PALEORIENT, Vol. 2, n° 2, 1974. pp. 477482

PREHISTORIC SITES NEAR NAHAL LAVAN , WESTERN NEGEV, ISRAEL

James PHILLIPS and Ofer BARYOSEF

The western Negev is the area lying between the coastal plain and the calcareous hills of the central Negev. It is an area about 35 km wide and 45 km long, stretching from the northern tributaries of Nahal Besor (N. Beer- sheva) to the tributaries of Wadi el-Arish (such as Nahal Lavan, Nahal Nisana, etc.). Topographically, it ranges from 1 00-250 m above sea level. It is made of loessic plains covered by both fossil and modern dunes mainly in its southern part, forming the interfluve between Nahal Besor and the Wadi el-Arish. The low-lying sandy areas have been named, from north to south, Zeelim Sands, Halutza Sands and Agur Sands.

Several archaeological surveys were conducted during the 1950's and 1960's by Noy, Burian and Friedman, and Ronen, Perrot and Yosef (l).These surveys produced evidence of Epipaleolithic occupation of the area, as well as abundant Neolithic occurrences. No definite Upper Paleolithic sites were found. Several of the reported occurrences showed undoubtedly mixed assemblages (2) mainly from the Epi-Paleolithic and Neolithic periods.

The importance for prehistory of the Western Negev is the combination of its location and its environmental setting. It is topographically the continuation of Northern Sinai into the Negev and to the Israeli coastal plain, and was therefore a major trick for micro vertebrate migrations into the Mediterranean zone (3). The wadis descending from the higher Negev cut through the Western Negev and could have served as prehistoric feeder routes to the coastal plain.

The recent research in the high central Negev (4) as well as the preliminary work in northern Sinai (5) indicates the necessity of obtaining more data concerning the Epi-Paleolithic of the Western Negev. The work in the high Negev and Sinai has demonstrated intensive occupation during the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Along with the known Epi-Faleolithic industries, new cultural entities - different from those defined in northern Israel (6) - have been recognized in these semi-arid areas. These previously unknown entities are found in geographically limited areas south of the Nahal

Besor. It was therefore important to determine the distribution of these industries in their northernmost territory. In addition, systematic collections are necessary in order to define the typological and technological proclivities of these new industries.

Two surveys under the auspices of the Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University, in the Nahal Lavan were made in 1972-1973, resulting in the discovery of nine sites, of which four were systematically collected and mapped. Due to lack of time, the other five sites were left undisturbed. F . Burian and E. Friedman continued their survey of the area and have adopted basically the same methodology used by our survey team. All of their Epi-Paleolithic assemblages will be analysed by the authors of this report and published in collaboration with F. Burian and E. Friedman.

All the surveys in the Nahal Lavan area (Agur Sands) discovered Epi-Paleolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic- Bronze Age sites. In this brief report we will present the data from three Geometric Kebaran A sites, one Geometric Kebaran В site and a brief summary of a Harifian site (7). It is worth mentioning that two Upper Paleolithic occurrences of mainly debitage and a few tools were found on the older flood plain of Nahal Lavan. The two assemblages can be used only for technological analyses and will be published when other similar material will be collected.

Geometric Kebaran A. Site Nahal Lavan II was located on an eroded steplike loess surface, on the right bank of the wadi. The Upper Paleolithic occurrence ÍNL. V) was directly 30 m. down slope and a Geometric Kebaran В site 60 m. up-slope (NL IV) from this site. The site itself was spread over five erosional remnants covering a total area of 40 m2. The unpatinated artifacts were found eroding out of and on the surface of the loessic deposit. The assemblage which contained 681 tools is characterized by the high frequency of geometric microliths (specifically trapezes and rectangles (54%), many of which were broken. These geometric microliths are wider than analogues in northern Israel (fig. 2). Their width ranges from 6-14 mm and their length 1 3-38 mm. The rest of the assemblage consists of 28% microliths (blacked blade- lets), plus scrapers, retouched pieces, and notches and denticulates (see Table 1). The debitage consists of 1704 flakes and blades as well as 1022 chips and 25 cores.

Site Nahal Lavan VI is a small occurrence (15 m2) in a similar topographic situation to the former site. It is

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