Bill Finlayson & Steven Mithen (ed.). The Early Prehistory of Wadi Faynan, Southern Jordan: Archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of WF16.

Bar-Yosef, Ofer

BILL FINLAYSON & STEVEN MITHEN (ed.). The Early Prehistory of Wadi Faynan, Southern Jordan: Archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of WF16 (Wadi Faynan Series 1, Levant Supplementary Series 4). xxii+600 pages, 389 illustrations, 122 tables. 2007. Oxford: Oxbow; 9781-84217-212-4 hardback 75 [pounds sterling].

The study of the Levantine Neolithic is an international research arena and this geographic region of south-western Asia is the best known globally concerning the emergence of agro-pastoral societies. With every newly published volume our cumulative knowledge is considerably enriched as is the case with the regional and site report of Wadi Faynan in southern Jordan.

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The structure of this volume follows the ideal field research design that begins with a regional survey. In addition to reporting Palaeolithic surface finds, the survey demonstrates that Wadi Faynan 16 (abbreviated as WF16) is the sole Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) site, which became the target of systematic excavations. Later sites such as Ghuwayr I (a well-preserved PPNB village excavated by a Jordanian-American expedition) and others are mentioned, and the local rock art is fully described.

Part II, the core of the volume, provides the reader with the detailed results from the excavations of WF16 in nineteen well-illustrated chapters. This prehistoric mound, with deposits c. 1.5-1.0m thick, was tested by three trenches of limited surfaces (c. 1528[m.sup.2]) and 19 smaller test pits of 2 x 2m. One may wonder why this excavation strategy was adopted, although limited funds, short excavation seasons and future plans could have been the motivation. However, the failure of Braidwood and his colleagues in the Jarmo excavations of the early 1950s should serve as a warning that Neolithic villages, especially with relatively shallow deposits, should be excavated by opening large surfaces.

The descriptions of the excavations in Chapter 6 provide a wealth of detailed information from each field operation as well as the relationships between the contexts (excavated units) through stratigraphic (Harris) matrices, thus facilitating the understanding of the stratigraphic and spatial interpretations put forward by the excavators. As on every archaeological site, micromorphological analyses demonstrate that eye-observations are hardly sufficient and that microscopic details have an important impact on how anthropological interpretations should be constructed.

In-depth description of the lithic industry (Chapter 8), supplemented by interesting microwear analysis (Chapter 9), employs the traditional typological types. As in other localities the artefacts in WF16 were not found on the original floors ('Pompeii-type' cases are extremely rare in the Near East), bur the analysis differentiates between types of deposits with generalised characteristic such as 'floor', 'midden', 'fill' and 'surface'. Core reduction strategies and the tool classes add to the growing knowledge of PPNA lithic industries; interestingly, 'glossed pieces' or the formal sickle blades were not found and their absence is not discussed, perhaps because the site is considered as a sedentary community of hunter-gatherers (Chapter 25).

However, the study of plant remains, which are poorly preserved (Chapter 20), clearly hint to the possibility that the inhabitant of WF16, cultivated wild cereals as did their relatives in contemporary villages. The lack of cereal phytoliths could be related, as noted in Chapter 2, to sampling biases. The environment, as reconstructed from charcoal specks, was not as arid as today, and the occupants of WF16 enjoyed permanent water flow that allowed the growth of a pistachio-oak gallery forest with salix, tamarisk, and fig trees. The surrounding mountains were favoured by the juniper-Tabor oak association (Chapter 19). The faunal assemblage, dominated by Capra sp. (both wild goat and ibex), some Bos sp. and gazelles, reflects the same mixture of eco-systems (Chapter 15). As in other PPNA sites in the southern Levant, the presence of foxes, whose bones lack cut marks, is interpreted as evidence of hunting for pelts.

Gathering edible and medicinal plants was probably practiced as well as gathering wood for building and fuel. Seeds were prepared by grinding and pounding, and the utensils used are described in Chapter 11. A large assemblage of mortars, cup-holes and pestles was recorded. From a typological viewpoint the stone bowls from F16 are classified as mortars, although they are of the more open type, while mortars common in the Natufian contexts are of the deeper type. The editors (see Mithen et al. 2005) interpreted the mortars and pestles as sexual symbols using supporting ethnographic records. Unfortunately, as the present report spent a long time in press, the claim in the text (p. 355) that phallic shaped pestles were previously not recognised as such is incorrect. The relevant literature on the Natufian people, generally seen as the ancestors of the PPNA inhabitants of WF16, mentions similar observations. Indeed, Dorothy Garrod was the first to point out, although without further elaboration; the presence of phallic objects, a point also made by other later scholars (e.g. Weinstein-Evron & Belfer-Cohen 1993, and references therein).

In sum, the co-editors of this impressive volume should be congratulated for bringing to press a wealth of information acquired by numerous participants, many of whose contributions are not reported here due to limits of space. The last chapter is an interesting synthesis of the place of WF16 among other PPNA sites in the region, followed by a long abstract in Arabic, and a series of appendices. The volume is well illustrated with photographs, line drawings and maps, and is thus far richer than run-of-the-mill Neolithic site reports.

References

MITHEN, S. J., B. FINLAYSON, & R. SHAFFREY. 2005. Sexual symbolism in the Early Neolithic of the southern Levant: pestles and mortars from WF16. Documenta Praehistorica 32:103-110.

WEINSTEIN-EVRON, M. & A. BELFER-COHEN. 1993. Natufian figurines from the new excavations of the el-Wad Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel. Rock Art Research 10: 102-106.

OFER BAR-YOSEF

Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge (MA), USA

(Email: obaryos@fas.harvard.edu)