The Palaeolithic of Jordan

1. The Palaeolithic of Jordan Omar al-Ghul, Ph.D. Department of Archaeology Faculty of Archaeology and Tourism Jordan University Febreuary 2014

2. The Divisions of the Palaeolithic • The Palaeolithic of Jordan is divided into three phases that extend from 900.000 to 22.500 years Bp (Before present). • Lower Paleolithic (900.000 to 150.000 years Bp). • MiddlePaleolithic (150.000 to 45000 years Bp). • Upper Paleolithic (45.000 to 22.500 years Bp). • This division is based on two types of evidence: • Flint tools. • Human evolution.

3. Subsistance in the Palaeolithic • People lived from hunting of wild animals and gathering of fruits. • Therefore, we speak of the “Hunter-gatherer” groups. • These consisted of small groups of people (ca. 20-50 persons): • who were blood-related, • Had no hierarchy, • Moved from one place to another hunting and gathering, • lived in caves or shelters.

4. Hunting

5. The environment during the Palaeolithic • Climatic conditions fluctuated between cool and moist to cool and dry. • Many areas of Jordan experienced a higher water table, which resulted in numerous springs throughout many regions of the upland plateau and in lakes and marshes, such as those found in the Azraq Basin and near Lake Lisan, the precursor to the Dead Sea. • Some of these areas would have been heavily vegetated. • It is likely that vegetation zones like the Mediterranean forest and the steppe grasslands were much greater in geographic extent than they are today.

6. Jafir Basin

7. The Lower Palaeolithic 900.000 – 150.000 years bp • It is difficult to study the sites that go back to this period in Jordan for the following reasons: • They were very old that archaeologists rarely find sites from this period still intact. • Many flint tools are not found in their original archaeological contexts, but in later secondary ones. • In many cases flint tools from this period can not be associated with animal remains that can be used in dating the archaeological context.

8. Sites of the Lower Palaeolithic • People lived during this period in open places. • These were small and close to water sources. • The earliest of them is “Dogarah”, which is located at the Zarqa river, north of Amman. • The faunal remains there are dated to around 900.000 – 1 million years bp.

9. Sites of the Lower Palaeolithic • People lived in Wadi al-Sarhan, which they also probably used to travel through the Arab Peninsula. • And they lived around the lakes in the al-Azraq region, as in Ain al-Asad and Ain Sawda. • There, one found animal remains, such as camel, boar, elephant. • One lived also in the vacinity of Tabaqat Fahil in the northern Jordan Valley.

10. Biface scraper from Ain al-Asad

11. The Middle Palaeolithic150.000 – 45000 years bp • We have from this period also very few sites. • But archaeologists did find traces of human occupation in shelters as well as in open places.

12. The environment in Middle Palaeolithic • Climate witnessed several fluctuations during this period. In the earlier part, the climate was cold and moist, in the later cold and dry. • Vegetation, like forests and open steppe extended farther to the south, like Wadi al-Hasa. • Many places were characterized by lakes and marshes or seasonal ponds, resulting in small patches of tress including oak.

13. Humans during the Middle Palaeolithic • No human trances were found in Jordan from this period. • However, remains of the Neanderthaler and of the Homo Sapiens were found from the same period in Palestine. • There is no agreement among scholars on the nature of the relationship between these two species.

14. Neanderthaler and Homo Sapiens

15. Fire

16. Settlement patterns during the Middle Palaeolithic • The earliest site from this period is a shelter in Ain Dufla in Wadi Ali, a tributary of Wadi al-Hasa. • Dated between 180.000 and 90.000 years bp. • It seems that people developed a pattern of settelment, in which they spend the winter in lower places and summer in higher ones. • Faunal remains indicate abundance of water.

17. The Upper Palaeolithic45000 – 22.500 years bp • There are relatively many sites from this period. • Some are open, others are shelters and caves. • Many of them are located in Wadi al-Hasa, Ra’s al-Naqab and in the al-Azraq Basin.

18. Sites of the Upper Palaeolithic

19. Environment during the Upper Palaeolithic • This earlier part of this period was slightly more moist that the Middle Palaeolithic. • Around 25.000 years bp temperatures began to drop world-wide with the onset of the last glacial maximum of the Pleistocene. • However, the water table remained high, so that lakes, marshes and ponds continued to exist.

20. Sites of the Upper Palaeolithic • One of the main settled regions in this period was Wadi al-Hasa. The Hasa lake reached some 40.000 years ago its maximum size, with around 50.000 square km. 20.000 years bp it began to shrink again. • About 70 sites were uncovered in the vicinity of the lake. Some were open places, others were shelters. They were in the average about 4 km away from the lake. • One found in these site bones of gazelles and tortoise. • The region to east of the lake was probably a hunting and gathering area for the people living in these sites.

21. A Shelter from Wadi al-Hasa from the Upper Palaeolithic

22. Sites and settlement patterns of the Upper Palaeolithic • Humans lived in the Ra’s al-Naqab and in al-Azraq regions, as well as in the northern Jordan Valley and in Petra. • It seems that the seasonal pattern of migration was maintained in this period too.

23. The Epipalaeolithic

24. The Epipalaeolithic22.500 – 10.300 bp • The last period of the Palaeolithic. • It demonstrates the largest number of sites, because: • they are late and most of the sites were preserved. • They are relatively large.

26. Sites of the Palaeolithic Main characteristics: • The big number and variety of flint tools. • The appearance of “houses”. • The increased evidence of “art” and “decorations”.

27. Sites of the Palaeolithic • People lived in the north-eastern desert, where they built stone enclosures and circular huts. • They lived also around the al-Hasa lake, until it dried up around 13.500 years bp. • When they became totally dependant on springs.

28. A Shelter from the Epipalaeolithic

29. Houses from “Harranah 4”/ ca. 20.000 bp

30. The Environment in the Epipalaeolithic • Around 18.000 years bp, temperatures reached their lowest point world-wide, at the end of the last glacial age. • This led to the wide spread of steppe vegetation. • The lakes in al-Azraq and al-Hasa regions shrank, but springs were not affected. The moist weather will dominate again after 15.000 years bp, and forests will appear again in Jordan.

31. Ehnitic groups? • Did all human groups belong to the same ethnic background? • If we find two collections of flint tools, in two neighboring areas, where the same environmental conditions prevail, can the differences in tool industry be explained by ethnic differences?

32. Social Differences? • Since burials from this period vary in their structure and in “gifts” laid with the dead, some archaeologists see therein an indication of social differences.

33. Gazelle Bones from al-Azraq region

34. Beginnings of Agriculture? • Systematic agriculture will not be practiced until the following Neolithic, but • Archaeologist assume that this was the result of a long development, • And thus assume that people started practicing agriculture already in the Epipalaeolithic. • As can be demonstrated by the many tools for processing food, that uncovered in the sites of this period, as in al-Himmeh 27. • .

35. A Burial from al-Azraq region from the Epipalaeolithic

36. Himmah 27: One of the oldest Villages • Located in the northern Jordan Valley, Himmah 27 is one of the earliest villages world-wide. It goes back to around 12500 years bp.

37. Himmah 27: The location and remains of building

38. Himmah 27: Remains of a building

39. وادي الحمة 27 • وتميز موقع "وادي الحمة 27" كذلك بالأعمال الفنية كالأحجار المنحوتة، والتي يعتقد أنها ذات وظيفة دينية، أو ربما استخدمت للزخرفة ولتجميل البناء من الداخل، • وكذلك المناجل الصوانية التي تميزت مقابضها العظمية بنحت الأشكال الحيوانية، غالباً الغزال، على أطرافها البعيدة، • كما عُثر على زبدية بزخارف غائرة، ولوحة حجرية مزخرفة بزخارف محفورة بشكل غائر وفي داخلها "65" حُفرة صغيرة، ربما حُفرت بوساطة مثقب يدوي.

40. الأدوات في وادي الحمة • كما اشتهر موقع "وادي الحمة 27" بتصنيع الأدوات البازلتية، التي استخدمت في طحن وجرش الحبوب. • وقد جاءت الأدوات الحجرية متنوعة الأشكال والأحجام، وإن كانت المدقات البازلتية هي الأكثر شيوعاً واستخداماً، إضافة للجواريش، والهاونات، والزبادي الصغيرة. • كما استخدم الإنسان الناطوفي في الموقع العظام في صناعة أدواته، خاصة المخارز، والخرز المصنوع من فقرات أصابع أرجل الغزلان، ومن العظام الرقيقة، وكذلك الدلايات العظمية. • كما استخدم العظام في صناعة الأدوات المركبة خاصة المناجل الصوانية التي سبق ذكرها.

41. المدافن في وادي الحمة • كما مارس الإنسان الناطوفي الدفن، حيث عُثر على مدافن جماعية، وضعت فيها المرفقات الجنائزية المتنوعة، كما لوحظ وجود أثار حروق على بعض العظام والجماجم.