PALEORIENT vol.6 1980 NETIV HAGDUD SULTANIAN59 MOUND IN THE LOWER JORDAN VALLEY BAR-YOSER GOPHER and A.N GORING-MORRIS
Introduction
The PPNA has been the subject of considerable spe culation in terms of comprehending the transition from terminal hunter/gatherer societies to settled agricultural communities in the Near East However until recently few sites from this period have been discovered and fewer still have been adequately published In Palestine known sites include Jericho l) Nahal Oren and el- Khiam 3) Recent intensive development of the Lower Jordan Valley has provided the impetus for regional research project including systematic surveys and trial excava tions by the Deparment of Prehistory Institute of Ar chaeology Hebrew University 4) The PPNA tell of Netiv Hagdud was discovered in 1977 by the Archaeological Staff Officer of the Military Government in Judea and Samaria as the result of the construction of water reservoir on part of the mound Some 10km north of Jericho the site is located at the interspace between the Jordan Valley and the Samar an Hills at 180 and overlooks the Sali- biya basin Surface evidence indicates that the site extends over an area of about 10000m2 fig Sec tions exposed by the construction work have revealed that it has maximum depth of at last Cleaning of this section and test pit have demonstrated the presence of architectural remains including the use of plano-convex mud bricks in several archaeological
KENYON 1960 STEKELIS and YIZRAELI 1963 NOY et al 1973 ECHEGARAY 1966 BAR YOSEF et al 1974 SCHULDENREIN and GOLD BERG in press GORING-MORRIS 1980 The authors wish to thank Mr Damati and Mr Shavit of the Archaeological Staff Office of Judea and Samaria for bringing the site to their attention Funding was also provided by the Department of Antiquities the Settlement Department of the Jewish Agency the Israel Exploration Society and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropolo gical Research Dr Kaufman Department of Isotopes Weitzman Institute Rehovoth kindly processed the charcoal samples general description of the Salabiya area has been provided by Schuldenrein and Goldberg in press For the map of the Salibiya basin see BAR YOSEF this volume 114
layers In addition an area of OO m2 was excavated on the western side of the mound to maximum depth of 0.5m Excavation was by I/4m2 quadrants in 5cm spits and all sediments were carefully screened through mm mesh One sample of tamarisk charcoal recovered from the section 0.80 below the surface provided date of 8230 300 B.C RT 502 An additional sample from the pipe-line trench at the margins of the site gave date of 7840 380 B.C RT 502 A)
Architecture
Parts of four oval to circular structures were exposed in the excavated area with diameters ranging from 4- fig All of the structures in this area were constructed exclusively of limestone blocks While loci 10 and 30 and the unexcavated locus 40 are built of larger stones up to 70cm size loci 20 and 21 em ployed stones that rarely exceed 20 cm Walls are pre served to maximum height of 25 cm However since most of the structures were visible on the surface prior to excavation the possibility of greater original height perhaps even including mud brick should not be dis counted While the other structures have various walls up to 25 cm thick locus 30 possesses double wall consisting of more massive outer wall and an inner wall of smaller stones some 25 cm from the former Loci 20 and 30 have partial rough stone pavements No evidence for entrances was found in the excavated area The only evidence for stratigraphy in the excavated area is the fact that the lower locus 21 cuts locus 20 thus indicating that the former perhaps represents semi-subterranean dwelling The deposits within the structures consist of light yellowish concretions This contrasts with the section where darker ashy deposits predominate Smaller installations include loci 11 and 12 two stone-lined pits one in the centre of and the other immediately outside locus 10 Locus 12 is 30cm deep with slab at the base Flotation of the contents was 201
