Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (13.2001(2002))

TELL QARAMEL

SYRIA

FLINT

Most of the flint artifacts discovered this
season were found in secondary position,
transferred from older layers to EB layers
together with the mud used for wall
construction. Flint artifacts were found
inside houses, in pits, mud and stone walls,
and in the layers outside EB houses. They
can be dated on the whole to the middle
and late PPNA phase: typical points
including El Khiam, end-scrapers, borers,
perforators, burins, sickle blades, bi-polar
cores for blades as well as retouched flakes
and blades (Fig. 11). Even so, some of these

artifacts feature a different technology that
can be dated to the Early Bronze Age (e.g.
switched-orientation cores for flakes and
blades, retouched blades and flakes made
with a hard stone hammer and splintered
pieces). Characteristic of this assemblage is
the very small number of obsidian finds
and the almost complete lack of heating
technique; also erminette tools and
classical navy cores so typical of the PPNA
are missing. Almost all the tools (over
95%) were made of chocolate flint, and the
percentage of obsidian finds is lower still.

POTTERY

Pottery retrieved this season in trenches
J-7, K-6 and K-5 can be dated to the Early
Bronze Age period. In many places it
comes from EB IV pits dug into earlier
deposits and from the fill of structures
belonging to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic
period. The most interesting assemblages
of EB IV pottery comes from trench K-6,
were contemporary structures interpreted
as a grain silo (Loc. 6) and a cistern (Loc.
12) were found. The homogenous group
from Loc. 12 consists of (among other
forms) typical ribbed goblets, small thin

walled ribbed cups, bowls with everted
and crescent rims, cooking pots and large
kitchen-ware bowls with crescent handles.
A few fragmentarily preserved terracotta
figurines (one animal and two anthropo-
morphic) were also found. The pottery
bears close analogy to examples from
a small collection of earlier (EB II?) sherds.
These thick-walled, crude, handmade
fragments of pots with vegetal temper
resemble very much pottery found last year
in trench E-15, in the vicinity of a stone
tomb in the western part of the mound.

BONES

Animal bones constitute a large group of
finds this season. An enormous quantity
(c. 300 kg) comes from PPNA layers, mainly
bones of wild cattle (Bos Taurus), gazelle,
sheep/goat, wild boar, donkey/ horse, small
predators, small and big birds, as well as
snail shells (Unio sp.). Post-consumption
traces, i.e., incisions, deliberate crushing
and processing in high temperatures, were
found on some of the bones.

Bone tools were also discovered, the
most frequent forms being a sharp-edged
tool made from ribs and whistles made
from the second phalange.
Human bones were discovered in two
Bronze Age burials (square L-4 a,c), but
isolated human bones were found in almost
all the layers. This confirms a considerable
destruction of Neolithic layers by later
building activities.

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