The Late Neolithic at al-Basatîn in Wadi Ziqlab, northern Jordan

In June and July of 2006, the University of Toronto's Wadi Ziqlab Project resumed excavations on an old terrace (Figure 1) where there are buried traces of occupation during the Epipalaeolithic, Late Neolithic (c. 5800-5300 cal BC), and Early Bronze Age (c. 3500 cal BC). These follow earlier excavations there in 2002 and 2004 (Banning et al. 2003, 2004, 2005; Maher & Banning, 2001).

Large amounts of Late Neolithic material occur at the site, but architecture and features are rare and generally insubstantial, while apparently outdoor surfaces covered with flat-lying debris are extensive. Cobblestone floors and platforms occur in several places (Figure 2), but they are not associated with walls, suggesting the possibility of tents or other light structures.

Some segments of Late Neolithic stone walls or wall foundations do occur, one of which is curved and may belong to a circular building with a hearth. The distribution of features leaves an overall impression of somewhat extensive, not very dense occupation of the site in this period, although it is possible that more substantial buildings, similar to ones of the same period found at Tabaqat al-Bûma only 7km upstream (Banning et al. 1994), might simply lie in a different part of the site.

Late Neolithic artefacts from al-Basatîn (Figure 3) include denticulated sickle elements, including several unfinished ones that indicate that denticulation took place before giving them their final shape (Kadowaki 2005). There are also flint axes, adzes, and chisels made by bifacial flaking, pecking, and battering, followed by grinding and polishing at their cutting edges. A cortical scraper found down slope at site WZ 140, made on a broad, nearly flat flake, is similar to ones from Tabaqat al-Bûma. Projectile points appear to have been rare or lacking at the site, apart from some that, like a few other tools we have found, are probably residual from some earlier Pre-Pottery Neolithic occupation nearby. Most of the grinding stones found at the site are handstones and pounders, although a large basalt quern or lower milling stone was found in the 2002 excavation.

The poorly fired and friable Late Neolithic pottery includes jars and bowls that are only rarely decorated. Some sherds are combed or roughened on the surface, occasionally with wavy or alternating patterns of combing (Figure 4). A few sherds show punctates, sometimes in conjunction with other decorative techniques. Red or black slip is not uncommon, sometimes accompanied by burnishing. A few bases show pebble or mat impressions on the bottom. Both ledge and loop handles occur.

Faunal remains from the Late Neolithic deposits indicate a reliance on sheep and goat supplemented by cattle (Bos taurus), and pig (Sus scrofa), while rarer instances of deer (Cervus sp.) and gazelle (Gazella sp.) indicate much less attention to hunting than in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Preservation of plant remains is poor on the site, but sickle elements and grinding equipment survive from harvest and processing of grain.

The overlying Early Bronze I level also seems fairly extensive with not very dense architecture. However, the 2004 excavation did uncover part of one apsidal house and several walls that could belong to others (Banning et al. 2005). The pottery, with many coarsely tempered holemouth and necked jars as well as some finer hemispherical bowls, sometimes shows simple decoration consisting of a row of oblique impressions just below the rim.

Radiocarbon assays on samples collected in 2004 have yielded two dates on organic residues from sherds found on a Late Neolithic surface of 6710±70 and 6650±140 BP. Eight of nine samples of charcoal or olive pits from Early Bronze contexts produced dates ranging from 4790±50 to 4400±60 BP.