Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (19.2007(2010))

TELL QARAMEL

SYRIA

STONE WALL CONSTRUCTION

The most general division of wall
construction techniques is by the raw
material, which is either stone or mud. Stone
construction appears to be both more diverse
and more numerous, in Neolithic as well as
modern architecture. A classification of these
techniques thus seems essential. Similar
classifications for historically younger
architecture are based traditionally on the
way materials are arranged, but this criterion
is not valid for early architecture where the
arrangement of material is usually accidental,
even if the material was prepared beforehand.
Criteria that are, in my opinion, crucial
for distinguishing stone wall techniques,
other than the array, are wall width and wall
surface construction. On this basis three
main techniques of wall construction have
been identified: single row, double row and
double row with internal filling.
SINGLE ROW TECHNIQUE
It is the simplest of the three techniques. The
wall is made of a single row of stones
arranged in superimposed layers and bonded
with mortar [Fig. lh\. The thinness of such
walls, usually 0.25-0.30 m, is characteristic.
They are founded straight on the ground or
on a low foundation made of big, flat stones.
The technique is used today for erecting
single-storey buildings used as stores for
various goods. Structures of this kind do not
appear to be resistant to big loads.
One of the earliest archaeological sites to
demonstrate the presence of the single row
technique is Hallan (^emi in southeastern
Anatolia, dated to about 10,000 BC
calibrated (Rosenberg 1994). In the Middle
Euphrates region, in Mureybet II, the same
technique appears slightly later, that is, about
9800-9200 BC calibrated. In Mureybet III,
the single row technique is also present, but

in a variant that is not represented in
modern architecture: “cigar-shaped” blocks of
limestone (van Loon 1965). The single row
technique was discovered in this region also at
the site of Jerf el-Ahmar [Fig. la\, where it
appears at the same time as in Mureybet II
(Stordeur 2001). The single row technique is
also known from PPNA sites in the southern
Levant, such as Gilgal (Noy 1989) and Netiv
Hagdud (Bar-Yosef, Gopher 1997). At both
these sites stones were used as raw material,
but they were carefully selected for size.
This variant of the single row technique
is the youngest of the three methods of
construction, as the settlement in Gilgal is
dated to c. 9300-9000 BC calibrated and
Netiv Hagdud to 9000-8800 BC calibrated
(Aurenche, Kozlowski 1999).
DOUBLE ROW TECHNIQUE
A more developed and sophisticated
technique involved two rows of stones fitted
closely together and forming the two faces of
the wall [Fig. ld\. Walls made in this
technique are usually 0.30-0.50 m thick.
Unlike the walls described above, double row
walls are always built on foundations made of
big, flat stones. Walls were thus reinforced
and could support heavier loads, a characte-
ristic that is evidenced by the functions of
buildings raised in this technique. They are
usually dwellings or storage buildings, the flat
roofs of which are often used as terraces for
household activities.
The earliest traces of this technique have
been found at Hallan (^emi, where they
coexist with walls erected in the single row
technique (Rosenberg 1994). Almost
simultaneously the technique appears south
of the Taurus Mountains, in Tell Qaramel,
where it can be found in the lower parts of
the so-called “grill house” (Mazurowski

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Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007