Territories, Boundaries and

Cultures in the
Neolithic Near East

S. K. Kozlowski
O. Aurenche
Preface by
F. Hole

BAR International Series 1362

2005
This title published by

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BAR S1362
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Territories, Boundaries and Cultures in the Neolithic Near East

© S K Kozlowski O Aurenche 2005

ISBN 1 84171 807 6

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To the memory of Robert J. Braidwood
and of Jacques Cauvin
The project of this book was supported by the French-Polish Research Program Polonium (2000-2002), the
Universities of Warsaw and Lyon (Lumière-Lyon 2) and the Polish Science Foundation in Warsaw (FNP)
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the following persons who helped us during the preparation of
this book.
In Lyon (MOM):
Olivier Barge and Christine Chataigner for the cartography, Yvon Montmessin for the drawings, Agnès Piedimonte
for the text, Elizabeth Willcox for the translation, the Service des Publications for the preparation of the printing process,
and last but not least Emmanuelle Régagnon-Caroline for the cartography, the drawings and the preparation of the
printing process.
In Warsaw:
Magdalena Rozycka for the drawings, Iwona Zych for the translation.

We also thank all the colleagues and friends who gave us access to unpublished material and information :
Collections: Ali Kosh (Prehistoric Museum, Moesgaard, Denmark), Ali Kosh (Yale University, New Haven, USA),
Asiab (Prehistoric Museum, Moesgaard, Denmark), Bir Jili Balagha (Yale University, New Haven, USA), Choga Sefid
(Yale University, New Haven, USA), Choga Mami (Prehistoric Museum, Moesgaard, Denmark), Ganj Dareh
(Prehistoric Museum, Moesgaard, Denmark), Gilgal I (Hebrew Museum, Jerusalem, Israel), Nachcharini (University of
Toronto, Canada), Mureybet (Institute of Oriental Prehistory, Jalès, France), Qermez Dere (British Expedition, Tel Afar,
Iraq), Sabz (Yale University, New Haven, USA), Seh Gabi C (Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada),
Umm Dabaghiah (Prehistoric Museum, Moesgaard, Denmark), Zawi Chemi (Smithsonian Institution, Museum of
Natural History, Washington DC, USA).
Unpublished PhD and MA Theses: F. Abbès (middle Euphrates flint industries), M. Arimura (Kerkh),
C. Escutenaire (Levant), N. Goring-Morris (Sinai and Negev sites), F. Hole (Jarmo), M. McDonald (Sarab,
Seh Gabi C), A. Moore (Abu Hureyra), D. Nadel (Netiv Hagdud), T. Noy (Nahal Oren), B. Peasnall (Hallan Çemi,
Demirköy) , J. Pullar (Abdul Hossein, Asiab, Sarab, Ganj Dareh and other central Zagros sites), K. Wright (Beidha, Jilat,
Azraq).
Personnal Information: F. Abbès (Qdeir, Jerf el Ahmar, El Kowm 2, Sheikh Hassan), M. Arimura (Kerkh),
N.O. Bader (Magzalia), A. Betts (Qermez Dere), S. Campbell (Ginnig), I. Caneva (Çayönü), L. Copeland (Lebanon
sites), E. Coqueugniot (Dja’de, Halula), G. Coskunsu (Mezraz Thalailat), P. Edwards (Zahrat adh Drha), H.G.K. Gebel
(Baaja, Basta, Es-Siffiya), A. Gopher (Ain Darat, Southern Levantine flint industries), N. Goring-Morris (Sinai sites),
M.-C. Cauvin (Mureybet, El Kowm 2, Aswad, Cafer, Sheikh Hassan), F. Hole (Asiab, Jarmo, Deh Luran), S. Kadowaki
(Ain Abu Nekheileh), Z. Kafafi (Ain Ghazal, Es-Siffiya), P. Mortensen (Guran, Shimshara, Genil, Kala Kamand Bagh,
Qazemi), I. Kuijt (Drha), M. Le Mière (early ceramics), C. Maréchal (Aswad, Mureybet), R.F. Mazurowski (Qaramel,
Qermez Dere), A. Moore (Abu Hureyra), B. Müller-Neuhof (Lebanon), Y. Nishiaki (Aarbid, Seker al Ahmeir,
Thalathat III) , T. Noy (Gilgal I and III), B. Peasnall (Demirköy), J. Roodenberg (Buqras), M. Rosenberg (Demirköy,
Hallan Çemi, Khirbet Selim, High Valleys flint industry), K. Schmidt (Nevalı Çori, Göbekli, Gürçü, Southeastern
Anatolia), B. Schroeder (Nachcharini), D. Stordeur (Aswad, Jerf el Ahmar, Mureybet, Sheikh Hassan, bone industry),
T. Watkins (Qermez Dere), C. Yazbeck (Lebanon).
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 5
PREFACE ...................................................................................................................... 9
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 11
Geography ............................................................................................................ 13
The potential settlement pattern ................................................................................. 13
Mini-territories ................................................................................................................. 15
Chronology ........................................................................................................... 15
Methods ............................................................................................................... 15
History of the research ............................................................................................. 16
State of the sources ................................................................................................. 20
Maps of the sources ................................................................................................ 20
CHAPTER 1 _ ANALYSIS OF THE MATERIAL ................................................................ 21
Rare and common ................................................................................................... 21
Basic maps ............................................................................................................ 21
Chipped lithic industry ............................................................................................ 22
Heavy stone industry ............................................................................................... 23
Light stone industry ................................................................................................ 24
Polished axes/celts .................................................................................................. 25
Stone vessel and white ware ..................................................................................... 25
Ornaments ............................................................................................................ 26
Art....................................................................................................................... 27
Themes ................................................................................................................ 29
Style .................................................................................................................... 30
Tokens ................................................................................................................. 30
Bone industry ........................................................................................................ 31
Miscellaneous ........................................................................................................ 31
Architecture .......................................................................................................... 32
Early pottery ......................................................................................................... 32
Final observations .................................................................................................. 34
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 2 _ TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES .......................................... 37

Main divisions ......................................................................................................... 37
Internal divisions ..................................................................................................... 42
The Golden Triangle ................................................................................................. 46
Borders .................................................................................................................. 48
First rank borders .................................................................................................. 48
Secund rank borders .............................................................................................. 54
Third rank borders ................................................................................................. 56
Border hierarchy .................................................................................................. 61
Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 63
CHAPTER 3 _ TERRITORIES , BOUNDARIES AND CULTURES .......................................... 65
Introduction ............................................................................................................ 65
Taxonomic entities or cultures in the Early Period ........................................................... 67
Taxonomic entities or cultures in the Late Period ............................................................. 73
Cultural evolution .................................................................................................... 80
Leading role of distinctive cultures ............................................................................... 80
Duration and change ................................................................................................. 82
Crossing the borders ................................................................................................. 83
Rythm of development .............................................................................................. 84
Great change...but stable borders ................................................................................. 84
GENERAL CONCLUSION ................................................................................................. 87
Borders trough the time ............................................................................................. 88
LIST OF THE MAPS INCLUDED IN THE TEXT ................................................................. 97

BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 99

ANNEX ........................................................................................................................... 103

8
 PREFACE
It is a pleasure to write a short preface to this
important work of synthesis for the Neolithic of the
Near East. This book results from many years of patient
compilation of data by the authors and their colleagues.
Earlier works that provided some of the data and
conception for this book include: La maison orientale:
l’architecture du Proche Orient ancien des origines au
milieu du IVe millénaire, by O. Aurenche 1981;
Chronologies du Proche Orient 16 000-4000 B.P., by
O. Aurenche, J. Évin, and F. Hours 1987; Atlas des sites
du Proche Orient, by F. Hours, O. Aurenche, J. and
M.-C. Cauvin, L. Copeland and P. Sanlaville 1994; The
Eastern Wing of the Fertile Crescent, by S. Kozlowski
1999; and La naissance du Néolithique au Proche Orient
ou le paradis perdu, by O. Aurenche and S. Kozlowski
1999. Beyond these synthetic works are the countless
reports and collections that were consulted by the authors
in a determined effort to verify and consolidate all of the
extant information on the occurrence and distribution of
artifacts in the Neolithic.
At a time when the amount of new information on
the Neolithic is becoming overwhelming for individuals
whose fieldwork is confined to one of the geographic
regions, there is a tendency to restrict one’s vision and
expertise more and more narrowly to the sites and
material one can personally visit and examine. The
present book is free from such restrictions because it
starts from the premise that the regional picture and not
the individual site is important. The book makes clear
that there is a great disparity in knowledge between the
two major areas, the western and eastern wings of the
Fertile Crescent. For nearly three decades there has been
little archaeological research in Iran and, with some
important exceptions, Iraq. For the new generation of
students and scholars who are renewing fieldwork in the
eastern arm, this book will open a world of comparative
material and scholarship that has been largely
inaccessible.
The central theme is that the cultures of the
Neolithic reside in bounded territories which have
persisted through the millennia despite economic,
environmental and historic changes. The book
demonstrates where these territories are, using the
distribution of artifacts as indicators of regions of
similarity and dissimilarity. Inevitably this raises the
question whether these territories have “cultural”
significance. Were they the domain of a tribe or other
polity? Did they have linguistic connotations? Did the
people share religious customs? Because the historic and
modern world is divided into territories that encompass
separate polities, languages and customs, it is natural to
think that the prehistoric world was divided similarly.
The question that must be asked, however, is whether
types of arrowheads or pestles are truly indicative of
broader social and cultural organizations.
While this work convincingly establishes territories
that correspond with those that we know historically, the
evidence on which they are based is very narrow. We
know that people learn to do things, such as make
arrowheads in customary ways. That is, everyone has
arrowheads, but one group makes them one way and
another does it differently. In this sense we can compare
the differences in lithics to dialects in language. But
many features of life that are archaeologically invisible
are probably much more important to a sense of cultural
identity than how to make an arrowhead. These invisible
features constitute most of what we think of as “culture”,
in the ethnographic sense.
Allowing for the fact that we can never recover
much of prehistoric life, still there are many tangible
remains that are not included in this work, such as faunal
and plant remains. Other aspects, like architecture and
ceramics are treated summarily here but more fully
elsewhere, and add important detail on boundaries.
Nevertheless, like some of the lithic elements, these may
differ from one region to another because of local sources
 PREFACE
of raw material, climate, and topography, as well as
because of “style” or “tradition”. One must wonder, then,
whether they truly define a culture or just define a region
of use. Perhaps the question is irrelevant because people
living in a territory will inevitably create their own
version of the Neolithic that will differ somewhat from
that of their surrounding neighbors.
We know that none of the regions of the Near East
was isolated, a fact that can be shown by the dispersion
of artifacts and raw material. Obsidian is the most
obvious and most frequently encountered exotic material
in the Neolithic, but there are also the anomalous isolated
findings of arrowheads hundreds of kilometers from their
supposed center of production. It is not a stretch of faith
to presume that hunters may have exchanged arrows, or
picked up lost arrows and carried them far from their
origin. Information and techniques can spread similarly
and with the need to find fresh pasture seasonally for
sheep and goats, the territories of exploitation must have
been far wider than the presence of settled communities
would indicate.
What is the value of this book? I see it as a series of
hypotheses. The authors have carefully presented the data
for establishing territories and boundaries across the
broad region of the Near East. These boundaries have
often been maintained throughout history, strongly
implying that they are “natural”. Having identified them,
it should become a focus of research to determine why
they exist. It is likely that the underlying rationale for
each territory was somewhat different. One boundary
may be based on environmental circumscription, another
by a barrier such as the Euphrates River or a mountain;
another by an environmental gradient such as that
traversed by mobile pastoralists; another by the sheer
density of population in a rich environment that
encourages both clustering and emigration. Such factors
might persist throughout history, barring the
development of larger integrative polities. The presence
of buffer zones or “empty” spaces between territories
may have similar explanations.
As archaeologists we should treat the structure
presented in this book as a point of departure from which
the territories need to be verified and explained.
Specialists in each territory should exploit their expertise
to further elaborate and refine the information. What
resources were used and where were they acquired?
What were the routes by which the resources were
distributed? Are the boundaries real or just artifacts of
exploration? We should search buffer zones for traces of
10
sites, incorporating new information from unpublished
surveys and excavations, or focusing on classifying the
types that contributed to the maps. A focus on intra-site
and inter-site variability within and outside the territories
would help us understand more clearly what makes a
territory distinct. The use of historic information and
maps of peoples’ movements for trade or transhumance
may give clues to natural zones of exploitation as well as
routes of movement through them. These should then be
explored for sites, including an attempt to find special
purpose sites.
Anthropologists use the number 500 as the size of a
population that can be reliably self-sustaining over the
generations. Again, using this as a hypothesis, do the
known sites within territories meet this expectation? If
not, was the territory truly occupied or was it just visited
seasonally? Has the true geographic extent of the region
been defined? Are there places that have not yet been
explored where one might expect to find sites within a
presumed territory? If there are too many sites, are there
signs of hierarchical organization such as “centers”?
Conversely, are there too many equivalent sites? If so,
can they be divided among sub-territories? Careful
stylistic analysis may help here.
One can pose many such questions and further
fieldwork will augment our information without
necessarily providing conclusive evidence on the nature
of the territories so defined. In the end we have two
overriding problems that hinder us from going very far
into cultural interpretations. First, our chronological
control is inadequate to confidently assess the number
and kind of sites that were occupied at the same time.
Second, there is a vast amount of “culture” that can never
be recovered, meaning that we can only define its poor
proxy, the style and distribution of artifacts.
The study of the emergence and development of
Neolithic economies is advancing vibrantly in many
directions with excavations across the region that are
bringing forth new and unexpected information .
Specialists in the study of the agricultural economy are
bringing new methods to bear on questions of
domestication itself, as well as on the place of origin of
each of the species and on the nature of their spread.
Others are now finding new meaning in symbolic
expressions and suggesting their importance in defining
regions of interaction. The present book gives a new and
comprehensive structure that will help tie these
multidisciplinary threads together, as well as become a
testing ground for theories they engender.
Frank Hole
Yale University
25 March 2004
 INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this book is not to present the
process of Neolithisation or the chronological sequence
of Neolithic1 cultures in the Near East, but to study their
territorial or spatial distribution. We set off with the
hypothesis that it is possible to apply to the whole of Near
Eastern prehistory the approach proposed at the end of
the 1960’s by the ethnologist Fredrik Barth, in a
collection of articles which he assembled entitled Ethnic
groups and boundaries. The social organisation of
culture difference (1969, 1998). Our intention is not to
re-examine the still current debate, created mainly on the
other side of the Atlantic by this seminal book, as
demonstrated by its unchanged 1998 reedition and by a
recent work which reviews the Théories de l’ethnicité
(Poutignat et Steiff-Fenart 1995), but to “test” concepts
brought into focus by ethnologists on prehistoric
materials. F. Barth’s approach is the following. He begins
with a generally accepted premise: “there are aggregates
of people who essentially share a common culture, and
interconnected differences that distinguish each such
discrete culture from all others” from which one may
conclude “that there are discrete groups of people,
i.e. ethnic units, to correspond to each culture” and he
adds “the differences between cultures, and their historic
boundaries and connections, have been given much
attention; the constitution of ethnic groups, and the nature
of the boundaries between them, have not been
correspondingly investigated” (Barth 1998 p. 9). To
study these cultures, he proposes “to investigate closely
the empirical facts of a variety of cases, and fit our
concepts to these empirical facts so that they elucidate
them as simply and adequately as possible” and to shift
“the focus of investigation from internal constitution and
history of separate groups to ethnic boundaries and
boundary maintenance” (Barth 1998, p. 10). Thus, “the
critical focus of investigation from this point of view
becomes the ethnic boundary that defines the group, not
the cultural stuff that it encloses”. And he states: “the
boundaries to which we must give our attention are of
course social boundaries, though they may have
territorial counterparts” (Barth 1998, p. 15).2 Impossible
as it is for the prehistorian to trace these “social
boundaries”, we will concentrate on the “territorial
boundaries”, by attempting to define the cultures from
outside as well as from within, that is, according to the
boundaries which separate them. The idea is to reveal
“automatically” the existence of these cultures based on
their territorial extension, each “territory” being defined
by the boundaries which separate it from a neighbouring
territory, assuming that it is homogenous and
corresponds to one and the same culture. This is a first
approach, on the scale of the whole Near East, in the
knowledge that the reality was, of course, locally more
complex. A change of scale will always be possible, but
our choice for now is to test the model over as large a
zone as possible.
Our intention is thus double: to start with empirical
data in an attempt to reveal not only cultures, which
every prehistorian wishes, even if based on the only site
on which he works, but the territorial limits of these
cultures—their border—and their possible inter-actions
with time, for the prehistorian, unlike the ethnologist, is
concerned with long periods of time. We follow that
European tradition of prehistoric studies which has

1. The term “Neolithic” is used in this book in a chronological sense (10 200-5000 years cal. B.C.). The terms “PPNA” and “PPNB”
(respectively 10 200–8800 and 8800–6900 years cal. B.C.) are also used in the chronological, and not in the cultural sense. For more
details on the terminology used in this book, see Aurenche and Kozlowski 1999.
2. We note that F. Barth’s own “field” of work is also the Near East, namely Iran and Afghanistan.
 3650 shallow bassins/oasis N
(big and small)
Van deep intermontana
Lake valleys/bassin
3610 narrow valleys/canyons
3585
broad rivers/corridors
1326 (partly reconstructed)

Urm
ia L
actual dry wadis

ake
actual rough limit
3811 between steppe and desert

1385
1391
Mediterranean 3262
3086
Sea
2659

12
INTRODUCTION

4328

850

0.1 The potential settlement pattern of the Fertile Crescent

0 100 200 km Gulf
Cartographies MOM 2001

N. B. The maps 0.1 to 0.44 are included in the text. The maps 1.1.1 to 14.4 are gathered in the Annex at the end of the volume.
 INTRODUCTION
always used cartographic methods for the spatial
representation of cultures. Our work may be placed in the
same line of practice and on the same scale as the ASPRO
(Hours et al. 1994), but pushes spatial analysis of
distinctive elements further, and concerns the creation of
synthesizing maps which correspond to this analysis. In
fact the ASPRO is presented as a database, and the team
which worked on it did not have the opportunity to
complete the synthesizing work which was initially
envisaged. In the modest form of a manual for students,
the two co-signatories have presented a preliminary
attempt at synthesis (Aurenche and Kozlowski 1999).
The present work, without re-examination of the general
“philosophy” of the latter work, endeavors to take the
cartographic approach much further.
Several attempts have already been made
(O. Bar-Yosef 1981 and more recently with a explicit
anthropological approach 2001; J. Cauvin, 1997
and 2000; N. Goring-Morris 1987; N. Goring-Morris
and J. Kuijt, 2002; L. Copeland and F. Hours, 1986) on
a scale which is regional and less efficient as it often
concerns only a single category of material.
Thus we have begun by placing on the maps
different series of artefacts of all types which are
considered to be representative. Then we have combined
two or more of these basic maps to bring about the
appearance of homogenous territorial entities, and at the
same time that of the borders between these territorial
entities. In the third stage, we observed changes in these
“territories” and these “borders”, thus confirming the
probable existence over time of these “cultures”, human
groups which had in common a certain number of
material or symbolic elements which were their own and
distinguished them from their neighbours.
Geography
The zone covered by this study comprises the two
branches of the geographical area known traditionally as
the Fertile Crescent, as well as the steppe/desert zone
which they encompass (hinterland). We will make
reference, if necessary, to the Anatolian or Iranian
plateaus and the southern Caucasus. We have already
proposed (Aurenche and Kozlowski 1999) a division of
the Fertile Crescent into several units according to
geographical criteria. The divisions adopted here fall into
the same pattern, with several nuances. A western
“wing” is thus distinguished, including from south to
north and west to east: the southern desert (Negev,
Sinai), the southern Levant, the central Levant and the
northern Levant. These four zones have in common the
eastern coast of the Mediterranean, the Levantine
(Wadi Araba, Jordan, Orontes) and the Euphrates
13
corridor as well as its western and eastern borders
(plateaus). To the east of these zones lies the hinterland
of desert, or more exactly dry steppe, with scattered oases
(Azraq, Palmyra, El Kowm and several other small
lakes/sebkhas which are dry today).
The central part of the Fertile Crescent may be
divided into three: to the north, the High Valleys of the
Tigris and the Euphrates, to the south, the Jezirah,
divided into western Jezirah and eastern Jezirah.
The eastern “wing” of the Fertile Crescent consists
of the Zagros, which may be divided into the western
Zagros and the central Zagros. The Zagros foothills form
the boundary with the Mesopotamian plain.
The potential settlement pattern of the Fertile
Crescent (map 0 . 1)
Of the major geographical determinants, such as
geomorphology, river network and flora, the first of the
three (geomorphology) defines the potential passages and
barriers which determine the greater or lesser “openness”
of the territory to outside contacts; the second (river
network) will define the lines along which settlement was
organized and the “corridors” between various territories
or mini-territories; and the third (flora) will define the
outside limits of the Fertile Crescent.
The arched shape of the narrow Fertile Crescent is
bounded by natural borders, both within and without. The
external border lies on the Mediterranean coast in the
west (today this area is partly underwater), and in the
north on the watershed line separating the Mediterranean
catchment area from that of the Black and Caspian seas;
it runs for some 2000 km and ranges in height from
2000 m in the northwest (the Taurus with passages to
Anatolia) to 3000 m and more in the east and north
(Zagros ridges). In the east and the south, the internal
division of the Fertile Crescent separates the arid and
semiarid interior from the more or less forested land. This
border could have changed somewhat over time,
depending on the current climatic conditions (more
humid or less humid).
These two lines delimit on either side a
crescent-shaped region running from Wadi Araba to the
Central Zagros and further east. This band is from 50 to
200 km wide and over 2000 km long.
While these borders are not entirely “impermeable”
(proof exists of contacts with Cyprus, Egypt, central
Anatolia and Iran), they constitute significant barriers
and it is mainly within these frames that the permanent
Neolithic settlements are concentrated.
The specific “banded/elongated” configuration of
this macro-region must have determined its inner
structure and model of communication lines: contacts
 INTRODUCTION
mainly along the lengthwise axis, limited possibilities of
contact along the chord of the arc (except in the Late
Period, for example, through Wadi Tadmor-Palmyra and
a chain of oases). This led, especially in the Early Period,
to isolation phenomena which are well known for the
previous Epipaleolithic period.
The shape of the Fertile Crescent and its limited
settlement depth (50-100, rarely 200 km) determined its
specific internal segmentation, which can be seen as a
necklace of “beads” or taxonomic units threaded one
after the other along the axis.
The Western Wing of the Fertile Crescent
(the Levant) extends to a width of 100 km (exceptionally
up to 200 km for the oases) and to a length of 1000 km
along two axes running from north to south: the
Mediterranean coastal plain and the so-called Levantine
Corridor (O. Bar Yosef), which is a narrow depression
that is relatively well-watered (the rivers Jordan, Orontes
etc.) or less so (Wadi Araba). Both these axes are flanked
by mountain ridges (e.g. the Lebanon and the anti-
Lebanon) or plateaus (e.g. the Judean Desert). The
distance separating the two axes is only about 50 km and
there are transverse corridors that link them. Village
settlement concentrates mainly along these two lines,
while the short distances are responsible for the high
“cultural” homogeneity of the region. Three well-
watered shallow basins are located on the axis of the
Levantine corridor (Damascus, Homs and Aleppo) which
are excellent settlement niches.
The settlement arrangement as described above can
be designated as open, for it ensures easy circulation
along both the main axes, as well as between them and
beyond them (Azraq oasis and the desert hinterland with
several “sebkhas”).
In contrast to the relatively open Levantine
arrangement is the fragmented settlement pattern in the
Eastern Wing of the Fertile Crescent. This area is
strongly differentiated morphologically, as it includes the
Mesopotamian plain (mainly the better surveyed Zagros
foothills) and the Zagros mountains (with closed and
deep intermontane valleys, especially in the central part).
The poorly-studied plain zone develops along the
great Mesopotamian rivers (lower Tigris and Euphrates)
and the left tributaries of the Tigris in their middle/lower
courses. It is limited by recent alluvial sediments to the
steppe—like band of foothills—,the so-called Assyrian
steppe, some 50 km wide, with its fairly well-watered
valleys (Greater and Lesser Zab, Diyala etc.), shallow
basins (Hamrin, Deh Luran), and the Karkeh and Karun
rivers, which flow into the Gulf to the southeast. The
Neolithic settlement of the plain, if it exists, should be in
relation to these rivers, avoiding the desert regions
14
separating them. This region remains relatively open to
outside contacts, especially in a north-westerly direction,
and it also reaches through the Greater and Lesser Zab
river valleys up to 50 km into the western Zagros.
Clearly differentiated from this zone is the core of
the Zagros mountains, characterized by the considerable
height of the ridges (3000-4000 m!), substantial changes
of altitude (deep, closed intermontane valleys with flat
bottoms and inaccessible high-mountain V-shaped river
valleys), and poor links by canyons and gorges with the
above-described foothill zone. Thus this is a region quite
isolated from the rest of the world, relatively closed to
intense outside contacts and the effects of innovations
(Kozlowski 1999).
Between these two separate “worlds” lies the
central part of the Fertile Crescent. This is a fairly flat
steppe area called the Jezirah, which becomes a plateau
in the north and extends from the Syrian middle
Euphrates to the lower course of the Greater Zab, and
from the foothills of the eastern Taurus to the mouth of
the Khabur where it joins the Euphrates (northeast desert
boundary) and the El Kowm oasis. The communication
axes here are the upper Tigris, the upper and middle
Euphrates and its tributaries, the Balikh and the Khabur,
and finally the Wadi Tartar, while the entire area is
divided into three zones: northern (High Valleys),
western and eastern, extending longitudinally along the
mountain ridges of Karaca Dag, Jebel Sinjar and Jebel
Aziz. The narrow river valleys in their uppermost courses
constitute a poor link to the Taurus massif beyond (here
altitudes exceed 3000 m). The Jezirah appears to be more
open than the Zagros, but the main settlement axes are
more likely to run longitudinally than latitudinally, and
an important feature (the “great dry divide” between the
Balikh and Khabur rivers) cuts it into two; the dry steppe
plateau beyond the fairly deep river corridors is almost
“impermeable”.
The Fertile Crescent proper has its own inner desert
hinterland (Sinai, Negev, Arabian and Syrian deserts,
Mesopotamia beyond the great river valleys), settled
more on a seasonal than a permanent basis, mainly in the
Late Period. The few oases (Kowm, Azraq) provide
settlement facilities along the wadis or on the banks of
now dried-up sebkhas. In those times it was more a
steppe than a desert landscape, open in the morphological
sense, but with clear limitations imposed on settlement
by a specific hydrological system.
Thus, the barriers/stimulators for settlement can be
manifold. Hydrology is the principal factor, including the
“corridors” arrangement and the “great dry”
(or mountain) divides, as well as the well-watered inter-
 INTRODUCTION
montane valleys. Next is morphology, including high
mountains and the specific “banded” arrangement of the
Fertile Crescent. Finally, there are the distances
separating particular regions of the Fertile Crescent on
the long axis (up to 2000 km) and the related difficulties
in information flow.
To sum up, even though the settlement arrangement
was modified on a micro-scale over time (de-localization
of settlements), no major changes occurred in the
traditional macro-scale arrangements. This is because
the change was more qualitative than quantitative, and
the single most spectacular settlement change on a
macro-scale was the occupation of the interior (desert)
zone of the Fertile Crescent by seasonal settlers in the
Late Period.
Mini-territories or the Near Eastern Neolithic
settlement model
The above-described settlement conditions were
strong stimuli for the spatial organization of
regular/village settlement through time, reducing it
territorially and environmentally into mini-territories of a
certain kind. The spatial relation of well-watered areas to
regions devoid of water leads to the development and
maintenance of a “checker” pattern of sorts, representing
areas that were settled (watered) and those that were not
(arid), including areas in the mountains highly isolated by
formidable geographical barriers.
Thus, the Fertile Crescent is broken up into a series
of separate mini-territories, mostly situated near a water
source/course/basin, separated from the other inhabited
“worlds” by uninhabited areas (arid plateaus, steppes,
deserts, high mountains, etc.). Nevertheless, some
territories are well-connected (Western Wing, central
part of the Fertile Crescent) or less well-connected
(Eastern Wing) by “corridors” running along the major
water courses. The mini-territories can also be
defined/”closed in” by deep intermontane valleys, which
can be large (Kermanshah) or small (Hulailan), or they
may fill shallow basins (Salabiya, Deh Luran, Hamrin,
El Kowm, Azraq, Damascus basin) where one to three
villages could have been located and, consequently, two
to three mini-territories could have existed. Very small
territories could have existed in the “niches” of the great
river valleys/great wadis (e.g. Cafer, Hayaz), often where
a tributary or wadi emptied into the great valley
(Ain Ghazal, M’lefaat, Nevalı Çori).
Such villages are also encountered on the exposed
plateaus (Jarmo), in small valleys (Nemrik, Qermez
Dere, Ginnig), or directly on the terraces of the great
rivers (Jerf el Ahmar, Mureybet).
15
In effect, a territory is a complex structure which
comprises a series of “organizationally” related, but
actually independent, mini-territories, each of which has
its central village (“base camp”) surrounded by a series of
satellite structures, as suggested by P. Mortensen 1972,
for the Zagros mountains and recently described by
H.G.K. Gebel 2002, for the southern Levant.
Chronology
In this work we take into consideration the periods
2 to 5 (10 500/10 200-6400/6200 cal. B.C.) of the
ASPRO dating system (Hours et al. 1994), covering what
we call the Protoneolithic in its final phase (PPNA and
early PPNB in the conventional terminology), and the
Neolithic in its initial phase, i. e. from the middle PPNB
onwards (Aurenche and Kozlowski 1999). Mention may
occasionally be made of periods immediately following
(periods 6 to 7, from 6400 to 5400 cal. B.C.).
Nevertheless, for the purpose of this book we will
distinguish only two principal periods: the “early” one
(before 8000 cal. B.C.) and the “late” one (after
8000 cal. B.C.). This chronological watershed is clearly
imposed by the essential changes occurring around
8000 cal. B.C. in the subsistence models (agriculture,
animal domestication), the material culture and the
settlement pattern.
Methods
The database upon which the evidence for
“territories” rests has first been transferred to analytical
“basic” maps. Each of these maps gives, type by type,
according to available sources, all elements of the
material culture which seem to us pertinent. The
occurrences are indicated by different signs according to
the chronology: circles for the “early” period (that is
before 8000 cal. B.C.), lozenges for the “late” period
(that is after 8000 cal. B.C.). When overall quantitative
information seems necessary and is available, it is
distinguished by signs of different thickness. Although
not exhaustive, these maps, 165 in number, are intended
to reflect a concrete reality.
Each map is accompanied by illustrations of
original objects which are considered to be
representative. This is not in order to establish a
theoretical typology, but to compare existing objects.
A brief commentary accompanies each map, containing
information on morphology and chronology, as well as a
preliminary interpretation of the distribution and
respective value of each class. This series of maps,
grouped in an Annex at the end of the volume, constitutes
a first category of documents consultable as they are
(infra p. 105-275, maps 1.1.1 to 14.4).
 INTRODUCTION
A second series of maps, more synthesizing, are the
result of the superimposition of two or more of these
detailed basic maps. These are intended to show the
different zones of variable size, where different types,
without regard to chronology, are concentrated and
present the same spatial distribution (chapter 2, maps 0.4
to 0.12). They are included in the text.
A third series, conceived according to the same
principle of superimposition, but distinguishing the
“early” period (before 8000 cal. B.C.) and the “late”
period (after 8000 cal. B.C.), causes the borders between
these zones to appear (maps 0.13 to 0.26), thus
prefiguring “territories” with their “boundaries”
(chapter 2). They are also included in the text.
In the present state of the documentation, this
progressive method, at three levels of analysis, is in our
opinion the only one which can fill the gaps and mask the
disparities which come from sources of unequal value.
Finally there follow two synthesizing maps
(chapter 3, maps 0.27 and 0.28) showing the
cultures/territories with which we are dealing within the
Neolithic Fertile Crescent.
History of the research
In the overall history of research into prehistory, the
Near East remains behind Europe to a certain extent. The
results of excavations conducted at Jericho and presented
by K. Kenyon can be considered to be the real point of
departure for research into the Near Eastern Neolithic.
K. Kenyon established for the first time, in the 1960s, a
succession of cultures/periods (Protoneolithic, Pre-
Pottery Neolithic A and B, Pottery Neolithic A and B)
which at least for the terminology are still in use today.
Long considered to be universal for the Near East (except
for R.J. Braidwood who was the first to put it in doubt),
this terminology should now be limited to the southern
Levant. The work since carried out in this region
particularly by O. Bar-Yosef (1981), G. Rollefson
(1989), A. Gopher (1994), and recently by H.G. Gebel
(2002) or N. Goring Morris and I. Kuijt (2002) has led to
refinement of the proposed outline, without calling it into
question.
The research carried out in the northern Levant
since the 1970s by J. Cauvin (J. Cauvin 1997, 2000) and
his team confirmed for the most part the general
succession proposed by K. Kenyon, but also introduced
regional specificity (Mureybetian, Aswadian, regional
facies of the PPNB as well as its chronological
subdivisions).
In the 1960s, R.J. Braidwood, following work
conducted in the western Zagros, proposed another
model resting more on the development of a way of life
16
than on changes in the material culture (“level of
incipient cultivation and domestication, level of the
primary village-farming communities”, etc.). It was
surprising that the final publication of the site of Jarmo in
1983 did not take up this initial philosophy (Braidwood
et al. 1983). F. Hole then established for Deh Luran, in
the Zagros foothills at the edge of the Mesopotamian
plain, a particular sequence which made no reference to
the two preceding attempts (Hole et al. 1969).
More recent work carried out in the 1980s in south-
eastern Anatolia has not so far given rise to a regional
synthesis, in spite of the propositions to extend Levantine
terminology to this zone.
There have been few attempts to compare these four
“systems” (southern Levant, central and northern Levant,
Zagros, Deh Luran). The first was that of J. Mellaart
(1975), based on the material then available for
comparison and presentation of regional diversification.
On more theoretical bases, C. Redman (1978) attempted
to extend Braidwood’s system of periodization to the
whole of the Near East, without dismissing regionalisms
(“Intensive Food Collectors, First Village Farmers, Early
Villages of the Levant, Anatolia, Zagros Mountain
Region, and Adjacent Regions”, cf. Aurenche and
Kozlowski 1999, p. 136-137).
Along the same lines, the collective endeavour
carried out by researchers in Lyon was conducted in two
stages. The first, purely analytical, enabled the
assemblage in the form of an Atlas (ASPRO, consisting of
a catalogue and a series of maps, cf. Hours et al. 1994) of
nearly all the documentation available in the eighties.
A volume integrating all the information, coordinated by
F. Hours, should round off this attempt; unfortunately his
premature death has prevented the completion of this
work. A second attempt was effected, in the more modest
form of a handbook for students, by the present authors
(O. Aurenche and S. Kozlowski 1999). The present work
demonstrates the will to pursue this endeavour in a more
abundantly documented and thorough form. The main
idea is to try to break down political and thus scientific
barriers, which by the fragmentation of knowledge which
they impose, prevent the acquisition of a balanced view
of the late prehistory of the Near East.
Our study is based not only on the primary sources
from excavations and surveys, but also on synthesizing
works, in which cartography plays an essential role.
These studies are devoted either to regions: O. Bar-Yosef
(1981, 2001), A. Gopher (1994), J. Cauvin (1997 and
2000), S. Kozlowski (1999), A. Moore (1981), F. Hours
and L. Copeland (1983), J. and M.-C. Cauvin (1993), or
to categories of material: O. Aurenche (1981) for
architecture, A. Gopher and R. Gophna (1993) for
 N

Van Caspian
Cafer Çayönü Hallan Çemi lake
Sea
Kilisik Körtik
Amberköy
Demirköy

Urm
Nevali Çori
Karahan

ia l
Sanliurfa Hirbet Selim

ake
Abr Göbekli
Dja'de Nemrik
Bir Jili Balagha
Qaramel Zawi Chemi
Jerf el Ahmar

Sheikh Hassan Gird Chai

Qermez Dere
M'lefaat
Mureybet
Kerkh

Mediterranean Nachcharini

17
Sea
Asiab

Horvat Galil
Gesher

Nahal Oren Mudjahiya

Iraq-ed-Dubb

Salabiya IX Netiv Hagdud

Hatula Gilgal
Jericho
El-Khiam
Ain Darat

Nahal Hemar Drha

Har Arod
Lagama IV Shunera Nahal Lavan 110
Nizzana Wadi Feinan
Bir Malhi
Romam Ramat Harif
Mushabi VI, XX Abu Salem Kvish Harif
Maaleh Ramon
Shulat Harif
Sabra 1c

0.2 The main sources from the Early Period

Abu Maadi Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004
 N

Boy Tepe
As kl
Van Caspian
Cafer Kötaken Lake
Sea
Levzin Çayönü

Urm
ia L
(See detail on next map)
Khaneke
Chagar Bazar

ake
Fakhiriah Rahake
Kashkashok Ginnig Nemrik Shanidar
Seker Khazna Tepe Gawra Hajji Firuz
Feyda Yarim
Aarbid Thalathat Banahilk
Magzalia
Umm-Qseir Shimshara
Kül Arpachiyah
Sotto
Hassuna
Jarmo
Sinn Umm Dabaghiah Karim Shahir
Palegawra

Buqras Matarrah

Baghouz Seh Gabi

Songor
Rihan III Genil Ghar-i-Khar

18
Mediterranean Sarab
Ganj Dareh
Sawwan Qala Kamand Bagh
Abdul Hossein
Sea Tamerkhan Qazemi
Mar Ruz
Guran
Choga Mami

Rhutba
Choga Sefid
Sabz Tula'i
Ali Kosh

Farukhabad

Oueili

0.3 The main sources from the Late Period

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001
 Gritille
0 100 200 km Hayaz

Dolmuz Kumar
Mersin

Mezraz T. Gürçü
Akarçay

Bahouerte
Kosak Assouad
Judaidah Maled
Dhahab Sabi Abyad
Kurdu
Halula
Zahmoul Damishliya

Qminas Homr Mounbateh

Ank Rel
Aray

Ras Shamra Kerkh

Abu Hureyra

Sukas Qalat Mudiq

Sawdah
Hmajra Umm-el-Jlel
Khabre Qdeir
Naccache Nebi Mend
Mar Sabur El Kowm
Nadaouiye
Dbaye Arjune
Dik'el Mehdi
Byblos Labweh

Mediterranean
Kubbah 3
Beirut Scies Saudah
Habarjer Aatne
Beirut Sables Moukhtara

Sea
Arslan Qornet Rharra
Nebaa Fawr
Saaide Tannour Ghoraife
Maaret Chebiye
Ramad Aswad

Kfar Hahoresh Turmus

Beisamun
Sefunim Cave Burquu
Yiftahel Sha'ar ha-Golan
Eli
Atlit-Yam
Ain Rahub
Nahal Oren
Munhata
Megiddo
Thawwab
Tabaqat
Michmoret Eh-Sayyah
Al-Buma Dhuweila
Abd es Sawwaz
Jericho
Er-Ram
Ain Ghazal Black Desert 2402, 2306, 3133, 1670,
Nizzanim Jilat 7, 13, 23, 1684, 1635, 1605
Wadi Shueib
Abu Ghosh 24, 25, 26, 32
Ashkelon
el-Khiam Wadi Dhobai
Hebron Azraq 7, 31
Es-Siffiya

Nahal Hemar

Atadim
Nahal Boker
Nahal Divshon
Khirbet Hammam
'Ein Qadis
Baaja
Abu Salem Saqqarat Masad
Ain Taiyba Beidha
Ad Daman 1 Seyl Aqlat
Nahal Issaron Kilwa
Basta
Nahal Reul

'Ain Abu Nekheileh

E.Régagnon 2004

Wadi Tbeik

Ujrat el-Memed
0.3 The main sources from the Late Period
Wadi Jibba Abu Maadi (detail of the general map)
Jebel Rushba

19
 INTRODUCTION
pottery, M. le Mière and M. Picon (1998) for pottery,
C. Maréchal (1982) for white ware, Gopher (1994) for
lithic industry, M.C. Cauvin et al. (1998) for raw
materials, D. Schmandt-Besserat (1992) for the tokens,
K. Wright (1992) and R.F. Mazurowski (1997) for the
heavy stone industry, etc.
State of the sources
The available sources are not evenly distributed
over the whole of the studied zone. There are various
reasons for this.
The first factor is a natural one: many sites have
been covered by later sediments of aeolian (Jezirah) or
fluviatile origin (Mesopotamian plain, Lebanese Beka’a
valley). On the coasts, sea level rose and the coastal sites
disappeared under several or dozens of meters of water.
In other cases, later human occupation masked and
erosion destroyed possible prehistoric levels.
The second factor is due to the inequality,
depending on the country, of field work, whether surveys
or excavations. Of those zones which are hardly or very
little explored is the region between the western Zagros
and the central Zagros, as well as a good part of the
central Levant. The political situation was or still is a
contributing factor to the lack of field activities (Iran,
Iraq, Lebanon).
A third factor has to do with the field methods used
by the different teams, some of which dug test trenches
while others carried out extensive excavations.
The last factor, not the least important, lies in the
great disparity between the publications. For example,
most of the sites excavated in the central Zagros have
never been completely published, which weakens
considerably the state of knowledge of this zone. For the
other zones explored, even if all the work is not
published, we have at least usable information on a few
3. Just after the achievment of this book the problem of the prehistoric territories and borders was discussed during the 4ICAANE
Workshop entitled Supra-Regional Concepts in the Near-Eastern Neolithization, hold in Berlin 1-2 April 2004 (cf. Neo-lithics, 1/04).
The results of this meeting could not be included into this volume.
20
reference sites (monographs of sites or series of papers).
This disparity in the documentation available must be
taken into account when judging the exact value of the
cartographical analysis.
The reader might wonder why he or she does not
find on the map some of the objects known from his or
her publications. Any potential lacks are not surprising,
considering the wide scattering of the literature, and the
great richness of the sources (Hours et al. 1994).
Nevertheless, these gaps should not change the general
image of the cartography of the Near Eastern Neolithic,
especially for the Western Wing, where the material is
quite abundant. For the Eastern Wing, because of the
relative paucity of sources, an attempt was made to cover
all possible publications and collections.
Maps of the sources (maps 0 . 2 and 0 . 3)
The maps of the sources show the existing situation
respectively in the Early (before 8000 cal. B.C.) and Late
Periods (after 8000 cal. B.C.).
One look at these maps demonstrates how unevenly
distributed is our knowledge of sources between the
Eastern and Western Wings of the Fertile Crescent. This
is coupled with an almost complete absence of data for
the Eastern Wing in the Early Period (map 0.2) and a
very poor representation of the central part of the
Western Wing in this time period. The same remarks
concern the Zagros foothills and Mesopotamian plain (in
the latter case sites are probably buried under alluvia).
The Late Period (map 0.3) is somewhat better known in
the eastern part, although it can hardly match the Western
Wing in abundance of sources.
Hence, the opportunities for cartographic analysis
are potentially much greater for the Western than for the
Eastern Wing.3
 CHAPTER 1
ANALYSIS OF THE MATERIAL
Two categories of materials are under
consideration, their significance being different but
complementary. The first category consists of artefacts
which are limited in presence, either in time or space.
Their very specificity means that they are considered to
be parti-cularly representative (markers or fossiles-
directeurs) of either one or several cultural traditions, or
of one or several periods.
But the picture would be incomplete if we did not
take into consideration other artefacts, at first view less
specific and more dispersed, without any particular
chronological or spatial connotation, but which
nevertheless contribute to the definition of Near Eastern
cultures.
We have however eliminated the most common
place objects which are also found in abundance in other
prehistoric cultures.
Rare and common
It is clear that the rarer a type, the higher its value as
a discriminating factor, especially in our case when it is
also restricted territorially. “Common” types, on the
contrary, contribute to the definition of the Neolithic
“koine” (Aurenche and Kozlowski 1999), and are not
differentiating in the territorial sense, hence their relative
uselessness for our regional studies. “Rare” types may
have a territorial range from local or infra-regional to
regional or supra-regional (cf. chapter 2).
But apart from their strengths, the “rare” types also
have weaknesses, which are caused by their very
rareness; their absence from some areas (especially in the
case of poorly explored or poorly published areas) may
be sometimes more a factor of what is known of the
sources there than of prehistoric reality. We consider
nonetheless that in the present state of knowledge, these
“rare” elements are of acceptable cultural significance.
The common types do not vary territorially (infra
p. 38).
These are usually simple forms, and perhaps the
principle of convergence in their introduction should not
be entirely discounted here. They constitute the so-called
Near Eastern Neolithic koine (Aurenche and
Kozlowski 1999).
Basic maps
The occurrence of the material under consideration,
either rare or common, was integrated into a series of
maps. These “basic maps” present 165 complete
cartograms of the distribution of distinctive types in the
region of the Fertile Crescent, including chronological
subdivision into Early Period (before 8000 years
cal. B.C. with the sign o) and Late Period (after
8000 years cal. B.C. with the sign ◊ ). We have also taken
into account quantitative data (if possible and if needed):
present
well attested
numerous
The basic maps are classified in twelve groups:
—chipped lithic industry (maps 1.1.1 to 1.3.5)
—stone industry (maps 2.1.1 to 2.2.5.4)
—stone vessels (maps 3.1.1 to 3.2.11)
—white ware (maps 4.1 to 4.3)
—ornaments (maps 5.1.1 to 5.3.4)
—art (maps 6.1.1 to 6.15)
—tokens (maps 7.1 to 7.11)
—bone industry (maps 8.1.1 to 8.5)
—miscellaneous (maps 9.1 to 11.5)
—architecture (maps 12.1 to 12.10)
—early pottery (maps 13.1 to 13.4)
—obsidian (maps 14.1 to 14.4)
 CHAPTER 1
Each map (except the last group) is accompanied by
a series of drawings which present real artefacts
originating from publications as well as by a brief
discussion including:
—morphology
—chronology (in millennia cal. B.C.)
—spatial distribution
—comment on its commonness or rarity
—territorial status (local, regional etc.)
—in some cases, territorial correlation with
other types
Chipped lithic industry (maps 1 . 1 . 1 to 1 . 3 . 5)
Until the appearance of pottery, lithic industry is
traditionally the principal indicator which defines
prehistoric cultures. The main reasons are the abundance
of lithic material recovered on the sites and a
“conservatism”, related to the nature of the material and
to the techniques necessary in its treatment, which
prevent any rapid change.
The list of typological and technological
discriminating elements chosen here provides a
differentiation which is both territorial and chronological.
It includes most of the arrowheads, the microliths and the
geometric pieces, certain truncated pieces, certain
unpolished axes, certain sickles and retouched blades and
certain cores. We set aside all the end-scrapers, burins,
certain points and most of the sickle-blades.
Arrowheads (maps 1 . 1 . 1 to 1 . 1 . 19)
Nineteen different typological classes, of which the
distribution is very unequal, have been distinguished,
from the regional to the supra-regional. Two well-known
types (Byblos points posterior to 7500 cal. B.C. and
Amuq points) are not taken into account.
The widest distribution concerns the El Khiam
points (1.1.4 and 1.1.5), with their two variants, small
points prevailing in the south, large points in the north. A
similar distinction could be found when comparing the
“little” points of Salabiya (1.1.19) in the south and the
“large” points of Nevalı Çori (1.1.12) in the north. The
Güzir points (1.1.15) are found both in the Western Wing
of the Fertile Crescent and in the Jezirah. More limited in
their distribution are other types: the central part of the
Fertile Crescent is characterised by Nemrik points
(1.1.17) and Demirköy points (1.1.18). The whole of the
Western Wing of the Fertile Crescent produces several
other types, all tanged, with however, “preferential”
zones for certain types. For example, although present
everywhere, Nevalı Çori (1.1.12), Sheikh Hassan
(1.1.13) and Aswad points (1.1.9) are much more
numerous in the north, while Jordan (1.1.8) and Salabiya
22
points (1.1.19) are numerous in the south. However,
Byblos points (before 7500 cal. B.C., 1.1.10), Mureybet
points (1.1.14) and Jerf el Ahmar points (1.1.11) are
found over almost the entire zone. After 7500, the Byblos
points spread to the east.
In a more limited diffusion, one finds at the regional
level, in the southern and central Levant, Abu Salem
(1.1.6) and Jericho points (1.1.7), and in the northern
Levant, Qaramel points (1.1.16).
The distribution of Harif (1.1.1), Ounan (1.1.2)
and Shunera points (1.1.3) may be considered to be only
local or infra-regional (southern desert and eastern
Egypt).
Microliths and geometric pieces (maps 1 . 2 . 1 to
1 . 2 . 12)
The twelve types distinguished all have a supra-
regional distribution. Except for the segments inherited
from the Natufian (1.2.1), present from North Africa to
the Jezirah, and the “big” Trialetian geometric pieces
(1.2.10 to 1.2.12) present in the central part of the Fertile
Crescent and more to the north, all the other types (1.2.2
to 1.2.8) characterize the whole of the Eastern Wing of
the Fertile Crescent and sometimes the eastern Jezirah.
Only the isosceles triangles (1.2.9) appear to have a more
regional significance (the Zagros and foothills). In
comparison to the Western Wing of the Fertile Crescent,
where certain types of points are mutually exclusive,
internal subdivisions in the Eastern Wing are less clear,
although they exist.
The distribution of the points and the geometric
pieces has already been the subject of a paper presented
in 2001 at the Niªde Symposium (Aurenche and
Kozlowski, forthcoming).
Small truncations (maps 1 . 3 . 1 . 1 to 1 . 3 . 1 . 2)
The two types described have slightly different
distributions. The Hagdud type (1.3.1.1) occupies only
the Western Wing of the Fertile Crescent, while the
Gilgal type (1.3.1.2) is also found in the Jezirah.
Sickle inserts (maps 1 . 3 . 2 . 1 to 1 . 3 . 2 . 2)
We have retained only two particularly
characteristic and partly contemporary types, both
present in the Late Period. The triangular elements
(1.3.2.1) mainly occupy the central part of the Fertile
Crescent, while the Yarmukian sickles (1.3.2.2) are
found only in the central and southern Levant.
Unpolished axes (maps 1 . 3 . 3 . 1 to 1 . 3 . 3 . 2)
The two types under consideration are the
adzes/herminettes (1.3.3.2), found in the northern Levant
 ANALYSIS OF THE MATERIAL
up to 8000 cal. B.C., and the Tahunian axes (1.3.3.1) in
the central and southern Levant, both present a local or
regional distribution.
Retouched blades (maps 1 . 3 . 4 . 1 to 1 . 3 . 4 . 2)
Two categories were taken into account: the “Beit
Taamir knives” (1.3.4.1) are found during the PPNA only
in the southern Levant, and later, the Çayönü tools
(1.3.4.2) are found only in the central part of the Fertile
Crescent and in the western Zagros.
Cores (map 1 . 3 . 5)
Two main technological traditions are made evident
by the examination of two types of cores. The bipolar
cores (not mapped), earlier than 7500 cal. B.C., are
characteristic of the Western Wing of the Fertile
Crescent, whereas conical specimens (and bladelets made
of them) are predominant in the Eastern Wing (1.3.5). A
definite contact zone is situated on the Syrian middle
Euphrates and in the Jezirah, where isolated conical cores
coexist with a Levantine industry (Halula, Göbekli) and
where later fragments of bipolar cores appear in the
industries inherited from the Nemrikian (Umm
Dabaghiyah).
Conclusion
The cartographical distribution of the elements
under consideration leads to several observations
(Kozlowski 1999). Two traditions, Levantine and Iraqo-
Iranian, are clearly distributed over the two branches of
the Fertile Crescent, with a contact zone in the Jezirah.
The third tradition, the Trialetian, is significantly
separate, in the north of the Fertile Crescent, and outside
it (1.2.10 to 1.2.12).
Each of these two principal zones can be subdivided
into well-defined regions where several types are
perfectly superimposed (cf. chapter 2). For the southern
and central Levant there are the Abu Salem, Jericho and
Salibiya points, the Tahunian axes and the Yarmukian
sickles. For the northern Levant and the High Valleys
there are the Jerf el Ahmar, Nevalı Çori, Sheikh Hassan,
Mureybet and Qaramel points and the adzes/herminettes.
For the Eastern Wing, three regions are detectable: the
western Zagros, with a combination of back and
truncations (1.2.6), backed bladelets (1.2.5) and bladelets
with retouched base (1.2.8), the central Zagros with the
same elements without bladelets with retouched base,
and the foothills with backed pieces plus truncations
(1.2.6) and bladelets with retouched base (1.2.8) but
without backed bladelets.
The central part of the Fertile Crescent is
distinguished by Nemrik points (1.1.17), whereas the
central Levant is characterized by Aswad points (1.1.9).
23
Stone industry (maps 2 . 1 . 1 to 4 . 3)
Heavy stone industry (maps 2 . 1 . 1 to 2 . 1 . 3 . 3)
Among the large number of mortars and querns, the
forms chosen were those which appeared appropriate to
the analysis because of the technical investment which
had gone into modifying the form of the natural stone.
Querns (map 2 . 1 . 1)
We are not concerned here with the most
widespread series (circular or oval sandstone querns,
sub-rectangular basalt querns) which are ubiquitous in all
periods in all the Natufian and Neolithic villages in the
Fertile Crescent. Their morphology appears close to the
block form of the raw material and seems to be the result
of usage rather than deliberate shaping. It is difficult to
systematically define their exact function (treatment of
organic or mineral materials, stone tool polishing).
We retain only one form which seems to have a
cultural significance: these are asymmetrical querns
where the worked area does not occupy all the available
surface (2.1.1). These objects appear in the Natufian,
continue in the PPNA, and then become more rare. Their
known geographical distribution reaches from the Dead
Sea to the High Valleys, without penetrating into the
desert zone.
Quern-mortars (maps 2 . 1 . 2 . 1 to 2 . 1 . 2 . 2)
These objects are considered as querns in which the
worked area presents one (rarely several) central
depression. They are present mainly in the PPNA,
perhaps before, and disappear quickly.
The two forms (oval and circular) are known from
one end to the other of the Fertile Crescent except for the
southern extremity of the Western Wing.
The oval form (2.1.2.1) does not seem to exist in the
High Valleys, but this distinction is perhaps not very
significant, because aside from this “gap”, the two forms
present the same chronological and spatial distribution
and belong to the basic equipment of the Neolithic
villages, but not the desert sites
Mortars (maps 2 . 1 . 3 . 1 to 2 . 1 . 3 . 3)
Present in the Kebaran, the Natufian and during the
entire Neolithic, these objects characterize, like the
querns, most of the sedentary sites and villages. They are
stone blocks with usually one or several deep cavities.
Aside from the common forms, where the block of stone
is hardly transformed, three types which appear to be
more characteristic are distinguished.
We class by convention here in the “mortars”
category objects which other authors (A. Gopher for
Munhata) consider to be stone vessels. These are little
 CHAPTER 1
sub-globular pieces of about 10 cm in diameter with very
thick walls (2.1.3.1). These objects are found over the
whole of the Fertile Crescent from the PPNA onwards.
The second category, in which the cavities are
shallow in comparison to the previous type, exhibits the
same sub-globular form and the same dimensions
(2.1.3.2). Given that their chronological distribution is
the same and that their spatial distribution, except for the
eastern extremity of the Fertile Crescent, largely covers
that of the preceding type, it is possible that they are in
fact in the same category of objects, but with differing
degrees of use.
The third category is more characteristic. The stone
block is given the form of a chalice often with a thick foot
(2.1.3.3). This type is known from the Natufian onward,
and persists in the PPNA of the southern Levant. It is
found in a few PPNB sites of the same region.
Light stone industry (maps 2 . 2 . 1 . 2 to 2 . 2 . 5 . 4)
In this category, the same criteria as above apply to
the pestles and the hand-stones. Particular attention is
paid to shaft straighteners, polished axes/celts and
spherical balls (“bolas”, “mace-heads”).
Hand-stones (maps 2 . 2 . 1 . 2 to 2 . 2 . 1 . 3)
Besides the hand-stones which are flat in section
and circular, oval or sub-rectangular in form, found like
the querns with which they are associated in all the
Protoneolithic and Neolithic villages of the Fertile
Crescent, a series with a sub-spherical section can be
distinguished which is less numerous but is also found
over the entire territory (2.2.1.3).
On the other hand, one series is distinguished by
a slight central depression obtained by punching on one
of the faces, and sometimes both (2.2.1.2). A certain
concentration of this type is found on the slopes and the
foothills of the Zagros and the eastern Taurus. It appears
in the Zarzian (Zawi Chemi) and persists until the end of
the aceramic period.
Pestles (maps 2 . 2 . 2 . 1 to 2 . 2 . 2 . 4)
Pestles are present from the Natufian onward, but
only on the sites considered to be sedentary. They are
then found over the whole of the Fertile Crescent, with
the exception of the southern desert and the hinterland.
They seem to be common Neolithic objects, belonging to
the Neolithic koine but are limited to the sedentary
villages.
Among the forms which appear characteristic, four
are retained. The cylindrical pestles (2.2.2.1) and the
conical pestles (2.2.2.2) seem to be distributed equally
over the whole of the area studied.
24
On the other hand, the bell-shaped (2.2.2.3) and the
pedunculated (2.2.2.4) pestles appear to be more limited
in their local or regional distribution over the aceramic
chronological sequence; the first are present in the
southern Levant, while the second appear to be limited to
the middle and upper Euphrates.
Shaft straighteners (maps 2 . 2 . 3 . 1 to 2 . 2 . 3 . 3)
The presumed function of these objects, which have
a groove with rounded profile running the length of one
face, was suggested by W. Taute (1968) in relation to
European Late Glacial material. The objects are
considered to have served to “straighten” and polish
arrow shafts.
These objects are already present in the Natufian,
the Harifian and the western Zarzian (Zawi Chemi). In
the Neolithic, they are found throughout the Fertile
Crescent, but seem to decrease in the second phase of the
aceramic Neolithic (PPNB), where they are found mainly
on desert sites (Jilat, Abu Salem); this could reinforce the
hypothesis that their function is related to hunting
activity, and thus that during the PPNB they are specific
to the camps. These objects are part of the common
Neolithic equipment.
Four zones of distribution of unequal significance
can be distinguished. The most widespread form, without
decoration, covers the two branches of the Fertile
Crescent with on one side all the Levant and on the other,
the Taurus and the Zagros (2.2.3.1). One notes that in the
east the grooves are more often perpendicular to the long
axis of the tool (pers. com. C. Chataigner). A third zone,
between the latter two, produces a different category,
which carries engraved or champlevé decoration
(2.2.3.3). These objects seem to be limited to the PPNA
and the early PPNB (Early Period). The distribution
covers the upper and middle Euphrates and the northern
Levant. We can accord a regional value to this zone,
which contrasts with the supra-regional character of the
two neighbouring zones.
In the Late Period, at the infra-regional level, we
can present a category of thick pedestalled pieces which
are found in part of the southern Levant during the PPNB
(2.2.3.2) as well as the pieces found in the desert sites, in
a decorated form, also during the PPNB period (Ain Abu
Nekheileh, 2.2.3.3).
Stone balls (maps 2 . 2 . 4 . 1 to 2 . 2 . 4 . 2)
We place in the same category, according to the
proposition of K. Wright, two series of objects
differentiated by their raw material, method of
fabrication and probably their function.
 ANALYSIS OF THE MATERIAL
The two series belong to the “common equipment”
of Neolithic villages from the PPNA onward. The
non-perforated form occurs in the whole of the Fertile
Crescent during all periods (2.2.4.1) except for the desert
sites.
The perforated pieces present a different
distribution (2.2.4.2): the oldest specimens (10 600-
7500 cal. B.C.) are concentrated in the High Valleys and
in the eastern Jezirah. The same type occurs much later
throughout the Near East, although absent in the
easternmost part of the territory, as well as the desert
zone. The relationship between the two series is far from
definite.
Polished axes/celts (maps 2 . 2 . 5 . 1 to 2 . 2 . 5 . 4)
These objects are a constant element in the
Neolithic village standard koine from the PPNA onward
(absent in the desert sites), except for the eastern
extremity of the Fertile Crescent, where they do not
appear before the Sabz phase, about 5800 cal. B.C.
According to the vegetation map established by van Zeist
and Bottema (1991), this zone would have been devoid of
forests before this period. Based on technology and
typology, four types are distinguished.
The first type, oval in form and with a thick lentil-
shaped section, existed during all the PPNA and the
PPNB in a long narrow zone which extended to the
southern Levant, to the High Valleys and to the Jezirah
(2.2.5.1). It often coexists in the same region with a
triangular type having a flat section (2.2.5.2), which
becomes predominant after the disappearance of the first
type, during the pottery phase. From the PPNA onward,
the triangular axes reached the Jezirah, and then, in the
ceramic period only, the western Zagros and upper
Mesopotamia, where the oval type is not found.
The tanged or pedonculated type is concentrated in
the High Valleys and the northern Jezirah where it is
present from the end of the PPNA (2.2.5.3). This regional
distribution contrasts with the supra-regional distribution
of the two preceding types.
At the end of the sequence, from the late PPNB
onwards, a new type with a rectangular form and section
is dominant (2.2.5.4). It is absent from the southern
Levant and the Zagros, but retains a supra-regional
distribution in the central part of the Fertile Crescent.
Long-distance circulation of polished axes should not be
excluded.
Stone vessels and white ware (maps 3 . 1 . 1 to
4 . 3)
Unlike the preceding series, we have taken into
account all the documentation available. The pottery in
general has in principle been excluded from detailed
25
analysis (cf. infra p. 32 and maps 13.1 to 13.4).
Neverless, certain conclusions on the distribution of the
first pottery types, which have already been published
(Le Mière and Picon 1998, Aurenche, Kozlowski and
Le Mière 2004), will be taken up in the final synthesis
(infra p. 61).
Stone vessels (maps 3 . 1 . 1 to 3 . 2 . 11)
This category of objects, which figures in all the
villages of the Fertile Crescent, is known from the
Natufian onward, and is one of the most precise cultural
markers, at least for the more elaborated types. We find
over time a general tendency towards both a progressive
thinning of the vessel walls and a diversification in the
forms. These transformations go together with the use of
new raw materials. In the early periods, the preference
was for basalt and limestone in the southern Levant, for
chlorite on the middle and upper Euphrates, and for
limestone in the Jezirah and the western Zagros.
At the end of the PPNB, an abundant production in
alabaster or veined “marble” is found in the Jezirah and
northern Mesopotamia. This new raw material facilitated
thinning of the vessel walls and the refinement of
profiles.
From the beginning, certain objects were able to
circulate (for example along the Syrian middle
Euphrates), but the volume of “trade” and the length of
the distances traveled increased considerably from the
end of the PPNB period. Actual centers of production
existed, such as Buqras and Basta (p.c. H.G.K. Gebel).
Three main periods may be distinguished in the
development of stone vessels. The oldest (PPNA-middle
PPNB) is characterized by two large categories having
thick walls: the globular vessels with rounded bases
appeared at the beginning of the period throughout the
Fertile Crescent (3.1.1). From the 8th millennium, this
first category is associated, with the same geographic
distribution except for the High Valleys, with big vessels
having a flat base (3.1.2).
In the same period, but in a territory limited to the
High Valleys and to the Syrian middle Euphrates, there
coexisted with these “ordinary” forms richly decorated
vessels (zigzags, triangles, pendants) of “western” type
(3.1.3). Along the upper Tigris and in the western Zagros
there appeared at the same time (?) another less richly
decorated category (perforations and horizontal engraved
lines below the rim, 3.1.4), which persisted until the
ceramic period.
In the following period (early PPNB and later), the
first two categories, with thick walls, persist. On the other
hand, the decorated western categories do not seem to
have survived except as vestiges. In parallel, we see the
 CHAPTER 1
appearance of vessels with thinner walls, but which retain
the two main forms (3.2.1 to 3.2.2). The distribution of
these “fine” vessels covers the entire Fertile Crescent,
except for the High Valleys where the decorated vessels
of eastern type (3.1.4) remained. The forms begin to
diversify, with the appearance of profiles in “S”. Two
variants exist (high vessels, 3.2.4, and low vessels, 3.2.3)
of which the distribution appears to be limited to the
central part of the Fertile Crescent (excluding the
southern Levant, the High Valleys and probably the
central Zagros). The appearance of feet under these stone
vessels is limited to a narrow band between the El Kowm
oasis and Sawwan, on the Tigris, probably indicating one
of the possible routes of interregional trade (3.2.11).
The third period, associated with the first great
Mesopotamian cultures having pottery, shows a greater
diversification of forms and profiles. Semi-globular
vessels with shouldered rim (3.2.5) and beaked “cups”
(3.2.6) are found between the western Jezirah and the
northern Levant. Cylindrical (3.2.10) and oval (3.2.9)
rims and high (3.2.8) or low (3.2.7) carinated forms
appear in the eastern Jezirah, the western Zagros and
Mesopotamia.
White ware (maps 4 . 1 to 4 . 3)
White ware consists here of mobile recipients in
chalk or gypsum, made according to the technique of
moulding and/or modeling. The same material is also
used in the same region and at the same period for
architecture (coating of floors and walls, fixed
recipients). This invention ended with the advent of
pottery (terra cotta), which rapidly replaced chalk and
gypsum in the fabrication of recipients.
The examples recovered are concentrated in the
western sector of the central part of the Fertile Crescent
(central Levant, southern Jezirah, Mesopotamian plain
cf. Deh Luran). These objects appeared in the late PPNB
and persisted during the ceramic period.
The most widespread type is a globular form (4.1),
present from the central Levant to the foothills of the
Zagros (Ali Kosh). The other types (with foot, flat base
or rectangular form) seem to be more territorially limited.
The first is limited to the central Levant (4.2), the second
(not mapped) also reaches the Euphrates and the southern
Levant, and the third, more rare (4.3), is known only in
the oasis of El Kowm and in central Mesopotamia
(Sawwan).
Ornaments (maps 5 . 1 . 1 to 5 . 3 . 4)
Several categories of beads and stone bracelets as
well as objects interpreted as “buttons” are considered
here.
26
Flat beads (maps 5 . 1 . 1 to 5 . 1 . 7)
These objects appear in the Natufian, are present
throughout the Fertile Crescent and are a constant
element in the village Neolithic. They are sometimes
made in semi-precious or aesthetically valuable stones,
but the lack of petrographic analysis prevents more
definite conclusions concerning their origin. Similar
objects in clay or native copper (Çayönü) have also been
found. The nature of these objects predisposes them to
trade over relatively long distances, which could
influence the value of their cartographic distribution.
Their sections are similar, being flat, more often
lenticular, but sometimes angular.
The two most widespread flat beads, covering
almost all the Fertile Crescent, are circular, oval (5.1.1)
or rhomboidal (5.1.2). They correspond to the PPNB, but
continue during the ceramic period. Their character is
common, at least supra-regional. The same occurs for the
barrel-shaped type (5.1.7).
The sub-rectangular forms (5.1.3), which appears
from the PPNA onward and persist until the PPNB, cover
all the Levant, the middle Euphrates and the High
Valleys, retaining to a lesser extent a supra-regional
character.
Butterfly beads (5.1.5) and triangular forms (5.1.4),
which have a tubular central part in common, are more
limited in distribution but still retain a supra-regional
character. They are found, from the PPNA onward and up
to the ceramic period, in the northern Levant, the Jezirah,
the High Valleys and northern Mesopotamia.
Rectangular flat beads and rarer trapezoidal beads
with two to more perforations (5.1.6) have an even more
limited diffusion. This type is concentrated mostly on the
middle and upper Euphrates in the PPNA and the early
PPNB.
Buttons (maps 5 . 2 . 1 to 5 . 2 . 2)
This name is given to small plaques pierced with
two holes, made in mother-of-pearl, obsidian, bone or
stone. They are generally considered to be ornaments on
clothing, sometimes also as spacers in necklaces. Their
morphology classes them in two groups: oval (5.2.1) and
sub-rectangular/sub-triangular (5.2.2).
These objects are known in the Natufian as well as
the Zarzian. In the Neolithic, they are found over all the
Fertile Crescent, mainly in the villages, without any
apparent distinction as to type.
Stone bracelets or stone rings (maps 5 . 3 . 1 to
5 . 3 . 4)
Stone rings with an inner diameter of more than
4 cm are grouped in this category. They are made from
various types of stone (fine-grained basalt, limestone,
 ANALYSIS OF THE MATERIAL
marble, obsidian). Based on remains or semi-finished
products found at Jarmo and Baaja, we may note the
existence of specialized workshops for the fabrication of
these objects, which do not seem to pre-date the PPNB.
They are found not only as a common element in the
villages of the Fertile Crescent, but also in the desert
encampments (Ein Qadis, Burqu’), which is explained,
besides their attraction as precious objects, by ease of
transport.
Two types are the most widespread, as they are
found, with a few others, along the whole of the Fertile
Crescent; these are bracelets with oval or circular section
(5.3.1), and bracelets with lenticular and rhomboidal
section (5.3.2).
Two other more sophisticated forms have a more
limited distribution; these are objects with triangular
section (5.3.3), specific to the southern Levant. The
second form, more characteristic and more complex,
presents a section with moulding (5.3.4). These are found
from the High Valleys to Deh Luran. This distribution
invites the question of long-distance trade of these
specific objects, which is difficult to answer without
precise study of the origin of the raw materials.
Art (maps 6 . 1 to 6 . 15)
Figurines , statuettes , statues (maps 6 . 1 to 6 . 7)
Almost all the documentation available has been
taken into consideration.
Figurines and statuettes (maps 6 . 1 . 1 to 6 . 4 . 9)
These terms refer to small objects, as distinguished
from statues, which are sculpted (statuettes) or modeled
(figurines), and represent animals or human beings.
These examples of figurative art with religious
connotation (J. Cauvin 1997, 2000)—this is the most
current interpretation—are fashioned in stone or bone
(statuettes), and in mud, chalk or plaster (figurines). The
distinctions used for the materials is conventional, in that
figurines and statuettes sometimes present the same
stylistic traits, such as the systematic flattening of the
back of human representations in the Levant.
These objects are constant elements in the Neolithic
koine (villages and to a lesser degree camps). They are
found throughout the Fertile Crescent, and their variety
enables presentation of regional diversification, perhaps
more so than other artifacts. Their numerical distribution
is strangely unequal, figurines and statuettes being
counted on most sites singly or in dozens at most.
However on two or three sites, according to V. Broman-
Morales (1983, 1990), they number in the hundreds
27
(more than 1770 at Sarab, more than 1000 at Jarmo, more
than 900 at Ganj Dareh). This unexplained concentration
is limited to the mountain sites of the Zagros.
The distribution of animal and human
representations can differ enormously. We find for
example that for the aceramic period in the Zagros,
human representations are predominant at Ali Kosh
(244 “humans” against 28 “animals”) and at Choga Sefid
(108 “humans” against 10 “animals”), whereas at
Ganj Dareh (113 “humans” against 84 “animals”) and at
Jarmo (55 “humans” against 84 “animals”) there is more
of a balance. For the ceramic period, the situation in the
Deh Luran and at Jarmo continues, whereas at Sarab
(in the same zone as Ganj Dareh), the proportion tends to
be reversed (1000 “humans” against 770 “animals”).
We will approach the study of the existing material
with analysis on two levels. The first concerns the
identification of the theme treated: animal representations
classed by species, human representations classed by sex
or by attitude. The second level is concerned with style.
We leave aside those numerous objects which are
not identifiable, as well as those which are isolated and so
do not enter into a series which is statistically exploitable.
Animal representations (maps 6 . 1 . 1 . 1 to 6 . 2 . 2)
The quadrupeds
The first theme treated represents quadrupeds with
raised head and long neck (?) for which species
identification is uncertain (6.1.2). These are found only in
the form of figurines, present throughout the Fertile
Crescent, from the middle PPNB up to the ceramic
period.
The Bovidae (Bos sp.) are the most easily
identifiable, and are always modeled (figurine). The
theme is represented throughout the Fertile Crescent
from the PPNA to the ceramic Neolithic. Two styles of
representation can be distinguished: a more massive form
(6.1.1.1), which we interpret as the aurochs, and a more
elongated form (6.1.1.2) which we consider to represent
domestic cattle (cf. Kozlowski and Lasota 2004). The
aurochs is also represented as a pair of horns alone,
modeled in clay, in the ceramic period, at Sawwan and at
Sotto.
The theme of the wild goat (Capra ibex) is mainly
presented in the form of figurines in the mountainous
parts of the two extremities of the Fertile Crescent from
the PPNB onward (6.1.3). Two attitudes in the carriage of
the head may be distinguished: in most cases (Zagros,
 CHAPTER 1
Taurus, Levant) the head is raised, while in the two sites
of the southern Levant (Ain Ghazal and Beidha) the head
is leaning forward. Is this a true stylistic variant or a local
“accident”?
Definite representations of sheep (not mapped) are
very rare (four cases), in contrast to the massive presence
of this species in the fauna from the beginning of the 8th
millennium cal. B.C. The distribution of these figurines
appears to be haphazard (from Abu Gosh in the southern
Levant to Abdul Hossein in the central Zagros).
An animal with a particularly slender neck,
interpreted as a gazelle (6.1.4), is treated in two
ways, mainly sculpted (5 examples) or modeled
(1 example). It is only found in the southern Jezirah
and in the oasis of El Kowm in the late PPNB and
at the beginning of the ceramic period. The concentration
of these representations in a steppe zone reinforces the
identification of these animals as gazelles.
The Canidae are not known in the form of
stylistically comparable figurines except in the Zagros
and its foothills from the late aceramic period onward
(6.1.5).
The wild boar (Sus scrofa), in the form of a
complete figurine, is identified only in the Zagros from
the PPNB onward with a homogenous style (6.1.6).
Figurines representing only the snout were found at
Nemrik and at Oueili.
The statuettes of felines are rare (6.1.7) and limited
to the northern Levant and Jezirah in the PPNA.
Birds (birds of prey)
Most birds represented are birds of prey (map
6.2.1), mostly large statuettes. The most numerous repre-
sentations are “vultures” or “eagles”. Stylistically, the
head represented alone crowns a cylindrical body. These
objects are often associated with others of the same form,
but with different themes (infra, p. 30). These statuettes
are found throughout the Jezirah and the High Valleys in
the PPNA and early-middle PPNB.
Another smaller series represents “owls” (6.2.2).
They are present in the PPNA and the PPNB in the
western Jezirah.
Human representations (maps 6 . 3 . 1 to 6 . 4 . 9)
Female representations
We have proposed a conventional classification
of the figurines and statuettes into two categories: seated
representations (sitting Ladies), by far the most
numerous, and the standing representations.
In each of these categories, the styles of
representation range from the most “realistic” to the most
28
“schematic”, the borderline between the styles remaining
more or less conventional.
Standing position (maps 6.3.1 to 6.3.3)
“Realistic” representations in a standing position
are rare (6.3.2), and limited to the Levant. They appear in
the PPNA and continue in the PPNB period. The stylistic
treatment seems to be different in the north, where the
volumes are respected, whereas in the south the back part
is flat (6.3.3). This stylistic element is found in other
series.
Seated position (maps 6.4.1 to 6.4.7, 6.4.9)
We may consider as particularly realistic a series of
figurines present in the Zagros and the western Jezirah at
the end of the aceramic period and in the ceramic period.
The exaggeration of the breasts and the hips has led
V. Broman-Morales (1983) to consider them to be
pregnant women (6.4.2).
Other more numerous figurines, which remain
clearly identifiable, are executed in a more rigid manner
(6.4.3). The head and the hands are either absent or
considerably reduced. This type covers the whole of the
Fertile Crescent from 8000 cal. B.C. up to the ceramic
period.
In general, the other more schematic styles of
representation have a wider base in common, and it is
only by comparison of the silhouette with realistic forms
that we may consider them to be seated female figurines,
as usually no sexual trait is identifiable.
The most recognizable is a silhouette in the form of
an L, with some rare examples in stone (6.4.5). The
distribution ranges from the central Levant to the central
Zagros, from the end of the aceramic period up to the
ceramic period.
There are also triangular silhouettes, known from
the southern Levant to the western Zagros from the early
PPNB up to the ceramic period (6.4.4).
The last form, somewhere between a token and a
figurine, is known by the name of stud or stalk (6.4.9).
This attribution is not yet certain. The objects appear
from the PPNA onward and persist up to the ceramic
period in the whole of the Fertile Crescent.
Two specific forms seem to have a very regional
distribution. The first recalls the general form of the studs
or stalks, but with an elongated base, thus the
conventional term T-shaped figurine (6.4.7). The second
has the form of an L, but with one end rolled up (6.4.6).
These two forms are found only in the Zagros and its
foothills in the aceramic period, and continue in the
ceramic period.
 ANALYSIS OF THE MATERIAL
Indeterminate position
Several fragments have the lower part broken,
which renders the position uncertain, but they have the
“flat back” style in common.
These examples are concentrated in the southern
Levant from the PPNA onward, and would appear to
belong to the standing position category.
Male representations
The rare representations which are explicitly
masculine are in standing position. They are known in the
southern Levant in the PPNB as well as at Nevalı Çori.
Human representations of indeterminate sex
Three categories have been distinguished. The first
is characterized by a material (stone) and a schematic
style of representation related to this material, the second
by the position of the arms. The third is of a different
nature, because the human representation is limited to the
head.
The statuettes of the first category are generally
considered to be female representations in standing
position, even if the sexual traits are usually understated.
We propose for this series the name of “culbuto”
statuettes (6.3.1). This series belongs to the PPNA of the
Levant. In the second category we place very schematic
figurines with no apparent sexual characteristics, for
which the only common feature is the spreading position
of the arms (6.4.8). These are found over all the Fertile
Crescent and the Mesopotamian plain from the early
PPNB onward.
In the third category, all the examples of
“miniature” heads are sculpted in stone. They are not
fragments of broken statuettes. In at least one case
(Mureybet), a small cavity represents the occipital hole
(6.6.1). These miniature heads are divided into two
classes: one is represented in volume, others are limited
to treatment of the face (“miniature masks”). These rare
objects cover all the Levant in the PPNA and the PPNB
periods.
Statues (maps 6 . 5 . 1 , 6 . 5 . 2 , and 6 . 7)
By convention, this term designates the human or
animal representations whose size distinguishes them
clearly from figurines or statuettes. In several cases these
representations attain natural or supra-natural size. We
include in this category the sculpted pillars (6.7). Even if
a single example from Nevalı Çori presents an explicitly
anthropomorphic character, the others carry bas-reliefs
with a repertory which is usually animal. These pillars,
present in buildings considered to be “sanctuaries”, are
concentrated in the High Valleys and the northern Jezirah
29
in the early PPNB. Sculpted in the round in the same
material, there are statues representing either human
beings, or animals, or combinations of the two (6.5.1).
They appeared in the late PPNA and in the early PPNB,
apparently associated with constructions equipped with
sculpted pillars. Their distribution exceeds that of the
sculpted pillars. The themes treated, to which we shall
return below, overlap in part those of the figurines and
statuettes.
Another category of statues, modeled in chalk over
a support in plant materials, occurs in the PPNB in the
southern Levant, a zone as limited as the preceding in the
north (6.5.2). The only known representations concern
human beings. In certain cases, the female sexual
characteristics are clearly indicated.
Plastered human skulls and masks (maps 6 . 6 . 2
to 6 . 6 . 3)
The practice which consists of remodeling with
plaster the face of human skulls is related to the technique
of statuary (same material, same style). This custom,
known in the PPNB, is only found in the southern Levant,
with a distribution area somewhat more extensive than
that of chalk statues (6.6.2).
In the same period and in the same region, but in a
more southern zone, we find “masks” sculpted in stone,
representing a human face (6.6.3).
Themes and style (maps 6 . 8 to 6 . 15)
In the category of objects of symbolic value, if we
want to go beyond the traditional classifications by type,
we can propose two other approaches, the one thematic,
which groups representations of the same subject, the
other stylistic, in which different representations are
created with the same technique.
We can also, after examining the distribution of
each category of objects, treat more generally the themes
represented in several different categories of objects. The
overlapping of the two modes of distribution becomes
apparent.
Animal representations (maps 6.8 to 6.11)
In examining all the animal representations, we
observe that often the representation of one species is
limited to one technique. This is the case for the goats,
the “gazelles” and the Canidae which appear only in the
form of figurines or statuettes. However, certain animal
species are represented in several forms, which could
give them supplementary “weight” in the imagination of
the populations where they are concentrated.
The Bovidae (6.8), whose representation as
figurines is widely spread over all the Near East, are
 CHAPTER 1
found in various forms. They are represented either by a
head with a pair of horns seen from the front, or by the
entire animal seen in profile with the head seen from
above. Both are present on the bas-reliefs of the pillars at
Göbekli. At Nemrik, the animal is limited to a hoof
sculpted at the end of a shaft. The natural horns of the
animal were found in habitations: at Mureybet, pairs of
horns were inserted in a clay bench, at Jerf el Ahmar,
several examples were found grouped on the floor of a
construction, where they appear to have been hung on the
walls. This seems also to have been the case at Tell Abr.
This “over-representation” of the Bovidae seems to be
concentrated on the Syrian middle Euphrates and in the
Jezirah.
Felines (6.9) are also found in various forms:
besides statuettes limited to representation of the head,
bas-reliefs were found at Göbekli representing “lions”
seen in profile, and at Tell Abr reclining “panthers” seen
from above engraved on slabs were found. The
distribution of these representations is the same as the
preceding.
Besides the statuettes already mentioned, birds of
prey (6.10) with wings spread are engraved on a
“plaquette” from Jerf el Ahmar. On the same site birds of
prey are sculpted in the form of a stone stele, wings
folded, as well as on the large totem statue of
Nevalı Çori. These representations are limited to the
middle and upper valley of the Euphrates.
The last theme is that of the “snake”, which appears
either in the form of a “zigzag arrow” engraved on little
stone plaques and shaft straighteners, or sculpted in bas-
relief on a pillar at Göbekli or on the human head of a
statue found at Nevalı Çori (6.11). The same theme is
treated in a more “realistic” manner on a statuette from
Nemrik. The significance of little bone plaques with
festooned edges (8.2), which are found from the Levant
to the Zagros, is unclear; they could be (M. Rosenberg)
very stylized representations of snakes. If we include
these latter objects in the series, the theme of the snake
becomes quite widespread. If not, this theme occupies the
same zone as the three preceding themes.
Human representations (maps 6.12 to 6.14)
Concerning human representations, the figurines
and statuettes are widespread, but the statues are
concentrated in only two zones: the High Valleys of the
Tigris and the Euphrates, and the southern Levant. The
standing position is limited to the Levant, as much for the
statuettes (6.13) as for the statues, while the seated
position is more universal (6.14).
30
We also find, as for certain animals, the favoured
treatment of the human head in several forms (6.12):
plastered human skulls, stone masks, statuettes
representing heads only, isolated unplastered skulls.
Except for the last category, also present in the central
part of the Fertile Crescent (Jezirah, High Valleys) but
not mapped, the other modes of representation are limited
to the Levant.
Style (map 6 . 15)
A last category of objects presents several common
characteristics covering several themes which have
already been mentioned. This category consists of
statuettes of cylindrical form with a head which is either
animal or human. The animals represented are birds of
prey (Nemrik, Jerf el Ahmar), felines (Nemrik, Jerf el
Ahmar, Nevalı Çori), gazelles (Abu Hureyra), Bovidae
(at Nemrik the head is replaced by a hoof), snakes and
unidentified mammals (?) (“goats” of Hallan Çemi). We
can place the bâtons polis (J. Cauvin) found on the
middle Euphrates close to this series.
Tokens (maps 7 . 1 to 7 . 11)
Brought together under this heading is a series of
little objects of geometric form, modeled for the most
part in mud, sometimes in chalk, plaster or bitumen, or
sculpted in stone, ochre, obsidian or from fossils. D.
Schmandt-Besserat (1992) has assembled and classified
all the available documentation according to a typology
which we will adopt here in a general way. The author
proposes that these objects had a function in counting,
which is quite probable for the historical periods.
In prehistoric periods these objects are found on
habitation floors and in tombs. At Es-Siffiya, in southern
Jordan, a chance discovery revealed a kiln filled with
objects of this type (Mahasneh and Bienert 2000). These
objects are found from the PPNA onward, sometimes in
large series, in all the villages of the Fertile Crescent and
the surrounding zones.
The most widespread forms are discs (7.1),
cones (7.2), balls or marbles (7.3), “nails” (7.4) and
cylinders (7.5). D. Schmandt-Besserat inventoried more
than 6000 objects. The first four types cover the whole of
the Fertile Crescent, with discs predominating in the
eastern Jezirah and balls in the Zagros and its foothills.
More specific forms have a more limited distri-
bution: slender spools (7.6), known from the PPNB
onward, are found everywhere except the central and the
southern Levant. Cylinders with enlarged bases and
sometimes conical tips (7.7) are limited from the late ace-
ramic period onward to a vast zone east of Balikh, except
for the mountains.
 ANALYSIS OF THE MATERIAL
From the PPNA onward, tetrahedral forms (7.8) are
specific to the Zagros and its foothills, whereas thin
spools, sometimes called labrets (7.9), cover the same
territory from the PPNB. A particular form of this last
category, called T-shaped labrets (7.10), seem to be
specific to the central Zagros and its foothills. The
mushroom-shaped tokens (7.11) are limited to the central
part of the Fertile Crescent. The stalks/studs we consider
to be figurines (6.4.9).
Bone industry (maps 8 . 1 . 1 to 8 . 5)
We have retained only a small number of objects
considered to be characteristic.
Bone needles (maps 8 . 1 . 1 and 8 . 1 . 2)
In this category of objects present from the PPNA
onward in all the villages of the Fertile Crescent, the
discriminating element concerns the process for piercing
the eye of the needle.
The most common process is rotation, which
produces a perfectly circular hole. It is known throughout
the territory in all the periods considered (8.1.1). In
almost all cases, the proximal part is rounded, except at
Ali Kosh where it is sectioned transversely.
The second technique employed (designated by
J. Cauvin as “Mureybet type”) consists of a longitudinal
grooving which precedes the piercing, producing a
smaller hole. The proximal part is somewhat pointed
(8.1.2). The distribution area of this type is more limited.
Other bone objects (maps 8 . 3-8 . 5)
The hooks with hole (8.3) are present in the
northern Levant mostly in the Late Period. The small
bi-pointed plaques with central hole (8.4) characterize
the central part, mostly in the Early Period, while the
rectangular perforated plaques (8.5) are known from the
central part and the Eastern Wing of the Fertile Crescent
in both periods.
Miscellaneous (maps 9 . 1 to 11 . 5)
Classed in this category are objects such as “seals”,
spindle whorls, “sling-balls” and engraved pebbles.
Seals (maps 9 . 1 to 10 . 2)
Traditionally considered to be “seals” are objects
made from fossil shells, soft stone or terra cotta on which
one face carries deeply incised motifs, which could
produce an imprint in a malleable material. There is no
doubt concerning those objects for which the form
obviously provides a grip, or for which imprints have
been found (Buqras, Kowm 2, Sabi Abyad II). By
convention, we propose placing in the same category
31
objects which have no way of being gripped, called
“engraved or incised plaques” (D. Stordeur), “calendar”
(A. Garrard, K. Wright), and “seals” (N. Merpert and
R. Munchaev).
These objects do not cover, in any period, all of the
Fertile Crescent. They are notably absent in its Eastern
Wing. The engraved and incised plaques take two forms.
The oval plaques (10.1) are present, in the PPNA and
PPNB, from the southern Levant to the western Jezirah.
The rectangular specimens (10.2) are spread over a much
larger area, from the southern Levant to the eastern
Jezirah, with a strong concentration in the northern
Levant and the Jezirah. Present from the PPNA, they
continue up to the ceramic period. The geometric designs
(criss-cross, straight or undulating parallel lines, zigzag)
are found all over the zone. However the zoomorphic
motifs are concentrated in the northern Levant and on the
middle Euphrates.
True seals appear in the late aceramic period and
begin a long tradition which continues into the historical
periods. The motifs of the imprint are exclusively
geometric (spirals, criss-cross, chevrons).
The objects themselves are either pyramidal with a
rectangular incised face, cylindrical or conical (9.1), with
a circular incised face. A clear correlation is observable
between the conical or cylindrical seals and the motifs of
spirals or concentric circles. The conical forms, which
seem to be a little earlier, are widespread from the
southern Levant to the central Zagros. The pyramidal
forms, generally pierced with a hole for suspension, more
numerous after the end of the PPNB (pre-Halaf), are
present from the late PPNB onward from the northern
Levant to upper Mesopotamia (9.2).
Flat engraved pebbles (maps 11 . 1 and 11 . 2)
These objects, small (2-3 cm long), flat and oval,
carry incised or engraved lines on one of their two faces.
Present from the Protoneolithic but also during all the
Neolithic, they seem to be more numerous in the Levant.
The examples which carry only one line (cf. above shaft
straighteners, 2.2.3.1) are concentrated mainly in the
southern Levant, but also present in the east (11.1),
while those which present several lines (parallel or
perpendicular) are more numerous in the northern and
central Levant (11.2).
Other objects (maps 11 . 3-11 . 5)
The perforated discs (11.3) cover the whole Fertile
Crescent, except the High Valleys. The spindle whorls
(11.4) and the sling balls (11.5) present the same
distribution, covering the central part and the Eastern
Wing of the Fertile Crescent only in the Late Period.
 CHAPTER 1
Architecture (maps 12 . 1 to 12 . 10)
Although not treated exhaustively as are some of
the above elements, certain features which are either
morphological (forms of habitation) or functional
(houses vs. sanctuaries) support conclusions reached
from observation of the objects analyzed above
(maps 1 to 11).
In the context of dwellings dug and build on a
circular plan, a general phenomenon which was present
over the whole of the Fertile Crescent from 12 000 to
8000 cal. B.C. but which does not continue after this date
except in the hinterland (southern and eastern desert), we
shall retain here only certain specific characteristics.
The break between the southern Levant and the
central part of the Fertile Crescent, established below in
chapter 2, is attested by several morphological details. On
three sites in the Jordan valley, there are oval houses with
a narrowed extremity, which would seem to correspond
to the entrance (12.1), judging by the example at Jericho.
In the southern Levant and on a larger scale, stones with
cup-shaped depressions in two forms, either dug directly
out of the rock, or in a block of stone (12.2), are usually
present in or near the dwelling; this is a feature directly
inherited from the Natufian. The number of cup-shaped
depressions varies from one to several.
In the central part of the Fertile Crescent, except for
the High Valleys, we find from the middle Euphrates to
the eastern Jezirah a mode of construction and an internal
organization specific to this zone. These are the use of
pillars constructed in stone and mud, sometimes
lengthened by wooden posts for support of the roof, and
the presence of constructed benches, usually positioned
along the wall (12.3). Whereas in the Euphrates valley
these features are found only in buildings for communal
use, in the eastern Jezirah they are present in
“ordinary” constructions.
The geographic distribution of “community
buildings” (Stordeur et al. 2000), is somewhat different
as they are found mostly on the Syrian middle Euphrates
and in the High Valleys (12.4). These buildings are
distinguished from the “ordinary” dwellings by their
uniqueness, and particularly by their internal
organization (benches, pillars), their position in a given
village (Jerf el Ahmar, Çayönü, the tower of Jericho) and
sometimes by their content (statues). These communal
buildings exist in a context of circular as well as
rectangular constructions. The presence of a building of
this type at Beidha, at an later period, needs confirmation.
The northern Levant and the High Valleys are also
distinguished by an early transition from the circular to
the rectangular plan (12.5). The concentration of sites
where this early transition is stratigraphically in evidence
32
contrasts with the surrounding zones where this transition
also occurs, but much later. The residual presence of
circular constructions after 8000 cal. B.C. clearly
characterizes the semi-desert zones, at the periphery of
the village regions (12.6). These sites may be considered
to be seasonal encampments probably associated with
sedentary villages which have adopted the rectangular
plan.
We can isolate technically and geographically two
types of basement associated with the beginnings of the
rectangular habitation: these are either a network of close
parallel walls known as a grill (12.7), well represented in
the central part of the Fertile Crescent, or an assemblage
of little cells. These cells, too small to be inhabited, could
have been used for storage (12.8). The cell type covered
at the beginning the same zone as the grill, with the
exception of the Zagros, but was also present in the
southern Levant (Beidha). Grill-plan and Cell-plan are
not true house plans, but the plans of basements
constructed to support the living floor organized above
into three spaces (Çayönü, Beidha).
This tripartite division of dwelling space is also
encountered in a wider geographical range (12.9),
without necessarily being associated with these two types
of basement described above (Jericho, Ain Ghazal). The
tripartite plan characterizes the Western Wing of the
Fertile Crescent and the Jezirah.
The presence in certain villages of surrounding
walls or enclosures of which the function is as much
underpinning as defense does not seem to take on any
particular significance (12.10). Only rarely do the
surfaces excavated allow the discovery of such
installations.
Early pottery (maps 13 . 1 to 13 . 4)
It is true pottery (terra cotta), which appeared at
about 7000 cal. B.C., that is under consideration here.
Unlike the artefacts above, we will not detail the
particular types here. We refer to the results of recent
work (Le Mière and Picon 1998, Gopher and
Gophna 1993, Aurenche, Kozlowski, Le Mière 2004)
which has grouped all types into four large families.
This pottery, related to the zones occupied by
sedentary peoples, is found throughout the Fertile
Crescent, with a chronological time-lag for the southern
Levant where it appeared a few hundred years later.
The common characteristics of this first pottery are
organic inclusions and often, painted decoration.
However, this decoration varies, as do the forms of the
pots themselves. There are also series without organic
inclusions and decoration which is not painted.
 Zagros group N

Proto-Hassuna

Pre-Halaf
Van Caspian
Yarmoukian/Lodian
Samara Lake
Sea

Urm
ia L
Mersin
Dolmuz Akarçay Khaneke

ake
Seker
Dja'de Kosak Khazna Ginnig
Judaidah Hajji Firuz
Sabi Abyad Yarim
Halula Kashkashok
Thalathat
Aray Mounbateh Kül
Sotto
Ras Shamra Kerkh Hassuna
Abu Hureyra
Umm Dabaghiah
Jarmo
Tabbat al Sinn
Hammam Buqras

Labweh

33
Mediterranean Byblos Sarab

Sea Tamerkhan Guran

Ramad
Beisamun
Sha'ar ha-Golan
Munhata Ain Rahub
Thawwab Choga Sefid
Tula'i
Nizzanim Jericho Ain Ghazal
Ali Kosh
Tuleilat el-Ghassul
Wadi Shueib
Drha

Pottery groups
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001
 CHAPTER 1
The Zagros group (13.1) displays covering motifs
disposed in diagonals, and geometric motifs. The forms
are often concave and keeled, without a neck or any kind
of handle (occasionally lugs), with convex or flat bases.
The distribution area extends from Jarmo in the north to
Choga Mish in the south. There are two facies, one more
representative of the “mountain” zone (Jarmo facies), the
other present in the foothills (Mohammed Jaffar facies in
the Deh Luran). This distribution area coincides with the
zone occupied by the Mlefatian and post-Mlefatian lithic
industries (infra p. 78).
The Proto-Hassuna group (13.2) is characterized
by very simple non-covering geometric decoration, as
well as by applied decoration. The forms present specific
keels (double ogee) without any kind of handle, and
necks are rare. This pottery is found in the eastern
Jezirah, on the Iranian plateau and in the valley of the
Khabur, a zone which coincides exactly with the
distribution area of the Nemrikian and post-Nemrikian
industries (Jezirian).
The pre-Halaf group (13.3) is distinguished by
decoration which is mainly imprinted, rarely painted
(horizontal bands), convex forms, the presence of necks
and means of grasping (lugs). It covers a zone which
extends from the Mediterranean coast to the Euphrates
with two facies: a western facies, from the Mediterranean
to the Euphrates, dominated by a dark pottery without
organic inclusions which is often polished, and an eastern
facies, from the Euphrates to the Balikh, where a light-
coloured pottery with organic inclusions is dominant. In
our present state of knowledge, the pre-Halaf extends to
Ramad in the south and Mersin in the north-west but does
not penetrate the High Valleys. The first pottery found in
this zone (Çayönü) presents affinities with the pre-Halaf
group but appears to belong to a Caucasian tradition
(pers. com. M. Le Mière). The pre-Halaf group thus
occupies the territory of the cultures present in the
northern Levant (Mureybetian then Euphratian,
Aswadian, infra p. 76), while the last pottery group, the
Yarmukian, covers the southern Levant (Sultanian then
Tahunian, infra p. 73).
The Yarmukian/Lodian group (13.4) is
characterized by incised decoration (fish bones) disposed
in oblique bands, or less often by applied motifs, as well
as by a red slip. The forms are open (bowls with flat
bases), or closed (jars with or without neck and handles).
Final Observations
The study of the distribution maps for the different
categories of objects (above) has led to the following
observations.
34
The first observation, unsurprisingly, is that there is
great variety in the scale of distribution, and in the
location of the artifacts studied. One category of object
may be found throughout the Fertile Crescent (most of
the tokens, maps 7.1-7.5), another may be limited to a
much smaller zone (the pedestalled shaft-straighteners,
map 2.2.3.2). Between this two extremes there are several
intermediate situations which enable the establishment of
a hierarchy of four levels (infra p. 47).
The largest distribution corresponds to that which
we have proposed calling the Neolithic koine or
“common language”, those elements which are standard
in the village material culture of the Neolithic of the
Fertile Crescent (Aurenche and Kozlowski 1999). At the
level of this koine, we find, for example, the oval flat
beads (map 5.1.1), the stone balls (maps 2.2.4.1 and
2.2.4.2), some stone vessels (map 3.1.1), some mortars
(maps 2.1.2.2 and 2.1.3.1) and the spheroidal hand-
stones (map 2.2.1.3), etc.
The second level offer a supra-regional distribution
area (more than five hundred km along the axis of the
Fertile Crescent), but with some gaps. For example, this
is true for microliths from the Eastern Wing of the Fertile
Crescent (maps 1.2.2-1.2.5), certain tanged arrowheads
from the Western Wing (maps 1.1.9-1.1.11), and for
certain types of polished axes (maps 2.2.5.1-2.2.5.2),
beads (maps 5.1.4 and 5.1.5) and seals (map 9.2).
The third level corresponds to the regional scale
over an area of more or less five hundred km. It is
illustrated by the distribution of types of arrowheads
(maps 1.1.12-1.1.13). Added to these are categories of
stone vessels (map 3.1.3), shaft straighteners
(map 2.2.3.3) and the first pottery (map 13).
The fourth level, local or infra-regional, is more
difficult to distinguish and extends to about 100-150 km.
It would concern, for example, a type of pedestalled shaft
straightener (map 2.2.3.2) or specific arrowhead forms
(maps 1.1.1 to 1.1.3), as we have seen.
If the chronological dimension is introduced, we
also observe a disparity. Certain elements are present
during the whole of the period under consideration. This
is true for the querns, the hand-stones,—but not at all for
certain types of mortars or pestles—,for some types of
triangular or oval polished axes,—but not for axes with
a rectangular section—,for microliths and Nemrik points,
—but not for Levantine arrowheads —,and for
thin-walled stone vessels etc. Among other types of
objects having rather short duration we can cite the
querns-mortars, characteristic of the early period, the
“return” of geometric microliths and the appearance of
pottery (both around 7000 cal. B.C.).
 ANALYSIS OF THE MATERIAL

Last but not least, the distribution of these first distribution, to which is added their relatively long
pottery groups, seems, at first glance, to match very well duration, we will be able to distinguish several
with that of many other preceramic regional “territories” separated by “borders” or boundaries and
concentrations of artifacts of different nature, but mainly occupied by clearly differentiated cultures (chapter 3).
the lithic industry.
If we now combine, as we do in chapter 2, the
results of observation from these different modes of

35
 CHAPTER 2
TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES
TOWARDS A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SPATIAL ORGANIZATION
In this chapter we will attempt to reconstruct the
general organization of space within the Fertile Crescent
using the basic maps presented above, and to demonstrate
the existence of spatial entities which are homogenous
and well-identified. For this we have first superimposed
those basic maps which present distributions of two or
more elements of the material culture which are similar
or identical, without taking into account, in this
preliminary operation, the chronological division
between Early and Late Periods. Each of these
synthesizing maps is ccompanied by one or several tables
which present the particulars of the elements shown.
Main divisions
The entire Fertile Crescent or the
Neolithic koine (map 0.4 and tables 0.4.1 and 0.4.2).
The list of the chosen artifacts comprises light stone
industry, simple ornaments, figurines and tokens, with,
however, the notable exception of the chipped stone
industry, which is the main fossile-directeur of any
prehistoric culture. These artefacts are the components of
the Neolithic koine which after 8000 cal. B.C. occurs
over the whole of the Fertile Crescent. According to the
This superimposition causes the appearance, in
schematic form, of repeated modes of distribution with
stable boundaries. Thus “full” or “occupied” zones are
progressively revealed by these combinations of
elements, while “empty” zones, presenting none of these
elements, are revealed in the same way. The
repetitiveness of the occurrence proves the existence of
veritable territorial divisions with boundaries and at the
same time confirms the spatial hierarchy which has
already been outlined in the preceding chapter.
The different combinations of elements used are
presented below in the form of both tables and maps
(0.4, 0.23) accompanied by a brief commentary.
basic maps, most of these artefacts are “numerous” or
“well attested” everywhere, but belong to the Late Period
(♦). In our present state of knowledge, especially for the
eastern part, it is not possible to present, for the Early
Period, significant elements which characterize all of the
Fertile Crescent.
Within the Fertile Crescent three large territorial
divisions can be determined, the Western Wing, the
Eastern Wing and the High Valleys.
 CHAPTER 2

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van
Late period Lake Caspian
present Sea
well attested

Urm
ia L
numerous

ake
Mediterranean
Sea

0.4 The whole Fertile Crescent

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

2.1.3.1 Vessel-like mortars

2.2.2.1 Cylindrical pestles 2.1.2.2 Circular quern-mortars
2.2.3.1 Flat undecorated "shaft straighteners" (rare on the middle Euphrates) 2.2.1.2 Hand-stones with central depression
2.2.4.1 Stone balls ("bolas") 2.2.2.2 Conical pestles
2.2.4.2 Perforated stone balls ("mace-heads") (older in the North) 5.1.2 Flat rhomboidal beads
3.1.1 Thick-walled globular stone vessels 5.3.2 Bracelets with lenticular and
5.1.1 Flat oval beads rhomboidal section
5.2.1 Oval bi-perforated "buttons"
5.2.2 Sub-rectangular bi-perforated "pendants" Table 0.4.2 (not mapped)—The entire (?)
5.3.1 Bracelets with round or oval section (no data on the middle Euphrates) Fertile Crescent (no available data on
6.1.1.1 Figurines : aurochs (no data on the extreme southern Levant)
central Zagros).
6.1.1.2 Figurines : domestic cattles (no data on the extreme southern Levant)
6.1.2 Figurines : unspecified mammals with raised head (no data on the
extreme southern Levant)
6.1.3 Figurines : wild goats
6.4.3 Figurines : semi-realistic "sitting ladies"
6.4.8 Figurines : double-winged standing human representations (no data
on the extreme southern Levant)
6.4.9 Statuettes and figurines : human representations in form of studs
or stalks (no data on the extreme southern Levant)
7.1 Tokens : discs
7.2 Tokens : cones
7.3 Tokens : balls
7.4 Tokens : "nails"
7.5 Tokens : cylinders (no data on the extreme southern Levant)
8.1.1 Common bone needles
11.1 Single engraved flat pebbles
11.3 Perforated discs

Table 0.4.1—The entire Fertile Crescent.

38
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS

The Western Wing (map 0.5, tables 0.5.1, 0.5.2). Elements such as the old tanged points are missing in the
The “true” Western Wing is characterized mainly by High Valleys. Other elements “spill over” into the east
lithic industry, some ornaments and some pieces of art. and up to the western Zagros (table 0.5.3).

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van
Late period Lake Caspian
present Sea
well attested

Urm
ia L
numerous

ake
Mediterranean
Sea

0.5 The Western Wing of the Fertile Crescent

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

1.1.8 Jordan points

1.1.9 Aswad points
1.1.13 Sheikh Hassan points (no data on the
1.1.10 Byblos points before 7500 cal. BC. extreme southern Levant)
1.1.11 Jerf el Ahmar points 1.3.1.1 Hagdud truncations (no data on the
1.1.12 Neval Çori points (no data on the extreme southern Levant)
extreme Southern Levant) 6.3.1 Statuettes : standing human representations
(no data on the extreme southern Levant)
1.1.14 Mureybet points
6.6.1 Small stone human heads
5.1.6 Flat multi-hole beads
10.1 Small decorated oval plaques
6.3.2 Statuettes and figurines : standing "realistic" (no data on the extreme southern Levant)
female representations (no data on the Table 0.5.2 (not mapped)—The Western Wing of
extreme Southern Levant) the Fertile Crescent excluding the High Valley.
8.3 Hooks with hole (no data on the extreme
1.1.4 Small el Khiam points
Southern Levant) 1.1.5 Big el Khiam points
1.1.15 Güzir points
Table 0.5.1—The Western Wing. 1.2.1 "Old" crescents
1.3.1.2 Gilgal truncations
2.1.1 Assymetrical querns (present also
in the High Valleys)
10.2 Small decorated rectangular plaques
(present also in the High Valleys)

Table 0.5.3 (not mapped)—The Western Wing and

the central part of the Fertile Crescent mostly
excluding the High Valleys.

39
 CHAPTER 2

The Eastern Wing (map 0.6, table 0.6.1-0.6.3). spread to the Mediterranean coast as well as to the middle
The specificity of the Eastern Wing east of the Khabur and upper Euphrates and to the El Kowm oasis
for both periods is well established. To be noted in the (tables 0.6.2-0.6.3)
Late Period is the presence of (a few) elements which

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van
Late period Lake Caspian
present Sea
well attested

Urm
ia L
numerous

ake
Mediterranean
Sea

0.6 The Eastern Wing of the Fertile Crescent

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

1.2.2 Nibbled bladelets

1.2.3 Trapezoids
1.2.4 "Late" crescents
1.2.6 Backs+truncations
1.2.5 Backed bladelets and points
1.2.7 Back+retouched bases
1.3.5 Conical and "bullet" cores (single pieces
west of this region) 1.2.8 Retouched bases
5.3.4 Bracelets with convex and profiled section 6.1.6 Figurines : boars

6.4.2 Figurines : realistic "sitting ladies"

Table 0.6.2 (not mapped)—The eastern Jezirah
and the Eastern Wing of the Fertile Crescent.
Table 0.6.1—The Eastern Wing.

8.5 Small rectangular perforated bone plaques

Table 0.6.3 (not mapped)—The entire Eastern Wing

of the Fertile Crescent only.

40
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS

The High Valleys (map 0.7, tables 0.7.1-0.7.3). another scale. To be noted also is the absence of many
The specificity of this region lies in the presence of lithic elements present in the neighbouring regions to the south
elements which are found mainly in the Caucasus and on (tables 0.9-0.10).
the Caspian, which forces the map to be presented on

No absolute dates available

Black Sea
Early Period

Late Period

Caspian Sea

Mediterranean
Sea

Cartographies MOM 2001

0.7 The High Valleys (also Caucasus and Caspian Shore)
Gulf
0 100 200 km

2.1.2.1 Oval quern-mortars

2.2.1.3 Spheroid hand-stone
3.2.1 Thin-walled globular stone vessels
1.2.10 "Big" arched backed points 3.2.2 Thin-walled flat-based stone vessels
1.2.11 "Big" scalene triangles (also Caucasus Table 0.7.2 (not mapped)—The Fertile Crescent
and Caspian shore) excluding the High Valleys.
1.2.12 "Big" assymetrical trapezoids (also
Caucasus and Caspian shore)
2.2.5.3 Pedunculated polished stone axes/celts
3.2.4 Thin-walled high stone vessels with
Table 0.7.1—The High Valleys. S-shaped profile
3.2.6 Thin-walled semi globular stone vessels
with beak
5.1.4 Flat triangular beads
6.1.4 Figurines and statuettes : "charming gazelles"
9.2 Seals with handle
11.5 Biconical "sling-balls"

Table 0.7.3 (not mapped)—The Northern Levant,

the Jezirah and Upper Mesopotamia.

41
 CHAPTER 2

Internal divisions
The Western Wing is clearly divided into the maps 0.10, table 0.10.1) can be distinguished from the
northern Levant (map 0.8, table 0.8.1) and the alluvial zone (the Mesopotamian plain, map 0.11,
southern Levant (map 0.9, table 0.9.1), while in the table 0.11.1).
Eastern Wing the mountain zone (the Zagros,

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van
Late period Lake Caspian
present Sea
well attested

Urm
ia L
numerous

ake
Mediterranean
Sea

0.8 The Northern Levant

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

1.1.16 Qaramel points

1.3.3.2 "Herminettes"
2.2.2.4 "Pedunculated" pestles (isolated elements
in the southern Levant)
2.2.3.3 Decorated "shaft straighteners" (only for
Early Period)
3.1.3 Thick walled decorated stone vessels with sophisticated motifs
(isolated elements in the southern Levant : convergence?)
6.5.1 Stone statues

Table 0.8.1—Western Wing - Northern Levant.

42
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS

Based on light stone objects, art, ornaments, “southern Levant”. The so called “central Levant gap”
ceramic and architecture, as well as the lithic industry, a begins to be filled (Kerkh, Dja’de, Horvat Galil) by the
very good distinction can be established, mainly for the earliest Aswad points.
Early Period, between the “northern Levant” and the

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van
Late period Lake Caspian
present Sea
well attested

Urm
ia L
numerous

ake
Mediterranean
Sea

0.9 The Southern Levant

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

1.1.6 Abu Salem points

1.1.7 Jericho points (a few piece in the Jezirah : convergence?)
1.3.2.2 Yarmukian sickle inserts
1.3.3.1 "Tahunian axes"
1.3.4.1 Beit Taamir knives (attested also in El Kowm)
2.1.3.3 Deep-mortars on stand (attested also in the HighValleys :
convergence?)
2.2.2.3 Bell-shaped pestles (attested also in the Zagros :
convergence?)
5.3.3 Bracelets with triangular or sub-triangular section
(present also in the High Valleys)
6.5.2 Plaster statues
12.1 Round or oval houses with "pinched" entry
12.2 Association of round houses and cup-holes

Table 0.9.1—Western Wing - Southern Levant.

43
 CHAPTER 2

Based mostly on the lithic industry, figurines, less) for the Early Period, the chosen artefacts appear to
tokens and labrets for the Late Period as well as (although be clearly specific to the Eastern Wing.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van
Late period Lake Caspian
present Sea
well attested

Urm
ia L
numerous

ake
Mediterranean
Sea

0.10 The Zagros Mountains and their Piedmont

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

1.2.9 Isoceles triangles

6.1.5 Figurines : Canidae
6.4.6 Figurines : snail-shaped "sitting ladies"
(probable convergence in the West) 2.2.5.2 Triangular bifacial polished stone
axes/celts
6.4.7 Figurines : T-shaped "sitting ladies"
5.1.3 Flat sub-rectangular beads
(probable convergence in the West)
6.4.4 Figurines : "sitting ladies" in form
7.8 Tokens : tetrahedrons of tetrahedron
(probable convergence in the West) 9.1 Conical "seals"
7.9 Low spool shaped "labrets" 11.2 Multi-engraved flat pebbles

Table 0.10.1—Eastern Wing - The Zagros Table 0.10.2 (not mapped)—The Western
mountains and their piedmont. Zagros specificity.

44
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS

The penetration into this region of elements coming of knowledge, the presence of original pottery
from the west is limited to the western Zagros (maps 13.1 to 13.4) supports the hypothesis of a
(table 0.12.1). Even if the Mesopotamian specificity rests territorial separation (cf. infra p. 79).
only on a single category of elements, in our present state

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van
Late period Lake Caspian
present Sea
well attested

Urm
ia L
numerous

ake
Mediterranean
Sea

0.11 The Mesopotamian plain

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

7.7 Tokens : cones with enlarged base

Table 0.11.1—Eastern Wing - The Mesopotamian plain.

45
 CHAPTER 2

The Golden Triangle (map 0.12, tables 0.12.1-
0.12.2). At the junction of the three main territorial
divisions presented above (Western Wing, Eastern Wing,
High Valleys), a “border” region can be revealed which
is defined not only by several elements of lithic industry,
but especially by art and architecture (Aurenche and
Kozlowski 2001). When the whole of this area is
mapped, a zone in the rough shape of a triangle may be
discerned. This zone includes the High Valleys, the
Syrian middle Euphrates and the Jezirah, and justifies the
Early periods
present
well attested
numerous
Late periods
present
well attested
name of Golden Triangle, as we will see infra, by the fact
that it is here exactly that the process of Neolithisation
began. At the end of the Early Period these elements were
concentrated between the middle Euphrates and the
Greater Zab, and in the Late Period extended to the west
as far as the valley of the Orontes and in the east to the
basin of the Lesser Zab. This expansion was due to the
large-scale development of the circulation of highly
valued objects and materials (stone vessels, beads,
obsidian).
N
Van
Lake Caspian
Sea

Urm
ia L
numerous

ake
Golden Triangle (ancient period)

Golden Triangle (recent period)

Mediterranean
Sea

0.12 The central part of the Fertile Crescent ( The Golden Triangle)
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

1.1.17 Nemrik points

1.1.18 Demirköy points
1.3.2.1 Triangular sickle inserts
3.2.7 Thin-walled carinated low stone vessels
1.3.4.2 "Çayönü tools"
1.2.11 Thin-walled carinated high stone vessels
5.1.5 "Butterfly" beads 1.2.12 Thin-walled stone vessels with oval mouth
5.1.7 Barrel shaped beads 2.2.5.3 Thin-walled cylindrical stone vessels
6.1.7 Statuettes : felines
6.2.1 Statuettes : birds of prey Table 0.12.2—The Extended “Golden Triangle”.
6.9 Thema : feline representations
6.10 Thema : birds of prey representations
6.11 Thema : snakes representations
6.15 Style : head on stem
7.11 Mushroom-shaped tokens
8.2 "Festooned" small bone plaques
12.3 Round houses with central stone or mud pillars
and lateral benches
12.4 Community buildings
12.5 Settlements with stratigrphically attested passage from
circular to rectangular plan before 80000 cal. BC. Table 0.12.1—The “Golden Triangle”.

46
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS
Concluding remarks
This preliminary attempt at spatial grouping has
enabled the definition of several homogenous ensembles
which possess common characteristics: in general each
one brings together a significant number of different
elements representing various categories of artifacts, and
thus insures a large enough base for the definition of a
culture. In addition, the statistical weight of several of
these (• or •, ♦ or ♦) is strong enough to “attenuate” the
inevitable effects of convergence, or even of the possible
occasional contacts, although in most cases the distances
appear to be great, or of a wrong identification in a
publication of the object in question...
Three categories of territorial entities may be
distinguished.
The first level concerns the whole of the Fertile
Crescent. Obviously this is the least pertinent from the
cultural point of view, unless compared to the
neighbouring “rest of the world” (Asia, Europe, Africa),
which is not the goal of the present work. On the supra-
regional level, three entities are clearly apparent: an
ensemble covering the western branch of the Crescent
(western Wing), another covering the eastern branch
47
(eastern Wing), and a third, more tenuous, corresponding
to the northern fringe of the central part of the Crescent
(High Valleys), but which in fact constitutes the extreme
southern border of the Caucasian and Caspian “world”.
The two main supra-regional entities (western and
eastern wings) are themselves subdivided into regional
sub-groups. In the west the southern Levant is
distinguished from the northern Levant. In the east,
physical geography plays a greater role, but we have
already the confirmation of two distinct regional entities:
the Zagros, and more uncertain because of lack of
information, the Mesopotamian plain.
There remains the central part of the Fertile
Crescent, at the junction of the three supra-regional
entities. In the Early Period and especially at the end of
this period, a certain number of specific features with
strong cultural connotations are observable, as not only
are lithic industry and decorated objects present but also
a common set of symbolic themes as well as complex
ensembles such as architectural types. We propose the
term Golden Triangle for this zone (Aurenche and
Kozlowski 1999, 2001) and will discuss infra its
particular role.
 CHAPTER 2
Borders
Already discernible on the preceding maps, the
borders are better demonstrated by superimposition
on the same map of types considered after the first
operation on the territorial entities as markers in regard to
spatial distribution. A second element is added,
the chronological dimension, which leads to the
realization of two different series, the first for the
Early Period, the second for the Late Period. As
previously, the borders are presented both in the tables
and on the maps (series 0.13-0.23). The emphasis here is
placed not on contrast between “full” zones and “empty”
zones, but on two or more “full” zones, each containing a
series of differentiated elements presenting the same
distribution. On the basic maps an additional distinction
can be introduced; it is not enough to contrast
the discriminating elements two by two (° versus •
or ◊ versus ♦). Besides that, the statistical weight of
elements belonging to a territory but present on “the other
side” of the border is taken into account, and noted with
distinctive signs (cf. legends of the maps 0.13-0.23).
In the tables below, the elements present in each
column are considered to be characteristic of a single
zone, even if some isolated specimens can be found in the
contrasted zone on the maps.
First rank borders
The main border (maps 0.13.1 and 0.14.1 and
tables 0.13.1 and 0.14.1). In the Early Period, based
mostly on the lithic industry and stone vessels, the border
seems to be situated east of the Balikh river, with a
relatively narrow zone of conjunction. In the Late Period,
based on similar criteria, the border itself lies in the same
area (map 0.14.1) but there exists an alternative border a
little more to the west, on the Middle Euphrates (map
0.14.2), with, on both sides of this border, a broader
contact zone, which constitues a kind of “buffer territory”
48
with its own cultural specificity. One can speak of the
“Golden Triangle effect”. Nevertheless, in the early
ceramic period, the border between the pre-Halaf and the
proto-Hassuna pottery is exactly situated between the
Balikh and the Khabur rivers which almost repeats the
situation of the Early Period (map 0.24). This border was
recently confirmed by the work of Y. Nishiaki at Seker
Aheimar (pers. com.). In the same time, we have seen
(supra p. 34) that inside the pre-Halaf territory one can
distinguish a western facies and a eastern facies separated
precisely by the Middle Euphrates course.
Another proof of the existence and permanence of
this principal frontier is furnished by the distribution
circuits of obsidian (Chataigner 1998). We observe that,
during all the period under consideration, the two
principal sources almost never interfere. The obsidian
from Cappadocia (Nenezi Da and Göllü Da) is not
found to the east of the middle Euphrates (Annex,
maps 14.1 and 14.2), while the obsidian from the region
of Bingöl and Lake Van is found in great abundance to
the east of the Euphrates and rarely in the southern
Levant (Annex, maps 14.3 and 14.4). The middle valley
of the Euphrates thus constitutes both the contact zone
and the frontier between the distribution circuits
“controlled” by the occupants of the two principal
territorial divisions of the Fertile Crescent (Western
Wing and Eastern Wing), with certain sites on the
Euphrates receiving obsidian from the two zones
(Mureybet, Sheikh Hassan, Dja’de, Halula, Abu
Hureyra). The geographic proximity (as the bird flies... or
following the “natural” routes of communication) of the
sources and the distribution zone of the materials which
come from them is not enough to explain either this
division or this narrow zone of contact. The notion of
trans-frontier exchange is perhaps older than we though...
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS

present or well attested in the western Wing N

numerous in the western Wing

present or well attested in the eastern wing

numerous in the eastern Wing Van
Present in both Wings, Lake Caspian
numerous in the western one Sea
Present in both Wings,

Urm
numerous in the eastern one

ia L
ake
Border hierarchy
first rank border
secund rank border
third rank border

Mediterranean
Sea

0.13 The main border between the Western and the Eastern Wings
of the Fertile Crescent in the Early Period
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

West East
1.1.8 Jordan points 1.1.17 Nemrik points
1.1.9 Aswad points
1.1.10 Byblos points before 7 500 cal. BC
1.1.11 Jerf el Ahmar points
1.1.12 Nevalı Çori points (no data on extreme
southern Levant)
1.1.13 Sheikh Hassan points (no data on extreme
southern Levant)
1.1.14 Mureybet points
1.1.16 Qaramel points
1.3.1.1 Hagdud truncations (no data on extreme 1.3.5 - dominant conical and “ bullet ” cores
southern Levant) (single pieces west of this region)
1.3.3.2 “ Herminettes”
2.2.2.4 “ Pedunculated ” pestles
2.2.3.3 Decorated “ shaft straighteners ”
3.1.3 Thick-walled decorated stone vessel with 3.1.4 Thick-walled decorated stone vessels with
sophisticated motives simple motives
6.5.1 Stone statues
8.3 Hooks with hole (no data on extreme
southern Levant)
10.1 Small decorated oval plaques (no data on
extreme southern Levant)
14.1 and 14.2 Obsidian coming from Cappadocia
(Chataigner, 1998)

Table 0.13.1—The main border between the Western and Eastern Wings of
the Fertile Crescent in the Early Period.

49
 CHAPTER 2

present in the Western Wing N

present in the Eastern Wing
numerous in the Eastern Wing
present in both Wings Van
Lake Caspian
Border hierarchy Sea
first rank border

Urm
secund rank border

ia L
third rank border

ake
border between the ceramic groups

Mediterranean
Sea

0.14.1 The main border between the Western and the Eastern Wings
of the Fertile Crescent in the Late Period
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

West East
1.1.17 Nemrik points
1.2.3 Trapezes
3.1.3 Thick-walled decorated stone vessel with
sophisticated motifs
3.2.5 Thin-walled semi-globular stone vessels with 3.2.9 Thin-walled stone vessels with oval mouth
shouldered rim
3.2.10 Thin-walled cylindrical stone vessels
5.3.4 Bracelets with convex and profiled section
10.1 Small decorated oval stone plaquettes
13 Pre-Halaf pottery 13 Proto-Hassuna pottery
14.1 and 14.2 Obsidian coming from Cappadocia 14.3 and 14.4 Obsidian coming from the Van Lake
(Chataigner, 1998) region (Chataigner, 1998)

Table 0.14.1—The main border between the Western and the Eastern Wings of
the Fertile Crescent in the Late Period.

50
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS

present in the Western Wing N

numerous in the Western Wing

present in the Eastern Wing

Van
numerous in the Eastern Wing
Lake Caspian
present in both Wings
Sea

Urm
Border hierarchy

ia L
first rank border

ake
secund rank border
third rank border
border between the ceramic groups

Mediterranean
Sea

0.14.2 The alternative main border between the Western and the Eastern Wings
of the Fertile Crescent in the Late Period 0 Gulf
100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

West East
1.1.9 Aswad points
1.2.2 Nibbled bladelets
1.2.4 "Late" crescents
1.2.5 Backed bladelets and points
1.3.1.1 Hagdud truncation (no data on 1.3.2.1 Triangular sickle inserts
extreme southern Levant)
1.3.4.2 "Çayönü tools"
1.3.5 Dominant conical and "bullet"
core (single pieces west of this region)
3.1.4 Thick-walled decorated stone
vessels with simple motives

8.3 Hooks with hole (no data on

extreme southern Levant)
13 Pre-Halaf pottery western facies 13 Pre-Halaf pottery eastern facies
14.1 and 14.2 Obsidian coming from 14.3 and 14.4 Obsidian coming from the
Cappadocia (Chataigner, 1998) Van Lake region (Chataigner, 1998)

Table 0.14.2—The alternative main border between the Western and

the Eastern Wings of the Fertile Crescent in the Late Period.

51
 CHAPTER 2

The High Valleys border (maps 0.15-0.16, on light stone industry, art and stone vessels) seem to be
tables 0.15.1-0.16.1). In both periods, the borders remain weak residues of the preceding situation. Nevertheless
roughly on the upper Tigris valley and along the Zagros one border remains, even if the new lithic industry (BAI,
ridge. In the Late Period, the distinctive elements (based cf. Kozlowski 1999) is present on both sides of the line.

present or well attested in the North

present or well attested in the South Black Sea

numerous in the South
present in both parts
present in both parts, numerous in the Southern one

Border hierarchy
first rank border
second rank border
third rank border
Caspian Sea

Mediterranean
Sea

Cartographies MOM 2001

0.15 The High Valleys southern border
in the Early Period Gulf
0 100 200 km

North South
1.1.4 Small el Khiam points
1.1.5 Big el Khiam points
1.1.8 Jordan points
1.1.9 Aswad points
1.1.13 Sheikh Hassan points (no data on extreme
southern Levant)
1.1.16 Qaramel points
1.1.17 Nemrik points
1.2.10 “ Big ” arched backed points
1.2.11 “ Big ” scalene triangles (also Caucasus and
Caspian shore)
1.2.12 “ Big ” asymmetrical trapezoids (also Caucasus
and Caspian shore)
1.3.1.1 Hagdud truncations (no data on extreme
southern Levant)
1.3.1.2 Gilgal truncations
2.1.3.2 Shallow circular mortars (“ pebble mortars ”)
2.2.4.2 Perforated stone balls (“ mace-heads ”)
2.2.5.3 Pedunculated polished stone axes/celts
6.2.2 Statuettes : “ owls ”
6.3.3 Statuettes and figurines: standing human
representations with flattened head
6.5.1 Stone statues
6.6.1 Small stone human heads

Table 0.15.1—The High Valleys southern border in the Early Period.

52
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS

present in the North N

present or in the South

present in both parts

Van
Lake Caspian
Border hierarchy
Sea
first rank border

Urm
secund rank border

ia L
third rank border

ake
Mediterranean
Sea

0.16 The High Valleys southern border in the Late Period

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

North South
2.2.5.3 Pedunculated polished stone axes/celts
3.1.1 Thick-walled globular stone vessels
3.1.2 Thick-walled flat-based stone vessels
3.2.1 Thin-walled globular stone vessels
3.2.3 Thin-walled low stone vessels with
S-shaped profile
3.2.4 Thin-walled high stone vessels with
S-shaped profile
3.2.5 Thin-walled semi-globular stone
vessels with shouldered rim
3.2.7 Thin-walled carinated low stone
vessels
3.2.8 Thin-walled carinated high stone
vessels
4.1 “ Simple” white ware
5.1.4 Flat triangular beads
6.2.2 Statuettes : “ owls ”
6.4.4 Figurines: “ sitting ladies ” in form
of a tetrahedron
9.2 Seals with handle
11.4 “ Spindle-whorls ”
11.5 Biconical “ sling-balls ”
13 Pre-Halaf pottery
13 Proto-Hassuna pottery

Table 0.16.1—The High Valleys southern border in the Late Period.

53
 CHAPTER 2

Second rank borders
The northern/southern Levant border (maps
0.17-0.18, tables 0.17.1-0.18.1). Based mostly on lithic
industry, but also on light stone industry, the border in the
Early Period should be placed inside the gap between the
upper Orontes valley and the middle Euphrates valley
(the so-called “black hole”). Taking into consideration
the occurrence of a few Aswad points (map 1.1.9) at
Horvat Galil and the presence of “big” El Khiam points
present or well attested in the south
numerous in the south
at Mureybet, we infer that the border should be placed
more to the south. This could be confirmed in the Late
Period, where the main north/south border, based on
lithics, ornaments and art, is situated in the northern
Beqa’a valley. The border between the ceramic
groups (pre-Halaf in the Northern Levant and
Yarmukian/Lodian in the southern Levant) runs a little
farther south, at the level of the southern Beqa’a
(map 0.24 and Annex, maps 13.1 to 13.4).
N

present or well attested in the north

numerous in the north Van
Lake Caspian
present in both parts
Sea
present in both,

Urm
mostly in the southern one

ia L
present in both,

ake
mostly in the northern one

Border hierarchy
first rank border
secund rank border
third rank border

Mediterranean
Sea

0.17 The border between the Northern and the Southern Levant
in the Early Period Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

South
1.1.4 Small el Khiam points (dominant)
1.1.19 Salabiya points
1.3.3.1 “ Tahunian axes ”
North
1.1.5 dominant Big el Khiam points
1.1.11 Jerf el Ahmar points
1.1.12 Nevalı Çori points (no data on
extreme southern Levant)
1.1.13 Sheikh Hassan points (no data
extreme southern Levant)
1.1.14 Mureybet points
1.1.16 Qaramel points
1.3.3.2 “ Herminettes”
2.2.2.4 “ Pedunculated ” pestles
2.2.3.3 Decorated “ shaft straighteners ”
3.1.3 Thick-walled decorated stone
vessels with sophisticated motifs
6.1.7 Statuettes : felines
6.2.1 Statuettes : birds of prey
6.5.1 Stone statues
10.2 Small decorated rectangular plaques

Table 0.17.1—The border between the northern and the southern Levant in the Early Period.
54
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS

present or well attested N

in the North
numerous in the North

present or well attested Van

in the South Lake Caspian
numerous in the South Sea

Urm
present in both parts

ia L
ake
present in both parts, mostly
in the northern one
present in both parts, mostly
in the southern one

Border hierarchy
first rank border
secund rank border
third rank border

Mediterranean
Sea

0.18 The border between the Northern and the Southern Levant,
in the Late Period
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

South North
1.1.6 Abu Salem points 1.1.9 Aswad points
1.1.7 Jericho points
1.1.19 Salabiya points
1.3.3.1 “ Tahunian axes ” 1.3.2.1 Triangular sickle inserts
1.3.2.2 Yarmukian sickle blades 1.3.4.2 “ Çayönü tools ”
2.1.3.3 Deep mortars on stand
2.2.3.2 Pedestalled undecorated “ shaft straighteners ” 2.2.5.4 Polished stone axes/celts with
rectangular section
2.2.5.1 Oval thick bifacial polished stone axes/celts 3.1.2 Thick-walled flat-based stone vessels
3.2.4 Thin-walled high stone vessels
with S-shaped profile
3.2.5 Thin-walled semi-globular stone
vessels with shouldered rim
3.2.6 Thin-walled semi-globular stone
vessels with beak
3.2.7 Thin walled carinated low stone vessels
4.1 “ Simple” white ware
4.2 White ware on ring base
5.3.3 Bracelets with triangular or sub-triangular section 5.1.4 Flat triangular beads
6.3.3 Statuettes and figurines: standing human 5.1.5 “ Butterfly ” beads
representations with flattened head
5.1.7 Barrel-shaped beads
6.5.2 Plaster statues 6.1.4 Figurines and statuettes : “ charming gazelles ”
6.6.1 Small stone human heads 6.2.2 Statuettes : “ owls ”
6.6.2 Plastered human skulls 7.1 Tokens : discs
6.6.3 Stone human masks 7.6 High spool-shaped “ labrets ”
9.2 Seals with handle
11.5 Biconical “ sling-balls ”
Yarmukian and Lodian pottery Pre-Halaf pottery
(Gopher, 1995)

Table 0.18.1—The border between the northern and the southern Levant in the Late Period.
55
 CHAPTER 2

Third rank borders
The southern Levant inner border
(maps 0.19-0.20, tables 0.19.1-0.20.1). Based mostly on
the lithics, these two maps establish the borders inside the
southern Levant. This border is situated between the
Negev and the Sinai on one hand, and the Levantine
corridor on the other. In the Late Period, based on
architecture, light stone industry and lithics, the same
border lies along the eastern and southern steppe margins
of the Western Wing of the Fertile Crescent.

present or well attested in the extreme South N

numerous in the extreme South

present or well attested in the South

numerous in the South Van
Lake Caspian
present in both parts
Sea

Urm
Border hierarchy

ia L
first rank border

ake
secund rank border
third rank border

Mediterranean
Sea

0.19 The inner border in the Southern Levant

in the Early Period Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

Extreme South South

1.1.1 Harif points 1.1.19 Salabiya points
1.1.2 Ounan points 1.3.3.1 “ Tahunian axes ”
1.1.3 Shunera points 1.3.4.1 Beit Taamir knives
2.1.3.3 Deep mortars on stand
2.2.2.3 Bell-shaped pestles
6.3.1 Statuettes : standing human representations
(no data on extreme southern Levant)

Table 0.19.1—The inner border in the southern Levant in

the Early Period (according to N. Goring-Morris).

56
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS

Between the Early Period and the Late Period a between the Levantine corridor and the steppe
displacement of the border towards the south is (cf. Bar Yosef 2001).
observable, as is the establishment of a new border

present in the West N

present in the East,
South and South East
present in both parts
Van
Lake Caspian
Border hierarchy
Sea
first rank border

Urm
secund rank border

ia L
third rank border

ake
Mediterranean
Sea

0.20 The inner border in the Southern Levant,

in the Late Period
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

West East, South and South-East

Cf. also Table 0.16.1
Yarmukian, Lodian and Wadi Rabah
pottery (Gopher, 1995).
12.6 Round houses after 8 000 cal. BC
(no data on Syrian Desert)
Kites (not mapped)
Burin sites (not mapped)

Table 0.20.1—The inner border in the southern Levant in the Late Period.

57
 CHAPTER 2

The inner borders in the Eastern Wing
(maps 0.21 to 0.23, tables 0.21.1 to 0.23.1). In the Late
Period, based on lithics, tokens, art and stone vessels,
three borders can be recognized: one west of the Greater
Zab, the second between Diyala and Karkeh, and the
third along the foothills of the Zagros. The first of these
three borders separates from the beginning (Early Period)
the Nemrikian and the western Mlefatian (see below),
while the two others show internal Mlefatian
subdivisions in the Late Period.

present or well attested in the Jezirah N

numerous in the Jezirah

present or well attested in the Zagros

Van
Lake Caspian
Border hierarchy Sea
first rank border

Urm
secund rank border

ia L
third rank border

ake
?

Mediterranean
Sea

0.21 The Jezirah/Zagros border in the Late Period

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

Jezirah Zagros
1.1.17 Nemrik points
1.2.9 Isosceles triangles
2.2.5.4 Polished stone axes/celts
with rectangular section
6.1.4 Figurines and statuettes: 6.1.5 Figurines : Canidae
“ charming gazelles ”
6.4.6 Figurines: snail-shaped
“ sitting ladies ”
6.4.7 Figurines: T-shaped
“ sitting ladies ”
7.8 Tokens : tetrahedrons
7.9 Low spool-shaped “ labrets ”
9.2 Seals with handle
Late Big Arrowheads Industries
(Kozlowski, 1999, map 6)
Proto-Hassuna and Hassuna pottery Zagros group pottery
(Copeland and Hours, 1986)

Table 0.21.1—The Jezirah/Zagros border in the Late Period.

58
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS

Because of lacks in the sources, we did not map the situated between the river Khazir and the basin of Eski
border which separates the Jezirah and the Zagros Mosul and is defined by Nemrik points (1.1.17) on one
foothills (eastern Jezirah) in the Early Period. It is side and microliths on the other (1.2.2, 1.2.5, 1.2.6).

present in the East N

present in the South East

present in both parts

Van
Lake Caspian
Border hierarchy
Sea
first rank border

Urm
secund rank border

ia L
third rank border

ake
Mediterranean
Sea

0.22 The Western/Central Zagros border in the Late Period

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

West Center
1.3.4.2 “ Çayönü tools ”
2.2.5.2 Triangular bifacial polished stone axes/celts
3.2.7 Thin-walled carinated low stone vessels
3.2.8 Thin-walled carinated high stone vessels
3.2.9 Thin-walled stone vessels with oval mouth
5.1.5 “ Butterfly ” beads
5.1.7 Barrel-shaped beads
6.4.4 Figurines: “ sitting ladies ” in form of a
tetrahedron
7.10 T-Shaped “ labrets ”
8.1.2 Mureybet type bone needles

Table 0.22.1—The western/central Zagros border in the Late Period.

59
 CHAPTER 2

present in the moutain N

present in the plain

present in both parts

Van
Lake Caspian
Border hierarchy
Sea
first rank border

Urm
secund rank border

ia L
third rank border

ake
Mediterranean
Sea ?

0.23 The Zagros/Mesopotamian plain border

in the Late Period
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

Zagros Mesopotamian plain

1.2.7 Back + retouched bases 2.2.5.2 Triangular bifacial polished stone
axes/celts
7.7 Tokens : cones with enlarged base

Table 0.23.1—The Zagros/Mesopotamian plain border in the Late Period.

60
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS
Border hierarchy (maps 0 . 25-0 . 26)
The tabular and cartographic presentation of the
boundaries (maps 0.13-0.23) suggests, as for the
territories, a hierarchy of the borders. This
hierarchization is based on an analysis of the number of
features/types and the number of pieces in each
feature/type represented on either side of each boundary.
The prevailing features in these circumstances will
necessarily be the characteristics of the flint industry.
Pottery is next in line at least for the Late Period
(map 0.24). It is also a mass material, followed by the
other markers.
First rank borders
If we assume that the characteristics of the flint
industry determine the key boundaries, then for the Early
Period the main border between the Eastern and Western
Wings of the Fertile Crescent (map 0.13 = Mureybetian
viz. Nemrikian) is situated in a zone between the rivers
Khabur and Balikh (map 0.25).
In the Late Period, this east-west main boundary
moved slightly to the east (maps 0.14, 0.26), following
the consequence of the BAI expansion in that direction.
Later, however, the old boundary fits perfectly well the
limit between the Pre-Halafian and Proto-Hassunian
pottery, that is, exactly between the Balikh and the
Khabur (supra p. 34 and Annex maps 13.2, 13.3, and
Zagros group
Proto-Hassuna
Pre-Halaf
Samara
Ubaid
Yarmoukian/Lodian
Mediterranean
Sea
0.24 The borders between the pottery groups (cf. Annex, maps 13.1 to 13.4)
61
below, map 0.24). An alternative border can be detected
along the middle course of the Euphrates river.
The importance of the other old boundary dividing
the central part of the Fertile Crescent into northern and
southern parts is not self-evident. However, these two
zones—the High Valleys and the Jezirah—appear to be
quite clearly separate (cf. maps 0.15, 0.16, 0.25
and 0.26), even though in the Later Period the Big
Arrowheads Industries predominate in both of them. This
border separates the Caucasian world from the Fertile
Crescent proper.
These first two borders may be qualified as
“international”.
Second rank borders
The other borders will be considered “national”. We
will place in this category the border which separates in
both the Early Period (0.17) and the Late Period (0.18)
the northern Levant from the southern Levant, and which
is definitely situated for the Late Period in the Lebanese
Beka’a (maps 0.25, 0.26). Does the watershed line
between the Orontes and the Jordan take on a particular
significance in this context?
To the east, the Khazir, tributary of the Greater Zab,
seems to constitute a border of the same order between
the Nemrikian and the Mlefatian (map 0.21) which share
the eastern part of the Fertile Crescent.
N
Van Caspian
Lake
Sea
Urm
ia L
ake
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001
 CHAPTER 2

Border hierarchy N
first rank border
secund rank border
third rank border Van
Lake Caspian
Sea

Urm
ia L
ake
0.15

? 0.13

Mediterranean 0.17
Sea

0.19

0.25 General view of the borders in the Early Period

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

Border hierarchy N
first rank border
secund rank border
third rank border Van
border between the ceramic groups 0.16 Lake Caspian
Sea
Urm
ia L
ake

0.21
? 0.21
0.24

0.14.1
0.18 0.24
0.14.2
0.22
Mediterranean
Sea 0.24

?
0.23

0.23

0.24

0.20

0.26 General view of the borders in the Late Period

(including pottery groups borders)
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

62
 TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS
Third rank borders
In this category are placed the regional borders
which, in the southern Levant, separate for example the
sedentary zones (Levantine corridor) from the southern
desert in the Early Period (maps 0.19, 0.25) as well as the
Late Period (maps 0.20, 0.26). In the Eastern Wing,
regional borders appear to define sub-groups of the
Mlefatian (maps 0.21, 0.23).
Conclusion
The presentation of these territorial entities
(cf. maps 0.4 to 0.12) and boundaries (cf. maps 0.13 to
0.26) leads us to the conclusion that the Early and Middle
Holocene Near East existed as a series of regions or
territories, all sharing the following characteristics:
—specific regional typological features that may
change over time, but do not change very much with
regard to their range over millennia;
—as a consequence, fairly constant borders,
insignificantly modified over time, if at all, frequently but
not always stimulated or conditioned by the environment
(natural barriers of dry land or mountains; dramatic
landscape changes, for example, changes from mountain
to plain or from the wet Fertile Crescent to dry desert)
as well as “cultural” factors (the main border between
the Western and Eastern Wings, cf. maps 0.13, 0.14,
0.25-0.26);
—territories existing lengthwise along the main axis
of the Fertile Crescent (Sinai-Negev-southern Levant-
central Levant-northern Levant, etc.) and in the Late
Period also along the other axis that runs within
the Fertile Crescent (steppe-desert areas and the
Mesopotamian plain);
—neighbouring territories-regions sharing a
number of the same or similar typological features, while
territories or regions more distant geographically present
considerable variety in artefact morphology.
As we have seen, this reflects a certain hierarchy of
internal cultural divisions and borders; thus, the macro-
region of the Fertile Crescent beginning in the Early
Period can be divided by two main borders into three
main and radically different cultural provinces:
63
Levantine, Iraqo-Iranian and Caucaso-Caspian (both
with a supra-regional or “international” range). In the
central part of the Fertile Crescent a new region is formed
on both sides of the main east/west border (we call it the
“Golden Triangle”, map 0.12). This contact zone is
situated at the intersection of three principal domains,
into which the Fertile Crescent had been divided since the
Epipalaeolithic: the Natufian, the Zarzian and the
Trialetian (infra p. 88, map 0.29). As we shall see, it was
a kind of melting pot in which the Neolithic revolution
developped. However, once the Neolithic revolution had
been accomplished, at the end of the Late Period with the
appearance of the first pottery, the main east-west border
again took up its role.
Each of these supra-regions was divided in turn by
less important borders into regions, and in a number of
cases, especially in the better-studied Levantine
province, into smaller territorial units having a local
character (cf. e.g. maps 0.19 to 0.23). These zones
followed water courses, were situated in shallow basins,
including oases, and in deep intermontane valleys, and
finally along dried-up wadis today. In the Fertile
Crescent, sedentary villages were systematically situated
in these areas; in the interior of the Fertile Crescent both
seasonal campsites and rare villages are known from the
Late Period.
Between the described territorial axes there are
many “no-man’s lands”, meaning poorly penetrated
empty areas (mountain ridges in the Zagros, upper runs
of V-shaped mountain valleys, inner dry plateaus-deserts
like the Judean Desert, dry steppes like the Jezirah)
serving as natural boundaries. The axis may be single or
multiple (for example, the coastal plain and the Jordan
valley in the southern Levant). However, the territories
were not completely isolated from neighbouring regions,
hence the interregional circulation of goods.
Each territory/taxonomic unit was in fact a structure
consisting of several smaller units—the neighbouring
mini-territories were separated from each other
by different barriers—,but were also connected by
passages. The next chapter will describe these taxonomic
units related to a given territory which we can call
“cultures”.
 CHAPTER 3
TERRITORIES , BOUNDARIES AND CULTURES
Introduction
The elaboration of the basic maps (Chapter 1 and
Annex, maps 1-14), the synthesizing maps presenting the
typology of spatial distribution (Chapter 2, maps 0.4 to
0.12) and finally the maps defining boundaries and
borders (maps 0.13 to 0.26) leads to the presentation of
two general and more synthetic maps (for the Early and
Late Periods) representing the inferred territories/cultures
of the Near Eastern Neolithic. Depending on the
chronology (less data for the Early Period) and the region
(less data for the Eastern Wing), maps 0.27 and 0.28 will
now demonstrate and summarize the cultural/stylistic/
territorial diversity of the entire macro-region. Each map
is accompanied by a brief commentary describing the
divisions presented and their hierarchy. A cultural/
typological/stylistic feature presentation in the form of
tables also accompanies each map.
On the basis of the lithic industry, one of us has
already proposed (Kozlowski 1999, with a reappraisal in
Aurenche and Kozlowski 1999) the subdivision of the
Fertile Crescent into two separate main cultural
provinces: Levantine and Iraqo-Iranian. The chief
boundary between them in the early Holocene lies along
the rivers Balikh and Khabur in the Jezirah or along the
Middle Euphrates course (cf. maps 0.13, 0.14.1-0.14.2).
As shown in the preceding chapters, this proposal is
confirmed by the division into a “Western Wing” and a
“Eastern Wing” not only of the lithic industry but also of
many other artefacts. In the extreme north (mainly the
High Valleys), the southern extent of the third province,
the Caucaso-Caspian, was also well defined in the Late
Pleistocene and Early Holocene (map 0.15).
Finally, this division into three separate cultural
traditions/provinces: Levantine, Iraqo-Iranian and
Caucaso-Caspian, in the Early Period, obviously repeats
earlier territorial divisions (Natufian, Zarzian and
Trialetian respectively, cf. Aurenche and Kozlowski
1999). In fact the Early Holocene cultural traditions are
65
essentially, in the flint industry, only slight modifications
in style or technique of earlier traditions (for example,
El Khiam, Salabiya and Jordan points replaced crescents
in the west while crescents disappeared in the east;
morphometric changes in blades in the east, appearance
of unpolished flint axes in the west etc.). The problem is
that we do not know exactly the territorial extension of
these pre-Neolithic traditions, especially in the northern
Levant for the Natufian, in the High Valleys for the
Trialetian, and in the Jezirah for the Zarzian. There
remains a kind of no man’s land (Euphrates valley,
Jezirah) at the presumed crossing of these three
traditions. This situation is due to lack of information and
does not facilitate understanding of the early Neolithic
territorial disposition.
As far as non-lithics are concerned, the
development runs along similar lines, undoubtedly due to
the fact that many elements, especially in architecture,
burial customs, as well as stone industry, trace their
origins to the Late Pleistocene of the Levant (Natufian)
and the Jezirah/western Zagros (late Zarzian from
Der Hall and Zawi Chemi).
The changes are actually minimal, the economy
being almost the same (hunting and gathering), the
self-sufficiency in materials almost complete, and the
earlier set of boundaries practically unchanged, with the
people living in isolated and closed territories. The
process of Neolithisation, if it was in fact beginning, is
entirely unobservable in the available material. One is
left with the impression that the changes at the turn of the
Pleistocene are more quantitative than qualitative ,
although the latter are noticeable (chipped and polished
axes, ornaments, figurines/statuettes/statues, tokens etc.).
Consequently, recognition of cultural/territorial
diversity in the Early Period remains partly hypothetical
but plausible in the light of the later situation, and is
generally more extensive in the west than in the centre
and in the east, while the west itself (the Levant) is more
well-studied in its southern and northern parts and less so
in the centre.
 Harifian
N
Sultanian
Early Aswadian
Mureybetian
Nevali Çorian
Trialetian Van Caspian
Hallan Çemi Lake
Nemrikian Sea
Early Western M'lefatian Çayönü Demirköy
Early Eastern M'lefatian

Urm
Nevali Çori

ia L
Göbekli

ake
Hirbet Selim
Dja'de
Bir Jili Balagha
Jerf el Zawi Chemi upper
Nemrik
Qaramel Ahmar Qermez Dere
M'lefaat

Muerybet III
Kerkh
Jarmo

66
Nachcharini
Mediterranean
Sea Asiab
?
Horvat Galil
Gesher
Mudjahiya El Aui Safa
Nahal
Oren low.
Netiv Hagdud
Gilgal
El- Jericho A
Khiam Jilat 7
Ain Darat
Drha
Nahal Levon
Shunera
Mushabi Wadi Feinan
Ramat Harif

Abu Salem

0.27 Territories, Boundaries and Cultures in the Early Period

Abu Maadi Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001
 TERRITORIES, BOUNDARIES AND CULTURES

Taxonomic entities or cultures in the Early Period (map 0 . 27)

Serious gaps in our sources do not permit the north and the east. In the description of each of these
original territories to be defined and described with equal territories or cultures, we present in the form of tables
credibility for the entire area of the Fertile Crescent. The the principal elements which we consider to be
best situation in this respect is in the southern and characteristic, distinguishing when possible those which
northern parts of the Western Wing; very little is known are specific to the culture in question, and those which
of the Eastern Wing, or of the central Levant. are common to neighbouring cultures, as well as common
Nevertheless, eight “territories” or “cultures” can be to a wider context.
distinguished, beginning in the south and extending to the

Harifian
The Harifian was named by A. Marks and described
by N. Goring-Morris (1987). This culture occupied
the Sinai, the northern Negev as well as the Egyptian
desert east and west of the Nile (not mapped here),
a zone more than 1000 km long, and lasted from
10 500 to 9500 cal. B.C., and later at least in Africa
(Kobusiewicz 1996). The main sites are
Nahal Levon 110, Ramat Harif and Abu Salem.
The specific characteristics retained here essentially
concern three categories of arrowhead, indicative
Sultanian
The Sultanian was isolated by J. Crowfoot-Payne
following the study of the only lithic industry of Jericho.
We prefer this term to the term Khiamian proposed by
J.G. Echegaray after the early excavations of the site of
El Khiam, to avoid the risk of confusion with the
homonym proposed by J. Cauvin for the industry of
phase II at Mureybet, based on the presence of El Khiam
points. This culture extended from the Sinai (Abu Maadi)
to the Anti-Lebanon (Nachcharini) over 650 km in an
area no wider than a few dozen km, and apparently
excludes the steppe zone and the desert to the east. It
appeared before 10 000 and ended at about 8400 cal. B.C.
The Sultanian developed in villages such as Jericho,
Present also in neighbouring cultures
1.1.11 Jerf el Ahmar points (few)
1.1.14 Mureybet points (few)
2.2.5.1 Oval thick bifacial polished
stone axes/celts
10.1 Small decorated oval plaques
of itinerant hunting activity, which confirms the rarity of
elements of material culture characteristics of sedentary
life (heavy objects, cf. Aurenche and Kozlowski 1999 p.
Characteristics of the African and
Levantine provinces
East
1.1.1 Harif points
1.1.2 Ounan points
1.1.3 Shunera points
1.2.1 “ Old ” crescents
Table 0.27.1—Harifian.
Gilgal I, Netiv Hagdud, Dhra and Ain Darat and in less
permanent sites such as El Khiam and Nachcharini. The
main characteristics retained here are arrowheads, a type
of knife, a type of small truncation, as well as elements of
light stone industry, statuettes and the architecture found
in the main villages. In our present state of knowledge,
the cartographic distribution of several elements reveals
two zones in the Sultanian: a central zone mainly
concentrated in the Jordan valley, the coastal plain and
the Wadi Araba where all the specific traits are found,
and a peripheral zone, in the south as well in the north,
where some of these traits, other than the lithic industry,
are absent.
Specific features
1.1.4 Small el Khiam points (numerous)
1.1.8 Jordan points
1.1.19 Salabiya points
1.3.1.1 Hagdud truncations
1.3.3.1 “ Tahunian axes ”
1.3.4.1 Beit Taamir knives
2.2.2.3 Bell-shaped pestles
2.2.3.2 Pedestalled undecorated “ shaft straighteners ”
12.1 Round or oval houses with “ pinched ” entry
12.2 Association of round houses and cup-holes

Table 0.27.2—Sultanian.

67
 CHAPTER 3

Early Aswadian
The Aswadian was defined by Marie-Claire Cauvin
based on the analysis of the lithic industry of Aswad I,
considered then to be contemporary to Mureybetian. The
resumption of excavations has shown that these levels are
later. Other authors (A. Gopher) call this an Early PPNB
culture. The Early Aswadian found from Horvat Galil, to
the base of Kerkh and to Dja’de on the Euphrates, seems
to have appeared after 8500 cal. B.C. and continues as
Late Aswadian (infra p. 74) to the end of the
7th millennium. This culture in its early phase extended
500 km in an area between 50 and 100 km wide.
Information is lacking for the Syrian desert.
Present also in neighbouring cultures
1.1.10 Byblos points before 7 500 cal. BC.
1.1.14 Mureybet points (few)
The Early Aswadian occupied a band which
includes the central Levant with an extension towards the
south to the Lake of Galilee, and an extension towards
the north to the Syrian middle Euphrates. The exact limits
of the territory can not be traced with security. We use on
the map 0.27 a particular sign (isolated points) to
distinguish the early Aswadian from the “neighbouring”
and partly contemporaneous (?) Sultanian and
Mureybetian. The Early Aswadian is characterized
essentially by the Aswad point (1.1.9) which is like a
Helwan point with widened peduncle, by the Byblos
point, by the occasional presence of Mureybet points as
well as by the “culbuto” type statuettes.
Specific features
1.1.9 Aswad points
6.3.1 “Culbuto statuettes” : standing human
representations

Table 0.27.3—Early Aswadian.

Mureybetian
The Mureybetian was defined by Jacques and Early Aswadian (maps 1.1.8 and 1.1.11). This culture,
Marie-Claire Cauvin at the Mureybet excavations represented so far only by sedentary villages, is dated to
(phase III). This definition takes into account the whole 9400-8600 cal. B.C.
of the material discovered. The Mureybetian extends The defining elements are particularly numerous:
from the Aleppo basin (Qaramel) to the Syrian middle arrowheads, adzes, statuettes and figurines. Several ele-
Euphrates (Jerf el Ahmar) up to the source of the Balikh ments common to the neighbouring cultures of the
(Göbekli), over an area of about 200 x 80 km. It is not Golden Triangle (infra table 0.28.4) can be added: arrow-
impossible to envisage a southern and perhaps an eastern heads, statuettes and figurines, decorated plaques, light
extension on the territory occupied afterward by the stone industry and architecture.
Characteristics of the Levantine Present also in neighbouring Specific Features
province cultures
1.1.8 Jordan points (few) 1.1.10 Byblos points before 1.1.13 Sheikh Hassan points
7 500 cal. BC (numerous)
1.1.11 Jerf el Ahmar points 1.1.18 Demirköy points 1.1.14 Mureybet points (numerous)
1.1.16 Qaramel points
1.3.1.1 Hagdud truncations 1.3.3.2 Adzes
2.2.2.4 “ Pedunculated ” pestles
2.2.5.1 Oval thick bifacial polished 2.2.3.3 Decorated “ shaft straighteners"
stone axes/celts
3.1.3 Thick-walled decorated stone
vessels with sophisticated motives
5.1.3 Flat sub-rectangular beads
5.1.6 Flat multi-hole beads
6.3.1 Statuettes: standing human 6.1.7 Statuettes: felines 6.3.2 Statuettes and figurines: standing
representations “ realistic ” female representations
6.3.3 Statuettes and figurines: 6.2.1 Statuettes: birds of prey 6.6.1 Small stone human heads
standing human representations
with flattened head
6.4.1 Figurines: flat “ sitting ladies ” 6.5.1 Stone statues

68
 TERRITORIES, BOUNDARIES AND CULTURES

Characteristics of the Levantine Present also in neighbouring Specific Features

province cultures

10.1 Small decorated oval plaques
8.2 “ Festooned ” small bone plaques 8.1.2 Mureybet type bone needles
8.4 Bi-pointed small bone plaques
with central hole
10.2 Small decorated rectangular
plaques
12.3 Round houses with central stone
or mud pillars and lateral benches
12.4 Community buildings
12.5 Settlements with stratigraphically
attested passage from circular to rec-
-tangular plan before 8 000 cal. BC.
13.1 Theme: Bovine representations
13.2 Theme: Feline representations
13.3 Theme: birds of prey
representations
13.4 Theme: snakes representations
13.8 Style: heads on stem

Table 0.27.4—Mureybetian.

The problem of the “ black hole ” in the central Levant

No site of the Early Period is known in Lebanon
(except for Nachcharini cave in the Anti-Lebanon) or in
southern and western Syria. However, there are certain
indications which tend to prove that at least at the end of
the period Mureybetian influence prevailed over
Sultanian influence, except at Nachcharini. The situation
at the beginning of the period (Early PPNA) is less clear.
The presence of large El Khiam points on the Syrian
middle Euphrates (Mureybet), in the south-east Jezirah
(bases at Qermez Dere, Nemrik and M’lefaat), and also at
the Qaramel base demonstrate the existence of
“Khiamian”, but it is difficult to determine whether it is
closer to Sultanian or Mureybetian. The notion of
Khiamian introduced for the northern Levant by
J. Cauvin probably covers several assemblages for
which the only common point is the presence of large
El Khiam points.

Neval ı Çorian

The name of this culture was proposed by
K. Schmidt, based on all of the material recovered at
Nevalı Çori and Göbekli. The study of the early levels of
Çayönü by I. Caneva and A. Özdoªan confirms the
homogeneity of this culture, which occupies the western
part of the zone which we call the High Valleys, and
which corresponds to the high valley of the Euphrates
and the western part of the high valley of the Tigris. The
main sites are Nevalı Çori, Göbekli and the base of
Çayönü (Çayönü base and lower grill). The territory
covers an area of about 180 x 50 km. The zone extending
to the east in the direction of the early Nemrikian remains
poorly known. The chronological range is from 10 300 to
8000 cal. B.C. The specific elements include arrowheads
(1.1.12), architecture (maps 12.4, 12.5), and quite
spectacular artistic representations (maps 6.1.7, 6.2.1,
6.7). Several of these elements also characterize
neighbouring cultures (Mureybetian, Early Nemrikian).

69
 CHAPTER 3

Characteristics of the Levantine Present also in neighbouring Specific Features

province cultures
2.2.5.1 Oval thick bifacial polished 1.1.10 Byblos points before 7 500 cal. BC. 1.1.12 Nevalı Çori points
stone axes/celts (numerous)
1.1.17 Nemrik points (few) 6.7 Decorated stone pillars
2.2.2.4 “ Pedunculated ” pestles
2.2.3.3 Decorated “ shaft straighteners ”
2.2.4.2 Perforated stone balls
(“ mace-heads ”)
3.1.4 Thick-walled decorated
stone vessels with simple motives
5.1.6 Flat multi-hole beads
6.1.7 Statuettes : felines
6.2.1 Statuettes : birds of prey
6.3.3 Statuettes and figurines: standing
human representation with flattened head
6.5.1 Stone statues
6.6.1 Small stone human heads
10.2 Small decorated rectangular plaques
12.4 Community buildings
12.5 Settlements with stratigraphically
attested passage from circular to rec-
-tangular plan before 8 000 cal. BC.
6.8 Theme: Bovine representations
6.9 Theme: Feline representations
6.10 Theme: Birds of prey representations
6.11 Theme: Snake representations
6.15 Style : Head on stem

Table 0.27.5—Nevalı Corian.

Trialetian
The Trialetian was described by L. Tsereteli (1973) Demirköy). These two sites are the only sedentary sites
and N. Bader (1984) based on the lithic industry of attributable to this culture, characterised by large
Edzani (Georgia). This culture covered a territory which “geometric” pieces (maps 1.2.10-1.2.12), a few light
reached far beyond the borders of the Fertile Crescent tools, and richly decorated stone vessel. Some Trialetian
(map 1.2.10), penetrating at the beginning of the elements persisted in the Nevalı Çorian, then in the
Holocene into the High Valleys (Hallan Çemi, Taurusian.
Present also in neighbouring cultures Specific features
2.2.4.2 Perforated stone balls (“ mace-heads ”) 1.2.10 “ Big ” arched backed points
2.2.5.3 Pedunculated polished stone axes/celts 1.2.11 “ Big ” scalene triangles
3.1.3 Thick-walled decorated stone vessels with 1.2.12 “ Big ” asymmetrical trapezes
sophisticated motifs
Table 0.27.6—Trialetian.
Early Nemrikian
This culture was defined by S.K. Kozlowski based Nemrik, Qermez Dere and Demirköy. It lasted from
upon the lithic industry of Nemrik. It covers a territory about 10 300 to 8000 cal. B.C. The specific elements are
situated between the Balikh and the middle upper Tigris the Nemrik point (1.1.17) as well as several microliths of
(400 x 150 km). The principal sites were sedentary: eastern type and a type of nucleus common to the

70
 TERRITORIES, BOUNDARIES AND CULTURES

early western Mlefatian, and stone vessel related to Nemrikian was present from this period onward in the
the Nevalı Çorian. Other elements such as sculpture southern Jezirah, indicated by the presence of Nemrikian
(6.9-6.11, 6.15) and architecture (12.3) are common to elements on later sites (Buqras, Umm Dabaghiyah).
the cultures of the Golden Triangle. It is possible that the

Characteristics of the Present also in neighbouring Specific features

Iraqo-Iranian province cultures
1.1.18 Demirköy points 1.1.17 Nemrik points (numerous)
1.2.2 Nibbled bladelets 1.2.6 Backs + truncations
1.3.5.1 Conical and “ bullet ” cores
(numerous)
2.2.4.2 Perforated stone balls
(“ mace-heads ”)
3.1.4 Thick-walled decorated stone
vessels with simple motives
6.1.7 Statuettes : felines
6.2.1 Statuettes : birds of prey
6.9 Theme: feline representations
6.10 Theme: birds of prey representations
6.15 Style : head on stem
8.2 “ Festooned ” small bone plaques
8.4 Small bi-pointed bone plaques with
central hole
8.5 Small rectangular perforated
bone plaques
12.3 Round houses with central stone
or mud pillars and lateral benches

Table 0.27.7—Early Nemrikian.

Early Western and Eastern Mlefatian

This culture was defined by S.K. Kozlowski based
on the resumed M’lefaat excavations, and on the thesis of
J. Pullar 1975. In our present state of knowledge, mainly
because of the small number of sites excavated, the exact
territorial extension of this culture is difficult to
determine. It probably occupied all of the western and
central Zagros, its foothills and the Mesopotamian plain,
where the early sites are presumed to have disappeared
beneath the alluvia. Depending on the period several
sub-groups can be distinguished, and it is difficult to
determine whether these are truly distinct cultures. For
the Early Period, a primary zone is distinguished
(Western Mlefatian) which extends between the Khazir
Characteristics of the Iraqo-Iranian province
1.2.2 Nibbled bladelets
1.2.6 Backs + truncations
1.3.5.1 Conical and “ bullet ” cores (numerous)
3.1.4 Thick-walled decorated stone vessels
with simple motifs
and the region of Chemchemal (Jarmo), approximately
an area of 150 x 100 km, straddling the Jezirah and
the Zagros foothills. The main sites are M’lefaat, Jarmo
(I, 9 where a circular structure appears) and the top of
Zawi Chemi. This culture appears before 10 000 and
continues to about 6000 cal. B.C. The defining elements
are mainly the microliths (1.2.2, 1.2.5, 1.2.7 and 1.2.8).
Other elements are common to the early Nemrikian:
nucleus (1.3.5), decorated stone vessel (3.1.4). Another
zone (Eastern Mlefatian) occupied the central Zagros,
around the site of Asiab which remains at present the
only known evidence.
Specific features
1.2.5 Backed bladelets and points
1.2.7 Back + retouched bases
1.2.8 Retouched bases

Table 0.27.8—Early Western and Eastern Mlefatian.

71
 CHAPTER 3
Concluding remarks
The Western Wing formed a fairly homoge-neous
“cultural” province, referred to as the Levantine province
or tradition, which developed mainly (perhaps even in its
entirety?) from the Natufian tradition.
The Eastern Wing along with most of the Jezirah
constituted the Iraqo-Iranian province, which continued
the Zarzian tradition, with fewer Levantine elements in
the west.
The High Valleys in the Early Period belonged only
partly to the Caucaso-Caspian province, the industries of
which continued the Imeretian tradition, from the
Caucasus.
In the Western Wing, the following cultures can be
distinguished, chiefly based on the lithics:
—in the south, two territories/cultures are clearly
distinguishable: the Harifian and the Sultanian.
—in the central part of the Levant, numerous finds
scattered from the Golan (Mudjahiya) through western
Syria (Kerkh) to the middle Euphrates (Dja’de) suggest
the existence, since the EPPNB in the chronological
sense but not earlier, of a separate mid-Levantine
territory or culture featuring the Aswadian industry, an
entity that will be confirmed for the Late Period. This
separateness could well have existed even earlier,
considering the originality of the “Khamian”
(J. Cauvin) from Mureybet II. The “Khamian” of
Qaramel seems to be of northern appearance (cf. supra),
according to R.F. Mazurowski (pers. com.).
—in the north, the easily defined territories were
those situated mainly on the Syrian stretch of the middle
Euphrates and the Turkish upper Tigris, in both cases
characterized by a culture in the Levantine tradition (as in
the southern territories), but with local features (distinct
Mureybetian and Nevalı Çorian industries, later EPPNB
of the Dja’de type in the south and Early BAI industry of
the Nevalı Çori type in the north).
Definition of the earliest forms of development
is far from certain, except for the general observation
Geographical Area
Extreme southern Levant
Southern and central Levant
Central and northern Levant
Golden Triangle Northern Levant
High Valleys
Jezirah
Eastern Jezirah and
western Zagros
Table 0.27.9—Spatial distribution of the cultures in the Early Period.
72
that the roots in the south appear to be “Khiamian”
(Mureybet II), and in the north they are partly Trialetian
(Nevalı Çori?, Hallan Çemi) and partly Levantine?
(Nevalı Çori points). The earliest stages of the
“Neolithic” in the south of the central part of the Fertile
Crescent (recently studied although still insufficiently)
should be “Khiamian” in the broad sense, or a
combination of local industries with el Khiam points
(Mureybet II, Qaramel-base, Qermez Dere base).
The Nemrikian, on the other hand, presents all the
features of a territorial entity, covering most of the
Jezirah in the Early Period (but in the High Valleys and
at Qermez Dere slightly later than the earliest local
Neolithic industries). Its territory was perhaps divided
into two branches, along the upper Tigris and along the
two arms of the upper Khabur. It will perhaps be possible
in the future to separate the two.
As for the territories observable in the Early Period
in the Eastern Wing, lack of information renders it
difficult to determine the exact extension of the Early
Mlefatian.
The Early Western Mlefatian of the eastern Jezirah
(M’lefaat) and the western Zagros (upper layer at Zawi
Chemi, perhaps also the lowest layer at Jarmo with the
round house, but not Karim Shahir, which is a hopeless
mixture of everything!) is well established, except for its
exact territorial extension. It differs perhaps from a
Mlefatian of the central Zagros (Early Eastern Mlefatian
of Asiab), and does not have an equivalent on the Zagros
flanks (the Bus Mordeh phase at Ali Kosh is evidently
later to judge by the thin-walled stone vessels found in
it!). The first bordered the Nemrikian in the west (eastern
Jezirah), but its territory in the east is indefinable. The
second varied to some extent from the beginning
(Kozlowski 1999) and its boundaries cannot be traced,
unless we interpolate from the boundaries for the Late
Period (Kermanshah and Hulailan valleys).
Territories/Cultures Origin
Harifian
Sultanian Natufian, Khiamian
Early Aswadian of J. Cauvin
Mureybetian
Nevalı Çorian Trialetian
Early Nemrikian Zarzian
Early Western and Eastern
M’lefatian
 TERRITORIES, BOUNDARIES AND CULTURES

These identified territories were all disposed along are disposed according to the traditional “Palaeo-
corridors/water courses (coastal plains in the Levant, the Mesolithic”/hunting-gathering cultural system, which
Jordan, Wadi Araba and Orontes valleys, the middle and was self-sufficient, that is, isolated from the
upper Euphrates in the Syrian-Turkish stretch, the Iraqo- neighbouring areas, and characterized by small
Turkish upper Tigris, Wadi Tartar, the east-west axis of communities of from 50 to 80 people residing in
the upper Khabur, Iraqi tributaries of the Tigris, “villages” or permanent camps reminiscent of the
Kermanshah valley in Iran etc.) and separated by arid or Natufian.
semi-arid areas (the period was generally very dry as Change, including a settlement boom and
indicated by the apparent absence of any settlement in the eventually a conquest of “new” territories, would not
area within the Fertile Crescent at that time), often with come until the Late Period. The important point is that
imposing topography (mountains, plateaus). Thus they the early borders remain more or less the same.
Taxonomic entities or cultures in the Late Period
The state of the sources and consequently the scope assemblages of the Western Wing and the central part
of knowledge on the subject is markedly better for this of the Fertile Crescent is the use of what
period than for the Early Period. Ten territories or S.K. Kozlowski (1999) calls the Big Arrowheads
cultures are identified. The common feature of all the Industries (BAI).

Village Tahunian/Yarmukian
The name of Tahunian was proposed by occupied sites are: Jericho, Ain Ghazal, Beidha, Basta,
J. Crowfoot-Payne based on the study of the lithic Baaja, Atlit Yam, Es Siffiya, Sha’ar-Hagolan. Specific
industry of Jericho. The same entity is called “PPNB to its lithic industry are Jericho points and Abu Salem
variant North” by A. Gopher. It corresponds to a regional points (common to the Desert Tahunian), Yarmukian
variant of the general sequence which is traditionally sickle elements and knapped axes (absent from the Desert
termed middle and late PPNB. The final phase of this Tahunian). A type of mortar and a type of pestle as well
culture is generally divided into two sub-phases: as bracelets with triangular section may be added to this
the PPNC (G. Rollefson 1989) followed, with the assemblage. The Tahunian is above all characterized by a
introduction of pottery, by the Yarmukian/Lodian great variety of artistic pieces related to human
(Gopher and Gophna 1993). The analysis of the basic representation: standing figures, statues, masks, over-
maps shows that its territorial extension remained the modeled skulls, etc. From the time of its appearance,
same throughout its history, from about 8000 cal. B.C. to pottery (Yarmukian/Lodian) occupies the same territory
6000 cal. B.C. This territory extends from the Wadi which coincides also with the partial replacement of the
Araba to the Damascus basin, the length of the large arrowheads by small arrowheads (Haparsa,
“Levantine corridor” (Mediterranean coast and the Halutza, Nizzanim, etc.).
Jordan Valley) some 400 x 100 km. The principal
Characteristics of the Present also in neighbouring Specific features
Levantine province cultures
1.1.6 Abu Salem points (numerous)
1.1.10 Byblos points before 1.1.7 Jericho points (numerous)
7 500 cal. BC.
1.3.3.1 “ Tahunian axes ” 1.3.2.2 Yarmukian sickle inserts
2.1.3.3 Deep mortars on stand 2.1.1 Asymmetrical querns
2.2.2.3 Bell-shaped pestles
2.2.5.1 Oval thick bifacial polished
stone axes/celts
5.3.3 Bracelets with triangular or
sub-triangular section
6.3.3 Statuettes and figurines: standing
human representations with flattened head
6.5.2 Plaster statues
6.6.1 Small stone human heads
6.6.2 Plastered human skulls

73
 CHAPTER 3

Characteristics of the Present also in neighbouring Specific features

Levantine province cultures

6.6.3 Stone human masks

6.12 Theme: human head special treament
6.13 Theme: standing human representations
12.9 Rectangular houses
with tripartite plan
13 Yarmukian/Lodian pottery
Table 0.28.1—Village Tahunian.

Desert Tahunian
This probable variant of the Village Tahunian,
which was called Dhobaian by J. Waechter, occupies the
eastern and southern periphery (steppe and desert) of the
latter’s territory, with a maximum known length of
600 km and a maximum width of 200 km. The Desert
Tahunian traditionally appears in the late PPNB, except
at Jilat where it could date to the middle PPNB. The
Present also in neighbouring cultures
1.1.6 Abu Salem points (numerous)
1.1.7 Jericho points (numerous)
2.2.2.3 Bell-shaped pestles
2.2.3.2 Pedestalled undecorated “ shaft straighteners ”
main recognized sites are Ain Abu Nekheilah, Abu
Salem, Ein Qadis, Wadi Dhobai, Wadi Tbeik and
Burqu’. Abu Salem points and Jericho points are found at
the same time as architecture of “anachronistic”
circular plan. The sites are generally without “village”
equipment (sickle elements, axe, mortar, pestle, stone
crockery etc.).
Specific features
12.6 Round houses after 8 000 cal. BC.

Table 0.28.2—Desert Tahunian.

Late Aswadian
The territory of this culture appears to be limited in
its late phase: it seems to persist in the south (central
Levant with Byblos, Labweh, Aswad) without reaching
the middle Euphrates (250 x 100 km). Traces of this
culture are recognized up to about 6000 cal. B.C. It is
always characterized by Aswad points, the knapped axes
called Tahunian and the sickle elements called
Yarmukian, which strengthens its affinities with the
Village Tahunian to the south. But the presence of both
polished axes of rectangular section and white ware, as
well as thin-walled stone vessels is evidence of persistent
contacts with the Euphratian and the Jezirian. This is also
true for the pottery, which is of pre-Halaf type.

Present also in the Tahunian Present also in the Euphratian Specific features
1.3.2.2 Yarmukian sickle blades 1.1.9 Aswad points
1.3.3.1 “ Tahunian axes ”
2.2.5.4 Polished stone axes/celts
with rectangular section
2.1.3.3 Deep mortars on stand
3.2.4 Thin-walled high stone
vessels with S-shaped profile
3.2.5 Thin-walled semi globular
stone vessels with shouldered rim
4.2 White ware on ring base
8.3 Hooks with hole
9.2 Seals with handle
13 pre-Halaf pottery

Table 0.28.3—Late Aswadian.

74
 Village Tahunian-Yarmukian
N
Desert Tahunian
Late Aswadian-Pre-Halaf
Euphratian-Pre-Halaf
Taurusian Boy Tepe
Jezirian-Proto-Hassuna Van Caspian
Late Nemrikian-Proto-Hassuna Cafer Lake
Sea
Late Western M'lefaatian-Zagros group Çayönü
Late Eastern M'lefaatian-Zagros group Gritille

Urm
Late Lowland M'lefaatian-Samarra

ia L
Late Lowland M'lefaatian-Muhammad-Jaffar

ake
Late Lowland M'lefaatian-Ubaid Mezraz T.
Seker
Judaidah Kashkashok Ginnig Nemrik
Halula Hajji Firuz
Assouad ?
Magzalia Thalathat
? Yarim I Sotto
Shimshara
Kerkh
Ras Shamra Abu Hureyra

Umm Dabaghiah Jarmo

Buqras

El Kowm 2 Songor
Labweh

75
Mediterranean Byblos Ganj Dareh
Sarab
Sea Ramad Tamerkhan ? Abdul Hossein
Sawwan
Aswad Guran
Beisamoun Choga Mami
Atlit-Yam Burquu
Sha'ar ha-Golan
Munhata
Choga Sefid

Jericho Tula'i
Ain Ghazal
Jilat Ali Kosh
Abu
Gosh
Wadi Dhobai
Es-Siffiya
Oueili

Abu Salem
Eridu
Beidha
Baaja
Basta

0.28 Territories, Boundaries and Cultures in the Late Period

Wadi Tbeik
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001
 CHAPTER 3

Euphratian
The name of this culture comes from a proposition
of J. and M.-C. Cauvin to define within the PPNB a
“Euphrates facies”. This is also true for the Taurusian
(see infra). The territorial borders of the Euphratian,
added to the territory of the Late Aswadian, coincide with
the maximal extension of pre-Halaf pottery, but one
observe, inside the Euphratian, the presence of an internal
border separating two facies of the pre-Halaf pottery.
This border runs more or less along the Middle Euphrates
(Aurenche, Kozlowski and Le Mière 2004). The
Euphratian extends from the region of Kerkh to Balikh
(300 x 200 km). Existing at about 8000 cal. B.C., this
culture continued beyond 6000 cal. B.C. The principal
sites are Halula, Kowm 2 and Judaihah. The distinctive
features are the triangular sickle elements, and two types
of animal figurine (“gazelles”, “owls”).

Characteristic of the Present also in neighbouring cultures Specific features

Levantine province (Golden Triangle)
1.1.10 Byblos points before 1.3.4.2 “ Çayönü tools ” 1.3.2.1 Triangular sickle inserts
7 500 cal. BC.
2.2.5.4 Polished stone axes/celts
with rectangular section
3.2.4 Thin-walled high stone vessels
with S-shaped profile
3.2.5 Thin-walled semi globular stone
vessels with shouldered rim
3.2.8 Thin-walled carinated high
stone vessels
5.1.4 Flat triangular beads
5.1.5 “ Butterfly ” beads
5.1.7 Barrel-shaped beads
6.1.4 Figurines and statuettes :
“ charming gazelles ”
6.4.4 Figurines: “ sitting ladies ”
6.2.2 Statuettes : “ owls ”
in form of a tetrahedron
8.3 Hooks with hole
9.2 Seals with handle
13 pre-Halaf pottery
Table 0.28.4—Euphratian.
Taurusian
Following the principle retained for the Euphratian, geometric pieces, pedunculated polished axes, stone
we give this name to the “Taurus PPNB” of vessels with simple motifs, butterfly beads and an
J. Cauvin (1988). This culture occupies the same architecture characterised by constructions with raised
territory as the Nevalı Çorian in the preceding period, but floor on a grill or cell-plan, accompanied by “community
its southern part in contact with the Euphratian is poorly buildings”. From the time of the Nevalı Çorian and the
known. The principal sites are Cafer and Çayönü (upper Mureybetian, this type of construction seems to
grill and later). This culture developed from about 8000 characterize the middle and upper valleys of the Tigris
to 6000 cal. B.C. The specific elements are large and the Euphrates.
Present also in neighbouring cultures Specific features
1.3.2.1 Triangular sickle inserts 1.2.11 “ Big ” scalene triangles
1.3.4.2 “ Çayönü tools ”
2.2.2.4 “ Pedunculated ” pestles
2.2.5.3 Pedunculated polished stone axes/celts
3.1.4 Thick-walled decorated stone vessels
with simple motifs
5.1.5 “ Butterfly ” beads
5.1.7 Barrel-shaped beads
5.3.4 Bracelets with convex and profiled section
6.2.1 Statuettes: birds of prey
6.10 Theme: birds of prey representations
8.2 “ Festooned ” small bone plaques

76
 TERRITORIES, BOUNDARIES AND CULTURES

Present also in neighbouring cultures Specific features

8.3 Hooks with hole

8.5 Small rectangular perforated bone plaques
12.4 Community buildings
12.7 Buildings with grill-type base
12.8 Buildings with cell-type base
Pottery of Çayönü type (not mapped)
Table 0.28.5—Taurusian.
Jezirian
By analogy with the two present assemblages, we elements are, for the lithic industry, rare bullet-cores, rare
propose this name for the territory situated between the Nemrik points, a few geometric pieces and several types
Khabur and the middle Tigris (up to Sawwan?), an area of thin-walled stone vessels. In addition are polished axes
of about 350 x 300 km. The lithic industry of this culture with rectangular section and butterfly beads, and from
was described by S.K. Kozlowski under the name of Iraqi about 7000 cal. B.C. onwards, proto-Hassuna pottery for
BAI (Kozlowski 1999). The principal sites are Buqras, which the distribution in the west coincides exactly with
Kashkashok II and Umm Dabaghiyah. The chronology the boundaries defined here.
lies between 8000 and 6000 cal. B.C. The characteristic
Present also in neighbouring cultures Specific features
1.2.3 Trapezoids 1.1.17 Nemrik points (rare)
1.2.4 “ Late ” crescents
1.3.4.2 “ Çayönü tools ” 1.3.5.1 Conical and “ bullet ” cores
2.2.5.4 Polished stone axes/celts with
rectangular section
3.2.4 Thin-walled high stone vessels
with S-shaped profile
3.2.7 Thin-walled carinated low stone vessels 3.2.9 Thin-walled stone vessels with oval mouth
3.2.8 Thin-walled carinated high stone vessels 3.2.10 Thin-walled cylindrical stone vessels
4.1 “ Simple” white ware
5.1.4 Flat triangular beads
5.1.5 “ Butterfly ” beads
5.1.7 Barrel-shaped beads
5.3.4 Bracelets with convex and profiled section
6.1.4 Figurines and statuettes : “ charming gazelles ”
6.4.4 Figurines: “ sitting ladies ” in form
of a tetrahedron
9.2 Seals with handle
13 proto-Hassuna pottery
Table 0.28.6—Jezirian.
Late Nemrikian
In its latest phase (7000-6500 cal. B.C.) which sees together with stone vessels having simple motifs. Due to
the appearance of proto-Hassuna pottery, its territory is the presence of proto-Hassuna and Hassuna pottery
reduced to the benefit of the Jezirian coming from the respectively at Hajji Firuz and Shimshara, as well as the
west. The best-known sites are Thalathat and Ginnig. presence of one Nemrik point at Shimshara, we suggest
Nemrik points are the most characteristic element, that both sites could belong to the Late Nemrikian.
Present also in neighbouring cultures Specific features
1.2.2 Nibbled bladelets 1.1.17 Numerous Nemrik points
1.2.6 Backs + truncations
1.3.5.1 Conical and “ bullet ” cores
3.1.4 Thick-walled decorated stone
vessels with simple motives
6.10 Theme: birds of prey representations
13 (proto-Hassuna pottery)
Table 0.28.7—Late Nemrikian.
77
 CHAPTER 3

Late Western Mlefatian

This culture seems to occupy the same territory as
the preceding period, but the only known site is Jarmo,
where Zagros group pottery appears in the upper levels.
The Late Mlefatian is distinguished from the Early
Mlefatian by Çayönü tools and geometrics, by
Characteristics of the
Eastern Wing
1.2.2 Nibbled bladelets
1.2.3 Trapezoids
1.2.4 “ Late ” crescents
1.2.5 Backed bladelets and points
1.3.5.1 Conical and “ bullet ” cores
(numerous)
thin-walled stone vessels and by polished axes.
Beginning in 6000 cal. B.C. the lithic tradition, losing its
main microliths, transformed into post-Mlefatian
(Kozlowski 1999).
Specific Mlefatian features Specific Western features
1.2.6 Backs + truncations
1.2.7 Back + retouched bases
1.2.8 Retouched bases
1.2.9 Isosceles triangles
1.3.4.2 “ Çayönü tools ”
3.1.4 Thick-walled decorated stone
vessels with simple motifs
3.2.7 Thin-walled carinated low
stone vessels
3.2.8 Thin walled carinated high
stone vessels
3.2.9 Thin-walled stone vessels with
oval mouth
5.3.4 Bracelets with convex and
profiled section
6.1.5 Figurines: Canidae
6.1.6 Figurines: boars
6.4.6 Figurines: snail-shaped
“ sitting ladies ”
6.4.7 Figurines: T-shaped
“ sitting ladies ”
7.8 Tokens: tetrahedrons
7.9 Low spool-shaped “ labrets ”
12.7 Buildings with grill-type base
13 Zagros group pottery

Table 0.28.8—Late Western Mlefatian.

Late Eastern Mlefatian
Named after the lithic industry by S.K. Kozlowski and Abdul Hossein. It is characterised by several types of
(1999), situated in the central Zagros, this culture backed and geometric microliths, associated with specific
occupies several valleys (Kermanshah, Hulailan), with a animal figurines (Canidae and boars), very schematized
maximum extension of 180 x 100 km. Beginning in female (?) figurines and certain types of tokens. The
7000 cal. B.C., this culture developed the Zagros group “western” elements present in the Late Western
pottery. The principal sites are Ganj Dareh, Guran, Sarab Mlefatian do not seem to have reached this territory.
Common to the Eastern Wing Specific Mlefatian features Specific Eastern and Lowland
Mlefatian features
1.2.2 Nibbled bladelets
1.2.3 Trapezoids 1.2.6 Backs + truncations
1.2.4 “ Late ” crescents 1.2.7 Back + retouched bases
1.2.5 Backed bladelets and points 1.2.9 Isosceles triangles
1.3.5.1 Conical and “ bullet ”
cores (numerous)
6.1.5 Figurines: Canine
6.1.6 Figurines : boar
6.4.6 Figurines: snail-shaped
“ sitting ladies ”

78
 TERRITORIES, BOUNDARIES AND CULTURES

Common to the Eastern Wing Specific Mlefatian features Specific Eastern and Lowland
Mlefatian features

6.4.7 Figurines: T-shaped

“ sitting ladies ”
7.8 Tokens: tetrahedrons
7.9 Low spool-shaped “ labrets ” 7.10 T-Shaped “ labrets ”
13 Zagros group pottery

Table 0.28.9—Late Eastern Mlefatian.

Late Lowland Mlefatian

The only element which differenciates this territory
from the Eastern Mlefatian is a type of pottery which is
distinguished by Zagros group motifs and is called
Mohammed Jaffar pottery by F. Hole. The territory
covered occupies the foothills of the Zagros between the
Diyala and the Deh Luran (400 km), having a width of
about 20 km. In its configuration which is perceptible
today, this territory has probably lost a part of its area
where the early sites are buried under alluvia. The main
sites are Ali Kosh, and Choga Sefid. This culture appears
in 7500 cal. B.C., with a pre-pottery phase (Bus Mordeh
phase) and ends with the Sabz phase, which is associated
with a post-Mlefatian lithic industry (Kozlowski 1999).
Tamerkhan constitues a variant where the “true” Zagros
group pottery is present. Later, after the appearance of the
first pottery (Zagros group and Muhammad Jaffar
variant), the sites of the Mesopotamian plain produced a
lithic industry of Mlefatian tradition associated with two
new pottery traditions: Ubaid in the extreme south around
Oueili, and Samarra to the east of the Tigris (Sawwan,
Choga Mami, Songor). The hypothesis advanced here is
that the extension of the Mlefatian territory could,
beginning in the Early Period (?), have been noticeably
larger than is indicated by the little evidence found.
Nevertheless the paucity of information do not permit, in
this region, the exact reconstruction of territories and
boundaries which could have changed through the time.

Common to the Eastern Wing
1.2.2 Nibbled bladelets
1.2.3 Trapezoids
1.2.4 “ Late ” crescents
1.2.5 Backed bladelets and points
1.3.5.1 Conical and “ bullet ” cores
(numerous)
Specific Mlefatian features Specific Lowland and Eastern
Mlefatian features
1.2.6 Backs + truncations
1.2.7 Back + retouched bases
1.2.8 Retouched bases
1.2.9 Isosceles triangles
6.1.5 Figurines: Canidae
6.1.6 Figurines: boars
6.4.6 Figurines: snail-shaped
“ sitting ladies ”
6.4.7 Figurines: T-shaped
“ sitting ladies ”
7.8 Tokens: tetrahedrons
7.9 Low spool-shaped “ labrets ” 7.10 T-Shaped “ labrets ”
13 Zagros group pottery, 13 (Samarra pottery)
Mohammad Jaffar variant
13 (Ubaid pottery)

Table 0.28.10—Late Lowland Mlefatian.

79
 CHAPTER 3

Cultural Evolution
The Neolithic koine now spread into the interior of cause the old traditions to disappear; the preceding
the Fertile Crescent, perhaps initially at the end of the territorial subdivisions remained in place (respectively
MPPNB and certainly in the LPPNB period. The deserts Tahunian, Aswadian, Euphratian, Taurusian, Nemrikian,
and the Mesopotamian plain began to be settled (the latter etc.). In our opinion, one of the better proofs for
perhaps earlier?). the permanence of these “territories”—which may
In the Middle and Late PPNB periods, the Big be termed “cultures”—is represented by the exact
Arrowheads Industries coming from the Golden Triangle correspondence of the early pottery complexes
proliferated to the south and the east, “covering” the (Yarmukian, Pre-Halafian, Proto-Hassunian, Zagros
“old” traditional cultures (Sultanian , Aswadian, group) with the pre-ceramic subdivisions. These zones
Mureybetian, Nevalı Çorian, Nemrikian etc.) known are not bounded by impassable physical obstacles (except
from the Early Period. This apparent progression of probably certain valleys of the central high Zagros).
uniformity, which affected not only the lithic industry but These boundaries, if they are boundaries, are thus cultural
the way of life (agriculture, herding), did not however and it is clear that they persisted for several millennia.

Geographical Area Territories/Cultures Origin

southern Levant Village Tahunian Sultanian
southern Levant Desert Tahunian
central and northern Levant Late Aswadian Early Aswadian
Golden Triangle northern Levant Euphratian Mureybetian
High Valleys Taurusian Nevalı Çorian
Jezirah Jezirian Early Nemrikian
eastern Jezirah Late Nemrikien
western Zagros Late W. Mlefatian Early Mlefatian
central Zagros Late E. Mlefatian
Foothills of Zagros and Lowland Mlefatian
Mesopotamian plain

Table 0.28.11—Spatial distribution of cultures in the Late Period.

Leading role of distinctive cultures

In the Early Period the leading role was played by
the territories running along the middle and upper
Euphrates (Mureybetian, Nevalı Çorian) with their pre-
domestication economy, early rectangular architecture,
community buildings, statuary etc. At the end of this
period (ca. 8500 cal. B.C.) a predominant role fell to a
larger area covering the central part of the Fertile
Crescent, referred to by the authors as the Golden
Triangle (Aurenche and Kozlowski 1999, 2001). The
southern Levant with its two Sultanian and Harifian
territories, as well as the mountain part of the Eastern
Wing (Mlefatian territories) seem to have been culturally
peripheral at this time. This differing development is
probably due, in part, to easier intercultural contacts
which were on a larger scale in the “open” area of the
Golden Triangle than in the south or the east, restricted
by desert and steppe (end of the contacts with Egypt?).
From a cultural point of view, the southern area of the
Western Wing became a kind of cul-de-sac.
It was in the Golden Triangle that the earliest real
domestication took place (Helmer et al. 1998); it was
there that rectangular architecture developed most
dynamically and where structured villages were
established (including the so-called community
buildings/sanctuaries). Finally in the Late Period, it is
there that long-distance interregional “trade” developed
(obsidian, ornaments, polished axes/celts (?), specialized
stone vessels etc., infra p. 83, table 0.29). Exchange
combined with mass productions intended for “sale”
were elements of specialization and of organized
circulation of artefacts which also included other
products such as food (cf. stamped amphorae from
Sabi Abyad I). The establishment of this kind of
“market” was one of the most important factors in the
“Neolithic Revolution” which (during the Late PPNB
period) represents a key point in human history.
Elements of this “revolution” (plant and animal
domestication, rectangular architecture, villages with

80
 TERRITORIES, BOUNDARIES AND CULTURES
community buildings, new technologies, big arrowheads,
mass production and long-distance exchange, earliest
ceramics) from this “central place” would gradually
attain the peripheries of the Fertile Crescent, but at a
clearly later date (infra p. 84, table 0.30).4
From a technological point of view, while the
southern Levantine periphery began to approach the BAI
standard already in the MPPNB period, even though it
would remain secondary in relation to the northern
“center” (with Early PPNB of Dja’de and Nevalı Çori),
the eastern areas were subjected to this standardization
only gradually and never entirely (Jezirian BAI territory).
The expansion of the BAI concept to the east during the
Late PPNB period narrowed down the Nemrikian
territory (which still lasted marginally into the
Proto-Hassuna period, e.g. in Thalathat) and still later
reached the Mesopotamian plain (obvious BAI elements
of the industry at Sawwan, occurring together with
eastern technology).
The Zagros mountains (and flanks) segment of the
Eastern Wing was not yet affected by the BAI, even
though Jarmo in the western Zagros (Western Mlefatian
territory) was clearly under the influence of ideas coming
from the Golden Triangle. The Mlefatian tradition
continued to develop there, turning at about
6000 cal. B.C. from a Late Mlefatian industry
with geometric pieces into a post-Mlefatian one
(disappearance of microliths). From about 7000 years
cal. B.C. these transformations were accompanied locally
by diverse original ceramic styles (Proto-Hassuna,
Zagros group, Muhammad Jaffar variant and, later,
Samarra pottery and Ubaid pottery).
The internal subdivision of the mountains and
foothills segment of the Eastern Wing is self-evident
(western and central Zagros, foothills, Mesopotamian
plain), but precise definition of each of the territories or
cultures is difficult. There is a great gap between the
western Zagros, which receives general “western”
elements such as Çayönü tools, thin-walled stone vessels
and polished axes/celts, and the central Zagros and the
Mesopotamian plain where the late alluvial deposits have
concealed much of the prehistory of this region.
It can be said, however, that the late Mesopotamian
plain cultures (early Samarran in the north and early
Ubaid to the south at Oueili) in the late seventh
millennium cal. B.C., were post-Mlefatian as far as the
chipped industry is concerned (mixed in Sawwan with
4. Despite the recent discoveries in Cyprus, we don’t have taken into account the problem of the first occupation of the island. More
informations are requested in Cyprus and elsewhere to solve the problem of the “monocentric” or “polycentric”model of plant and
animal domestication
81
BAI elements), although the pottery itself was clearly
distinct, indicating two different territories or cultures.
A few additional words are necessary concerning
the Western Wing of the Fertile Crescent for a number of
reasons. First, it is there that the phenomenon of entering
the desert zone (= Desert Tahunian, later “Burin sites” of
A. Betts) by communities connected with the village
Tahunian tradition was most manifest. This occurred on
a massive scale already in the Late PPNB period and
continued later (PPNC). These first inhabitants of the
desert and the steppe (earlier occupation only in the
Epi-Palaeolithic) lived in campsites with “residual”
circular (!) dwellings, and their equipment (lack of most
of the “village” stone tools) was not suggestive of
sedentary status. Were they hunters, as A. Betts
presumes, or were they already pastoralists, as suggested
by J. Cauvin? This issue is not easily resolved, nor
whether these people arrived seasonally from villages
situated in the Fertile Crescent or lived here on a
permanent basis. This phenomenon is related to conquest
of virgin territories (Go West, or more accurately, Go
East!), and is unlike the complex system of exchange
which took place earlier within the Golden Triangle
between neighbouring cultures or populations (see
footnote 4).
Meanwhile (during the PPNC period) some changes
occurred in the southern Levant related to the size of the
villages and the styles of the flint industries: part of the
Big Arrowheads Industries was replaced by Small
Arrowheads (Haparsah, Nizzanim, Herzliya points). The
same phenomenon, or a similar phenomenon, also
reached the north (Çayönü pottery levels), the east
(Sawwan) and the desert (numerous sites in the Arabian
peninsula).
The culture of the El Kown oasis, more to the north,
was clearly related to the Euphratian. Data from the
desert hinterland of the central Levant are almost
nonexistent, unfortunately, but according to all
expectations it should be different from the Desert
Tahunian and closer (but with desert specificity) to the
Euphratian or Late Aswadian.
Thus, in the Western Wing each of the great
traditions (northern Levant and southern Levant)
extended its territory into the semi-desert zones which
had remained unoccupied since the Epipalaeolithic. A
combination of climatic optimum and cultural dynamism
contributed to the conquest of these new lands.
 CHAPTER 3
Duration and change
The proto-Neolithic and Neolithic cultures of the
Near East were characterized in general by a considerable
inertia. Once the types or their combinations had been
formed, they would persist in the same territory
unchanged for millennia, frequently (although not
always) adhering to the same range or borders. Of
particular importance for our interpretations is the
persistence of types or combinations of types which were
regional or supra-regional in scope, including some
defining elements.
Presented below are the more important examples
of the exceptionally long-lasting tradition of Near
Eastern Neolithic types:
A first glance reveals the high stability (e.g. 3.1.1,
2.2.3.1, 5.2.1, 1.3.5.1 etc.) of this tradition in both Wings
of the Fertile Crescent, particularly in the Eastern Wing,
which is characterized by greater technological and
stylistic stability or conservatism than the Western Wing.
In the east certain types (e.g. 1.3.5.1) persisted
unchanged for more than five millennia, while the
standard duration of “normal” types in the West was a
“mere” two to three millennia.
The changeability present in at least some of the
segments of the Early/Middle Holocene Near Eastern
culture was much more obvious in the “dynamic” West
(evolution of core technology and of arrowheads, cf.
maps 1.1.4-1.1.19) and in the central part (appearance of
long-distance circulation of thin-walled stone vessels, for
example, cf. maps 3.2.1-3.2.11). For geographic reasons
(mountains) if nothing else (territorial “seclusion”), the
East appeared to be more resistant to any
“modernization” trends. It turns out that the fashionable
market goods reached this area with more difficulty, as
did technological innovations: for example, the
expansion of BAI did not reach the Zagros; neither did
the polished axes/celts (maps 2.2.5.1-2.2.5.4), to take just
one example, appear at all in this region, except in its
Proliferation of goods and circulation of ideas
Although the distribution of the particular types
described above, as well as the borders between the
territories or cultures, appear to be continuously stable,
the occurrence of extra-territorial proliferation of certain
types and even of entire complex structures is possible
though unusual.
Whatever the mechanism (migration, cf. Cauvin,
1997 and 2000, or acculturation), expansion in many
directions and with varying degrees of complexity may
82
western extremity.
After more than four millennia of “stability”, an
initial change occurred at about 8000 cal. B.C. As we
have seen, the beginning of this change appears to be
situated in the central part of the Fertile Crescent (Golden
Triangle). It concerns not only the lithic industry
(proliferation of large blade industries, 1.1.9, 1.1.10 with
the adoption of bipolar debitage), but also the generalized
transition from circular habitations to rectangular
habitations, the appearance of community buildings, of
thin-walled stone vessels, and “refined” elements of
ornament as well as nearly life-size statuary. This
coincides, of course, with the appearance of agriculture
and herding. It is truly the Neolithic Revolution.
It is nevertheless necessary to observe that all these
fundamental and characteristic changes occurring in the
Neolithic Revolution do not “erase” the earlier cultures
but add to them. They penetrate into territories which had
been defined for millennia, where they replace the earlier
techniques with cohabitation phases according to
well-known phenomena of acculturation. The human
groups which received these changes probably modified
their behaviour but in no case did they modify their
territorial boundaries.
The truth of this is evident when less than a
millennium later a second change occurred, marked by
the introduction of pottery, and the cultural boundaries
remained surprisingly stable. This continuity, which has
never been demonstrated on this scale, is one of the major
contributions to research of recent years on the Neolithic
of the Near East. This continuity did not exclude the
territorial expansion of the most dynamic cultures. But
this expansion did not take place to the detriment of the
neighbouring territories which already existed. It was, as
we have seen above, a conquest of new “virgin” spaces
which had been unoccupied since the Epipalaeolithic.
These lands were hunting grounds, or new
complementary spaces to the village areas which had
become more and more dense, adapted to a new
technique for exploiting the animal world, pastoralism.
be noted. Foremost is a decentralising movement
beginning generally in the “Golden Triangle” (Aurenche
and Kozlowski 1999, 2001) and reaching south to the
Sinai, east to central Mesopotamia and the Arabian
Desert, as well as north to central Anatolia (mostly new
architectural features, new lithic technology, domestic
crops and animals).
Presented in the following table are the first and
most characteristic “movements”.
 TERRITORIES, BOUNDARIES AND CULTURES
From the Golden Triangle
Early Period
Perforated balls
Late Period
Domestic cattle
Domestic crops
Bipolar core technology
BAI
Byblos points
Polished axes/celts
Passage from round to
rectangular house plan
Grill-plan house
Community building
Table 0.29—Proliferation of goods and circulation of ideas.
Crossing the borders
The two hypotheses are not in fact mutually exclusive...
As stated above, the borders between territories are
never completely impermeable. There are always some
goods crossing them, produced for “export” so to speak,
or circulating for other reasons (for example, “border
trade” between neighbours or movement of prestigious
objects).
There are two periods to be distinguished here,
differing in the scope and range of this circulation. The
first is the Early Period, characterized by a self-sufficient
economy, which did not create much demand for
attractive and exotic goods and which did not encourage
intensive foreign contacts. Nevertheless, some attractive
small objects did circulate over limited distances and in
small quantities (obsidian in the Jezirah, chlorite on the
Syrian middle Euphrates, “chocolate” flint in the eastern
Jezirah, red chert in the Zagros etc.).
The situation changed dramatically in the Late
Period when an extensive supra-regional “market” for
“luxury” goods (Aurenche, Kozlowski 1999) produced
for “sale” or for “export” was formed (cf. table 0.30
below). These products were transported relatively easily
because of their small size, and were perhaps already
produced by specialized craftsmen (thin-walled stone
vessels, more sophisticated ornaments, bracelets, beads,
some polished axes/celts, made of impressive materials
such as alabaster, marble, turquoise, green stone etc.).
The situation was similar later for luxury ceramic vessels
(Bader et al. 1994). These goods were frequently
distributed over distances of hundreds of kilometres,
83
Southward Eastward Map number
* * 2.2.4.2
* * not mapped
* * not mapped
* * not mapped
* * not mapped
* * 1.1.10
* 2.2.5.2
* * 12.5
12.6
* 12.7
* 12.4
crossing more than one border.
In the Late Period long-distance distribution of
high-quality raw materials (in different forms) also
develops, the materials circulating far and wide in the
form of pre-cores and cores, blades (e.g. Çayönu tools,
cf. map 1.3.4.2) and perhaps even finished tools (some
arrowheads?, “knives”? and “sickles”?). The wide,
convenient watercourse axes connecting territories were
used to advantage (Levantine corridor, upper/middle
Euphrates and Tigris corridors), and there were perhaps
short cuts across the desert, such as the chain of oases
between the middle Euphrates and the central and
southern Levant (e.g. thick-walled flat-based stone
vessels known from the Zagros, and also from Munhata,
cf. map 3.1.2). The existence of such a circuit of
distribution has just been confirmed by geo-chemical
studies on the obsidian which, besides the confirmation
of the principal frontier between the Western and Eastern
Wings (supra p. 48), suggest a circulation of obsidian
from Bingöl and Lake Van through the oasis of El Kowm
(maps 14.3 and 14.4). The table 0.30 catalogues objects
of both proven and presumed circulation.
Regional circulation has also been studied, for
instance of chlorite along the Syrian middle Euphrates
(pers. com. J. Cauvin), red chert along the Zagros
(J. Pullar 1975), and luxury pottery (Bader et al. 1994).
However, without specialist studies of the raw materials
little real progress can be made in this research.
 CHAPTER 3

A. Proven Map number

Big obsidian blades (Çayönü-tools) 1.3.4.2
Flint blades of quality Not mapped
Luxury ceramics Not mapped
Obsidian 14.1 to 14.4
B. Probable:
Thin-walled flat based stone vessels 3.2.2*
Thin-walled low stone vessels with S-shaped profile 3.2.3*
Thin-walled high stone vessels with S-shaped profile 3.2.4*
Thin-walled semi-globular stone vessels with shouldered rim 3.2.5*
Thin-walled carinated low stone vessels 3.2.7
Thin-walled carinated high stone vessels 3.2.8
Thin-walled stone vessels with oval mouth 3.2.9
Thin-walled cylindrical stone vessels 3.2.10
Thin-walled stone vessels on legs 3.2.11

* through Wadi Tadmor and chain of oases, absent in the

central part of the Fertile Crescent and in the High Valleys
Beads 5.1.4 and 5.1.5
Bracelets 5.3.4
Polished axes/celts 2.2.5.4
C. Possible:
Polished axes/celts 2.2.5.2
Tokens 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4

Table 0.30—Interregional/supraregional circulation in the Late Period

(note: numbers refer to the basic maps).
Rhythm of development
Period of stability
Subsidence and stabilization followed the relatively
dynamic activity of the post-Epipalaeolithic stage. With
few modifications, it would last (for at least four
millennia) until the coming of the “Neolithic
Revolution”, that is, the turn of the ninth/eight millennia
cal. B.C.
The southern Levant with its long Sultanian
tradition is a champion here, while the Jezirah and the
Zagros should be termed super-champions as lack of
change there appears to have been absolute (the
Nemrikian and Mlefatian continued well into the ceramic
period).
The northern part of the Western Wing was much
more dynamic, with stylistic and technological changes
occurring there far more quickly, with the following
sequences: at the beginning “Khiamian” (Mureybet II
sequence) and Trialetian, then respectively Mureybetian
and Nevalı Çorian, finally Euphratian and Taurusian. It
is from this zone that a new cultural model (PPNB-BAI)
would spread at a later date to the south and the east. It is
here also, on the Syrian and Turkish stretch of the middle
Euphrates and the upper Tigris in Turkey, that the
“Neolithic Revolution” would erupt.
It is not quite clear how and why it began, but it is
known where it happened and how it spread from there in
a radiate pattern.
Great change... but stable borders
After the long period of relative stability in the
Early Period came a time of dynamic change lasting
some 500-700 years, mainly in the eighth millennium
cal. B.C., that is, at the beginning of the Late Period.
After statistical evaluation of a large series of calibrated
C14 dates, one of us has established that agriculture and
livestock breeding appeared just before 8000 cal. B.C.,
and subsequently spread across a wide area (southwards,
westwards and eastwards) within just a few hundred
years (Aurenche et al. 2001). One of the major effects of
the calibration is to extend in time (more than four
millenia) the period preceding the “true” Neolithic (from
the Natufian in the west and the Zarzian in the east
around 12 500 cal. B.C. up to the so-called MPPNB
around 8300-8000 cal. B.C.). So the “great change”
(a few centuries) is preceded by a very long period of
maturation, which is longer than was generally expected.
From this statement two points of view can be
envisaged: either one stresses the impact of change, or

84
 TERRITORIES, BOUNDARIES AND CULTURES
without denying its importance, one emphasizes the
continuity of the cultures and the permanence of the
borders which separate them.
The changes were varied in character, for they
concerned both nature and culture. A series of events
took place and nothing was the same after that.
The stability of the old model was shaken. A new and
more uniform true Neolithic model was gradually
introduced. It was in this period that humidity in the Near
East increased substantially (climatic optimum ,
cf. Sanlaville 1997), resulting in the development of
forest formations in areas of the Fertile Crescent
(van Zeist and Bottema 1991) and within the crescent
where the dry steppe had become more humid (Aurenche
and Kozlowski 1999, fig. 6).
In the cultural sense, this led to a number of
significant changes on the macro-scale, as well as on
the micro-scale. First of all, a kind of koine spread
progressively across the whole Fertile Crescent.
Secondly, there was a massive and systematic
delocalization of villages. Sites occupied in the Early
Period were abandoned while new ones appeared where
none or almost none had existed before; some of these
were destined to last without any significant breaks for
over a millennium (e.g. the great tells at Çayönü, Jericho,
Halula, Jarmo, Ali Kosh etc.). This delocalization was in
all probability the result of extensive hydrographic
changes (these in turn connected with sea level changes)
occurring over the entire Near East (e.g. abandonment of
sites around the Salabiya Basin in Palestine, as well as of
early sites on the middle Euphrates in Syria, in the
eastern Iraqi Jezirah and in the Turkish foothills of the
Taurus).
The third great cultural phenomenon was a gradual
proliferation of new flint technologies and styles ,
replacing hitherto existing ones, which moved from the
northern Levant in the MPPNB and LPPNP to the south,
the east and the southeast respectively. A fundamental
standardization took place over an enormous area,
ushering in what has been designated as the “PPNB
civilization” (Cauvin 1997 and 2000) or Big Arrowheads
Industries (Kozlowski 1999). Also connected with these
forms was a proliferation of the highly organized
rectangular house plan.
Among the most spectacular developments is the
domestication of plants and animals (Helmer et al. 1998).
It was in the MPPNB period in the northernmost Levant
and the Jezirah (the “Golden Triangle”) that the first
domesticated sheep/goats and cattle appeared (the latter
coinciding with their figural representations,
cf. Kozlowski and Lasota 2004). It was also then that
sheep replaced gazelle in the faunal spectra of the
southern Levant (Bar-Yosef 1981).
85
Other revolutionary features included:
—a noticeable increase in the size of villages,
compared to the previous period, including in the LPPN
period mega_structures of the kind at Abu Hureyra,
Ain Ghazal, Halula and Basta, probably as a consequence
of a demographic boom (Gebel 2002).
—the formation of an enormous “market” for
exchange, including production, long-distance transport
and “trade” in luxury goods (ornaments, stone vessels)
and high-technology products (obsidian and high-quality
flint cores and blades, polished axes/celts etc., from a
system of quarries, workshops and distribution). The
phenomenon was most developed in the central part of
the Fertile Crescent, but known also e.g. from the
southern Levant (Basta and Baaja with their mass
production of stone vessels and bracelets respectively).
At the same time old models characteristic of the
Early Period gradually disappeared in the centre and in
the west. These included, for example, numerous and
varied points (Sheikh Hassan, Jerf el Ahmar, Mureybet,
Jordan, Salibiya, El Khiam, Nevalı Çori, Nemrik,
Qaramel types etc.), which were replaced by standardized
points from the BAI repertoire (mainly Byblos and Amuq
types which could also be traded long-distance).
The process continued into the early ceramic period
and at this point the “great change” ended. Pottery made
its first appearance around 7000 cal. B.C. and with it
came new types of stone vessels (long-distance “trade”),
as well as many other new products (sling-balls, spindle-
whorls, seals with handles etc.). The village zone spread
slightly into the interior of the Fertile Crescent
(Umm-Dabagiya, Sawwan, Oueili), accompanied and
partly preceded in the west by a settlement crisis in the
PPNC period featuring a partial delocalization and a
serious reduction in the size of particular settlements.
The first revolution was in the throes of crisis, while
the nex—the Urban Revolution—had yet to come.
Without denying the importance and the
universality of the change, we can also acknowledge the
surprising stability of Near Eastern Neolithic cultures and
their territories. Precisely because of the appearance of
the first pottery we can place the uniformity of the PPNB
or BAI phenomenon, together with the permanence of the
early cultures, understood at least from the point of view
of their territorial extension. We demonstrated above that
the distribution of the first pottery groups corresponds
exactly to that of the cultures existing before the
Neolithic Revolution and that the principal borders thus
revealed persisted practically without change. What
conclusion may be drawn, if not a continuity, over a long
duration, of the settlement of human groups in the same
territory? Can we interpret this situation in
anthropological terms, that is, take up F. Barth’s
 CHAPTER 3
formulation (1969-1998), and consider that a given
territory was occupied by a given ethnic group, and that
in our particular study these ethnic groups would have,
even as they developed (for some) or received (for
others) elements of a new culture, maintained their own
specificity, the traces of which emerge when distinct
pottery types were created, each in its own sphere?
F. Barth’s hypothesis, presented at the beginning of this
book, is thus verified: human cultures may be defined as
86
much by the content of their material production—the
only one accessible to prehistorians—which can vary
over time, as by the reciprocal differences which contrast
them with neighbouring cultures. This demonstrated
durability over several millennia of distinct territories,
and thus of the borders which define them, shows that, in
spite of appearances, prehistory can apprehend “living”
human groups.
 GENERAL CONCLUSION
By establishing in succession basic maps which
present the distribution of more than 165 different
elements (maps 1.1 to 14.4, cf. Annex), several modes of
spatial disposition (maps 0.4 to 0.12), and territorial
borders (maps 0.13 to 0.26), we have demonstrated the
relative stability of several borders from at least the 11th
to the end of the 7th millennium (maps 0.27 and 0.28).
To our knowledge, it is the first time that this result has
been obtained on the scale of the entire Neolithic of the
Near East. These frontiers are not characterized, like
modern political frontiers, by fixed lines but rather by
bands of varying width, which separate by “empty” areas
the “full” zones or “territories” which present a
homogenous distribution of common taxonomic traits.
These territories are partly, but only partly, dependent
upon natural topographic and hydrographic conditions.
Thus the long narrow territories (corridors) of the
Western Wing contrast with the broader territories of the
Eastern Wing. These frontiers sometimes follow the
natural physical or hydrological boundaries, for example
the frontier between the Zagros and the Mesopotamian
plain, the frontier between the arid steppe and the Fertile
Crescent stricto sensu, and probably the frontier crossing
the inhospitable steppe zone (?) between the Balikh and
the Khabur. Other frontiers appear less constraining, such
as that which separates the northern Levant from the
southern and central Levant (line of the north/south
watershed between the Orontes and the Jordan), or that
which divides the High Valleys from the Jezirah. It is
worth noting (infra p. 95) that most of these borders exist
today as international frontiers between states (Syria and
Turkey, Syria and Iraq, Syria and Lebanon).
From a cultural point of view, the frontiers which
existed in the Neolithic do not always appear to possess
the same importance. Besides the principal frontier
(which was lastingly broken through only once, with the
expansion of the BAI, Big Arrowheads Industries)
separating the two branches of the Fertile Crescent and
marking the boundary between two “contrasting” worlds,
there are the “minor” frontiers, such as those which
separate the southern and central Levant from the
northern Levant, the Jezirah from the Zagros mountains,
and the latter from the Mesopotamian plain, those which
define the different cultures of the Zagros, and those
which distinguish, in the southern Levant, village
settlements from seasonal occupations in the “desert”.
From one period to another minor shifts in these borders
occurred without disturbing the general outline. Even the
intensive circulation of ideas and of luxury goods at the
launch of the general process of Neolithisation did not
noticeably or durably modify these boundaries, as
indicated by the distribution of the first pottery.
On the scale of prehistoric time periods, within each
of the territories defined by these borders, even if it is
more difficult to demonstrate in the Eastern Wing, there
exists a noticeable development in which the different
stages are generally marked by a different taxonomic
terminology. This development, observed by all
prehistorians, should not mask the real permanence of a
large number of cultural traits, proof of the existence of
local or regional traditions maintained over time within
the same territory.
In these conditions, can this situation be interpreted
in ethnic terms, in F. Barth’s (1969, 1998) sense, and can
what prehistorians call cultures correspond to what
anthropologists call ethnic units? If we follow Barth’s
reasoning, it is precisely the permanence of the frontiers,
which we believe we have demonstrated for prehistory,
which “validates” the existence of “ethnic units” or
“cultures”: “I have argued that boundaries are also
maintained between ethnic units, and that consequently
[our emphasis] it is possible to specify the nature of
continuity and persistence of such units... The persistence
of the unit then depends [our emphasis] on the
persistence of these cultural differentiae, while continuity
can also be specified through the changes of the unit
 GENERAL CONCLUSION

brought about by changes in the boundary—defining
cultural differentiae” (Barth 1998 p. 38). That is, are
living human populations clearly differentiated by their
material culture—the only category accessible to the
prehistorian—are they also differentiated by language
(infra p. 89), kinship system, treatment of myths, etc.,
elements upon which anthropologists base their
classification? However, our intention is not to enter the
vast debate which has agitated Anglo-Saxon
prehistorians concerning the social organization of these
so-called “primitive” peoples either from the individual
(nuclear families, extended families etc.) or from the
collective point of view (bands, macro-bands, tribes,
chiefdoms etc.), which is a different sort of problem
beyond the scope of this work (for an updated
finalization, see Parkinson ed. 2002). We wish only to
distinguish their territorial extension, testing, we hope
successfully, Barth’s hypothesis.

Borders through the time

before ...
On the scale of the Near East, the question of the
period of existence of these borders may now be posed.
The late Epipalaeolithic and proto-Neolithic cultures
seem to have already existed before the main Neolithic
territorial divisions: the Natufian occupied the whole of
the Western Wing at least up to the Euphrates, while the
Zarzian extended over the whole of the Eastern Wing,
perhaps in the west up to the Khabur. At the same time,
the Trialetian appears to have been present in the High
Valleys, although found up to now mainly in the form of
mixed elements in more recent levels (map 0.29, after
Gebel and Kozlowski 1996 and Aurenche and
Kozlowski 1999). This great tripartite division could
very possibly reflect the situation even earlier than the
end of the Palaeolithic with the Geometric Kebaran in the
west, the Baradostian in the east and the Imeretian in the
north (Kozlowski 1999; Aurenche and Kozlowski 1999).
Thus the duration of these great differentiated territorial
entities and limits can be conservatively estimated at
about ten millennia.

Natoufien
Trialétien
Zarzien
Harifien

Map 0.29
The spatial repartition of the three main lithic traditions between
12 000 and 10 200 cal. B.C., after Aurenche and Kozlowski 1999.

88
 GENERAL CONCLUSION

... and after

The durability of these borders is all the more
surprising when the later history of the region is
considered. Without entering into details which are not
within our competence, we can present a few examples.
We use deliberately for this demonstration original maps
issued from various sources and prepared by colleagues
having a goal different from ours. We think that this
method guarantees a better objectivity.
The first example, at a very general but significtant
level, is the map of the three major linguistic systems
(Arabic, Turkish and Indo-European or Iranian)
used today in the Near East. They come together
exactly on the Middle Euphrates valley (map 0.30, after
Sellier 2002). This situation could reflect a very ancient
one, at least from the time when documents attest the
existence of each of the three “big” language families.

Map 0.30—Map of the three major linguistic systems

in the Near East, after Sellier 2002.

89
 GENERAL CONCLUSION

Excepted, of course, is the Sumerian system

in the Mesopotamian lowland which disappeared
early in historical times. In the historical period
(2nd millennium B.C.), the principal border between
the two branches of the Fertile Crescent that lies, as we
have shown, between the Balikh and the Khabur
(supra p. 62, maps 0.25-0.26) is surprisingly long-lived.
In the second half of the second millennium B.C., the
Cassite kingdom and Assyria meet the Mitanni exactly on
the Khabur, while, later, the Hittite expansion along the
Euphrates does not go beyond the same line in the east
(map 0.31b, after Margueron and Pfirsch 1996).

b
Map 0.31—The borders in the Near East around the second millennium B.C.,
after Margueron and Pfirsch 1996.

90
 GENERAL CONCLUSION

Map 0.33—The Eastern part of the Roman domina-

tion under Augustus, after Scarre 1995.

Map 0.32—The borders between three of the

Hellenistic kingdoms, after Morkot 1999.

.a.

Map 0.34—The Eastern part of the Roman Empire

(2d Cent. A.D.), after Scarre 1995.
b.
Map 0.35 a and b—The Eastern border of the Roman Empire,
during the Parthian and Sassanian Empires, after GHW 1978.
91
 GENERAL CONCLUSION

Map 0.36—The Eastern border of the Byzantine Empire around 565 A.D.,
after Atlas Hachette, 1987.

Map 0.37—The Eastern border of the Byzantine Empire around 1050 A.D.,
after Atlas Hachette, 1987.

Map 0.39—The Western limit of the Timurid

conquest in the beginning of the 15th Cent. A.D.,
Map 0.38—The North-Eastern border of the after TAVO, map B VIII 19.
Ayyubid Sultanate around 1200 A.D., after TAVO, map B VIII 1.
92
 GENERAL CONCLUSION

Map 0.40—The limits of the French and English Mandates around 1920 A.D.,
after TAVO, map B X 2.

d ' a n S
F a h
a
m
m
a
d
l i
r

K ha
ni
Ba S b a
' a Shamma
r
B

'U
a

i qa
n

yd
K a
h t
a
li
d
D u la
y m
K ha
za
'il

i
Ban hr
k khr
Sa Sa Sb
ni a'
Ba a
F
a
d
'a
a-t

at

. .
yt -

n
yt

a
wa

uw
H.
Hu

wala
Ru

Sba'a
Sba'a

Map 0.41—The “borders” between Beduine tribes in the 19th Cent. A.D.,
after Kennedy 2002.

93
 GENERAL CONCLUSION

The provinces of
Syria under Septimus
Severus. Approximate
boundaries.

Map 0.42—The limits of the Roman Provinces under

Septimus Severus (2nd Cent. A.D.),
after Butcher 2003.

Map 0.43—The borders between political entities

during the Crusader time, after Kennedy 2002.

Map 0.44—The borders between provinces during the

Ottoman Empire, after TAVO, map B IX 7.

94
 GENERAL CONCLUSION
After the breakup of Alexander’s empire, at about
303 B.C., the border between the part which went to
Antigonus and that which went to Seleucos I, while
Egypt fell to Ptolemy, was fixed along the course of the
Khabur (map 0.32, after Morkot 1999, p. 124-125).
Under Augustus (31 B.C.-14 A.D.), the eastern border of
the Roman territory is situated on the Middle Euphrates
valley (map 0.33, after Scarre 1995), and remains the
same during the first part of the Roman Empire
(2nd century A.D.), dividing it from the Parthian Empire
(map 0.34, after Scarre 1995, and 0.35a, after GHW),
moving later (4th century A.D.) eastwards to the Khabur
which separated the Roman from the Sassinian Empire
(map 0.35b). Throughout the duration of the Roman
Empire, the border with the Parthians followed by the
Sassanians oscillated between the middle Euphrates and
the valley of the Khabur, around the site of Doura
Europos (maps 0.35, after GHW 1978, p. 46 and 51). To
follow the fluctuations of this border over time, we refer
to the map B V 13 of the TAVO, not reproduced here. Up
t.o the end of the 6th century A.D., the frontier of the
Byzantine Empire with the Sassanian Empire also lay
no farther than the Khabur (map 0.36, after Atlas
Hachette 1987), then fluctuated at the time of the Arab
conquest before shifting to the Middle Euphrates at about
1050 A.D. (map 0.37, after Atlas Hachette p. 75).
At about 1200 A.D., the northeastern boundary of
the Ayyubid Sultanate also lay between the Balikh and
the Khabur (map 0.38, after TAVO map B VIII 1), while
in the 15th century the Timurid advance on the
Mameluks did not, in the west, go beyond the Middle
Euphrates (map 0.39, after TAVO map B VIII 19). After
the dismantlement of the Ottoman Empire, this frontier
around the Khabur again became significant at the time
of the French and British mandates, anticipating the
present borders between Syria and Iraq (map 0.40, after
TAVO, B X 2).
It is surprising to observe that the traditional routes
of the Bedouin tribes, whose propensity for crossing
frontiers is well-known, generally respect this same
principal east-west border. To judge by the distribution
of territories and of winter and summer routes it is clear
that the Euphrates and the Khabur separate the Sba’a and
the Bani Khalid in the west from the Shammar in the east
(map 0.41, after Kennedy 2002).
95
This main frontier between the Orient and the
Occident was only crossed—although this happened
often—during brief periods of expansion from one side
or the other. The important point to retain is that this
boundary, set in place during the Epipalaeolithic, always
shifted back to its old line.
If we push the analysis farther, we can also observe
the permanence of at least one secondary frontier,
that which separated the northern Levant from the
southern Levant at the level of the Lebanese Beqa’a. In
the second millennium B.C. the site of Qadesh, where the
Egyptian and Hittite empires clashed, marks this frontier
at least symbolically (map 0.31a, after Margueron and
Pfirsch 1996). Under the Roman Empire, the emperor
Septimius Severus, in his reorganization of the eastern
provinces, divided the old province of Syria into three
distinct administrative entities: Syria Coele whose
eastern extremity reached to Doura Europos (the
Osrhoene extends to the east), Syria Phoenicia and Syria
Palestina. The border between the first two lay in the
north of the Beqa’a (map 0.42, after Butcher 2003,
p. 85-86). This border was recognized by the Crusaders,
as it separated in the 12th century the earldom of
Tripoli from the kingdom of Jerusalem (map 0.43, after
Kennedy 2002, p. 20) and was maintained between two
distinct provinces in the Ottoman Empire (map 0.44, after
TAVO B IX 7). Today, the border between Lebanon and
Syria runs along the same line. Similar results at another
scale of time where independently obtain by the medieval
historian T. Bianquis, 1996.
In the light of the development of these borders in
the historical periods and with regard to the results
obtained in this work, we may well ask whether the
demonstration of such a territorial continuity of the
different Neolithic entities refutes the myth of a Near
Eastern Neolithic cultural unity. Even if the Neolithic
phenomenon, as a global event, spread into neighbouring
regions from the Near East, it was not a uniform culture,
but developed from several human groups that were
different enough to be territorially defined, which
corresponds better to the idea that we should (?) have of
the development of societies.
 LIST OF THE MAPS INCLUDED IN THE TEXT

0.1 : The potential settlement pattern of the Fertile Crescent ......................................................... 12

0.2 : The main sources from the Early Period ........................................................................... 17
0.3 : The main sources from the Late Period ............................................................................ 18
0.4 : The whole Fertile Crescent .......................................................................................... 38
0.5 : The Western Wing of the Fertile Crescent ........................................................................ 39
0.6 : The Eastern Wing of the Fertile Crescent ......................................................................... 40
0.7 : The High Valleys (also Caucasus and Caspian Shore) .......................................................... 41
0.8 : The Northern Levant .................................................................................................. 42
0.9 : The Southern Levant .................................................................................................. 43
0.10 : The Zagros Mountains and their Piedmont ........................................................................ 44
0.11 : The Mesopotamian Plain ............................................................................................. 45
0.12 : The Central part of the Fertile Crescent (The Golden Triangle) ............................................... 46
0.13 : The main border between the Western and the Eastern Wings of the Fertile Crescent
in the Early Period .................................................................................................... 49
0 .11 4 .11 : The main border between the Western and the Eastern Wings of the Fertile Crescent
in the Late Period ...................................................................................................... 50
0 .11 4 . 2 : The alternative main border between the Western and the Eastern Wings
of the Fertile Crescent in the Late Period .......................................................................... 51
0 . 1 5 : The High Valleys southern border in the Early Period .......................................................... 52
0 . 1 6 : The High Valleys southern border in the Late Period ........................................................... 53
0 . 1 7 : The border between the Northern and the Southern Levant in the Early Period ............................. 54
0 . 1 8 : The border between the Northern and the Southern Levant in the Late Period .............................. 55
0 . 1 9 : The inner border in the Southern Levant in the Early Period ................................................... 56
0 . 20 : The inner border in the Southern Levant in the Late Period .................................................... 57
0 . 2 1 : The Jezirah/Zagros border in the Late Period ..................................................................... 58
0 . 22 : The Western/Central Zagros border in the Late Period .......................................................... 59
0 . 23 : The Zagros/Mesopotamian Plain border in the Late Period ..................................................... 60
0 . 24 : Borders between the pottery groups ................................................................................ 61
0 . 25 : General view of the borders in the Early Period .................................................................. 62
0 . 26 : General view of the borders in the Late Period, including the pottery groups borders ..................... 62
0 . 27 : Territories, Boundaries and Cultures in the Early Period ........................................................ 66
0 . 28 : Territories, Boundaries and Cultures in the Late Period ......................................................... 75
0 . 29 : The spatial repartition of the three main lithic traditions between 12 000 and 10 200 cal. B.C. .......... 88
0 . 30 : Map of the three major linguistic systems in the Near East ..................................................... 89
0 . 3 1 a and b : The borders in the Near East around the second millennium B.C. ...................................... 90
0 . 32 : The borders between three of the Hellenistic kingdoms ......................................................... 91
0 . 33 : The Eastern part of the Roman domination under Augustus .................................................... 91
0 . 34 : The Eastern part of the Roman Empire (2d Cent. A.D.) ......................................................... 91
0 . 35 a and b : The Eastern border of the Roman Empire, during the Parthian and Sassanian Empires ............. 91
 LIST OF THE MAPS

0 . 36 : The Eastern border of the Byzantine Empire around 565 A.D. ................................................ 92
0 . 37 : The Eastern border of the Byzantine Empire around 1050 A.D. ............................................... 92
0 . 38 : The North-Eastern border of the Ayyubid Sultanate around 1200 A.D. ....................................... 92
0 . 39 : The Western limit of the Timurid conquest in the beginning of the 15th Cent. A.D. ....................... 92
0 . 40 : The limits of the French and English Mandates around 1920 A.D. ............................................ 93
0.41 : The “borders” between Beduine tribes in the 19th Cent. A.D. ................................................. 93
0 . 42 : The limits of the Roman Provinces under Septimus Severus (2d Cent. A.D.) ............................... 94
0 . 43 : The borders between political entities during the Crusader time ............................................... 94
0 . 44 : The borders between provinces during the Ottoman Empire ................................................... 94

98
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
We have included in this list some general publications as well as the references cited in the text . For more detailed
documentation used in the basic maps, see Hours et al. 1994 or Aurenche and Kozlowski 1999, and the various
periodicals dedicated to the Near Eastern Prehistory.
ASPRO sea HOURS et al., 1994.
Atlas Hachette, Atlas historique de l’histoire de l’humanité
(P. Vidal-Naquet ed), 1987, Hachette, Paris.
AURENCHE O. 1981, La maison orientale : l’architecture du
Proche Orient ancien des origines au milieu du
IVe millénaire. BAH 109. Geuthner, Paris.
AURENCHE O., CAUVIN M.-C. and SANLAVILLE P. (eds) 1988,
Préhistoire du Levant II (1re partie). Paléorient 14/2,
p. 5-345.
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ANNEX
 ANNEX 1.. 1.. 1

0 3 cm

1.1.1 after Goring-Morris

- Described by A. Marks.
- First half of the10th millennium cal. BC.
- Sinai and Negev, also the Eastern Desert in Egypt (out of the map).
- Common. Of local significance, correlation with Ounan (1.1.2) and Shunera points (1.1.3).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
ake

Mediterranean
Sea

Har Arod
Shunera
Lagama IV Nizzana Nahal Levon 110
Mushabi Romam Ramat Harif

Abu Salem Maaleh Ramon

1.1.1 Harif points

Eastern Desert Gulf
Abu Maadi 0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

105
1.. 1.. 2 ANNEX

0 3 cm

1.1.2 after Goring-Morris

- Described by N. Goring-Morris, close to Jordan points.

- First half of the 10th millennium cal. BC.
- Sinai, Negev and Egypt (Eastern Desert).
- Rare. Of local significance, correlation with Harif (1.1.1) and Shunera points (1.1.3).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Mediterranean
Sea

Shunera
Romam Nahal Levon 110
Mushabi XX Ramat Harif
Abu Salem
Maaleh Ramon
Shulat Harif

1.1.2 Ounan points

Eastern Desert Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

106
 ANNEX 1.. 1.. 3

0 3 cm

1.1.3 after Goring-Morris

- Described by N. Goring-Morris.
- First half of the 10th millennium cal. BC.
- Sinai and Negev.
- Rare. Of local significance, correlation with Harif (1.1.1) and Ounan points (1.1.2).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Mediterranean
Sea

Shunera Har Arod

Mushabi
Nizzana
Kvish Harif

1.1.3 Shunera points

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

107
1.. 1.. 4 ANNEX

1 3 4 5 6
2
0 3 cm

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

1 and 4 - Ain Darat 2 - Gilgal I 3 and 9 - El Khiam 5 - Mureybet 6 - Göbekli

1.1.4 7, 10 and 11- Hatula 8 - Jericho 12 and 13 - Netiv Hagdud

- Described by J. G. Echegaray.
- Less than 3cm long.
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Western wing of the Fertile Crescent and Jezirah, but mostly Southern and Central Levant.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous Göbekli
ake

Qaramel Jerf el Ahmar

M'lefaat
Sheikh Hassan lower
Mureybet I, II Qermez Dere lower

Mediterranean
Nachcharini
Sea
Ramad I

Gesher

Iraq-ed-Dubb
Michmoret
Netiv Hagdud
Gilgal I, III Ain Ghazal
Jericho
Hatula Jilat 7
Ain Darat El-Khiam
Nahal Hemar
Drha
Shunera XX
Mushabi VI Wadi Fainan 16

Baaja
Beidha
Sabra 1c

1.1.4 Small El-Khiam points

Abu Maadi I Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

108
 ANNEX 1.. 1.. 5

1
2 3
4

5
0 3 cm 6 7

1.1.5 1, 2, 3 and 4 - Mureybet 5 - Jerf-el-Ahmar 6 - Qermez Dere 7- Nemrik

- More than 3cm long.

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Levant and Jezirah. More numerous in the northern part.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l

Göbekli
ake

Qaramel Nemrik I, III

Jerf el Ahmar
Sheikh Hassan low.
Mureybet II, III Qermez Dere low.

Mediterranean
Nachcharini
Sea

Gesher
Nahal Oren

Netiv Hagdud

Gilgal III

1.1.5 Big El-Khiam points

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

109
1.. 1.. 6 ANNEX

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8

0 3 cm

1.1.6 1, 2 and 3 - Nahal Lavan 109 4 - Abu Gosh 5 - Nahal Hemar 6, 7 and 8 - Abu Salem

- Southern variant of the Helwan points (Aurenche and Kozlowski forthcoming).

- End of the 9th and 8th millennium cal. BC.
- Central and Southern Levant, also in Northern Egypt.
- Common. Of regional significance, correlation with Jericho points (1.1.7),
Yarmukian sickles (1.3.2.2), Tahunian axes (1.3.3.1), Beit Taamir knives (1.3.4.1)
and bell-shaped pestles (2.2.2.3).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Mediterranean
Sea
Nebaa Faur
Ramad

Kfar HaHoresh Aswad I

Eli Mudjahiya
Nahal Oren

Michmoret Munhata

Jericho Black Desert 2402

Abu Gosh

Jilat 7
Nahal Hemar
Helwan Nahal Boker
Shunera
Nahal Levan 110
Abu Salem
Beidha
Ad Daman 1
Sabra 1

1.1.6 Abu Salem points

Abu Maadi III Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

110
 ANNEX 1.. 1.. 7

1 0 3 cm

3 4

1.1.7 1 and 2 - Munhata 3 et 4 - Jericho

- Described by O. Bar-Yosef.
- End of the 9th and 8th millennium cal. BC.
- Southern and central Levant. Erratic ( ?) samples or convergence ( ?) elsewhere (Jezirah).
- Common. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with Abu Salem points (1.1.6), Yarmukian
sickles (1.3.2.2), Tahunian axes (1.3.3.1), Beit Taamir knives (1.3.4.1) and bell-shaped pestles (2.2.2.3).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Magzalia

Thalathat II

Mediterranean
Sea Qornet Rharra

Kfar HaHoresh
Aswad II
Horvat Galil Beisamun
Sefunim Cave Eli
Nahal Oren
Munhata
Yiftahel Dhuweila
Jericho Ain Ghazal
Abu Gosh Black Desert 2402,
Jilat 7 2306, 3133, 1670,
Ashkelon 1684, 1635, 1605
Nahal Hemar Wadi Dobai
Es-Siffiya
Atadim
Nahal Boker
Shunera
Mushabi VI Nizzana Nahal Divshon
Ramat Matret IV
'Ein Qadis Saqarat Masad 1
Abu Salem Baaja Beidha
Nahal Issaron
Basta
Ujrat el-Mehed Nahal Reul

Wadi Tbeik Abu Maadi I, III 1.1.7 Jericho points

Gulf
Wadi Jibba 0 100 200 km
Jebel Rushba
Cartographies MOM 2004

111
1.. 1.. 8 ANNEX

1 2 3 4 5
0 3 cm

6 7 8 9

1.1.8 1 - 4 and 6 - 8 - Netiv Hagdud 5 - Sheikh Hassan Lower 9 - Ain Darat

- Described by O. Bar Yosef.

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Levant.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous Göbekli
ake

Dja'de
Qaramel
Sheikh Hassan low.
Mureybet

Mediterranean
Nachcharini
Sea

Salabiya IX Netiv Hagdud

Jericho
Ain Darat
Drha
Zahrat adh Drha

Wadi Fainan 16

1.1.8 Jordan points

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

112
 ANNEX 1.. 1.. 9

1
2 3 4

6 7 0 3 cm

1.1.9 1, 2 and 3 - Aswad 4 - Nevalı Çori 5 - Nahal Oren 6 - Horvat Galil 7 - Jericho

- Described by M.-C. Cauvin.

- End of the 9th (Horvat Galil) to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Labweh, Byblos).
- Central and Northern Levant, Western Jezirah.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
Sanliurfa
kea

Göbekli
Judaidah Dja'de

Dhahab

Kerkh

Mar Sabur
Mediterranean Dik'el Mehdi
Byblos
Labweh
Sea Beyrouth Sables Saudah
Arslan
Ramad

Aswad
Horvat Galil
Sefunim Cave
Nahal Oren Mudjahiya

Nizzana

1.1.9 Aswad points

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

113
1.. 1.. 1 0 ANNEX

1
0 3 cm

2 3 4

0 3 cm

5
6 7

1.1.10 1 - Beidha 2 - Sheikh Hassan Upper 3 and 4 - Mureybet 5, 6 and 7 - Nevalı Çori

- Described by J. Cauvin.
- From the end of the 9th to the middle of 8th millennium cal. BC.
- Western wing of the Fertile Crescent. The type appears in the North
and after 7500 cal. BC. expends in Jezirah and in the Arabian desert.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
Çayönü
present
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
numerous
ia l

Göbekli
a
ke

Halula low. Dja'de

Qaramel Jerf el-Ahmar

Sheikh Hassan upper
Mureybet IV
Abu Hureyra 1

Mediterranean
Sea

Kfar Hahoresh Aswad I

Horvat Galil
Nahal Oren
Munhata

Ain Ghazal low.

Jilat 7

Nahal Hemar

Nizzana

Mushabi II
Abu Salem Beidha anc.

1.1.10 Byblos points, before 7500 cal. BC

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

114
 ANNEX 1.. 1.. 11

2
0 3 cm

3 4

1.1.11 1 and 2 - Jerf-el-Ahmar 3 and 4 - Sheikh Hassan Lower

- Described by M.-C. Cauvin.

- Called also Nahal Hemar knives (O. Bar Yosef).
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Western wing of the Fertile Crescent. Concentration in the North.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present Çayönü
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
ake

Dja'de
Qaramel
Jerf el Ahmar
Sheikh Hassan low.

Mediterranean
Nachcharini
Sea

Netiv Hagdud

Jericho Gilgal I

Nahal Hemar

Beidha

1.1.11 Jerf el Ahmar points Gulf

0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

115
1.. 1.. 1 2 ANNEX

3
1
2 0 3 cm

4 6
5

1.1.12 1, 2, 4 and 5 - Nevalı Çori 3 - Mureybet 6 - Çayönü

- Described by K. Schmidt.
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Northern Levant and upper valleys (concentration).
- Rare. Of regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
ake

Dja'de

Sheikh Hassan low.

Mureybet II, IVA

Mediterranean
Sea

Jericho

Drha

1.1.12 Neval Çori points Gulf

0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

116
 1.1.13

2
1 3 4

6
7
0 3 cm
5

1.1.13 1, 2 and 3 - Mureybet 4 and 7 - Jerf-el-Ahmar 5 - Jericho 6 - Göbekli

- Northern variant of the Helwan points (Aurenche and Kozlowski forthcoming).

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Northern Levant and western Jezirah.
- Common. Of regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
kea

Qaramel
Jerf el Ahmar
Sheikh Hassan low.
Mureybet II, III

Mediterranean
Sea

Nahal Oren

Jericho

1.1.13 Sheikh Hassan points

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

117
1.. 1.. 1 4 ANNEX

3
4
2

1 0 3 cm

5 6 7

1.1.14 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 - Mureybet 4 - Sheikh Hassan 7 - Sheikh Hassan Lower

- Described by M.-C. Cauvin.

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Northern Levant and upper valleys. Few pieces in the southern Levant.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested Neval Çori
Urm

numerous
ia l

Göbekli
kea

Dja'de
Qaramel Halula
Jerf el Ahmar
Sheikh Hassan low.
Mureybet III, IVA

Abu Hureyra

Mediterranean
Nachcharini
Sea
Ramad

Horvat Galil

Gilgal I

Jericho

Beidha

1.1.14 Mureybet points

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

118
 ANNEX 1.. 1.. 1 5

2
0 3 cm
1
0 3 cm

1.1.15 1 - Demirköy 2 - Sheikh Hassan Lower 3 - Beidha

- Described by M. Rosenberg. With lateral notches and unretouched base.

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Western wing of Fertile Crescent and Jezirah.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Demirköy
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
kea

Dja'de

Sheikh Hassan low.

Qermez Dere

Mediterranean
Nachcharini
Sea

Netiv Hagdud

Beidha

1.1.15 Güzir points

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

119
1.. 1.. 1 6 ANNEX

1 3 4
2

0 3 cm

55 6 7

1.1.16 1, 2 and 4 - Sheikh Hassan lower 3, 5, 6 and 7- Qaramel

- Variant of the Jordan points with enlarged pedoncule.

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Northern Levant and upper valleys.
- Rare. Of regional significance, correlation with adzes/herminettes (1.3.3.2),
pedunculated pestles (2.2.2.4), decorated shaft straighteners (2.2.3.3),
richly decorated vessels (3.1.1) and stone statues (6.5.1).

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
numerous
ia l

Göbekli
kea

Dja'de
Qaramel
Jerf el Ahmar
Halula Sheikh Hassan low.
Mureybet IVA

Mediterranean
Sea

1.1.16 Qaramel points

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

120
 ANNEX 1.. 1.. 1 7

0 3 cm

1.1.17. Nemrik

- Described by S. Kozlowski.
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. and later (Shimshara, Thalathat).
- Jezirah, mostly east of Khabur.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with Demirköy points (1.1.18),
triangular sickles (1.3.2.1), Çayönü tools (1.3.4.2), feline and bird of prey statuettes
(6.1.7 and 6.2.1) and mushroom-shaped tokens (7.1.11).

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period Amberköy
lake
Sea
Cafer Körtik
present
Çayönü
well attested Demirköy
Urm

Neval Çori
numerous Karahan
ia l

Hirbet Selim
ake

Sanliurfa
Göbekli
Kashkashok Ginnig Nemrik
Dja'de
Jerf el Ahmar Bir Jili Balagha
Aarbid Thalathat II, III
Sheikh Hassan anc. Magzalia
Mureybet II, III Qermez Dere upper
Shimshara

Umm Dabaghiah
Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea

1.1.17 Nemrik and similar points

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

121
1.. 1.. 1 8 ANNEX

1 2 3
0 3 cm

4 5

1.1.18 1, 2 and 3 - Demirköy 4 and 5 -Nemrik

- Nemrik-like points with marked peduncle.

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Upper Tigris and a few pieces on middle Euphrates.
- Rare. Of regional significance, correlation with Nemrik points (1.1.17), triangular sickles (1.3.2.1),
Çayönü tools (1.3.4.2), feline and bird of prey statuettes (6.1.7 and 6.2.1) and mushroom-
shaped tokens (7.11).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present Demirköy
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous Göbekli
kea

Dja'de Nemrik

Sheikh
Hassan low.

Mediterranean
Sea

1.1.18 Demirköy points

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

122
 ANNEX 1.. 1.. 1 9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

0 3 cm

1.1.19 1 - 7 - Netiv Hagdud

- Described by O. Bar Yosef, A. Gopher and D. Nadel. Similar to the Nevalı Çori
points but much smaller.
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Sinai, Negev and southern Levant.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
ake

Mureybet

Mediterranean Nachcharini
Sea

Gesher
Nahal Oren
Salabiya IX
Salabiya 1, 2, 4
Netiv Hagdud
Hatula Gilgal
El-Khiam Jericho A
Ain Darat
Nahal Hemar Drha
Shunera IV
Nahal Lavan 108, 109

1.1.19 Salabiya points

Abu Maadi I Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

123
1.. 2 .11 ANNEX

0 3 cm
2 3 4
1

0 3 cm

5 6

1.2.1 1, 2, 3 and 4 - Mureybet 5 et 6 - Ain Aui Safa

- No typological difference with the " late " crescents (map 1.2.4) except proportions (small and narrow).
Chronological gap between the two types.
- From the Natoufian-Zarzian period to the 9th millennium cal. BC. (Mureybet IB, Gilgal).
- Levant and north-eastern Africa.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Qaramel Zawi Chemi upper

Jerf el Ahmar
M'lefaat
Mureybet IB

Mediterranean Nachcharini
Sea

Gesher
Ain Aui Safa
Iraq-ed-Dubb
Salabiya IX Netiv Hagdud
Hatula Gilgal I
El-Khiam
Ain Darat
Shunera
Nizzana Wadi Fainan 16
Bir Malhi

Kvish Harif
Mushabi VI

Sabra I

1.2.1 Old crescents

Abu Maadi
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

124
 ANNEX 1.. 2 . 2

1 2
0 3 cm

4
5

1.2.2 1 - Tamerkhan 2 - Abdul Hossein 3 - Ali Kosh 4 - Choga Sefid 5 - Nemrik

- Described by F. Hole.
- 10th-9th (Nemrik, M’lefaat), 8th (Abdul Hossein, Ganj Dareh) and
7th millennium cal. BC. (Tamerkhan, Jarmo).
- Jezirah, Zagros and its piedmont, also Iranian plateau (Urmia Lake, Hajji Firuz).
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
Mezraz T.
a
ke

Seker Hajji Firuz

Nemrik

M'lefaat

Jarmo
Karim Shahir

Mediterranean
Ganj Dareh
Sea
Abdul Hossein
Qala Kamand Bagh

Tamerkhan

Choga Sefid

Ali Kosh

1.2.2 Nibbled bladelets Gulf

0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

125
1.. 2 . 3 ANNEX

2 3 4 5

0 3 cm

1.2.3 1 - Jarmo 2 - Songor B 3 - Guran 4 - Jarakhabad 5 - Asiab

- End of the 8th (Asiab, Jarmo), 7th millennium cal. BC. (Abdul Hossein)
and later (Kashkashok, Yarim II, Farukhabad).
- Jezirah, Zagros and its piedmont. Extension in the eastern Zagros
(Jarri B, off the map) and in the Iranian plateau (Hajji Firuz).
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
a
ke

Seker
Hajji Firuz
Kashkashok
Yarim II
Banahilk

Jarmo
Karim Shahir
Umm Dabaghiah
Palegawra
Seh Gabi C
Mediterranean Songor B

Sea Asiab

Guran Abdul Hossein

Choga Mami

Choga Sefid

Farukhabad

1.2.3 Trapezes
Gulf
0 100 200 km
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126
 ANNEX 1.. 2 . 4

14 2

0 3 cm

1.2.4 1 - Jarmo 2 - Choga Sefid 3 - Sabz

- Cf. 1.2.1., but bigger and broader.

- End of the 8th (Jarmo) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Umm Dabaghiah, Kashkashok).
- Western Zagros, Deh Luran and Jezirah.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l

Mezraz T.
ake

Kashkashok
Kosak Shamali
Banahilk

Jarmo
Umm Dabaghiah Karim Shahir

Seh Gabi C
Mediterranean
Sea

Choga Sefid

Sabz

1.2.4 Late crescents

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

127
1.. 2 . 5 ANNEX

0 3 cm

1.2.5 1 - Abdul Hossein 2 - Qazemi 3 - Nemrik

- From the Zarzian through the 10th-9th (Nemrik, M’lefaat, Asiab) and the 8th
(Ganj Dareh, Abdul Hossein) to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab).
- Eastern Jezirah, Zagros and its piedmont.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
i

numerous
a la

Gürçü
ke

Nemrik Zawi Chemi upper

Kosak Shamali
M'lefaat

Karim Shahir

Palegawra

Ganj Dareh
Mediterranean Qazemi
Sea Sarab
Asiab
Qala Kamand Bagh Abdul Hossein
Mar Ruz
Guran
Choga Mami

Choga Sefid

Ali Kosh

1.2.5 Backed bladelets and points

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

128
 ANNEX 1.. 2 . 6

3 4 5 6 7
0 3 cm
1 2

12

8 9
10 11 13

1.2.6 1 and 2 - Choga Sefid 3, 4 and 5 - Ali Kosh 6 and 7 - Sarab 8, 9 and 10 - Jarmo 11, 12 and 13 - M'lefaat

- From the Zarzian through the 10th-9th (Qermez Dere, Zawi Chemi upper),
the 8th (Jarmo, Abdul Hossein) and the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Ali Kosh).
- Eastern Jezirah, Zagros and its piedmont.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Nemrik Zawi Chemi upper

Qermez Dere

M'lefaat

Jarmo
Karim Shahir
Palegawra

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab

Mar Ruz
Abdul Hossein

Choga Mami

Choga Sefid

Ali Kosh

1.2.6 Backs + truncations

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

129
1.. 2 . 7 ANNEX

1 2 3 4 5 6

10

7 8 9 0 3 cm

1.2.7 1 - M'lefaat 2 - Abdul Hossein 3 - Sarab 4 - Jarmo 5 - Ali Kosh 6 - Qala Kamand Bagh 7 - 10 - Nemrik

- From the Zarzian through the 10th-9th (M’lefaat, Asiab), the 8th (Qala Kamand Bagh)
and the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab).
- Eastern Jezirah, Zagros and its Piedmont.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Nemrik

M'lefaat

Jarmo

Karim Shahir

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab Qala Kamand Bagh
Asiab
Abdul Hossein
Guran

Ali Kosh

1.2.7 Backs + retouched bases

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

130
 ANNEX 1.. 2 . 8

3 4
1 2

0 3 cm

1.2.8 1 and 2 - Choga Sefid 3 - Ali Kosh 4 and 5 - Jarmo

- From the Zarzian through the 9th (M’lefaat) to the 8th-7th millennium cal. BC. (Jarmo, Ali Kosh).
- Eastern Jezirah, Zagros and its piedmont.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

M'lefaat

Jarmo

Mediterranean
Sea

Choga Sefid

Ali Kosh

1.2.8 Retouched bases

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

131
1.. 2 . 9 ANNEX

0 3 cm

3 4 5

1.2.9 1 - Jarmo 2 - Sabz 3 - Choga Sefid 4 - Farukhabad 5 - Abdul Hossein

- Natufian material not considered.

- From the end of the 8th to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Jarmo, Sabz) and later (Farukhabad).
- Zagros and its piedmont.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with canine figurines (6.1.5), boar figurines (6.1.6),
snail-shaped sitting ladies (6.4.6), T-shaped sitting ladies (6.4.7), tetrahedrons tokens (7.8)
and low spool-shaped "labrets" (7.9).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Jarmo

Karim Sahir

Seh Gabi C
Mediterranean
Sea
Abdul Hossein

Choga Sefid
Sabz
Ali Kosh Farukhabad

1.2.9 Isosceles triangles

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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132
 ANNEX 1.. 2 .11 0

3
5
2
4 6
1

0 3 cm

1.2.10 1 and 4 - Chokh 2 - Dam-Dam Cheshme 3 - Edzani 5 - Belt 6 - Hallan Çemi

- Longer than 3cm.

- From the beginning of the Trialetian (Ali Tepe) to the 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
(Hallan Çemi, Nevalı Çori). Persists also later (Guran, Abdul Hossein).
- Mostly upper valleys and Jezirah. Also Caucasus, Caspian shore and central Anatolia.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with big scalene triangles (1.2.11)
and big asymmetrical trapezes (1.2.12).

Kholodnyi Grot
Gvarjilas-Klde
No absolute dates available Tsona
Black Sea Sakaja Darkveti
Mgwimewi
Early Period Chokh
Devis Chwreli
Late Period
Edzani

Dam-Dam-Cheshme II

As kl Hallan Çemi Caspian Sea

Neval Çori
Demirköy

Göbekli Leilan Ali Tepe

Belt Hotu
Magzalia

Mediterranean Sarab Abdul Hossein

Sea Guran
Cartographies MOM 2004

1.2.10 Big arched backed points

Gulf
0 100 200 km

133
1.. 2 .11 1 ANNEX

0 3 cm

1.2.11 1 - Hallan Çemi 2 - Edzani 3 - Cafer 4 - Nevalı Çori

- Longer than 3,5cm.

- From the beginning of the Trialetian (Ali Tepe) to the 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. (Hallan Çemi, Nevalı Çori).
- Mostly upper valleys. Also Caucasus, Caspian shore and central Anatolia.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with big arched backed points (1.2.10) and big
asymmetrical trapezes (1.2.12).

Gvarjilas-Klde
No absolute dates available Tsona
Black Sea Darkveti
Mgwimewi
Early Period Chokh

Late Period
Edzani

Dam-Dam-Cheshme II

As kl Hallan Çemi Caspian Sea

Cafer
Demirköy
Neval Çori
Leilan Ali Tepe
Belt
Zawi Chemi

Mediterranean
Sea Mar Gurgalan
Cartographies MOM 2004

1.2.11 Big scalene triangles

Gulf
0 100 200 km

134
 ANNEX 1.. 2 .11 2

2 3 4
0 3 cm
1

0 3 cm

1.2.12 1 - Edzani 2 - Belt 3 and 4 - Hallan Çemi

- Longer than 3,5cm.

- From the beginning of the Trialetian (Belt) to the 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. (Hallan Çemi).
- Upper valleys, Caucasus and Caspian shore.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with big arched backed points (1.2.10)
and big scalene triangles (1.2.11).

No absolute dates available

Black Sea
Early Period Chokh

Late Period
Edzani

Boy?
Hallan Çemi Caspian Sea

Belt
Zawi Chemi

Mediterranean
Sea
Cartographies MOM 2004

1.2.12 Big asymmetrical trapezes

Gulf
0 100 200 km

135
1.. 3 .11 .11 ANNEX

2 3 4
1
0 3 cm

6 7 9 10 11
12
5 8

15 18
13 14 17 19
16

1.3.1.1 1 - 3 - Iraq-ed-Dubb 4 - Shoka 5 - 11 - Nachcharini 12 - Sefunim 13 - 25 - Hatula

- Described by D. Nadel.
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. (Jerf el Ahmar, Hatula).
- Western wing of the Fertile Crescent. Mostly southern Levant.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
Sanliurfa
ake

Jerf el Ahmar

Mediterranean Nachcharini
Sea

Gesher
Sefunim Cave Mudjahiya
Nahal Oren Tel Shoka
Iraq-ed-Dubb

Netiv Hagdud
Jericho
El-Khiam
Ain Darat
Hatula Drha
Zahrat Adh-Drha

1.3.1.1 Hagdud truncations

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

136
 ANNEX 1.. 3 .11 . 2

2 3 4
1
0 3 cm

6 7

1.3.1.2 1 - 4 - Gilgal III 5 - Ain Aui Safa 6 and 7 - Qermez Dere

- Described by T. Noy.
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. (Nemrik, Hatula).
- Levant and Jezirah.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Sanliurfa
Qaramel Nemrik

Qermez Dere

Mediterranean Nachcharini
Sea

Ain Aui Safa

Iraq-ed-Dubb
Gilgal III

Jilat 7
Hatula
Drha
Zahrat Adh-Drha

1.3.1.2 Gilgal truncations

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

137
1.. 3 . 2 .11 ANNEX

1 2 3
0 3 cm

4 5 6

1.3.2.1 1 and 4 - Halula 2 - Kashkashok 3 - Abu Hureyra 5 - El Kowm 2 6 - Qdeir

- Described by M.-C. Cauvin. One edge retouched + truncation ; often ventral retouch and sickle gloss.
- 9th (Göbekli, Nemrik), 8th (Abu Hureyra) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kashkashok).
- Upper valleys, Jezirah and El Kowm oasis. Present also in Cyprus (Shillourokambos).
- Common. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with Nemrik points (1.1.17), Demirkoÿ points (1.1.18),
Çayönü tools (1.3.4.2), feline and bird of prey statuettes (6.1.7 and 6.2.1) and mushroom-shaped tokens (7.11).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Cafer lake
Late period Çayönü
Sea
present
Gritille
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous Göbekli
Mezraz T.
kea

Gürçü Seker
Akarçay
Assouad Kashkashok Nemrik
Sabi Abyad II
Halula
Damishliya

Kerkh
Abu Hureyra

Qdeir
Buqras
El Kowm 2
Mediterranean
Sea

1.3.2.1 Triangular sickle inserts

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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138
 ANNEX 1.. 3 . 2 . 2

2
1

3
0 3 cm

1.3.2.2 1, 2 and 3 - Beisamun

- End of the 8th (Atlit Yam) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Ain Ghazal, Ramad).
- Central and southern Levant.
- Common. Of regional significance, correlation with Abu Salem points (1.1.6),
Jericho points (1.1.7), Tahunian axes (1.3.3.1), Beit Taamir knives (1.3.4.1) and
bell-shaped pestles (2.2.2.3).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Dbaye Naccache
Mediterranean
Byblos Labweh
Sea
Arslan
Neba'a Faur

Ramad
Beisamun
Atlit-Yam Sha'ar ha-Golan
Megiddo Ain Rahub
Munhata Thawwab
Tabaqat Al-Buma Eh- Sayyah
Abu Ghosh Ain Ghazal
Ashkelon
Wadi Shueib

Wadi Fainan

Basta

1.3.2.2 Yarmukian sickle inserts

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

139
1.. 3 . 3 .11 ANNEX

1 2 3

0 3 cm

1.3.3.1. 1 - Jericho 2 - Ramad 3 -Beisamoun

- Described by J. Crowfoot-Payne.
- 10th-9th (Jericho A, Gesher), 8th (Basta, Aswad) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sha’ar ha-Golan, Neba’a Fawr).
- Central and southern Levant.
- Common. Of regional significance, correlation with Abu Salem points (1.1.6), Jericho points (1.1.7),
Yarmukian sickles (1.3.2.2), Beit Taamir knives (1.3.4.1) and bell-shaped pestles (2.2.2.3).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Nemrik

Ras Shamra

Tabat Al-Hammam

Dbaye
Mediterranean Naccache
Byblos
Sea Habarjer Neba'a Fawr
Beyrut-Sables Ramad
Tannour Ghoraife
Kfar Hahoresh Aswad II E
Horvat Galil Beisamun
Gesher
Atlit-Yam
Mudjahiya
Nahal Oren Sha'ar ha-Golan
Tabaqat Al-Buma
Netiv Hagdud
Gilgal I Ain Ghazal
Abu Ghosh Jilat 7
Jericho
Es-Siffiya Wadi Dobai
Drha
Zahrat Adh Drha
Nizzana
'Ein Qadis Wadi Feinan
Baaja
Ain Taiyba
Beidha
Ad Daman 1
Sabra 1c
Basta

1.3.3.1 Tahunian Axes

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

140
 ANNEX 1.. 3 . 3 . 2

0 3 cm
1

1.3.3.2 1 and 2 - Mureybet

- Described by J. Cauvin.
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. (Qaramel, Sheikh Hassan).
- Northern Levant.
- Common. Of local significance, correlation with Qaramel points (1.1.16), pedunculated pestles (2.2.4),
decorated shaft straighteners (2.2.3.3), richly decorated stone vessels (3.1.3) and stone statues (6.5.1).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Qaramel Jerf el Ahmar

Sheikh Hassan
Mureybet II, III

Mediterranean
Sea

1.3.3.2 Herminettes
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

141
1.. 3 . 4 .11 ANNEX

1 0 3 cm 2

1.3.4.1 1 and 2 - Netiv Hagdud

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. (Jericho, Netiv Hagdud).

- Southern Levant.
- Relatively common. Of local significance, correlation with Abu Salem points (1.1.6),
Jericho points (1.1.7), Yarmukian sickles (1.3.2.2), Tahunian axes (1.3.3.1) and
bell-shaped pestles (2.2.2.3).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

El Kowm 2
Mediterranean
Sea

Horvat Galil

Netiv Hagdud
Gilgal I
Jericho

Ain Darat
Zahrat adh-Drah

Beidha

1.3.4.1 Beit-Taamir knives

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

142
 ANNEX 1.. 3 . 4 . 2

3 4

1 2
0 3 cm

5
6 7

1.3.4.2 1 - Shimshara 2 - Magzalia 3 and 4 - Jarmo 5 - Umm-Dabaghiah 6 - Hassuna 7 - Buqras

- Described by M.-C. Cauvin. Only on imported obsidian.

- Second half of 8th (Çayönü upper, Abu Hureyra, Jarmo a-ceramic) and
7th millennium cal. BC. (Shimshara, Umm Dabaghiah).
- Upper valleys, Jezirah and western Zagros (Golden Triangle), also Iranian plateau.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with Nemrik and Demirkoÿ points
(1.1.17 and 1.1.18), triangular sickles, feline and bird of prey statuettes (6.1.7 and 6.2.1)
and mushroom-shaped tokens (7.11).

Early period
N
present
well attested
Boy Tepe
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period Kötaken lake
Sea
Cafer
present
Çayönü
well attested Gritille
Urm

numerous
ia l

Gürçü
ake

Rahake
obsidian outcrops
Qaramel Seker Nemrik Hajji Firuz
Kashkashok
Feyda
Magzalia Shimshara

Hassuna
Abu Hureyra

Umm Dabaghiah Jarmo

Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab

1.3.4.2 Çayönü tools

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

143
1.. 3 . 5 ANNEX

0 3 cm

1 2 3 4 5 6

1.3.5 1 and 2 - Abdul Hossein 3 - Tamerkhan 4 - Genil 5 - Asiab 6 - M'lefaat

- Bullet variant described by F. Hole. Exploited mostly by pressure technique.

- 10th-9th (Qermez Dere, Asiab), 8th (Ganj Dareh, Magzalia, Halula)
and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Tula'i, Ginnig, Kerkh).
- Mostly eastern Jezirah, Zagros (also eastern Zagros) and its piedmont. Few examples,
mostly on obsidian in the west of Khabur. On the Mesopotamian plain known only for
their products, the bladelets.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Cafer Sea
present
Çayönü Demirköy
well attested
Urm

Hayaz
ia l

numerous Göbekli
kea

Seker
Akarçay Gürçü Yarim I Nemrik
Judaidah Ginnig
Halula
Magzalia Shimshara
Kerkh Qermez Dere
M'lefaat
Ras Shamra Abu Hureyra Jarmo

Umm Dabaghiah Karim Shahir

Qdeir
Buqras
Seh Gabi C
Mediterranean Genil
Sea Sarab Ganj Dareh

Asiab
Qazemi Abdul Hossein
Guran
Tamerkhan

Choga Sefid
Tula'i

Ali Kosh

1.3.5 Conical and "bullet" cores

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

144
 ANNEX 2 .11 .11

0 3 cm

1 2

2.1.1 1 and 2 - Mureybet

- Elongated stone querns with a depression at one end.

- Appears in the Natufian, then persists through the 10th-9th (Netiv Hagdud, Mureybet I, II, IV),
the 8th (Munhata, Jericho B, Çayönü recent) till the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sha'ar ha-Golan).
- Western wing of the Fertile Crescent.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Sheikh Hassan low. M'lefaat

Mureybet I, II

Mediterranean
Sea

Beisamun
Mudjahiya
Nahal Oren
Sha'ar ha-Golan
Munhata
Netiv Hagdud

Jericho

Zahrat Adh-Drha

Beidha

2.1.1 Asymmetrical querns

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

145
2 .11 . 2 .11 ANNEX

1 2

0 30 cm

2.1.2.1 1 - Netiv Hagdud 2 - Mureybet

- Mortars with multi-level depression. Mostly made of soft stone.

- From western Zarzian (Zawi Chemi), through the 10th–9th millennium cal. BC. (Netiv Hagdud,
Mureybet III, Hatula, Qaramel, M’lefaat, Zawi Chemi). Sporadically 8th millennium cal. BC.
(Jarmo, Ali Kosh, Munhata).
- First concentration in the Levant, second concentration in eastern Jezirah and western Zagros.
No data for central Zagros.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Zawi Chemi upper

Qaramel
Sheikh Hassan low.
M'lefaat
Mureybet III

Jarmo

Mediterranean
Sea

Guran

Munhata

Netiv Hagdud
Hatula Jericho Ali Kosh cer.

Beidha

2.1.2.1 Oval quern-mortars

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

146
 ANNEX 2 .11 . 2 . 2

1 2

0 30 cm 3

2.1.2.2 1 and 2 - Nemrik 3 - Jarmo

- Mortars with multi-level depression. Mostly made of soft stone.

- 10th–9th millennium cal. BC only in the west (Netiv Hagdud, Sheikh Hassan,
Qaramel, Nemrik). 8th–7th millennium cal. BC. in the east (Jarmo, Sabz).
- The whole Fertile Crescent. No data on central Zagros.
- Rare. No specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Qaramel
Nemrik
Sheikh Hassan low.
Mureybet III

Jarmo

Mediterranean
Sea

Netiv Hagdud Sabz low.

Jericho

2.1.2.2 Circular quern-mortars

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

147
2 .11 . 3 .11 ANNEX

4
0 3 cm

0 3 cm
6

0 3 cm

0 3 cm
5

7
8
2 3

2.1.3.1 1 - Kashkaskok 2 - Munhak 3 - Beisamoun 4 - Nevalı Çori 5 - Basta 6 - Gilgal I 7 - Çayönü 8 - Ali Kosh

- Shallow. Round or oval with very thick walls. Sometimes considered as stone vessels (A. Gopher)
- 10th–9th (Hatula, Netiv Hagdud, Jerf el Ahmar, Nemrik), 8th millennium cal. BC. and later (Basta,
Beisamun, Çayönü, Kashkashok, Jarmo, Ali Kosh).
- The whole Fertile Crescent. No data on central Zagros.
- Common. No specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present Çayönü
Urm

well attested
Nevali Çori
ia l

numerous
kea

Sabi Abyad I Kashkashok

Nemrik
Magzalia
Thalathat
Jerf el Ahmar Umm-Qseir
Kül

Jarmo
Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea

Guran
Beisamun
Atlit Yam
Mudjahiya Burquu
Nahal Oren
Sha'ar ha-Golan
Munhata
Tabaqat Al-Buma Choga Sefid
Netiv Hagdud
Abu Ghosh Gilgal I Ali Kosh cer.
Jericho Jilat 25
Hatula
Es-Siffiya

Khirbet Hammam

Beidha

Basta

'Ain Abu Nekheileh 2.1.3.1 Vessel-like mortars

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

148
 ANNEX 2 .11 . 3 . 2

0 3 cm

1 2

2.1.3.2 1 - Munhata 2 - Beisamun 3 - Hatula

- Small. Globular. Mostly of basalt.

- 10th–9th (Gilgal I, Jerf el Ahmar, M’lefaat) and 8th–7th millennium cal. BC. (Beidha, Ghoraife, Turmus).
- Western wing of Fertile Crescent.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
Nevali Çori
ia l

numerous
kea

Jerf el Ahmar
M'lefaat
Qminas

Mediterranean
Sea
Sawwan
Ghoraife Guran
Turmus
Beisamun

Munhata
Nahal Oren Choga Sefid

Gilgal I

Hatula

Khirbet Hammam

Beidha
'Ain Abu Nekheileh

2.1.3.2 Shallow circular mortars ("pebble mortars")

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

149
2 .11 . 3 . 3 ANNEX

0 5 cm

0 10 cm 0 10 cm 3

1 2

2.1.3.3 1 - Munhata 2 - Beisamun 3 - Beidha

- Deep. Mostly of limestone.

- Appears in the Natufian period (not mapped), then 10th and 9th (Netiv Hagdud, Hatula)
and 8th millennium cal. BC. (Jericho, Beisamun). Possible later utilisation (Turmus).
- Mostly southern Levant.
- Rare. Of regional significance.

Early period
Ancient periods
present
N
present
well attested
well attested
numerous
Latenumerous
period Van Caspian
Recent periods
present Hallan Çemi lake
Sea
present
well attested
well attested
Urm

numerous
numerous
ia l
ake

Ras Shamra

Mediterranean
Sea

Turmus
Beisamun

Munhata

Netiv Hagdud
Hatula
Jericho Jilat 7
Es-Siffiya?

Beidha

2.1.3.3 Deep mortars

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

150
 ANNEX 2 . 2 .11 .11

0 10 cm

2.2.1.1 various sites

- Metal tool of various form and uncertain function

- Present in most of the excavations. More often considered as a corkscrew.
- At least 2nd-3rd millennium A.D.
- The whole Fertile Crescent.
- Very common. Excellent correlation with glass fragments.

Ancient periods
N
present
well attested
As kl
numerous
Van Caspian
Recent periods Cafer lake
Sea
present
well attested Çayönü
Urm

Nevalı Çori
numerous
ia l
ake

Göbekli

Dja'de Nemrik
Qaramel
Jerf el Ahmar Magzalia
Halula
Mureybet Qermez Dere M'lefaat
Kerkh
Ras Shamra Abu Hureyra
Jarmo

El Kowm 2
Mediterranean
Sea
Asiab
Ganj Dareh
Aswad

Kfar HaHoresh Choga Mami

Netiv Hagdud Ali Kosh

Ain Ghazal Tula'i

Jericho

Beidha

2.2.1.1 Drill
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

151
2 . 2 .11 . 2 ANNEX

1 2 3
0 3 cm

2.2.1.2 1 and 2 - Nemrik 3 and 4 - M'lefaat

- Flat. Circular and oval. Made of grainy rocks.

- Western Zarzian, 10th–9th (Netiv Hagdud, Hallan Çemi, Nemrik) and 8th–7th millennium cal. BC.
(Munhata, Çayönü, Shimshara, Jarmo).
- Mostly eastern wing of the Fertile Crescent. Separate concentration in the southern Levant.
No data on central Zagros.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance in the east. Of local significance in the southern Levant.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
Hallan Çemi lake
Late period Sea
present Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Nemrik Zawi Chemi upper

M'lefaat
Shimshara

Jarmo

El Kowm 2
Mediterranean
Sea

Munhata
Thawwab

Tula'i
Netiv Hagdud
Ali Kosh ?

2.2.1.2 Handstones with central depression

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

152
 ANNEX 2 . 2 .11 . 3

0 3 cm

2 0 3 cm

2.2.1.3 1 - Nevalı Çori 2 - Netiv Hagdud 3 - Munhata

- Facetted balls. Made of grainy rocks.

- From Natufian and Zarzian through the 10th–9th (Netiv Hagdud, Nevalı Çori, Zawi Chemi),
8th (Jericho, Munhata, Magzalia) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Thalathat), and later.
- The whole Fertile Crescent.
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
kea

Sabi Abyad I
Zawi Chemi upper
Magzalia
Thalathat

Buqras
Seh Gabi C
Mediterranean
Sea
Abdul Hossein

Beisamun

Munhata

Netiv Hagdud
Jericho Ali Kosh

2.2.1.3 Spheroidal hand-stones

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

153
2 . 2 . 2 .11 ANNEX

0 3 cm

2 3

2.2.2.1 1, 2 and 3 - Nemrik

- Late Epipaleolithic (western Zarzian). 10th-9th (Drha, Hatula, Qaramel, M’lefaat),

8th millennium cal. BC. (Basta, Munhata, Çayönü) and later (Sarab).
- The whole Fertile Crescent.
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous Göbekli
kea

Sabi Abyad I
Qaramel Nemrik
Qermez Dere
Sheikh Hassan low.
M'lefaat

Jarmo

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab

Abdul Hossein acer.

Munhata
Netiv Hagdud
Jericho Ali Kosh
Hatula Es-Siffiya

Drha

Beidha
Basta

2.2.2.1 Cylindrical pestles

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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154
 ANNEX 2.2.2.2

0 3 cm

2.2.2.2 1 and 2 - Nemrik

- 10th–9th (Drha, Sheikh Hassan, Nemrik), 8th millennium cal. BC.

(Jarmo, Çayönü, Beidha) and later (Tabaqat).
- Almost the whole Fertile Crescent. No data from central Zagros.
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

N
Early period
present
well attested
Van Caspian
numerous lake
Sea
Late period Levzin
present Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Sabi Abyad I Nemrik

Qermez Dere
Sheikh Hassan low.

Jarmo

Mediterranean
Sea

Munhata

Choga Sefid
Tabaqat Al-Buma

Jericho Ali Kosh

Jilat 25

Drha

Saqqarat Masad

Beidha

2.2.2.2 Conical pestles

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

155
2.2.2.3 ANNEX

1 3
0 3 cm

2 0 3 cm

2.2.2.3 1 - Beidha 2 and 3 - Jericho

- Known from the Natufian (not mapped), then through the 10th-9th
(Jericho A, Drha) and 8th millennium cal. BC. (Munhata, Nahal Hemar).
- Southern Levant.
- Rare. Of local significance, correlation with Abu Salem points (1.1.6), Jericho points
(1.1.7), Yarmukian sickles (1.3.2.2), Tahunian axes (1.3.3.1) and Beit Taamir knives (1.3.4.1).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Jarmo

Mediterranean
Sea

Munhata

Netiv Hagdud

Jericho
Jilat 13

Drha
Nahal Hemar

Beidha

2.2.2.3 Bell-shaped pestles

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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156
 ANNEX 2.2.2.4

1 2 3
0 3 cm

2.2.2.4 1 - Nevalı Çori 2 and 3 - Çayönü

- Mostly made of limestone.

- 10th-9th (Jerf el Ahmar, Mureybet III, Nevalı Çori, Cafer) and 8th millennium cal. BC. (Çayönü upper).
- Mostly northern Levant and upper valleys.
- Rare. Of regional significance, correlation with Qaramel points (1.1.16), adzes/herminettes (1.3.3.2),
decorated shaft straighteners (2.2.3.3), richly decorated stone vessels (3.1.3) and stone statues (6.5.1).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period
Cafer Sea
present Çayönü
Urm

well attested Neval Çori

ia l

numerous Göbekli
ake

Jerf el Ahmar

Mureybet

Jarmo

Mediterranean
Sea

Hatula

2.2.2.4 Pedonculated pestles

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

157
2 . 2 . 3 .11 ANNEX

1 0 3 cm

2.2.3.1 1 - Jericho 2 - Munhata 3 - Ali Kosh

- Flat, mostly oval pebble with longitudinal groove on one face.

- From the late Epipaleolithic through the 10th-9th (Asiab, Hallan Çemi, Netiv Hagdud,
Mudjahiyah) and 8th millennium cal. BC (Munhata). Later very rare.
- The whole Fertile Crescent except northern Levant (cf. map 2.2.3.3), and Iranian plateau (Hajji Firuz).
- Specialized type of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Cafer Sea
present
Çayönü Hallan Çemi
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Nemrik Hajji Firuz

Qaramel
Zawi Chemi upper

Ras Shamra
Abu Hureyra Jarmo

Karim Shahir

Mediterranean
Byblos
Sea Sarab
Asiab
Ramad acer.
Guran
Kfar Hahoresh

Mudjahiya
Munhata Choga Sefid
Sabz low.
Netiv Hagdud
Jericho
Ali Kosh
Jilat 7, 13, 32 acer., cer.
Hatula Es-Siffiya
Zahrad adh Drha
Nahal Divshon
Wadi Feinan 328
Abu Salem Saqarat Masada I
Baaja
Basta

Ain Abu Nekheileh 2.2.3.1 Flat undecorated "shaft-straighteners"

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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158
 ANNEX 2.2.3.2

0 3 cm
0 3 cm

1 2

2.2.3.2 1 - Jericho 2 - Jilat 7

- Described by K. Wright.
- Subrectangular plaquette stone with a groove on one of the narrow faces.
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC (Netiv Hagdud, Jericho A) and slightly later (Jilat 7).
- Restricted to the Jordan valley and the Black Desert.
- Rare. Of local significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Mediterranean
Sea

Munhata

Netiv Hagdud

Jericho Jilat 7, 32

Azraq 31

2.2.3.2 Pedestalled undecorated "shaft-straighteners"

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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159
2.2.3.3 ANNEX

1 0 3 cm

2 3

2.2.3.3 1 - Mureybet 2 - Jerf el Ahmar 3 - Çayönü

- Described by J.Cauvin (" pierre à rainure décorée ").

- Oval or rectangular stone tablets with longitudinal groove on the ventral face and incised decoration (mostly on
the dorsal face).
- From Natufian, through the 10th-9th millennium cal. BC (Mureybet III, Jerf el Ahmar, Dja'de, Çayönü).
- Northern Levant and upper valleys, on the one hand, and the most southern Levant on the other. Known also from
Cyprus (Shillourokambos). Other (independant ?) concentration around the Wadi Araba.
- Of regional significance; northern concentration correlates with Qaramel points (1.1.16), adzes/herminettes (1.3.3.2),
pedunculated pestles (2.2.2.4), richly decorated stone vessels (3.1.3) and stone statues (6.5.1).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Cafer Sea
present Demirköy
Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
kea

Dja'de
Qaramel Jerf el Ahmar
Kül
Sheikh Hassan low.
Mureybet III

Abu Hureyra

Mediterranean
Sea

Wadi Feinan

Baaja

Basta

Ain Abu Nekheileh 2.2.3.3 Decorated "shaft-straighteners"

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

160
 ANNEX 2 . 2 . 4 .11

1 2
0 3 cm

0 3 cm
0 3 cm

3 4

2.2.4.1. 1 and 2 - Nemrik 3 - Basta 4 - Nevalı Çori

- Made of flint, basalt or limestone. Medium sized (5-8 cm) spheroïds produced by the punch
technique. Known also under the names of "hammerstones", "weights" or "counters".
- 10th-9th (Hatula, Jericho A, M’lefaat), 8th (Nemrik, Halula, Munhata, Basta) and
7th millennium cal. BC (Thalathat, Magzalia, Tula'i) and later.
- The whole Fertile Crescent.
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period
Cafer Sea
present Çayönü
Urm

well attested Gritille

Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
ake

Dja'de
Kashkashok Nemrik
Qaramel Zawi Chemi upper
Magzalia
Halula Sabi Abyad I, II Thalathat
Kül M'lefaat
Kerkh Sotto
Mureybet
Qermez Dere
Abu Hureyra Hassuna Jarmo
Karim Shahir
Qdeir
Buqras Matarrah

Mediterranean El Kowm 2
Byblos
Sea Sarab
Neba'a Fawr

Kfar ha-Horesh
Beisamun

Munhata Thawwab
Choga Sefid
Netiv Hagdud
Tula'i
Jericho Ali Kosh acer.

Hatula Es-Siffiya

'Ein Qadis
Beidha
Baaja
Basta

2.2.4.1 Stone balls ("bolas")

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

161
2.2.4.2 ANNEX

2
3
1
0 3 cm

2.2.4.2 1, 2 and 3 - Jarmo

- Globular or subglobular spheroïds (> 6 cm) with central perforation.

- 10th-9th (M’lefaat, Nemrik, Hallan Çemi), 8th (Basta, Munhata, Çayönü, Nemrik), 7th millennium cal. BC.
(Labweh, Umm Dabaghiyah, Thalathat) and later.
- The whole Fertile Crescent but the oldest pieces are restricted to the middle and upper Tigris and Euphrates
bassins. Surprising lack of information for the middle Euphrates Valley.
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present Çayönü Hallan Çemi
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
kea

Yarim I Nemrik
Judaidah Banahilk
Sabi
Abyad I Magzalia Thalathat
M'lefaat
Kerkh cer. Qermez Dere

Hassuna
Ras Shamra cer.
Jarmo
Umm Dabaghiah
Buqras Matarrah
Mediterranean Byblos El Kowm 1
Sarab
Sea Labweh

Turmus Ramad

Beisamun
Eli Burqu'u

Munhata Thawwab
Choga Sefid

Jilat 32
Jericho Ali Kosh?
Azraq 31

Es-Siffiya

Saqarat Masad 1
Baaja
Basta

Ain Abu Nekheileh 2.2.4.2 Perforated stone balls ("maceheads")

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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162
 ANNEX 2 . 2 . 5 .11

2
1

0 3 cm
3 4

2.2.5.1 1 - Buqras 2 - Beidha 3 - Hatula 4 - Abu Ghosh

- Made of basalt by punch technique.

- 10th-9th (Gilgal I, Jericho A, Nevalı Çori, Çayönü), 8th (Jericho B, Beidha, Buqras,)
and rarely 7th millennium cal. BC. (Shaar ha-Golan).
- Western wing of Fertile Crescent ; suggested presence in Zawi Chemi very doubtful.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present Çayönü
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
kea

Qaramel

Halula
Qminas Hassuna

Abu Hureyra

Karim Shahir
Buqras

Mediterranean
Byblos
Sea
Ramad

Aswad
Horvat Galil

Shaar ha-Golan
Nahal Oren
Hatula
Gilgal I
Abu Jericho
Gosh Es-Siffiya
Drha
Zahrat Adh Drah

Beidha

2.2.5.1 Oval thick bifacial polished stones axes/celts

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

163
2.2.5.2 ANNEX

0 3 cm

1
2

0 3 cm

4
3

2.2.5.2 1 - Çayönü 2 - Cafer 3 - Nemrik 4 - Jericho

- Presence in western Zarzian incertain, than 10th-9th (M’lefaat, Nemrik, Nevalı Çori, Jericho A,
Netiv Hagdud), 8th (Magzalia, Çayönü, Abu Hureyra, Aswad), 7th millennium cal. BC.
(Jarmo ceramic, Umm Dabaghiayh, Buqras, Judaidah, Ramad) and later.
- Central and western part of the Fertile Crescent. Absent from central Zagros and Deh Luran.
Known also from central Anatolia.
- Very common type of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
As kl
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Cafer
Çayönü Sea
present
Levzin
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
ia l

numerous Kumar Göbekli

a

Chagar Bazar
ke

Gürçü
Dja'de Feyda Thalathat
Qaramel Assouad Nemrik
Yarim I Banahilk
Magzalia
Judaidah Sabi Kashkashok Arpachiyah
Halula Abyad I, II Kül M'lefaat
Sotto Shimshara
Ras Shamra Sheikh Qermez Dere
Kerkh Hassan low. Abu Hureyra Hassuna
acer., cer. Jarmo cer.
Umm Dabaghiah
Matarrah
Buqras
Mediterranean Labweh Songor A
Byblos
Sea
Sawwan
Ramad
Aswad
Horvat Galil Beisamun
Mudjahiya
Nahal Oren
Sha'ar ha-Golan
Munhata Sabz low.
Netiv Hagdud
Gilgal I
Jericho
El-Khiam
Hatula
Es-Siffiya

Baaja
Beidha

Basta

2.2.5.2 Triangular polished bifacial stone axes/celts

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

164
 ANNEX 2.2.5.3

1
0 3 cm 2

2.2.5.3 1 - Çayönü 2 - Hallan Çemi

- 10th-9th (Hallan Çemi, Çayönü) and 8th millennium cal. BC. (Cafer, Gürçü).
- Upper valleys.
- Rare. Of local significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Cafer Sea
present Hallan Çemi
Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
a
ke

Gürçü

Mediterranean
Sea

2.2.5.3 Pedunculated polished stone axes/celts

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

165
2.2.5.4 ANNEX

3 4
1
2
0 3 cm

5 6 7

2.2.5.4 1- Cafer 2 - 7- Buqras

- End of 9th (Nevalı Çori), 8th (Magzalia, Sabi Abyad II), 7th millennium cal. BC.
(Ramad, Buqras, Hassuna I, Kül, Kerkh, Ras Shamra) and later.
- Central part of Fertile Crescent. Absent from southern Levant and the whole Zagros region.
- Common type of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Cafer Sea
present
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
ake

Seker
Judaidah
Sabi Yarim I
Magzalia
Abyad II
Qminas
Kül Sotto
Kerkh acer.
Ras Shamra cer. Abu Hureyra Hassuna I

Umm Dabaghiah
Buqras
Naccache Baghouz
Mediterranean Dbaye

Sea Beirut Scies

Beirut Sables Sawwan

Ramad

2.2.5.4 Polished stone axes/celts with rectangular section

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

166
 ANNEX 3 .11 .11

2
0 3 cm
1

3 4

3.1.1 1 - Jarmo 2 - Shimshara 3 - Abu Hureyra 4 - El Kowm 2

- Thickness of walls > 1 cm.

- From the Natufian (not mapped) through the 10th-9th (Jericho A, Mureybet, Hallan Çemi),
8th millennium cal. BC. (Basta, Abu Gosh, Abu Hureyra, Guran) and later (Jarmo ceramic, Sawwan,
Ras Shamra, Sha’ar ha-Golan).
- The whole Fertile Crescent, plus Iranian plateau.
- Common type of no specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Hallan Çemi lake
Late period Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
Kumar
ake

Qaramel Assouad
Nemrik
Kurdu
Umm-Qseir
Qminas Damishliya II Shimshara
Thalathat
Mureybet
Ras Shamra
Abu Hureyra
Jarmo cer.
Sukas Umm Dabaghiah
Umm-el-Tlel

Arjune
Mediterranean El Kowm 1, 2
Byblos
Sea

Ramad Ghoraife Sawwan

Guran
Horvat Galil Beisamun

Munhata Sha'ar ha-Golan

Tabaqat Al-Buma Choga Sefid
Hatula Gilgal I
Abu Gosh Jericho Ali Kosh
Ashkelon
El-Khiam Jilat 13
Es-Siffiya

Khirbet Hammam

Baaja Beidha

Basta

3.1.1 Thick-walled globular stone vessels

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

167
3 .11 . 2 ANNEX

0 3 cm 2

4
3

3.1.2 1 - Buqras 2 - Abu Hureyra 3 and 4 - Jarmo

- Thickness of walls > 1 cm.

- From the second half of the 8th (Jericho B, Buqras, Jarmo), into the 7th millennium cal. BC.
(Kashkashok, El Kowm 2).
- Mostly Jezirah and Zagros. Second scatter in southern Levant.
- Rare type of supra-regional significance ( ?) (cf thin-walled type 3.2.2).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Kashkashok

Yarim II Shimshara

Abu Hureyra
Jarmo
Buqras Sinn

Mediterranean El Kowm 2

Sea
Guran

Choga Sefid

Ali Kosh
Jericho

Wadi Feinan

3.1.2 Thick-walled flat based stone vessels

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

168
 ANNEX 3 .11 . 3

0 3 cm

0 3 cm 3

4 0 3 cm 5

3.1.3 1 and 4 - Hallan Çemi 2 - Çayönü 3 - Göbekli 5 - Jerf el Ahmar

- Globular or with S-shaped profile. Made of chlorite. Rich geometrical incised decoration on the
rim and the upper part of the body.
- First finds in northern Natufian (Abu Hureyra), then 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. (Mureybet, Jerf el Ahmar,
Hallan Çemi, Qaramel, Dja'de). Also later ? (Assouad, Gürçü).
- Northern Levant and upper valleys.
- Rare. Of regional significance, correlation with Qaramel points (1.1.16), adzes/herminettes (1.3.3.2), pedunculated
pestles (2.2.2.4), decorated shaft streighteners (2.2.3.3) and stone statues (6.5.1).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
Hallan Çemi lake
Late period Sea
present Çayönü Körtik
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori Demirköy
ia l

numerous Göbekli
ake

Gürçü
Dja'de
Qaramel Assouad

Jerf el Ahmar

Mureybet

Mediterranean
Sea

Jilat 7

3.1.3 Thick-walled decorated stone vessels with sophisticated motives

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

169
3 .11 . 4 ANNEX

0 3 cm

6
3

1 7
4
0 3 cm

3.1.4 1 - Çayönü 2 and 7 - Nemrik 3 and 6 - Hallan Çemi 4 - Thalathat 5 and 8 - Cafer

- Thickness of walls > 1cm. Mostly globular. Frequent holes and incised decoration
(parallel horizontal lines) under the rim.
- 10th-9th (Hallan Çemi, M’lefaat), 8th millennium cal. BC. (Nemrik, Çayönü) and later
(Jarmo, Thalathat).
- From upper valleys to the western Zagros.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Hallan Çemi lake
Late period
Cafer
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
a

Hirbet Selim
ke

Mezraz T.

Nemrik
Thalathat
Shimshara
M'lefaat

Jarmo

Mediterranean
Sea

3.1.4 Thick-walled decorated stone vessels with simple motives

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

170
 ANNEX 3 . 2 .11

For the forms of the vessels

cf. 3.1.1

3.2.1 Jericho B El Kowm 2 Jarmo ceramic Buqras Assouad

- Thickness of walls ≤ 1 cm. Mostly of "alabaster" or "marble".

- End of 8th (Jericho B) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (El Kowm 2, Jarmo ceramic, Buqras, Assouad) and later.
- The whole Fertile Crescent except the upper valleys.
- Common type of supra-regional significance. Thinning of the thick-walled type (3.1.1).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Mezraz T. Gürçü

Judaidah Assouad
Sotto
Qminas Shimshara

Ras Shamra

Jarmo
Qdeir Sinn
Buqras
Mediterranean El Kowm 1, 2
Byblos
Sea Aatne

Abdul Hossein
Ramad
Kfar Hahoresh
Beisamun

Choga Sefid

Abu Jericho
Gosh
Es-Siffiya

3.2.1 Thin-walled globular stone vessels

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

171
3.2.2 ANNEX

For the forms of the vessels

cf. 3.1.2

3.2.2 Abu Gosh Munhata Magzalia Kerkh Songor B Sawwan

- Thickness of walls ≤ 1 cm
- 8th (Abu Gosh, Munhata, Magzalia), 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kerkh, Songor B, Sawwan) and later.
- The whole Fertile Crescent, except in the upper valleys. Absent (?) in central Zagros.
- Common type of supra-regional significance. Thinning of the thick-walled type (3.1.2).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Kurdu
Magzalia

Kerkh

Jarmo

Mediterranean Songor B
Byblos
Sea
Sawwan

Munhata
Choga Sefid

Abu Gosh

Ashkelon

3.2.2 Thin-walled flat based stone vessels

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

172
 ANNEX 3.2.3

1 0 3 cm 2

3 4

3.2.3 1 - Sawwan 2 - Jarmo 3 and 4 - Buqras

- Thickness of walls ≤ 1 cm. Mostly made of "alabaster", "marble" or rarely bitumen (Deh Luran).
- Second half of the 8th (Magzalia, Sabi Abyad II), and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kül, Sawwan, Kashkashok).
- Inner part of the Fertile Crescent. Absent in the southern Levant, the upper valleys and the central Zagros.
- Common type of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
Hallan Çemi lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
a
ke

Sabi Abyad II Kashkashok

Damishliya Magzalia
Shimshara
Kül

Abu Hureyra Umm Dabaghiah

Jarmo
Sinn
Buqras

Mediterranean Labweh
El Kowm 1, 2
Rihan III
Sea Aatne

Sawwan
Ramad
Guran

Choga Sefid

Ali Kosh
Jilat 13

3.2.3 Thin-walled low stone vessels with S-shaped profile

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

173
3.2.4 ANNEX

1 2 3

0 3 cm

3.2.4. 1 and 3 - Umm Dabaghiah 2 - Sawwan

- Thickness of rims ≤ 1 cm. Thickness of walls > 1 cm. Made of "alabaster" or "marble".
- End of the 8th (Magzalia, Sabi Abyad II) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Labweh, Sawwan, Sotto).
- From central-northern Levant to western (and central ?) Zagros.
- Common type of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
kea

Seker
Kashkashok

Judaidah Magzalia
Sabi Abyad II Shimshara
Kül Sotto

Umm Dabaghiah Hassuna

Sinn
Buqras

Mediterranean El Kowm 2

Sea Labweh
Sawwan Qazemi

3.2.4 Thin-walled high stone vessels with S-shaped profile

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

174
 ANNEX 3.2.5

1
2
0 3 cm

0 3 cm

4 5

3.2.5 1 - Kashkashok 2 - Buqras 3 - Damashliya 4 - Choga Sefid 5 - El Kowm 2

- Thickness of walls ≤ 1 cm. Made of "alabaster" or "marble".

- End of the 8th (Kowm 2), 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kashkashok, Ras Shamra) and later.
- From central Levant to western Jezirah.
- Rare type of regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Kashkashok
Sabi Abyad I

Damishliya

Ras Shamra

Sinn
Buqras

Mediterranean El Kowm 1, 2

Sea

Ramad acer.

Choga Sefid

3.2.5 Thin-walled semi-globular stone vessels with shouldered rim

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

175
3.2.6 ANNEX

0 3 cm

3.2.6 1 - Yarim II 2 - Judaidah 3 - Kerkh

- Thickness of walls ≤ 1 cm.

- Second half of the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Yarim II, Kerkh) and later.
- From central Levant to eastern Jezirah.
- Rare type of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Judaidah
Yarim II

Kerkh cer.

Ras Shamra cer.

Mediterranean
Sea

3.2.6 Thin-walled semi-globular stone vessels with beak

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

176
 ANNEX 3.2.7

0 3 cm

3.2.7. 1 - Jarmo 2 and 3 - Buqras

- Thickness of walls ≤ 1 cm. Made of "marble", "alabaster".

- 7th millennium cal. BC. (Jarmo ceramic, Yarim I, Sawwan).
- From eastern Jezirah to western Zagros and northern part of Mesopotamian plain.
- Rare type of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Kashkashok

Yarim I,II

Abu Hureyra

Jarmo cer.

Buqras
Mediterranean Songor B

Sea
Sawwan

3.2.7 Thin-walled carinated low stone vessels

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

177
3.2.8 ANNEX

0 3 cm
1 2

3 4

3.2.8 1 - Sawwan 2 - Jarmo 3 - Buqras 4 - Banahilk

- Thickness of walls ≤ 1 cm. Made of "marble", "alabaster".

- End of the 8th (Magzalia, El Kowm 2) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Yarim I, Jarmo, Sawwan).
- From El Kowm oasis through eastern Jezirah to western Zagros and northern part of
Mesopotamian plain.
- Rare type of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Magazalia
Yarim I, II Banahilk

Abu Hureyra

Jarmo cer.
Buqras
El Kowm 2

Mediterranean
Sea Songor B
Sawwan

3.2.8 Thin-walled carinated high stone vessels

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

178
 ANNEX 3.2.9

1 2 3 4

0 3 cm

3.2.9 1 - Buqras 2 - Umm-da-Bagiyam 3 - Jarmo 4 - Sawwan

- Thickness of walls ≤ 1 cm. Same form of mouth connected with different

types of vessels. Made of "alabaster" or "marble".
- 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kül, Umm Dabaghiah, Sawwan).
- Eastern Jezirah, western Zagros and northern part of Mesopotamian plain.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Kül

Jarmo
Umm Dabaghiah
Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea
Sawwan

3.2.9 Thin-walled stone vessels with oval mouth

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

179
3 . 2 .11 0 ANNEX

1 2 3

0 3 cm

3.2.10 1 - Buqras 2 - Sawwan 3 - Baghouz

- Thickness of walls ≤ 1 cm.

- 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kül, Sawwan).
- Eastern Jezirah and northern part of Mesopotamian plain.
- Rare type of regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Yarim II
Kül

Buqras

Mediterranean Baghouz

Sea
Sawwan

3.2.10 Thin-walled cylindrical stone vessels

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

180
 ANNEX 3 . 2 .11 1

2 3
1
0 3 cm

3.2.11 1 and 4 - Buqras 2 - Sawwan 3 - Umm-el-Tlel

- Thickness of walls ≤ 1 cm. Made of "alabaster" or "marble". The legs are

associated with different forms of vessels.
- Late 8th (Umm-el-Tlel) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Baghouz, Sawwan).
- Linear repartition between El Kowm oasis and Mesopotamian plain.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Umm-el-Tlel

Buqras
Baghouz
Mediterranean
Sea

Sawwan

3.2.11 Thin-walled stone vessels on legs

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

181
4.1 ANNEX

2
0 3 cm

3 4 5

4.1 1, 2, 4 and 5 - El Kowm 2 3 - Labweh

- Made of chalk or gypsum plaster. Globular or semi-globular open mouth forms.

- End of 8th (Magzalia) and 7th millenium cal. BC. (Kashkashok, Labweh, El Kowm 1 and 2).
- Central Levant, eastern Jezirah and southern Piedmont (?) of Zagros.
- Relatively common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Kashkashok ?

Magzalia

Kerkh
Abu Hureyra
Sukas
Umm-Dabaghiah
El Kowm 1, 2
Buqras
Mediterranean
Labweh
Sea
Neba'a Fawr

Ain Ghazal
Ali Kosh ?

4.1 "Simple" white ware

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

182
 ANNEX 4.2

0 3 cm

0 3 cm
2 3

4.2 1 and 4 - Labweh 2 and 3 - El Kowm 1

- Made of chalk or gypsum plaster.

- End of 8th (Ramad) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Labweh, El Kowm 1).
- Central Levant and El Kowm oasis.
- Rare. Of local significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Ras Shamra

El Kowm 1
Mediterranean Labweh
Sea Byblos
Nebaa Faur

Ramad II

4.2 White ware on ring base

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

183
4.3 ANNEX

1
0 3 cm

4.3 1 and 3 - El Kowm 1 2 - El Kowm 2

- Made of chalk or gypsum plaster.

- End of 8th (El Kowm 2) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sawwan).
- Linear repartition between El Kowm oasis and northern Mesopotamian plain.
- Rare type of local significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Abu Hureyra

El Kowm 1, 2
Mediterranean
Sea
Sawwan
upper

4.3 Rectangular white ware

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

184
 ANNEX 5 .11 .11

1 4
0 3 cm
2
3

5 6
0 3 cm

7 8
9

5.1.1 1 - Baaja 2 and 3 - Jarmo 4 - Halula 5, 6 and 9 - Nemrik 7 and 8 - Nevalı Çori

- Mostly of stone. Sometimes of clay.

- Known from Natufian, later from 10th-9th (Jerf el Ahmar, Nemrik), but mostly 8th (Basta, Aswad,
Abu Hureyra, Sabi Abyad II) and 7th millennium cal. BC (Sarab, Hassuna, Kerkh).
- The whole Fertile Crescent, also central Anatolia (Asıklı).
ş
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
As kl
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Cafer
Çayönü Sea
present Levzin
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
Mezraz T.
kea

Sabi Abyad I, II
Judaidah Kashkashok Zawi Chemi upper
Nemrik
Halula Assouad
Jerf el Ahmar Yarim I Thalathat Banahilk
Qminas Arpachiyah
Sotto
Kerkh
Hassuna
Ras Shamra Abu Hureyra
Jarmo cer.

Buqras Matarrah
El Kowm 1, 2
Mediterranean
Sea Sarab
Ramad acer.
Sawwan
Aswad

Ain Ghazal
Abu
Jericho
Gosh
Es-Siffiya

Baaja

Basta
5.1.1 Flat oval beads
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

185
5 .11 . 2 ANNEX

2 3
1
0 3 cm

4 5 6
0 3 cm 0 3 cm

5.1.2 1 and 2 - Jarmo 3 - Nevalı Çori 4 - Mezraz-Teleilat 5 - Thalathat 6 - Çayönü

- Mostly of stone. Sometimes of clay. One sample of copper (Çayönü).

- End of 9th (Dja'de, Nevalı Çori), 8th (Halula, Çayönü) and 7th millennium cal. BC
(Kerkh, Sotto, Yarim I, Kashkashok).
- The whole Fertile Crescent (except central Zagros).
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Çayönü
Sea
present
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous Mezraz T.
kea

Gürçü
Dja'de Kashkashok

Halula Thalathat
Sabi Abyad I Yarim I
Sotto Arpachiyah

Kerkh

Jarmo cer.

Matarrah
Buqras
Mediterranean
Sea
Ghoraife
Ramad acer.

Ali Kosh cer.

Ain Ghazal

Es-Siffiya

Baaja

Basta
5.1.2 Flat rhomboidal beads
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

186
 ANNEX 5 .11 . 3

1 2
6

3
0 3 cm 0 3 cm

4 5

5.1.3 1 - Baaja 2 - Nemrik 3 - Beidha 4 - Jarmo 5 - Ramad 6 - Horvat Galil

- Mostly of soft stone.

- Few finds from Natufian, then 10th-9th (Qaramel, Gilgal I, Horvat Galil), 8th
(Basta, Baaja, Sabi Abyad II) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Judaidah, Kerkh).
- Western wing of Fertile Crescent.
- Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Qaramel Nemrik
Zawi Chemi ?

Sabi Abyad II
Judaidah Halula

Kerkh

Jarmo cer.

Mediterranean Byblos
Sea
Ramad acer.
Aswad
Kfar HaHoresh
Horvat Galil

Netiv Hagdud
Gilgal I Ain Ghazal
Jericho
Es-Siffiya

Baaja
Beidha
Sabra 1c
Basta

5.1.3 Flat subrectangular beads

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

187
5 .11 . 4 ANNEX

2
3
1 0 3 cm

4 5
0 3 cm 0 3 cm

5.1.4 1 - Abu Hureyra 2 - Ras Shamra 3 - Kerkh 4 - Mezraz-Teleilat 5 - Judaidah

- Mostly of soft stone. Sometime with tube.

- Second half of the 8th (Abu Hureyra) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Umm Dabaghiah, Yarim I, Kerkh).
- From northern Levant to the northern Mesopotamian plain, also central Anatolia (Aşıklı).
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
As kl
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
a

Mezraz T.
ke

Seker

Judaidah
Yarim I
Kurdu

Kerkh

Ras Shamra cer. Abu Hureyra

Umm Dabaghiah

Mediterranean
Sea
Sawwan ?

Ain Ghazal

5.1.4 Flat triangular beads

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

188
 ANNEX 5 .11 . 5

3 cm

0
1 2
0 3 cm

3
0 3 cm

4 5

5.1.5 1 - Judaidah 2 - Mezraz-Teleilat 3 and 4 - Kerkh 5 - Halula

- Mostly of soft stone. Always with tube.

- Few finds from northern Natufian, then 10th-9th (Mureybet) through 8th (Abu Hureyra, Çayönü) to
7th millennium cal. BC. (Jarmo, Kerkh)
- Between northern Levant and western Zagros including the upper valleys (the "Golden Triangle").
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l

Mezraz T.
ake

Chagar Bazar

Judaidah Halula
Sabi Abyad II Kashkashok
Dhahab Arpachiyah
Mureybet
Kerkh Abu Hureyra

Jarmo cer.

Buqras
Mediterranean
Sea

5.1.5 "Butterfly" beads

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

189
5 .11 . 6 ANNEX

1
2

5
3 4
0 3 cm

5.1.6 1, 2 and 5 - Nevalı Çori 3 and 4 - Çayönü

- Of stone. Rectangular or trapezoidal. From 2 to 12 holes.

- Mostly 10th-9th (Salibiya IX, Mureybet, Çayönü lower), but also 8th millennium cal. BC. (Çayönü upper).
- Northern Levant and upper valleys.
- Rare. Of regional significance ?

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
a
ke

Dja'de Shanidar B
Jerf el Ahmar

Mureybet

Mediterranean
Sea

Salabiya IX

Es-Siffiya

Basta

5.1.6 Flat multi-hole beads

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

190
 ANNEX 5 .11 . 7

1 2 3

0 3 cm

4 5 6
0 3 cm

5.1.7 1 - Jarmo 2 and 3 - Judaidah 4 - Buqras 5 and 6 - Magzalia

- Of stone. With tube.

- End 8th (Magzalia, Buqras), and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kerkh, Judaidah).
- From northern Levant through Jezirah to western Zagros (" Golden Triangle ").
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Judaidah
Magzalia

Kerkh
Abu Hureyra
Jarmo

Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea

5.1.7 Barrel-shaped beads with tube

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

191
5 . 2 .11 ANNEX

2
3 cm

1 3
0 3 cm

0 3 cm

5
0

5.2.1 1 - Jarmo 2, 5 and 6 - Mezraz T. 3 - Ramad 4 - Nemrik 7 - Çayönü

- Mostly of stone. Sometimes of obsidian, shell or bone.

- From the 10th-9th (Asiab), through the 8th (Basta, Ain Ghazal, Qdeir) and
7th millennium cal. BC. (Matarrah, Kerkh, Arpachiyah).
- The whole Fertile Crescent.
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
a

Mezraz T.
ke

Gürçü
Nemrik
Judaidah
Yarim II
Kurdu
Kerkh Arpachiyah

Ras Shamra Abu Hureyra

Jarmo cer.

Qdeir 1
Matarrah

Mediterranean El Kowm 2

Sea Asiab

Ramad acer.

Beisamun

Netiv Hagdud
Salabiya IX
Ain Ghazal
Abu Gosh

Es-Siffiya

Baaja

Basta
5.2.1 Oval bi-perforated "buttons"
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

192
 ANNEX 5.2.2

1
0 3 cm

0 3 cm
0 3 cm 3 4

5.2.2 1 - Magzalia 2 - Beisamun 3 - Assouad 4 - Halula

- Made of stone, shell or bone.

- 10th-9th (Hallan Çemi), 8th (Beisamun, Jarmo, Guran, Basta, Ganj Dareh),
and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Byblos, Jarmo).
- The whole Fertile Crescent.
- Common. No specific territorial significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period Cafer lake
Sea
present
Çayönü Hallan Çemi
well attested
Urm

numerous Neval Çori

ia l

Mezraz T.
ake

Nemrik

Assouad Zawi Chemi upper

Halula
Magzalia

Ras Shamra

Jarmo

Buqras
Mediterranean
Byblos
Sea
Ramad Ganj Dareh
Guran
Aswad

Beisamun

Choga Sefid

Ali Kosh acer.

Saqarat Masad 1
Beidha

Basta
5.2.2 Subrectangular bi-perforated "pendants"
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

193
5 . 3 .11 ANNEX

0 3 cm
1 2
3 cm

3 4

5.3.1 1 - Ali Kosh 2 - Magzalia 3 et 4 - Nevalı Çori

- From the end of 9th (Nevalı Çori), through the 8th (Munhata, Cafer, Magzalia) and
the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sotto).
- Southern Levant and independently ( ?) eastern wing of the Fertile Crescent.
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Boy Tepe
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Cafer Sea
present
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
ake

Magzalia
Shimshara
Sotto

Jarmo acer., cer.

Karim Shahir
Palegawra

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab ?
Asiab
Ramad

Horvat Galil

Munhata Choga Sefid cer.

Abu Gosh Ali Kosh

acer.cer.
Es-Siffiya

Baaja

Basta

5.3.1 Bracelets with round/oval section

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

194
 ANNEX 5.3.2

2 3

4 5

1 0 3 cm

5.3.2 1 - Cafer 2, 3, 4 and 5 - Jarmo

- Late 8th (Cafer, Ein Qadis, El Kowm 2), and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Jarmo, Shimshara).
- The whole Fertile Crescent, except its eastern end (?).
- Rare. Of no specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Cafer Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Shimshara

Jarmo cer.
Buqras

El Kowm 2
Mediterranean
Sea

Ramad

Burqu'

Choga Sefid ?

Es-Siffiya

'Ein Qadis
Baaja
Basta

5.3.2 Bracelets with lenticular and rhomboidal section

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

195
5.3.3 ANNEX

1
3 cm
0 3 cm

0 3 cm
3 cm

3
4

5.3.3 1 - Ain Ghazal 2 - Baaja 3 and 4 - Basta

- From the 8th (Basta, Ain Ghazal) to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Es-Siffiya).
- Southern Levant.
- Rare. Of local significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
a
ke

Mediterranean
Sea

Munhata

Ain Ghazal

Wadi Shueib
Ashkelon Es-Siffiya

Saqarat Masad 1
Baaja

Basta

5.3.3 Bracelets with triangular or subtriangular section

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

196
 ANNEX 5.3.4

1 2

0 3 cm

5
0 3 cm
4

5.3.4. 1, 2, 3 and 4 - Cafer 5 - Magzalia

- Mostly 8th millennium cal. BC. (Cafer, Magzalia).

- Eastern wing of the Fertile Crescent.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
Boy Tepe
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Cafer
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Feyda

Magzalia

Jarmo acer.

Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea

Ali Kosh cer.

5.3.4 Bracelets with convex and profiled sections

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

197
6 .11 .11 .11 ANNEX

1 2
0 3 cm 0 3 cm

4
3
0 3 cm 0 3 cm

6.1.1.1 1 - Çayönü 2 - Ain Ghazal 3 - Abdul Hossein 4 - Aswad

- Representation with massive rising neck.

- From the 10th-9th (Jericho A), through the 8th (Munhata, Magzalia, Abdul Hossein)
to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kashkashok, Thalathat).
- The whole Fertile Crescent.
- Common. No specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

Gritille
ia l

numerous
kea

Kashkashok
Sabi Abyad I
Thalathat
Magzalia

Mediterranean
Sea
Ramad Abdul Hossein

Aswad II

Munhata Choga Sefid

Ain Ghazal
Ali Kosh
Jericho

6.1.1.1 Figurines : aurochs

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

198
 ANNEX 6 .11 .11 . 2

0 3 cm

6.1.1.2 1 - Ain Ghazal 2 - Jericho

- Representation with rectilinear back (domestic cattle according

A. Lasota-Moskalevskaías' suggestion).
- From the 8th (Çayönü, Aswad) to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kashkashok).
- Western wing of the Fertile Crescent.
- Common. Of supra regional significance.

Early periods
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late periods lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

Gritille
numerous
ia l
kea

Kashkashok

Mediterranean
Sea
Ramad Ganj Dareh

Aswad

Munhata

Ain Ghazal
Jericho

6.1.1.2 Figurines : domestic cattle

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

199
6 .11 . 2 ANNEX

1 0 3 cm
2

0 3 cm

6.1.2 1 - Ali Kosh 2 - Halula 3 - Abdul Hossein

- From the 8th (Munhata, Abu Hureyra, Abdul Hossein) to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Thalathat).
- The whole Fertile Crescent.
- Rare. No specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Halula
Thalathat

Abu Hureyra

Mediterranean
Sea
Ramad Abdul Hossein

Aswad

Munhata

Ali Kosh

6.1.2 Figurines : unspecified mammals with raised head

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

200
 ANNEX 6 .11 . 3

1 2

0 3 cm

6.1.3 1 - Jarmo 2 - Sarab 3 - Beidha

- Probable representation of Capra ibex.

- From the 8th (Ain Ghazal, Çayönü) to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab, Tula'i).
- Southern Levant, and eastern wing of the Fertile Crescent.
- Rare. Of local (Levant) and of supra-regional significance (Eastern wing).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Mezraz T.

Jarmo cer.

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab
Ramad

Aswad

Tula'i
Ain Ghazal

Beidha

6.1.3 Figurines : wild goats

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

201
6 .11 . 4 ANNEX

1 6
3
0 3 cm

0 3 cm

4 5

6.1.4 1, 2 and 3 - Buqras 4 - Magzalia 5 - Abu Hureyra 6 - El Kowm 2

- Head on "delicate" strongly curved neck (see 6.1.7, 6.2.1 and 6.2.2).
- Made of stone, clay and bone.
- End of the 8th (Magzalia, Abu Hureyra) and beginning of the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Buqras).
- Jezirah and El Kowm oasis.
- Rare. Of regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
Göbekli ?
ake

Magzalia

Abu Hureyra

Buqras
El Kowm 2
Mediterranean
Sea

6.1.4 Figurines/statuettes : "charming" gazelles

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

202
 ANNEX 6 .11 . 5

1 2 3

4 5 6

0 3 cm

6.1.5 1 - Choga Sefid 2, 4, 5 and 6 - Jarmo 3 - Tula'i

- Mostly in lying position.

- Second half of the 8th and first half of the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Jarmo, Tula'i).
- Zagros and Deh Luran.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with isosceles triangles (1.2.9),
boar figurines (6.1.6), snail-shaped and T-shaped sitting lady figurines (6.4.6 and 6.4.7),
tetrahedron tokens (7.8) and low spool-shaped "labrets" (7.9).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Jarmo cer.

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab

Choga Sefid

Tula'i

Oueili

6.1.5 Figurines : canines

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

203
6 .11 . 6 ANNEX

0 3 cm
2
1

0 3 cm
3

6.1.6 1 - Sarab 2 - Jarmo 3 - Nemrik

- Complete figurines only.

- From the 8th (Ganj Dareh) to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab).
- Zagros.
- Rare. Of regional significance, correlation with isosceles triangles (1.2.9), canine figurines (6.1.5),
snail-shaped and T-shaped sitting lady figurines (6.4.6 and 6.4.7), tetrahedron tokens (7.8)
and low spool "labrets" (7.9).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Nemrik

Jarmo cer.

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab
Ganj Dareh

Oueili

6.1.6 Figurines : boars

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

204
 ANNEX 6 .11 . 7

1 0 3 cm

6.1.7 1 - Nemrik 2 - Nevalı Çori

- Sculpted head at the end of a stone stem (leopards and cats) see map 6.2.1.
- 10th-8th millennium cal. BC. (Jerf el Ahmar, Nemrik).
- Jezirah.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with Nemrik and Demirköy points (1.1.17 and 1.1.18),
triangular sickles (1.3.2.1), Çayönü tools (1.3.4.2), bird of prey statuettes (6.2.1)
and mushroom-shaped tokens (7.11).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
ake

Nemrik
Jerf el Ahmar

Mediterranean
Sea

6.1.7 Statuettes : felines

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

205
6 . 2 .11 ANNEX

0 3 cm
4 0 3 cm
6

0 3 cm

2
0 3 cm 3 5

6.2.1 1 - Jerf el Ahmar 2, 3, 4 and 5 - Nemrik 6 - Mureybet

- Sculpted head or skull at the end of a stone stem (See map 6.1.7 and 6.5.1).
- 10th-8th millennium cal. BC. (Göbekli, Jerf el Ahmar, Nemrik).
- Jezirah and upper valleys ("Golden Triangle").
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with Nemrik and Demirköy points (1.1.17 and 1.1.18),
triangular sickles (1.3.2.1), Çayönü tools (1.3.4.2), feline statuettes (6.1.7)
and mushroom-shaped tokens (7.11).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous Göbekli
ake

Qaramel
Nemrik
Jerf el Ahmar
Mureybet

Mediterranean
Sea

6.2.1 Statuettes : birds of prey

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

206
 ANNEX 6.2.2

1
2
0 3 cm
0 3 cm

3
0 3 cm

6.2.2 1 - Assouad 2 - Sabi Abyad II 3 - Jerf el Ahmar

- Flat head at the end of a presumed stone stem.

- 10th-9th (Jerf el Ahmar) and 8th millennium cal. BC. (Sabi Abyad II, Assouad, Gürçü).
- Western Jezirah.
- Very rare. Of regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested Gritille

ia l

numerous
kea

Gürçü

Sabi Abyad II Assouad

Jerf el Ahmar

Mediterranean
Sea

6.2.2 Statuettes : owls (Assouad type)

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

207
6 . 3 .11 ANNEX

1 2
0 3 cm

6.3.1 1 and 2 - Gilgal I 3 - Nahal Oren

- Flat with convex base. Made on pebble or bone. Symbolic sexual features (mostly female ?).
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. (Gilgal I, Mureybet II, Dja'de).
- The whole Levant.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Dja'de

Mureybet II

Mediterranean
Sea
Ramad

Nahal Oren

Salabiya IX
Gilgal I

El-Khiam

6.3.1 "Culbuto statuettes" : standing human representations

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

208
 ANNEX 6.3.2

1 0 3 cm

3
0 3 cm
2
4
0 3 cm

6.3.2. 1 and 2 - Mureybet 3 - Cafer 4 - Ain Ghazal

- One hermaphrodite (?) at Cafer. Rectlinear back. Sexual features well

indicated. Arms under the breast. Untreated face and feet.
- 10th-9th (Mureybet III) and 8th millennium cal. BC. (Ain Ghazal, Cafer).
- Western wing of Fertile Crescent.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Cafer Sea
present "hermaphrodite"
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Mureybet III

Mediterranean
Sea

Aswad II

Ain Ghazal

6.3.2 Statuettes and figurines : standing "realistic" female representations

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

209
6.3.3 ANNEX

2
1 0 3 cm
3

4 5
0 3 cm

6.3.3 1, 2 and 3 - Munhata 4 - Buqras 5 - Nahal Hemar

- Made of stone, clay or bone. Flat back. High schematisation except for the
head and the face. Arms absent.
- 10th-9th (Gilgal I) and 8th millennium cal. BC. (Munhata, Jericho B).
- Southern Levant and middle Euphrates.
- Relatively common. Of regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
ake

Dja'de

Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea
Ramad
Aswad

Munhata

Gilgal I
Ain Ghazal
Jericho
Es-Siffiya

Nahal Hemar

6.3.3 Statuettes and figurines : standing human representations with flattened head
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

210
 ANNEX 6 . 4 .11

0 3 cm
1

6.4.1. 1 - Netiv Hagdud 2 - Mureybet

- Flat back. Weak indication of sex. Head with schematic anatomic details. Emphasis on eyes.
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Levant.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Mureybet III

Mediterranean
Sea

Netiv Hagdud

6.4.1 Figurines : flat sitting Ladies

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

211
6.4.2 ANNEX

1
0 3 cm

0 3 cm
2

6.4.2 1 and 2 - Jarmo 3 - Sarab

- So called " pregnant type " (V. Broman-Morales) with exagerated sexual features
and indicated details on the face.
- End of 8th (Sabi Abyad II) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab).
- Zagros and Jezirah.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Sabi Abyad II

Jarmo

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab

6.4.2 Figurines : realistic sitting Ladies

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

212
 ANNEX 6.4.3

1
0 3 cm
2
0 3 cm

0 3 cm

3
0 3 cm
4 5

6.4.3. 1 - Cafer 2 - Sarab 3 - Aswad 4 - Umm Dabaghiah 5 - Thalathat

- Missing or highly schematized head and arms.

- Second half of the 8th (Cafer, Çayönü, Aswad) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Umm Dabaghiah,
Kerkh, Sarab).
- The whole Fertile Crescent.
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Cafer Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

Gritille
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
Mezraz T.
kea

Dja'de
Assouad

Sabi Abyad I, II Thalathat

Arpachiyah
Kerkh

Jarmo
Umm Dabaghiah
Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab
Ramad

Aswad

Ali Kosh

Es-Siffiya

Beidha

6.4.3 Figurines : semi-realistic sitting Ladies

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

213
6.4.4 ANNEX

1
0 3 cm

0 3 cm

2
0 3 cm

0 3 cm

3 5

6.4.4. 1 - Nemrik 2 - Halula 3 and 4 - Kashkashok 5 - Thalathat

- Highly schematized silhouette. Lack of head, arms and sexual features.

- From the second half of 9th (Nevalı Çori, Nemrik) through the 8th (Munhata, Halula, Magzalia)
to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Thalathat, Kashkashok).
- The whole Fertile Crescent except central Zagros and part of southern Levant.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

Gritille
numerous Neval Çori
ia l
kea

Dja'de
Kashkashok Nemrik

Halula
Magzalia
Thalathat

Jarmo
Umm Dabaghiah

Mediterranean
Sea
Ghoraife

Aswad

Munhata

6.4.4 Figurines : sitting Ladies in form of a tetrahedron

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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214
 ANNEX 6.4.5

3
2
0 3 cm
1 0 3 cm
0 3 cm

4 5 6
0 3 cm

6.4.5. 1 - Kashkashok 2 - Sarab 3 - Magzalia 4 - Nevalı Çori 5 - Jarmo 6 - Ganj Dareh

- Highly schematized, lack of head, arms and sexual features.

- 10th-9th (Mureybet III, Nevalı Çori), 8th (Aswad, Magzalia) and 7th millennium cal. BC.
(Umm Dabaghiah, Sarab).
- The whole Fertile Crescent, except southern Levant.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
present
Sea
well attested Çayönü
Gritille
Urm

numerous Neval Çori

ia l
a

Mezraz T.
ke

Kashkashok
Halula
Yarim I
Magzalia
Mureybet III
Sotto

Kerkh cer.
Jarmo
Umm Dabaghiah
Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab
Ramad Ganj Dareh

Aswad
Choga Mami

Thawwab

6.4.5 Statuettes and figurines : L-shaped sitting Ladies

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

215
6.4.6 ANNEX

1
0 3 cm 2

6.4.6. 1 - Ali Kosh 2 - Sarab 3 - Jarmo

- End of 8th and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab, Jarmo).

- Zagros and Deh Luran.
- Rare. Of regional significance, correlation with isosceles triangles (1.2.9), canine and
boar figurines (6.1.5 and 6.1.6), T-shaped sitting lady figurines (6.4.7), tetrahedrons tokens (7.8)
and low spool-shaped "labrets (7.9).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
ake

Jarmo

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab

Ali Kosh

Ain Ghazal

6.4.6 Figurines : snail-shaped sitting Ladies

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

216
 ANNEX 6.4.7

1 0 3 cm
2

0 3 cm

3 4 5

6 7

6.4.7. 1 and 2 - Choga Sefid 3 - Ali Kosh 4, 5, 6 and 7 - Jarmo

- End of 8th and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab, Jarmo, Ali Kosh).
- Zagros and its piedmont.
- Common. Of regional significance, correlation with isosceles triangles (1.2.9),
canine and boar figurines (6.1.5 and 6.1.6), T-shaped sitting lady figurines (6.4.7),
tetrahedrons tokens (7.8) and low spool-shaped "labrets" (7.9).

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
ake

Jarmo cer.

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab

Ghoraife Choga Mami

Munhata Choga Sefid

acer., cer. Sabz low.

Ali Kosh acer., cer. Tula'i

6.4.7 Figurines : T-shaped sitting Ladies

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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217
6.4.8 ANNEX

0 3 cm

1 2

0 3 cm

3 4

6.4.8 1 - Jarmo 2 - Nevalı Çori 3 and 4 - Çayönü

- No sexual features, but probably males.

- From the end of 9th (Nevalı Çori, Dja'de) through the 8th (Aswad, Magzalia) to the
7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab, Sotto).
- The whole Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamian plain (Oueili).
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

Ancient periods
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Recent periods lake
Sea
Çayönü
present
well attested
Urm

Gritille
Nevali Çori
numerous
ia l
ake

Dja'de

Magzalia Thalathat
Sotto

Jarmo cer.
Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab

Aswad

Ain Ghazal

Oueili

6.4.8 Figurines : "double-winged" standing human representations

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

218
 ANNEX 6.4.9

1 2 3

0 3 cm

4 5 6

6.4.9 1 - Nemrik 2 and 5 - Ganj Dareh 3 and 4 - Ali Kosh 6 - Jarmo

- Mostly of clay. Probable development of " sitting ladies ". Considered as tokens
by D. Schmandt-Besserat.
- 10th-9th (Mureybet III, Nemrik), 8th (Aswad, Magzalia, Ganj Dareh) and
7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab).
- The whole Fertile Crescent.
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

Ancient periods
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Recent periods lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
numerous
ia l
kea

Nemrik
Judaidah
Magzalia
Mureybet

Ras Shamra

Jarmo cer.

Buqras Matarrah
Mediterranean
Sea Sarab
Ganj Dareh
Ramad Ghoraife Asiab
Sawwan
Aswad

Choga Sefid acer., cer.

Ali Kosh

Es-Siffiya

6.4.9 Statuettes and figurines : human representations in the form of studs or stalks
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

219
6 . 5 .11 ANNEX

0 3 cm

1 3

0 30 cm
2

6.5.1 1, 2 and 3 - Nevalı Çori

- Human representations, also combined with animals, sometimes in form of pillars. Generally related
to specific " community building ".
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. (Nevalı Çori, Jerf el Ahmar).
- Northern Levant and upper valleys.
- Rare. Of regional significance, correlation with Qaramel points (1.1.16), adzes/herminettes (1.3.3.2),
pedunculated pestles (2.2.2.4), decorated shaft streighteners (2.2.3.3) and richly decorated
stone vessels (3.1.3).

Ancient periods
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Recent periods lake
Sea
present Kilisik
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
numerous
ia l

Sanliurfa
a

Göbekli
ke

Abr

Jerf el Ahmar

Mediterranean
Sea

Jilat 13A ?

6.5.1 Stone statues

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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220
 ANNEX 6.5.2

3
2
1 0 6 cm

0 30 cm

6.5.2. 1,2 and 3 - Ain Ghazal 4 - Jericho

- Human standing representations. Flat back (cf. 6.3.3).

- Second half of the 8th millennium cal. BC. (Ain Ghazal, Jericho B).
- Southern Levant.
- Rare. Of local significance.

Ancient periods
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Recent periods lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
kea

Mediterranean
Sea

Ain Ghazal
Jericho

Nahal Hemar

6.5.2 Plaster statues

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

221
6 . 6 .11 ANNEX

3 cm

1
2 0 3 cm

4
3

6.6.1 1 - Jericho 2 - Nevalı Çori 3 - Jerf-el-Ahmar 4 - Mureybet

- 10th-9th (Mureybet, Jerf, Nevalı Çori) and 8th millennium cal. BC. (Jericho B).
- Western wing of the Fertile Crescent.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested Neval Çori
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Jerf el Ahmar

Mureybet

Mediterranean
Sea

Munhata

Jericho

Basta

6.6.1 Small stone human heads

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

222
 ANNEX 6.6.2

0 20 cm

1 2

0 20 cm

6.6.2 1 and 2 - Jericho 3 - Ramad

- 8th millennium cal. BC. (Ain Ghazal,Ramad).

- Southern Levant.
- Rare. Of local significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Mediterranean
Sea
Ramad

Kfar HaHoresh Aswad

Beisamun

Ain Ghazal
Jericho

6.6.2 Plastered human skulls

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

223
6.6.3 ANNEX

10 cm
10 cm

1 2

6.6.3 1 - Nahal Hemar 2 - Hebron

- Sometimes painted.
- 8th millennium cal. BC. (Nahal Hemar, Basta).
- Southern Levant.
- Rare. Of local significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
kea

Mediterranean
Sea

Er-Ram

Hebron

Nahal Hemar

Basta

6.6.3 Stone human masks

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

224
 ANNEX 6.7

4
1 2

0 60 cm
0 60 cm

6.7 1 - Nevalı Çori 2 - Göbekli

- Related to "community building" (See map 6.5.1).

- Second half of 9th millennium cal. BC. (Nevalı Çori, Göbekli).
- Upper valleys.
- Rare. Of regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present Kilisik

well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
a

Karahan
ke

Mediterranean
Sea

6.7 Decorated stone pillars

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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225
6.8 ANNEX

ground

horn

pebble pebble

pebble
pebble

ground

pebble

0 20 cm

0 3 cm

2 0 60 cm
3

6.8 1 - Jerf el Ahmar 2 - Ain Ghazal 3 - Göbekli

- Different kinds of representations : « natural » bucrania, miniature clay bucrania,

figurines, relief on pillars, hoof on stem.
- From the 10th-9th millennium onwards
- For the early period and the beginning of the late, concentration (under various forms)
in the « Golden Triangle ». Later attested, in form of figurines only, in the whole Fertile Crescent,
except the western Zagros.
- Common.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Çayönü Sea
present Hallan Çemi
Gritille
Urm

well attested
Göbekli
ia l

numerous
a

Abr
ke

pillars Sabi Abyad I Kashkashok

Nemrik
Magzalia
plaquettes Qaramel
Jerf el-Ahmar
Kül Thalathat
statuettes/figurines
Mureybet
bucrania

Mediterranean
Ganj Dareh
Sea
Ramad
Sawwan Abdul Hossein
Aswad II

Munhata
Choga Sefid

Ain Ghazal
Ali Kosh
Jericho

6.8 Theme : the Bovine representations

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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226
 ANNEX 6.9

0 15 cm

0 40 cm

0 3 cm

6.9 1 - Abr 2 - Göbekli 3 - Nevalı Çori

- Principal kinds of representations : head on stem, engravings, low relief on pillar.

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC.
- Golden Triangle, mostly in the west.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with 6.10, 6.11 and 6.12.

Ancient
Early period
periods N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Recent
Late period
periods Sea
present
Neval Çori
Urm

well attested
Göbekli
ia l

numerous
kea

pillars Abr Nemrik

plaquettes Jerf el Ahmar

statuettes/figurines

bucrania

Mediterranean
Sea

6.9 Theme : the feline representations (Golden Triangle)

Gulf
0 100 200 km
E. Régagnon, MOM 2004

227
6.10 ANNEX

0 3 cm

2 0 30 cm

0 3 cm

6.10 1 - Jerf el Ahmar 2 - Nemrik 3 - Nevalı Çori (1 - according to K. Schmidt)

- Mostly heads on stem, also statues and plaquettes.

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. and later.
- Golden Triangle.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with 6.9, 6.11 and 6.12.

Ancient
Early period
periods N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Recent
Late period
periods Çayönü Sea
present
Urm

well attested Gritille

Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
ake

Gürçü
pillars Qaramel Sabi
Abyad II Assouad
Nemrik
plaquettes
Jerf el Ahmar
statuettes/figurines
Mureybet
bucrania

Mediterranean
Sea

6.10 Theme : the bird of prey representations (Golden Triangle)

Gulf
0 100 200 km
E. Régagnon, MOM 2004

228
 ANNEX 6.11

0 3 cm

0 30 cm

1
0 30 cm

6.11 1 - Göbekli 2 - Jerf el Ahmar 3 - Nevalı Çori

- Mostly low relief on pillars and engraving on plaquettes, one head on stem.
- 10th-9th and beginning of the 8th millennium cal. BC. and later.
- Golden Triangle.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with 6.9, 6.10 and 6.12.

Ancient
Early period
periods N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Çayönü lake
Recent
Late period
periods Sea
present
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
kea

Karahan
pillars Qaramel Nemrik
Dja'de

plaquettes
Jerf el Ahmar
statuettes/figurines

bucrania

Mediterranean
Sea

6.11 Theme : the snake representations (Golden Triangle)

Gulf
0 100 200 km
E. Régagnon, MOM 2004

229
6.12 ANNEX

0 20 cm

10 cm

0 3 cm 2

6.12 1 - Jericho 2 - Hebron 3 - Mureybet

- Plastered skulls, stone masks and stone statuettes.

- 10th-9th and 8th millennium cal. BC.
- Western wing of the Fertile Crescent.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period
Çayönü Sea
present
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
kea

small stone human heads

Jerf el Ahmar
plastered human skull
Mureybet
stone masks

Mediterranean
Sea

Ramad
Kfar HaHoresh
Beisamun

Munhata

Er-Ram Ain Ghazal

Jericho
Hebron

Nahal Hemar

Basta

6.12 Theme : Human head special treatment (Levantine Koine) Gulf

0 100 200 km
E. Régagnon, MOM 2004

230
 ANNEX 6.13

0 3 cm
1

0 3 cm
3

0 30 cm

6.13 1 - Mureybet 2 - Cafer 3 - Ain Ghazal

- Statuettes, figurines and statues.

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. and later.
- Western wing of the Fertile Crescent.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
Van Caspian
numerous
lake
Late period Sea
Kilisik
present
Urm

well attested Neval Çori

ia l

Sanliurfa
numerous
ake

Göbekli
Abr
stone statues Dja'de
Jerf el Ahmar
plaster statues

statuettes/figurines

Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea
Ramad

Aswad

Munhata

Gilgal I
Ain Ghazal

Jericho
Jilat 13A ?

Es-Siffiya
Nahal Hemar

6.13 Theme : Standing human representations (Levantine Koine)

Gulf
0 100 200 km
E. Régagnon, MOM 2004

231
6.14 ANNEX

1 2 3

0 3 cm
0 3 cm
0 3 cm

4 5

0 3 cm 0 3 cm

6.14 1 - Cafer 2 - Kashkashok 3 and 4 - Sarab 5 - Choga Sefid

- Realistic and presumed schematic female representation.

- Except for a few old pieces in the west (realistic representations only), 8th millennium cal. BC. and later.
- The whole Fertile Crescent. Specific schematic (snail and T-shaped) forms in the south-east.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
Van Caspian
numerous
lake
Late period Sea
present
Gritille
Urm

well attested Neval Çori

ia l

numerous
kea

Kashkashok Nemrik
flat
Halula
snail and T-shaped Mureybet III Magzalia
Thalathat
tetrahedron form

Jarmo
Umm Dabaghiah

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab
Ghoraife

Aswad Choga Mami

Munhata
Choga Sefid
Netiv Hagdud acer., cer. Sabz low.

Ali Kosh Tula'i

Ain Ghazal

6.14 Theme : sitting ladies

Gulf
0 100 200 km
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232
 ANNEX 6.15

1 2 3

0 3 cm 0 3 cm

0 3 cm

6.15 1 - Jerf el Ahmar 2 - Nemrik 3 - Magzalia

- Style become more slender through time.

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. and later.
- Golden Triangle.
- Relatively common. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with 6.9, 6.10 and 6.11.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period Hallan Çemi lake
Çayönü
Sea
present
well attested Demirköy
Urm

Gritille Neval Çori

numerous
ia l

Göbekli
ake

Gürçü
Dja'de
Qaramel Assouad
Nemrik
Sabi Abyad II Magzalia
Jerf el Ahmar
Mureybet III
M'lefaat ?
Abu Hureyra

Buqras
El Kowm 2
Mediterranean
Sea

6.15 Style : Head on stem (Golden Triangle)

Gulf
0 100 200 km
E. Régagnon, MOM 2004

233
7.1 ANNEX

1 2 3

4 5 6

0 3 cm 0 3 cm

7.1 1 and 5 - Nemrik 2 and 4 - M'lefaat 3 and 6 - Abdul Hossein

- Mostly made of clay but also of stone, shell, bone, obsidian and plaster.
- From the 10 th-9th (Jerf el Ahmar, M’lefaat, Horvat Galil), through the 8th (Beidha, Magzalia, Abdul Hossein)
and the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab, Umm Dabaghiah) and later.
- The whole Fertile Crescent and the Mesopotamian plain. Dominant type in eastern Jezirah.
- Common. No specific territorial significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
Cafer
present
Çayönü
well attested Gritille
Urm

numerous
ia l
kea

Dja'de Kashkashok
Qaramel Sabi Abyad I Thalathat
Judaidah
Nemrik
Magzalia Shimshara
Sheikh Hassan low. Jerf el Ahmar
Umm-Qseir
Mureybet Yarim I M'lefaat
Ras Shamra
Jarmo
Umm Dabaghiah
Matarrah
El Kowm 2
Seh Gabi
Mediterranean
Byblos Sarab
Sea Ganj Dareh

Ramad Ghoraife Asiab Abdul Hossein

Sawwan
Guran
Aswad
Horvat Galil

Munhata
Choga Sefid

Ain Ghazal Tula'i

Ali Kosh
Jericho
Jericho

Oueili

Beidha

7.1 Tokens : discs

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

234
 ANNEX 7.2

2 3
1

7
5 6
4 0 3 cm

7.2 1 - Nevalı Çori 2 and 3 - Jarmo 4 - M'lefaat 5, 6 and 7 - Abdul Hossein

- Mostly made of clay but also of plaster, stone, and fossils.

- From the 10th-9th (Jericho A, Nevalı Çori, Nemrik), through the 8th (Halula, Abu Hureyra,
Ain Ghazal, Aswad) to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Tula'i, Choga Mami, Thalathat) and later.
- The whole Fertile Crescent and the Mesopotamian plain.
- Common. No specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Cafer lake
Late period Sea
present
Gritille
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
kea

Judaidah Feyda Kashkashok Nemrik

Magzalia Thalathat
Halula Sabi Abyad I, II
M'lefaat
Sotto
Ras Shamra
Abu Hureyra Hassuna

Umm Dabaghiah Jarmo

El Kowm 2 Seh Gabi

Mediterranean Baghouz
Sea Sarab
Ramad Asiab
Ghoraife
Sawwan Abdul Hossein
Aswad Guran

Choga Mami
Munhata
Thawwab
Choga Sefid
Tula'i

Ain Ghazal
Jericho Ali Kosh

Es-Siffiya

Saqarat Masad 1

Basta

7.2 Tokens : cones

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

235
7.3 ANNEX

2
1

0 3 cm

3 4

5 6

7.3 1, 3 and 6 - Nemrik 2 and 5 - Jarmo 4 - M'lefaat

- Mostly made of clay but also of bitumen and stone.

- From the 10th-9th (Jerf el Ahmar, M’lefaat), through the 8th (Ganj Dareh, Aswad)
to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sawwan, Sarab, Thalathat) and later.
- The whole Fertile Crescent and the Mesopotamian plain. Dominant type in Zagros and its piedmont.
- Common. No specific territorial significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period Cafer lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

Gritille
numerous
ia l
kea

Sabi Abyad I, II Kashkashok

Nemrik
Jerf el
Ahmar Magzalia M'lefaat
Thalathat

Jarmo

Buqras Seh Gabi

Mediterranean Sarab
Byblos
Sea Songor A Ganj Dareh
Ramad Asiab
Ghoraife
Sawwan Abdul Hossein
Aswad

Munhata
Choga Sefid
Tula'i

Ain Ghazal
Ali Kosh
Jericho
Es-Siffiyah

Beidha

Basta

7.3 Tokens : balls

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

236
 ANNEX 7.4

1 4
2 3

0 3 cm

5 6

7.4 1 - Abdul Hossein 2 - Ali Kosh 3 - Choga Sefid 4 - Oueili 5 - Nemrik

- Mostly made of clay but also of obsidian and stone.

- From the 10th-9th (Dja'de), through the 8th (Halula, Magzalia, Ganj Dareh) to
the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab, Tula'i, Oueili) and later.
- The whole Fertile Crescent and the Mesopotamian plain.
- Common. No specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l

Mezraz T.
kea

Dja'de
Assouad
Judaidah
Nemrik
Magzalia
Halula
Sabi Abyad II
Shimshara
Qminas Yarim I
Kerkh
Jarmo

Matarrah

Mediterranean Songor

Sea Sarab Ganj Dareh

Ramad Ghoraife Asiab
Abdul Hossein
Sawwan
Aswad
Choga Mami
Beisamun

Munhata
Choga Sefid
Sabz

Ain Ghazal Ali Kosh Tula'i

Es-Siffiya
Oueili

Baaja

7.4 Tokens : "nails"

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

237
7.5 ANNEX

1 2 3 4 5

0 3 cm 0 3 cm

7.5 1 and 2 - Jericho 3 - Munhata 4 and 5 - Nemrik

- Mostly made of clay but also of stone and plaster.

- From the 10th-9th (Asiab, M’lefaat, Sheikh Hassan), through the 8th (Jericho B, Magzalia, Ganj Dareh)
to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sawwan, Sarab, Thalathat) and later.
- The whole Fertile Crescent. No data for the Wadi Araba.
- Common. No specific territorial significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present Cafer

well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
kea

Nemrik

Judaidah
Sheikh Hassan low. Magzalia Thalathat
M'lefaat
Abu Hureyra
Jarmo

Seh Gabi
Mediterranean
Sea Sarab Ganj Dareh
Ramad Asiab Abdul Hossein
Ghoraife
Sawwan
Aswad

Munhata Choga Sefid

Ain Ghazal
Ali Kosh
Jericho

Oueili

7.5 Tokens : cylinders

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

238
 ANNEX 7.6

1 2 3 4
0 3 cm 0 3 cm

7.6 1 - Jarmo 2 and 3 - Judaidah 4 - Çayönü

- Mostly made of clay.

- From the 10th-9th (Çayönü base), through the 8th (Magzalia) to the
7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab, Judaidah) and later.
- Central part (" Golden Triangle ") and eastern wing of the Fertile Crescent.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Judaidah

Sabi Abyad Magzalia Arpachiyah

Ras Shamra acer.

Jarmo

El Kowm 2

Mediterranean
Sea Byblos Sarab

Oueili

7.6 High spool-shaped "labrets"

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

239
7.7 ANNEX

3
2 0 3 cm

0 3 cm
4
0 3 cm
1

7.7 1 - Oueili 2 - Choga Sefid 3 - Sabi Abyad II 4 - Ali Kosh

- Mostly made of clay.

- From the end of the 8th (Magzalia) to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Tula'i, Oueili, Choga Mami) and later.
- Eastern Jezirah and the Mesopotamian plain.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Chagar Bazar

Sabi Abyad I, II
Magzalia

Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea
Choga Mami

Choga Sefid
Tula'i

Ali Kosh

Oueili

7.7 Tokens : cones/cylinders with enlarged base

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

240
 ANNEX 7.8

1 2

0 3 cm

7.8. 1 and 2 - Jarmo

- Mostly made of clay.

- From the 10th-9th (Asiab) to the 8th-7th millennium cal. BC. (Jarmo, Sarab, Songor) and later.
- Western and central Zagros and its piedmont.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with isosceles triangles (1.2.9), canine and
boar figurines (6.1.5 and 6.1.6), snail and T-shaped sitting lady figurines (6.4.6 and 6.4.7),
and low spool-shaped "labrets" (7.9).

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Jarmo

Seh Gabi
Mediterranean Songor

Sea Sarab

Asiab
Ramad

Farukhabad

Basta

7.8 Tokens : tetrahedrons

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

241
7.9 ANNEX

2 3

0 3 cm
1

4 5

7.9 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 - Oueili

- Mostly made of clay.

- End of the 8th and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Jarmo, Oueili, Sarab).
- Western and central Zagros, its piedmont and lower Mesopotamian plain.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with isosceles triangles (1.2.9),
canine and boar figurines (6.1.5 and 6.1.6), snail and T-shaped sitting lady figurines
(6.4.6 and 6.4.7), tetrahedrons tokens (7.8).

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
present
Sea
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
ake

Jarmo

Matarrah

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab

Choga Mami

Choga Sefid cer.

Oueili

7.9 Low spool-shaped "labrets"

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

242
 ANNEX 7.10

1 2 3 4

5 6
0 3 cm

7.10. 1, 2, 3 and 4 - Ali Kosh 5 and 6 - Choga Sefid

- Mostly made of clay and stone.

- End of the 8th and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sarab, Ali Kosh, Choga Mami).
- Central Zagros and its piedmont.
- Rare. Of regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
kea

Mediterranean
Sea Sarab

Guran

Choga Mami

Choga Sefid Sabz low.

acer., cer.
Tula'i
Ali Kosh cer.

7.10 Tokens : T-shaped labrets

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

243
7.11 ANNEX

0 3 cm

0 3 cm

7.11 1 - Kashkashok 2 - Nemrik

- Mostly made of clay.

- From the 8th (Nemrik) to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Dja'de, Kashkashok).
- Upper valleys and Jezirah (" Golden Triangle ").
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance, correlation with Nemrik and Demirköy points (1.1.17 and 1.1.18),
triangular sickles (1.3.2.1), Çayönü tools (1.3.4.2), feline and bird of prey statuettes (6.1.7 and 6.2.1).

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
kea

Dja'de cer. Kashkashok Nemrik

Thalathat

Mediterranean
Sea

7.11 Mushroom-shaped tokens/figurines

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

244
 ANNEX 8 .11 .11

1 2 3 0 3 cm

8.1.1 1 and 3 - Nemrik 2 - Ali Kosh 4 - Choga Sefid

- Hole made directly by boring. Proximal part mostly rounded.

- Known from the Natufian, then from the 10th-9th (Qaramel, Nemrik) through the 8th (Munhata, Aswad,
Magzalia, Ganj Dareh) to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sha’ar ha-Golan, Byblos, Sawwan, Sarab).
- The whole Fertile Crescent and the Mesopotamian plain.
- Common. No specific territorial significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
ake

Nemrik
Qaramel

Magzalia Arpachiyah
Qminas

Ras Shamra acer.

Abu Hureyra
Jarmo
Umm Dabaghiah
Buqras Matarrah

Mediterranean
Byblos Songor A
Sea Ganj Dareh
Sarab
Sawwan
Aswad Guran
Atlit-Yam

Sha'ar ha-Golan
Munhata Choga Sefid
Hatula
Abu Gosh Ali Kosh

Es-Siffiya

Saqarat Masad 1
Baaja
Beidha

Basta
8.1.1 Common bone needles
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

245
8 .11 . 2 ANNEX

2 3

4
0 3 cm

1
5

8.1.2 1 and 2 - Cafer 3 - Çayönü 4 - Halula 5 - Mureybet

- Described by J. Cauvin. Hole made by incision plus boring. Pointed proximal part.
- From the 10th-9th (Mureybet, Jerf el Ahmar) through the 8th (Halula, Magzalia) to
the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kerkh, Buqras, Jarmo).
- Central part of the Fertile Crescent (" Golden Triangle ") and northern central Levant.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period Cafer lake
Çayönü Sea
present
Levzin
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Gürçü

Halula Jerf el Ahmar Magzalia

Mureybet

Kerkh Abu Hureyra

Jarmo acer.

Matarrah
Buqras

Mediterranean
Byblos
Sea

Es-Siffiyya

Baaja

Basta
8.1.2 Mureybet type bone needles
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

246
 ANNEX 8.2

3 4
2
1 0 3 cm

0 3 cm

8.2 1 - Nemrik 2 - Hallan Çemi 3 - Mureybet 4 - Cafer

- Described by D. Stordeur.
- From the 10th-9th (Hallan Çemi, Mureybet, Nemrik) to the 8th millennium cal. BC. (Cafer).
- Central part of the Fertile Crescent (" Golden Triangle ").
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period Hallan Çemi lake
Sea
Cafer
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
kea

Nemrik

Mureybet

Mediterranean
Byblos
Sea

8.2 Festooned bone plaquettes

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

247
8.3 ANNEX

4
3

1 0 3 cm
0 3 cm
2
0 3 cm
0 3 cm

8.3 1 - Cafer 2 - Akarçay 3 - Halula 4 - Abu Hureyra

- From the 10th-9th (Cayönü base, Dja'de, Horvat Galil) through the 8th (Cafer, Abu Hureyra)
to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kerkh, Judaidah).
- Western wing of the Fertile Crescent and the Anatolian plateau (Aşıklı).
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
As kl
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period
Cafer
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
a

Akarçay
ke

Dja'de
Judaidah
Halula cer.
Qminas

Kerkh acer.
Abu Hureyra

Mediterranean
Sea

Horvat Galil

Nahal Hemar

8.3 Hooks with hole

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

248
 ANNEX 8.4

3
2

0 3 cm
1

8.4 1 and 2 - Nemrik 3 - M'lefaat

- Known from western Zarzian, than from the 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. (Jerf el Ahmar, M’lefaat).
- Jezirah and western Zagros.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Nemrik
Zawi Chemi upper
Jerf el Ahmar
M'lefaat

Mediterranean
Sea

8.4 Bi-pointed bone plaquettes with central hole

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

249
8.5 ANNEX

1
0 3 cm

8.5 1 - Nemrik 2 - Ganj Dareh

- Described by D. Stordeur.
- From the 10th-9th (Zawi Chemi, Hallan Çemi, Nevalı Çori)
to the 8th millennium cal. BC. (Cafer, Ganj Dareh).
- Eastern wing of the Fertile Crescent.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period Cafer
lake
Sea
present
Çayönü Hallan Çemi
well attested
Urm

Neval Çori
numerous
ia l
kea

Gürçü
Nemrik Zawi Chemi upper
Dja'de

Mediterranean
Sea
Ganj Dareh

Basta
8.5 Rectangular perforated bone plaquettes
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

250
 ANNEX 9.1

0 3 cm

2 3

5
0 3 cm
0

1 3 cm

0 3 cm 6
0 3 cm
4

9.1 1 - Jarmo 2 - Hatoula 3 - Kerkh 4 - El Kowm 2 5 - Jericho 6 - Çayönü

- Made of stone or clay. Base decorated with incised spirals or concentric circles.
- Second half of the 8th (Jericho B, Çayönü, Halula) and 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kerkh).
- Central part ("Golden Triangle") and western wing of the Fertile Crescent.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
kea

Halula

Kerkh
Abu Hureyra
Jarmo
El Kowm 2

Buqras
Mediterranean
Sea

Aswad

Jericho

9.1 Conical "seals"

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

251
9.2 ANNEX

2
1 0 3 cm

0 3 cm

3 4
0 3 cm

9.2 1 and 3 - Ras Shamra 2 and 4 - Buqras

- Made of stone or clay. Base decorated with incised linear motives. Function confirmed
by imprints (Sabi Abyad I).
- From the second half of the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Sawwan, Kerkh, Ras Shamra) and
later (late Halaf period).
- Northern and central Levant, Jezirah and northern Mesopotamian plain. Also
Anatolian coast (Yumuk tepe).
- Relatively common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
ake

Chagar Bazar
Tepe Gawra
Sabi Abyad I
Kurdu Judaidah
Yarim II Banahilk
Qminas
Umm Qseir Arpachiyah
Kerkh
Ras Shamra acer., cer. Hassuna II
Hama II
Buqras

Hmajra
Mediterranean Byblos
Sea Kubbah 3

Sawwan

9.2 Seals with handle

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

252
 ANNEX 10.1

1 2 0 3 cm

10.1 1 - Netiv Hagdud 2 - Munhata 3 - Aswad

- Sometimes considered as " seals ", but also as calendar (K. Wright).
- Made of stone or clay. Linear incised geometric decoration.
- From the second half of the 10th-9th (Netiv Hagdud, Dja'de) to the 8th millennium cal. BC. (Munhata).
- Western wing of the Fertile Crescent.
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
a

Gürçü
ke

Dja'de
Qaramel

Mediterranean
Sea
Ramad

Aswad II

Munhata

Netiv Hagdud

Zahrat Adh Drha

10.1 Decorated oval plaquettes

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

253
10.2 ANNEX

2
0 3 cm

3 4

10.2 1 and 2 - Jerf-el-Ahamr 3 - Sheikh Hassan 4 - Jilat 7

- Sometimes considered as " seals ". Mostly made of stone, but also of clay.
Geometrical or figurative incised decoration.
- From the 10th-9th (Jerf el Ahmar, Çayönü base) through the 8th (Cafer, Munhata) to
the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Kerkh, Yarim I).
- Western wing and central part (" Golden Triangle ") of the Fertile Crescent, also
Iranian plateau (Hajji Firuz).
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Cafer lake
Late period Sea
present
Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Akarçay
Feyda Hajji Firuz
Qaramel Dja'de
Jerf el Ahmar
Judaidah Yarim I
Sheikh Hassan low.
Hassuna II
Kerkh
Abu Hureyra
Ras Shamra

Mediterranean
Sea

Munhata

Jilat 7

Basta

10.2 Decorated rectangular plaquettes

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

254
 ANNEX 11.1

0 3 cm

0 3 cm

1 2

11.1 1 and 2 - Munhata 3 - Horvat Galil

- From the Natufian through the 10th-9th (Nahal Oren, Dja’de, Nemrik),
to the 8th millennium cal. BC. (Jericho B, Munhata).
- Mostly southern Levant.
- Relatively common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
a
ke

Dja'de
Nemrik

Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea

Guran
Horvat Galil
Beisamun
Atlit-Yam
Sha'ar ha-Golan
Nahal Oren
Munhata

Gilgal I

Jericho

11.1 Single-engraved flat pebbles

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

255
11.2 ANNEX

1
2
0 3 cm

3 0 3 cm 4

11.2 1 - Horvat Galil 2, 3 and 4 - Munhata

- From the Natufian-Zarzian, through the 10th-9th (Qaramel, Horvat Galil), to the 8th (Munhata)
and the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Judaidah, Sha’ar ha-Golan).
- Mostly southern and central Levant.
- Relatively common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Çayönü
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
Göbekli
kea

Judaidah Qaramel
Zawi Chemi upper

Ras Shamra cer.

Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea
Ramad
Aswad II
Horvat Galil Beisamun

Munhata Sha'ar ha-Golan

Gilgal I

11.2 Multi-engraved flat pebbles

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

256
 ANNEX 11.3

2 3

0 3 cm
1

4 5

11.3 1, 2 and 3 - Thalathat 4 and 5 - Shimshara

- Made of clay, pottery sherds or stone but also of plaster.

- From the Natufian, through the 10th-9th (Mureybet, Qaramel, Asiab), and the 8th (Basta, Munhata,
Magzalia) to the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Umm Dabaghiah, Sawwan, Kashkashok) and later.
- The whole Fertile Crescent, northern Mesopotamian plain and Iranian plateau.
- Common. No specific territorial significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present Körtik
Çayönü
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
Kumar
ake

Kashkashok
Qaramel Halula Yarim I Zawi Chemi upper
Judaidah

Magzalia Banahilk
Sabi Abyad I, II
Thalathat Shimshara
Umm-Qseir
Kerkh Mureybet IA Sotto
Ras Shamra ? Hassuna
Sukas
Jarmo
Umm Dabaghiah ?

El Kowm 1
Mediterranean Songor A
Byblos
Sea
Asiab
Ramad acer. Ghoraife
Sawwan
Aswad Guran
Beisamun

Munhata Sha'ar ha-Golan

Abu Thawwab
Choga Sefid
Tabaqat Al-Buma

Jericho Ali Kosh

acer., cer.
Ashkelon Es-Siffiya

Baaja
Basta

11.3 Perforated discs

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

257
11.4 ANNEX

0 3 cm 0 3 cm
0 3 cm

1 2 3

0 3 cm
4

11.4 1 - Halula 2 - Kerkh 3 - Kashkashok 4 - Judeidah

- Made of stone or clay.

- From the second half of the 8th (Halula, Magzalia), to the 7th millennium cal. BC.
(Kashkashok, Sarab, Songor) and later.
- Central and northern Levant, Jezirah, Zagros, northern Mesopotamian plain
and Iranian plateau.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
ake

Kashkashok Yarim I
Judaidah Sabi Abyad I

Halula Magzalia Thalathat II

Umm Qseir
Kül Sotto
Kerkh
Abu Hureyra Hassuna
Ras Shamra acer.
Umm Dabaghiah
Matarrah
Seh Gabi C
Baghouz
Mediterranean Songor A
Byblos
Sea
Sarab

Abdul Hossein ?

Abu Thawwab
Choga Sefid acer.
Tula'i
Ali Kosh
acer.
Sabz low.

Oueili

11.4 Spindle-whorls
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

258
 ANNEX 11.5

1 2 3 4
0 3 cm

5 6 7 8

11.5 1, 2, 3 and 4 - Kashkashok 5, 6, 7 and 8 - Thalathat

- Made of compact clay.

- From the 7th millennium cal. BC. (Songor A, Sotto, Byblos lower) and later.
- Central-northern Levant, Jezirah, northern Mesopotamia plain and Iranian plateau.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm
ia l

numerous
kea

Sabi Abyad I Kashkashok Yarim I, II

Thalathat II
Qminas
Umm-Qseir Kül
Sotto
Hassuna
Ras Shamra cer. Abu Hureyra

Matarrah

Seh Gabi C
Mediterranean
Songor A
Sea Byblos low.
Sawwan Abdul Hossein

11.5 Biconical sling balls

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004
2001

259
12.1 ANNEX

N N
0 1m

0 3m
1 2

12.1 1 - Netiv Hagdud (after Bar Yosef and Gopher eds., 1997) 2 - Gilgöl (after Noy, 1989)

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. (Gilgal, Jericho).

- Southern Levant.
- Of local significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
ake

Mediterranean
Sea

Netiv Hagdud

Gilgal I
Jericho

12.1 Round houses with "pinched" entry

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

260
 ANNEX 12.2

0 2m

12.2 1 and 2 - Nahal Oren (after Noy)

- Cupholes in bedrock or « mobile » cupholes inside houses.

- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC (Netiv Hagdud, Abu Salem, Nahal Oren).
- Southern Levant and desert.
- Of regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
a
ke

Mediterranean
Sea

Gesher
Nahal Oren
Iraq-ed-Dubb

Netiv Hagdud
Gilgal I

Hatula
Zahrat Adh-Drha

Abu Salem

12.2 Association of round houses and cupholes

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

261
12.3 ANNEX

0 5m

0 3m

12.3 1 - Mureybet (after Aurenche, 1980) 2 and 3 - Nemrik (after Kozlowski, 2002)

- 10th-9th millenium cal. BC. (Mureybet, Nemrik).

- Middle Euphrates and Jezirah («Golden Triangle»).
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l

Göbekli
kea

Abr
Nemrik
Qaramel
Jerf el Ahmar
Qermez Dere
Mureybet
M'lefaat

Mediterranean
Sea

12.3 Round houses with central stone or mud pillars

and/or lateral benches Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

262
 ANNEX 12.4

2
3

0 5m

4
0 5m

12.4 1 - Jerf el Ahmar (after Stordeur et al., 2000) 2, 3 and 4 - Çayönü (after Schirmer, 1990)

- No sufficient proof for community function at Ain Ghazal despite claim by G. Rollefson.
- 10th-9th millennium cal. BC. (Jerf el Ahmar, Çayönü).
- Northern Levant and upper valleys («Golden Triangle»).
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present Çayönü
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous Göbekli
ake

Abr

Jerf el Ahmar

Mureybet

Mediterranean
Sea

Jericho Tower

Beidha ?

12.4 Community buildings

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

263
12.5 ANNEX

0 5m

12.5 Jerf el Ahmar (after Stordeur et al., 2000)

- 10th-9th (Jerf el Ahmar, Çayönü) and beginning of the 8th millennium cal. BC.
in the east (Nemrik) and the south (Beidha).
- Northern Levant and upper valleys («Golden Triangle»).
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l

Göbekli
kea

Dja'de Nemrik
Qaramel
Jerf el Ahmar

Mureybet

Jarmo

Mediterranean
Sea

Beidha

12.5 Settlements with stratigraphically attested direct passage from

circular to rectangular plan Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

264
 ANNEX 12.6

0 1m

0 2m

1 2

12.6 1 -Wadi Tbeik (after Bar Yosef) 2 - Jilat 26 (after Garrard, Byrd and al., 1994)

- 7th millennium cal. BC. and later.

- Sinai, Negev and Desert, east of the Levantine corridor
(no data on the northern part of the desert).
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Urm

well attested
ia l

numerous
kea

Mediterranean
Sea

Burqu 27

Dhuweila
Jilat 7, 13, 20, 26

Wadi Dhobai

Abu Salem

Beidha
Nahal Issaron
Nahal Reul
12.6 Round Houses after 8000 cal. B.C.
'Ain Abu Nekheileh
Wadi Tbeik
Gulf
0 100 200 km
Wadi Jibba Cartographies MOM 2004

265
12.7 ANNEX

0 5m

1
0 5m

0 6m

3
1 - Çayönü (after Schirmer, 1990) 2 - Jarmo (after Braidwood et al., 1983)
12.7
3 - Yarim I (after Munchaev and Merpert, 1981)

- Well attested at Çayönü. Concerns the base of different rectangular buildings

but not necessarily the plan of the above occupation level.
- 9th-7th millennium cal. BC.
- Northern Levant, High Valleys, Jezirah and western Zagros (« Golden Triangle »).
- Rare. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Sea
present
Çayönü
Urm

well attested low. and up.

ia l

numerous
kea

Dja'de
Qaramel
Yarim I
Mureybet

Jarmo cer.

Mediterranean
Sea

12.7 Buildings with grill-type basement

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

266
 ANNEX 12.8

0 2m
1 2

12.8 1 - Cafer (after Cauvin et al., 1999) 2 - Beidha (after Byrd, 1994)

- Concerns the base of different rectangular buildings but not necessarily

the plan of the above occupation level.
- End of 8th-7th millennium cal. BC.
- Northern Levant, High Valleys, Jezirah. Attested also in southern Levant.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Cafer Sea
present
Çayönü
well attested
Urm

Gritille
numerous Neval Çori
ia l
kea

Dja'de

Sheikh Hassan Yarim

Mureybet

Umm Dabaghiah

Mediterranean
Sea

Ain Ghazal

Beidha

12.8 Buildings with cell-type basement

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

267
12.9 ANNEX

0 5m

0 1m

1 2 3

12.9 1 - Cafer (after Cauvin et al., 1999) 2 - Ain Ghazal 3 - Jericho (after Banning and Byrd, 1987)

- End of 8th-7th millennium cal. BC.

- Western wing of the Fertile Crescent and Jezirah.
- Common. Of supra-regional significance.

Early period N
present
well attested
numerous
Van Caspian
lake
Late period Cafer Sea
present
Çayönü
Urm

well attested
Neval Çori
ia l

numerous
ake

Halula
Magzalia

Abu Hureyra

Mediterranean
Sea

Ain Ghazal
Jericho B

Beidha

12.9 Rectangular Houses with tripartite plan

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

268
 ANNEX 1 2 .11 0

0 5m 0 6m

1 2

12.10 1 - Magzalia (after Bader et al., forthcoming) 2 - Beidha (after Byrd, 1994)

- 9th but mostly 8th-7th millennium cal. BC.

- The whole Fertile Crescent (no data for central and eastern Zagros).
- Common. Of no specific territorial significance.

Early period
N
present
well attested
As kl
numerous
Van Caspian
Late period lake
Sea
present
well attested
Urm

numerous
ia l
kea

Magzalia
Halula upper

Jarmo cer.

Mediterranean Songor A

Sea

Sawwan

Jericho A, B

Beidha

12.10 Villages with attested massive and/or peripheral wall

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2004

269
13.1 ANNEX

13.1 from various sites

- Zagros group pottery, at various scale, after Aurenche, Kozlowski and Le Mière 2004.

Van Caspian
Lake
Sea
Urm
ia L
ake

Jarmo

Mediterranean Sarab

Sea Tamerkhan Guran

Choga Sefid
Tula'i

Ali Kosh

13.1 Zagros group pottery

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

270
 ANNEX 13.2

13.2 from various sites

- Proto-Hassuna pottery, at various scale, after Aurenche, Kozlowski and Le Mière 2004.

Van Caspian
Lake
Sea
Urm
ia L
ake

Khaneke
Seker
Khazna Ginnig
Hajji Firuz
Yarim
Kashkashok
Thalathat
Kül
Sotto
Hassuna
Umm Dabaghiah

Sinn
Buqras

Mediterranean
Sea

13.2 Proto-Hassuna group pottery

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

271
13.3 ANNEX

13.3 from various sites

- Pre-Halaf pottery, at various scale, after Aurenche, Kozlowski and Le Mière 2004.

Van Caspian
Lake
Sea
Urm
ia L

Mersin
Dolmuz Akarçay
ake

Dja'de Kosak
Judaidah
Sabi Abyad
Halula
Aray Mounbateh

Ras Shamra Kerkh Abu Hureyra

Tabbat al
Hammam

Labweh
Mediterranean Byblos
Sea
Ramad

13.3 Pre-Halaf group pottery

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

272
 ANNEX 13.4

0 10 20 cm

13.4 from various sites

- Yarmukian pottery, after Garfinkel 1993, in Paléorient 19/1, p.115-134.

Van Caspian
Lake
Sea
Urm
ia L
ake

Mediterranean
Sea

Beisamun
Sha'ar ha-Golan
Munhata Ain Rahub
Thawwab

Nizzanim Jericho Ain Ghazal

Tuleilat el-Ghassul
Wadi Shueib
Drha

13.4 Yarmukian group pottery

Gulf
0 100 200 km
Cartographies MOM 2001

273
1 4 .11 - 1 4 . 2 ANNEX

NENEZI
As kl DAG

Halula

Byblos

Beisamoun

Munhata

14.1-Diffusion of the obsidian from the Nenezi Dag, after Chataigner 1998.

As kl GÖLLU
DAG

Dja'de
Judaidah Halula
Jerf el Ahmar
Sheikh Hassan
Mureybet
Abu Hureyra
Qdeir 1
El Kowm 2

Byblos

Ramad
Ramad Ghoraife
Aswad
Beisamun
Yiftahel
Mudjahiya
Munhata
Michmoret
Sabz
Netiv Hagdud
Jericho
El Khiam

Nahal Lavan 109

Beidha

14.2-Diffusion of the obsidian from the Göllu Dag, after Chataigner 1998.

274
 ANNEX 1 4 . 3 -11 4 . 4

BINGÖL
Boy Tepe

Cafer
Çayönü Hallan Çemi

Dja'de
Assouad Kashkashok
Halula Sabi Abyad Magzalia
Sheikh Hassan Arpachiyah
Mureybet Sotto
Yarim II
Ras
Abu Hureyra
Shamra
Qdeir Umm-el- Sinn
Jlel
El Kowm 2 Buqras

Byblos Sarab

Ghoraife
Tamerkhan Guran Abdul Hossein
Aswad
Beisamun Choga Mami

Choga Sefid

Ali Kosh

14.3-Diffusion of the obsidian from Bingöl (calco-alcalin), after Chataigner 1998.

Cafer
Çayönü Hallan Çemi

Dja'de
Assouad Kashkashok Nemrik Banahilk
Halula Sabi Abyad Magzalia
Thalathat
Sotto
Mureybet Yarim Arpachiyah Shimshara
Kül Tepe
Abu Hureyra Hassuna
Sinn
Qdeir I Jarmo
El Kowm 2 Matarrah
Buqras

Byblos Sarab

Ramad Ghoraife Sawwan Tamerkhan Guran Abdul Hossein

Aswad
Beisamun Choga Mami
Munhata
Sabz

Ali Kosh

Oueili

Beidha

14.4-Diffusion of the obsidian from Bingöl Peralcalin (o) and from the Nemrut Dag (+),
after Chataigner 1998.

275