economies) is presented, offered as a possible framework for future multi‐/ transdisciplinary research

Disappeared by Climate Change. The Shepherd Cultures of Qulban Ceni Murra (2nd Half of the 5th Millennium bc) and their Aftermath

Le phénomène funéraire attesté dans le sud-est de la Jordanie témoigne d’une phase d’occupation méconnue de la région au cours du milieu de l’Holocène, en lien avec un mode de vie pastoral basé sur l’exploitation des ressources en eau des puits (« Early Mid-Holocene pastoral well cultures », 4500-4000 bc). À titre d’hypothèse, cette phase précoce d’occupation a pu aboutir au développement des premières « cultures des oasis » de la péninsule Arabique (« Oasis cultures », 4000-35000/3000 bc). Cette deuxième phase constitue, après la Néolithisation, un des derniers grands épisodes de sédentarisation des sociétés du Proche-Orient, reflet d’une importante capacité d’innovation et d’adaptation socio-économique permettant la conquête de nouveaux territoires arides pour une occupation sédentaire. L’occupation pastorale du Sud-Est jordanien constitue le prolongement oriental du phénomène de peuplement de la péninsule Arabique, caractérisé au cours de la période (acéramique) du Chalcolithique récent/Bronze ancien par la récurrence des structures funéraires mégalithiques de pierres dressées et des cairns. Le site de Qulban Beni Murra est l’un de ces complexes funéraires importants (>1 km2), et témoigne d’une grande diversité dans les types de tombes et de structures en présence. Il atteste aussi une série d’aménagements hydrauliques (dépressions creusées) alimentés par des puits (datés de 4400 av. J.-C. environ) qui sont le reflet d’une occupation pastorale qui a probablement abouti au développement dans cette région, après un assèchement du climat à partir de 4000, d’une économie basée sur l’exploitation des oasis, là où les ressources en eau étaient encore disponibles.Sepulchral landscapes in southeastern Jordan give evidence of hitherto unknown early Mid-Holocene pastoral well cultures (4500-4000 bc), possibly followed by the region’s transition to an oasis-type of life-mode, or its contact to Arabia’s earliest oases cultures (4000-3500/3000 bc). The latter represents the latest major episode of sedentarisation in the Middle East and has to be considered as the most innovative and adaptive socioeconomic paradigm after the Neolithisation, allowing for sedentary use of arid lands from then on. The (aceramic) Late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age of Jordan’s southeast appears to be part of the western fringe of the pastoral well cultures that once occupied all of the Arabian Peninsula, characterised by their extensive megalithic standing stone graves and cairn fields. Qulban Beni Murra was not only such a large sepulchral centre (>1 km2) with several structural types of burials and other built features; its series of watering complexes (troughs), fed by wells (dating around 4400 bc), gives testimony to a lake/well-based pastoralism that probably became the progenitor of well-based oases economies at hydrologically favoured spots after the climate got drier and colder from 4000 bc on.تشير مخلفات القبور في منطقة جنوب شرق الأردن الى ثقافات بدوية غير معروفة حتى اليوم ارتبطت بأبار المياه خلال الفترة المتوسطة من عصر الهولوسين, والتي ربما تبعها تحول في المنطقة الى نمط حياة الواحات او التواصل مع ثقافات الواحات المبكرة في الجزيرة العربية (4000-3500/3000 ق.م). ويمثل هذا الأخير أحدث حلقة من التوطين في الشرق الأوسط والتي يجب أن تعتبر النموذج الأكثر ابتكاراً وتكيفا اجتماعياً واقتصادياً بعد العصر الحجري الحديث، مما سمح بالإستقرار في الأراضي القاحلة واستخدامها منذ ذلك الحين. ويبدو أن جنوب شرق الأردن خلال الفترة المتأخرة من العصر الحجري النحاسي وبداية العصر البرونزي المبكر كانت جزءاً من الطرف الغربي لثقافة البدواة المعتمدة على ابار المياه والتي سكنت مناطق الجزيرة العربية وتميزت بمخلفات القبور والرجوم التي تحتوي على الحجارة المنتصبة. ومنطقة قلبان بني مرة لا تحتوي فقط على المقابر الحجرية والتي تغطي واحد كيلومتر مربع ومعالم مبنية اخرى بل تحتوي كذلك على سلسلة من المناطق المروية التي تغذيها الأبار وتؤرخ الى حوالي 4400 ق.م. وهذا يشير الى وجود البداوة التي اعتمدت على البئر او البحيرة كنظام سابق لإقتصاد الواحات والتي فضلت مناطق معينة خلال الفترات الجافة والرطبة بعد 4000 ق.م

Burying power: New insights into incipient leadership in the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic from an outstanding burial at Baʻja, southern Jordan

In 2016, an extraordinary burial of a young adult individual was discovered at the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (LPPNB, 7,500–6,900 BCE) settlement of Baʻja in southern Jordan. This burial has exceptional grave goods and an elaborate grave construction. It suggests discussing anew reconstructions of early Neolithic social structures. In this article, we will summarize former theories on the emergence of leadership and hierarchies and present a multivariate model according to which anthropological and archaeological data of the burial will be analyzed. In conclusion, we surmise that early Neolithic hierarchization in southern Jordan was based on corporate pathways to power rather than self-interested aggrandizers. However, some aspects of the burial point to regional exchange networks of prestige goods, a trait considered characteristic of network based leadership. In line with anthropological and sociological research, we argue that pathways to power should be considered as relational processes that can be understood only when comparing traits of the outstanding person to her/his social environment

Threads of memory: Reviving the ornament of a dead child at the Neolithic village of Ba`ja (Jordan)

In 2018, a well-constructed cist-type grave was discovered at Ba`ja, a Neolithic village (7,400–6,800 BCE) in Southern Jordan. Underneath multiple grave layers, an 8-year-old child was buried in a fetal position. Over 2,500 beads were found on the chest and neck, along with a double perforated stone pendant and a delicately engraved mother-of-pearl ring discovered among the concentration of beads. The first was found behind the neck, and the second on the chest. The meticulous documentation of the bead distribution indicated that the assemblage was a composite ornament that had gradually collapsed, partly due to the burying position. Our aim was to challenge time degradation and to reimagine the initial composition in order to best explore the significance of this symbolic category of material culture, not as mere group of beads, but as an ornamental creation with further aesthetic, artisanal and socioeconomic implications. The reconstruction results exceeded our expectations as it revealed an imposing multi-row necklace of complex structure and attractive design. Through multiple lines of evidence, we suggest that the necklace was created at Ba`ja, although significant parts of beads were made from exotic shells and stones, including fossil amber, an unprecedented material never attested before for this period. The retrieval of such an ornament from life and its attribution to a young dead child highlights the significant social status of this individual. Beyond the symbolic functions related to identity, the necklace is believed to have played a key role in performing the inhumation rituals, understood as a public event gathering families, relatives, and people from other villages. In this sense, the necklace is not seen as belonging completely to the realm of death but rather to the world of the living, materializing a collective memory and shared moments of emotions and social cohesion

Threads of memory: Reviving the ornament of a dead child at the Neolithic village of Ba'ja (Jordan)

In 2018, a well-constructed cist-type grave was discovered at Ba'ja, a Neolithic village (7,400-6,800 BCE) in Southern Jordan. Underneath multiple grave layers, an 8-year-old child was buried in a fetal position. Over 2,500 beads were found on the chest and neck, along with a double perforated stone pendant and a delicately engraved mother-of-pearl ring discovered among the concentration of beads. The first was found behind the neck, and the second on the chest. The meticulous documentation of the bead distribution indicated that the assemblage was a composite ornament that had gradually collapsed, partly due to the burying position. Our aim was to challenge time degradation and to reimagine the initial composition in order to best explore the significance of this symbolic category of material culture, not as mere group of beads, but as an ornamental creation with further aesthetic, artisanal and socioeconomic implications. The reconstruction results exceeded our expectations as it revealed an imposing multi-row necklace of complex structure and attractive design. Through multiple lines of evidence, we suggest that the necklace was created at Ba'ja, although significant parts of beads were made from exotic shells and stones, including fossil amber, an unprecedented material never attested before for this period. The retrieval of such an ornament from life and its attribution to a young dead child highlights the significant social status of this individual. Beyond the symbolic functions related to identity, the necklace is believed to have played a key role in performing the inhumation rituals, understood as a public event gathering families, relatives, and people from other villages. In this sense, the necklace is not seen as belonging completely to the realm of death but rather to the world of the living, materializing a collective memory and shared moments of emotions and social cohesion.ArchaeologyHub.CSIC 2022 Internal Research Grant (HA) https://archaeologyhub.csic.es/ - H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, grant number 846097 (HA) https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/846097 - German Research Foundation (BO 1599/14-1; BO 1599/16-1) (MB, HGG) https://www.dfg.de/en/ - Franz-and Eva Rutzen Stiftung Foundation (MB) https://www.deutsches-stiftungszentrum.de/stiftungen/franz-und-eva-rutzen-stiftung - Junta de Andalucía (Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad), under contract P20_01080 (CPO) https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/organismos/universidadinvestigacioneinnovacion.htm

Klaus Schmidt

Gebel Hans Georg K. Klaus Schmidt. In: Paléorient, 2014, vol. 40, n°2. The Kura-Araxes culture from the Caucasus to Iran, Anatolia and the Levant: Between unity and diversity. pp. 5-6

Geometric objects from LPPNB Es-Sifiya, Wadi Mujib, Jordan

We present preliminary information on a production area for clay geometric objects and figurines recovered from the Late PPNB site Es-Sifiya in, southern Jordan. The area contained the products of a single manufacturing event: 475 complete and fragmentary animal and "human" figurines, geometries, and fired discarded modeling waste. The geometric objects found in this hitherto unique primary context are discussed with respect to formal analysis, including metric data, and the possible symbolism of their context.Présentation d'une première information sur une z.one de production d'objets géométriques et de figurines en terre située dans un niveau PPNB récent à Es-Sifiya, dans le sud jordanien. Il s'agit d'une seule production : 475 figurines complètes ou fragmentaires, « humaines » et animales, des géométriques et des rebuts modelés mal cuits. Les objets géométriques trouvés dans ce qui apparaît jusqu'ici être un contexte primaire sont discutés : il est fait appel aussi bien à une analyse formelle qui inclut des données métriques, qu'à une étude d'un symbolisme possible de contexte.Mahasneh Hamzeh M., Gebel Hans Georg K. Geometric objects from LPPNB Es-Sifiya, Wadi Mujib, Jordan. In: Paléorient, 1998, vol. 24, n°2. pp. 105-110

Direct dating of a major rockfall at the Ba'ja Neolithic site (Jordan) using rock surface luminescence

In this study, we use luminescence rock surface dating to provide burial ages for buried surfaces of a large boulder now positioned on top of the ruins of the Neolithic Ba'ja village in Southern Jordan. Luminescence depth profiles for quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), and feldspar infrared stimulated luminescence (IR50) signals indicate that the boulder experienced a complex transport history of at least two exposure and two burial events before final emplacement. By comparing the fading-corrected feldspar IR luminescence burial ages derived from these rock surfaces with quartz OSL ages derived from sediment infill from the archaeological structures underneath the boulder, it is concluded that there was a rockfall event around 7–8 ka ago, possibly as the result of an earthquake. Whatever the nature of this event, it resulted in the first recorded movement of the boulder, when the rock was presumably dislodged on the hill slope but did not travel all the way to the settlement at the foot of the slope. About 3–4 ka ago, after the village had been abandoned and the rooms filled with rubble, further movement occurred, possibly initiated by an earthquake. This final transport event moved the boulder further downslope, embedding it in the cultural layers of the derelict settlement on top of the partially collapsed settlement walls

Burying power: New insights into incipient leadership in the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic from an outstanding burial at Ba'ja, southern Jordan.

In 2016, an extraordinary burial of a young adult individual was discovered at the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (LPPNB, 7,500-6,900 BCE) settlement of Ba'ja in southern Jordan. This burial has exceptional grave goods and an elaborate grave construction. It suggests discussing anew reconstructions of early Neolithic social structures. In this article, we will summarize former theories on the emergence of leadership and hierarchies and present a multivariate model according to which anthropological and archaeological data of the burial will be analyzed. In conclusion, we surmise that early Neolithic hierarchization in southern Jordan was based on corporate pathways to power rather than self-interested aggrandizers. However, some aspects of the burial point to regional exchange networks of prestige goods, a trait considered characteristic of network based leadership. In line with anthropological and sociological research, we argue that pathways to power should be considered as relational processes that can be understood only when comparing traits of the outstanding person to her/his social environment

Earliest evidence for social endogamy in the 9,000-year-old-population of Basta, Jordan.

The transition from mobile to sedentary life was one of the greatest social challenges of the human past. Yet little is known about the impact of this fundamental change on social interactions amongst early Neolithic communities, which are best recorded in the Near East. The importance of social processes associated with these economic and ecological changes has long been underestimated. However, ethnographic observations demonstrate that generalized reciprocity - such as open access to resources and land - had to be reduced to a circumscribed group before regular farming and herding could be successfully established. Our aim was thus to investigate the role of familial relationships as one possible factor within this process of segregation as recorded directly in the skeletal remains, rather than based on hypothetical correlations such as house types and social units. Here we present the revealing results of the systematically recorded epigenetic characteristics of teeth and skulls of the late Pre-Pottery Neolithic community of Basta in Southern Jordan (Figure S1). Additionally, mobility was reconstructed via a systematic strontium (Sr) isotope analysis of tooth enamel of the Basta individuals. The frequency of congenitally missing maxillary lateral incisors in the 9,000-year-old community of Basta is exceptionally high (35.7%). Genetic studies and a worldwide comparison of the general rate of this dental anomaly in modern and historic populations show that the enhanced frequency can only be explained by close familial relationships akin to endogamy. This is supported by strontium isotope analyses of teeth, indicating a local origin of almost all investigated individuals. Yet, the accompanying archaeological finds document far-reaching economic exchange with neighboring groups and a population density hitherto unparalleled. We thus conclude that endogamy in the early Neolithic village of Basta was not due to geographic isolation or a lack of exogamous mating partners but a socio-cultural choice