Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (13.2001(2002))

TELL QARAMEL

SYRIA

gypsum floor. Walls were made of lime-
stone, pebbles and mud. Close to the
northern trench wall, a round concentra-
tion of reddish mud c. 2.5 m in diameter,
containing animal bones, pottery and flint

artifacts, was found. Pottery from stratum
II is mixed and also in secondary position,
but judging by the stratigraphy in other
trenches, these structures may be dated to
the Middle Bronze Age.

GROUND AND PECKED STONE INDUSTRY

This season 191 objects made of stone were
found. Most of them come from cultural
contexts belonging to Pre-Pottery Neo-
lithic A layers (occupational floors and fills
of houses, cultural layers). Some forms
were reused as raw material for wall
construction in pise (tauf) technique. Several
dozen specimens come also from secondary
locations, mainly from Early and Middle
Bronze Age layers.
The biggest group consists of grinders
(74 specimens). Among them 50 are pestles
with a single pole (IIIA1) or double pole
(IIIA2); 24 are circular or oval grinders with
working traces on one or two flat surfaces
and occasionally also on the lateral edge
(HID 1,2; HIE 1,2). The next group (21
specimens) covers querns made of basalt
(IIBla; HE la) and quern-like circular forms
of trough-shaped section, made of beige
calcareous mudstone or limestone. Mortars
(IVA1 — one specimen) and pounders
(VD1/2 — four specimens) are still very rare.
Typical among celts (nine specimens) are
polished two-sided forms of ovoid (VIIIA3),
trapezoidal (VIIA1) or triangular shape
(VIIA2), made of pebbles of fine-grained
colorful rock. One triangular adze (VIIIC)
was discovered.
Tools used for processing different raw
materials are represented by fragments of
polishing plates (IXB1-3) and “kitchen”
plates (IXB2-1); ten slender pebbles with
one pointed end, the other broad end used
as a pestle (XIB); two chisels (XID); two
awls (XIC2); eight natural pebbles with
scarred lateral surfaces (XIIF). Also two

spherical bolas bowls (IA1) made of flint
and stone were discovered.
Vessels are represented by fragments of
six fine bowls with incised decoration,
made of calcareous mudstone, limestone,
or fine-grained rock, one ovoid (XIVC2)
and one rectangular palette. The most
frequent among ornamented artifacts (8)
are long cylindrical or short tubular beads
(XVIA1, XVIA2). Two decorated discs
(XVIE) and one unfinished pendant (XVI
Bl) were also found.
A highly interesting group of artistical-
ly very fine objects is constituted by 14
decorated shaft-straighteners (Fig. 10) of
oval (XVA), elongated (XVB) or rectangu-
lar shape (XVC). One shaft-straightener
was made from a fragment of a bowl
(XVD). It seems that decorated plaques and
bowls are very frequent at Tell Qaramel —
about 40 intact and fragmentary pieces
have been discovered to date. The
technique, motifs and style of ornamenta-
tion is similar to finds from Mureybet, Jerf
Al-Ahmar, Djade, Cheikh Hassan, (layonu
Tepesi, Chafer Hiiyuk and Munhata. These
parallels testify to a very similar cultural
tradition and a dating in the middle and
late PPNA and very early PPNB for sites in
the Northern Levant and the Taurus region.
Two other objects of art include
a phallic representation (XVIIA) with
grooved lines and a magnificent represen-
tation of what is probably a sheatfish
(XVIIIB) with realistically rendered
anatomic characteristics, made in a brown
fine-grained pebble.

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