Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

TELL QARAMEL

SYRIA

LEVEL 11
Level 11, which belongs in the Early
PPNA, revealed two structures around
which some kind of everyday domestic
activity had taken place and obviously in
two separate stages [Fig. 7, top}.
The first building (loci 44, 45, 47) was
located in the northeastern corner of trench
K-7. It was oval, c. 3.50 x 2.40 m, divided
into two rooms (loci 44 and 47). The walls,
c. 0.40 m thick, were made of mud with
pebbles. The floor consisted ol a c. 2 cm
thick layer of mud on a substructure of
small pebbles. A round hearth (loc. 45)
stood on the west, surrounded by flat
pebbles set up in vertical position. This
structure, which measured 1 m across,
adjoined the walls of loc. 47, indicating that
it was accessed from the outside. The fill
inside loc. 44 contained numerous stone
artifacts, including four decorated shaft
straighteners and a few fragments of pestles,
grinders and pointed tools. Fragmentary
animal bones and flints were also found.
About a meter to the southwest there
was another house (loc. 46), round and
originally subdivided into two rooms (one
room destroyed by EB IV loc. 32). It was
c. 2.60 m in diameter with walls 0.30 m
thick, made of mud with large flat stones set
in vertical position. The construction is
typical of the Qaramelian so-called 'frame-
work skeleton' building technique. Floors
were again a layer of mud laid over small
pebbles. The fill contained large sections of
the wall superstructure mixed with some
animal bones and flint. A large quern frag-
ment was found under the floor, suggesting
that pieces of broken heavy stone tools were
often reused for building purposes.
Contemporary with the two houses was
an area (in the southeastern corner of the
trench) obviously intended for everyday
domestic activity. In the younger phase (face
B), it was a courtyard of tamped mud. Three

postholes (pits 3/05, 4/05, 5/05), obviously
carrying some lightweight roofing over
a round hearth (pit 1/05), c. 0.60 m in
diameter, were discovered on this level.
A storage pit was also found, located about
1.50 m east of loc. 46. Irregular in shape,
c. 0.40 x 0.60 m, it contained the bones of
a cow's leg in anatomical position.
The courtyard did not exist in the older
phase (Face A) [cf. Fig. 7, top}. A round
hearth (pit 6/05), c. 0.60 m in diameter, was
located virtually in the same place as pit
1/05 described for Face B. A feature (loc. 48)
located about 1 m south of the hearth
appeared to be a pit inside a low mud wall,
c. 0.10 m thick. It remains to be fully
excavated, but it is already clear that it was
about 0.80-1.00 m in diameter and was
filled with nothing but grey ash.
Two postholes found in the southern end
of square J-7 (pits 8/05 and 10/05) and an
oval hearth (c. 0.50 by 0.40 m) between
them are suggestive of the already described
lightweight shelter discovered in Face B.
LEVEL 12
Level 12 also represented very early PPNA
occupation. The two structures repeated
very closely the location of buildings in
level 11 [Fig. 7, bottom}, confirming yet
again an evident custom distinguishing the
Qaramelian Neolithic village (observed
previously in trenches K-6 a,c and K-5 b,d).
The first house in the northeastern corner of
the square was an oval structure, c. 3.60 by
2.60 m, comprising two rooms (loci 50 and
51), the latter of the two heavily damaged
by later occupation. The walls, c. 0.30 m
thick, were made of flat stones set in
upright position and covered by yellow
mud mixed with lime. The floor did not
differ from that observed in the structures
from level 11. A small hearth was located in
the center of loc. 51 and outside the house,
there were two small oval pits and a round

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