Technology Transfer or Exchange of Ideas? Technological and Typological Investigations on the Chipped Stone Industry of the Late PPNA and EPPNB (9th mill. calBC) in a North-South Comparison: The Example Mushash 163 / Jordan

• Applicant: Privatdozentin Dr. Karin Bartl
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology ; Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: from 2020 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 443011260

Technology Transfer or Exchange of Ideas? Technological and Typological Investigations on the Chipped Stone Industry of the Late PPNA and EPPNB (9th mill. calBC) in a North-South Comparison: The Example Mushash 163 / Jordan Within the neolithization process (c. 10,000 – 6,000 calBC), the 9th millennium calBC forms a particularly significant period of time. The domestication process of wild species, which began already in the 10th mill. calBC, is accomplished, and important technological innovations within the lithic production are implemented. The 9th mill. calBC is divided into three cultural periods: The late Pre-Pottery Neolithic A / PPNA (9800-8600 calBC), the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B / EPPNB (8600-8300/8200 calBC) and the beginning of the middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B / MPPNB (from 8200 calBC). Of these, the EPPNB has long been the subject of controversy with regard to its characteristics. An essential aspect of the scientific debate concerns the emergence and spread of the so-called bidirectional core and blade technology, whose origin has since long been suspected in the middle Euphrates region. This new technique focuses on the production of almost standardized primary products of long, uniform blades, which form the basis for the secondary products, including various diagnostic projectile points.Due to the increasing density of sites in the southern Levant, a more differentiated evaluation of the EPPNB is now possible, especially with regard to the lithic industries and the absolute dating. One of the most important new sites from the period of the late PPNA and EPPNB is the settlement Mushash 163, located about 40 km east of Amman, which was excavated between 2014 and 2017. The broad spectrum of chipped stones from the 9th mill. calBC), in combination with an extensive sequence of 14C data from all relevant contexts, allows a well-founded stratigraphic-chronological analysis of lithic development and new statements on the spread of technological innovations in the Early Neolithic period. The preliminary results of the work on the lithic industries from Mushash 163 point to almost simultaneous technological developments as in the middle Euphrates region and allow a review of the hypotheses formulated so far on the formation and spread of the EPPNB complex. The requested funds are intended for the final evaluation of the lithic finds and the interpretation of the results.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Margarete van Ess