Shiqmim : A Chalcolithic village and mortuary centre in the Northern Negev

Transcription

1 Paléorient Shiqmim : A Chalcolithic village and mortuary centre in the Northern Negev David Alon, Thomas Evan Levy Résumé Des fouilles récentes ont été effectuées à Shiqmim, dans la partie septentrionale semi-aride du Néguev. Le plan de cette agglomération chalcolithique (9,5 ha) est remarquablement uniforme; des bâtiments de grandes et de petites dimensions, une allée, des magasins, des cours et des murs de clôture sont associés à des vestiges matériels caractéristiques de la culture chalcolithique de Beershéva. Près du village s'étend sur plus de 800 m une nécropole, à ce jour seul cimetière chalcolithique retrouvé dans le nord du Néguev. Les résultats obtenus mettent en lumière l'importance de Shiqmim comme centre régional dans le Néguev au chalcolithique. Abstract Recent excavations at Shiqmim, a large (ca. 9.5 ha.) Chalcolithic village in the semi-arid northern Negcv, revealed a village with a remarkably uniform lay-out. A wide range or architectural features including large and small rectangular buildings, an alleyway, storage rooms, courtyards, and boundary walls have been found associated with cultural debris from the Nahal Beer Sheva Chalcolithic culture. Adjacent to the village an extensive Chalcolithic mortuary complex was found extending for over 800 m. To date, this is the only known Chalcolithic mortuary site in the northern Negev. Excavations in both the village and cemetery highlight the importance of Shiqmim as a regional Chalcolithic centre in the Negev. Citer ce document / Cite this document : Alon David, Levy Thomas Evan. Shiqmim : A Chalcolithic village and mortuary centre in the Northern Negev. In: Paléorient, 1985, vol. 11, n 1. pp ; doi : /paleo Document généré le 20/06/2016

2 PALEORIENT, vol. 11/ SHIQMIM : A CHALCOLITHIC VILLAGE AND MORTUARY CENTRE IN THE NORTHERN NEGEV Т.Е. LEVY and D. ALON ABSTRACT. Recent excavations at Shiqmim, a large (ca. 9.5 ha.) Chalcolithic village in the semi-arid northern Negcv, revealed a village with a remarkably uniform lay-out. A wide range or architectural features including large and small rectangular buildings, an alleyway, storage rooms, courtyards, and boundary walls have been found associated with cultural debris from the Nahal Beer Sheva Chalcolithic culture. Adjacent to the village an extensive Chalcolithic mortuary complex was found extending for over 800 m. To date, this is the only known Chalcolithic mortuary site in the northern Negev. Excavations in both the village and cemetery highlight the importance of Shiqmim as a regional Chalcolithic centre in the Negev. RESUME. Des fouilles récentes ont été effectuées à Shiqmim, dans la partie septentrionale semi-aride du Néguev. Le plan de cette agglomération chalcolithique (9,5 ha) est remarquablement uniforme; des bâtiments de grandes et de petites dimensions, une allée, des magasins, des cours et des murs de clôture sont associés à des vestiges matériels caractéristiques de la culture chalcolithique de Beershéva. Près du village s'étend sur plus de 800 m une nécropole, à ce jour seul cimetière chalcolithique retrouvé dans le nord du Néguev. Les résultats obtenus mettent en lumière l'importance de Shiqmim comme centre régional dans le Néguev au chalcolithique. INTRODUCTION In recent years, the Chalcolithic (ca B.C.) has been the subject of considerable debate concerning the origins of metallurgy (1), the emergence of specialized pastoralism (2), the development of craft specialization, formalized trade (3), temple precints (4) and other aspects of culture change in the period which precedes the establishment of the first Early Bronze Age cities in Palestine. However, relatively few research projects have been designed specifically to examine these kinds of questions at one research locale. In 1982, a multidisciplinary expedition was initiated to study these and other problems at the Shiqmim village and mortuary complex located in the northern Negev desert of Israel (fig. 1). This unusually large (ca. 9.5 hectares) village site is associated with the only known Chalcolithic burial ground in the Negev to date. Located along the semi-arid/arid northern Negev interface, the Shiqmim village-mortuary complex presents an ideal outdoor laboratory for investigating all of these problems. In this paper, a brief summary of the architecture and selected finds from the excavations in the village and mortuary complex are presented. In general, raw data and detailed discussions of theory are not included here. The Shiqmim site was first discovered by Alon during his survey of Chalcolithic sites in the northern Negev foothills in the early '50s. However, the full significance of this settlement for a multidisciplinary investigation only became apparent during a (1) TYLECOTE, (2) LEVY, (3) ROSEN S., (4) USSISHKIN, 1980; KEMPINSKI, survey by the authors which commenced in 1977 (5). During the 1979 survey (6), the authors discovered the extensive Chalcolithic burial grounds stretching for over 800 m along a series of Eocene chalk hills adjacent to the Shiqmim village. In that same year test excavations were carried out in both the Shiqmim village and the mortuary complex (7). This work was carried out under the auspices of the Israel Department of Antiquities. In 1982, the large scale multidisciplinary research project was initiated. This on going project is sponsored by the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums. The project has been funded by generous grants from the National Geographic Society (8) and is affiliated with the American Schools of Oriental Research. (5) ALON and LEVY, (6) LEVY and ALON (7) LEVY and ALON (8) The authors wish to thank Mr. R. COHEN, Chief Archaeologist for the Negev, for his help in solving many of the logistical problems of the expedition and Mr. A. E1TAN, Director of the Israel Department of Antiquities for permission to publish this material. Funding for the project was kindly provided by the National Geographic Society (Research Grant Nos. 2893:84, , ). The Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society provided travel grants for Shiqmim staff members in 1982 and Prof. I. CARMI and Dr. A. KAUFMAN, Dept. of Isotopes, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, kindly processed charcoal samples. The specialist staff include: Dr. Paul GOLDBERG, Geology; Dr. Caroline GRIGSON, Archaeozoology; Dr. M. KISLEV. Archaeobotany; Dr. Arlene ROSEN, Plant Phytoliths; Dr. S. ROSEN, consultant- flint artefacts; Prof. B. ARENSBURG and Dr. I. HERSHKOVITZ, Physical Anthropology; Messrs. M. FIEST and I. WATKINS, Surveying and Cartography; Mr. T. LUDO- VISE, Photography; and Ms. Niva KOPOLOV, artefact illustrator. This project is affiliated with the American Schools of Oriental Research. We would also like to thank the Ecole Biblique and Dr. E. NODET, Jerusalem; and Prof. J. PERROT, Dr. F. VALLA and Dr. P. de MIROSCHEDJI for their kind help. Finally, we are indebted to the Israel Defence Forces for their support and encouragement.

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4 PI. I : 1. Shiqmim. Aerial view (west) of village and mortuary centre located along the north bank of the Nahal Beersheva. A - western portion of lower village, В - upper village, С excavation in Cemetery 1, D excavation in Cemetery 3. PI. I : 2. Shiqmim. Aerial view (south) of 1983 excavations in lower village (Areas A and B). 1, Alleyway; 2, Courtyard associated with large (ca. 5 x 10 in) rectangular building. PI. 1:3. Shiqmim. Room 6 with associated courtyard, Area D (view to southweast), 1984 excavations. Arrows indicate doorway to house and entrance to courtyard. PI. I : 4. Shiqmim. Detail of floor in Room 6 (view to southeast), 1984 excavations. Important artefacts on floor include: 1 - adze, 2 - grinding stone, 3 - "digging stick weight", 4 - stone door socket, 5 - V-shape bowl, 6 - cooking vessels, 7 - bifacially drilled stones, 8 - copper awl, 9 - oven. 73

5 STRATIGRAPHY The Shiqmim site consists of two main components : the lower and upper village (PI. 1:1). The lower village, which contains the bulk of the architectural evidence at the site, extends along a terrace ca. 2 m above the recent Nahal Beer Sheva channel. The upper village consists of 10 loessial hillocks to the north of the lower village. Both the lower village and the loessial hillocks of the upper village are covered with Chalcolithic ceramic and flint debris. Dr. Paul Goldberg of the Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem has been studying the geological history of Shiqmim on a micro, meso and macro scale of investigation. Preliminary reports concerning the geological work at Shiqmim have been published elsewhere (9). By the close of the 1984 season an extensive exposure covering sq m were excavated in the lower village and 32 sq m in the upper village. Thus, an exposure covering approximately 2.2 % of the village have been excavated to date. (9) LEVY et al., in press; GOLDBERG, in prep. Test excavations in the lower village have shown clear evidence of at least four and possibly five main architectural building phases in the lower village. In one test pit (square G/4, 1 x 3 m), a total of 23 archaeological and geological sediment layers were found which extended to a layer of wadi gravels ca m below the site surface. An examination of the wadi section of the terrace on which the lower village is situated showed that these gravels dated to the Chalcolithic period extend for at least 50 m under the site. These observations indicate that during the earlier part of the Chalcolithic occupation at Shiqmim the wadi was quite active. It was only after there was a build up of ca. 1 m of silty sediments above these gravels on the valley floor that the main building activities took place at the site. The Phase 1 investigation in the lower village has concentrated on the upper 2 architectural building phases at the site. The foundation walls of these upper building phases are less than 50 cm from the site surface. One sample of tamarisk charcoal recovered from the upper floor of a building from the last building phase (BP I), ca. 30 cm below the site surface, provided an uncalibrated date of TABLE I Radiocarbon determinations from Chalcolithic sites along the Nahal Beer Sheva. Lab No. Site 5568 years 1 /2 life В.P. Reference RT- 649-D Shi qmim Upper Village 50 ± 1 RT-649-B Shi qmim Uppe r Village M-864A Safadi (early) 5420 ± 350 PERROT 1964 W-245 H. Beter III 5280 ± 150 LIBBY 1954 M-864B Safadi (middle) 5270 ± 300 PERROT 1964 RT-554A Shiqmim Lower Village (Building Phase I, floor 1) 5250 ± 140 LEVY 1981 M-864C Safadi (upper) PERROT

6 5,250 ± 140 B.P. (RT-554 A). As seen in Table 1, this date corresponds with other dates obtained in the upper building phases of sites from the Nahal Beer Sheva area. These radiocarbon determinations indicate the clear contemporaneity of the upper phases of occupation at Chalcolithic village settlements such as Shiqmim, Abu Matar, Safadi and Horvat Beter(lO). The large standard deviations on the Safadi dates are problematic. However, these radiocarbon determinations are the best dating evidence available at present. In our discussions of Chalcolithic settlement patterns along the Nahal Beer Sheva, the upper building phase occupation has consistently been used to support the hypothesis of contemporaneity between the Nahal Beer Sheva sites (1 1). A test excavation on one of the loessial hill tops in the upper Shiqmim village (PI. I :1, B) has proved useful in helping to clarify the initial history of settlement at this site. Compared with the lower village, the cultural debris layers in the upper village are relatively shallow. The test excavation (5 x 5 m) demonstrated that virgin loessial soil was less than 80 cm below the upper village site surface. There was little evidence of stone foundation walls in this portion of the site. Instead, the occupation surfaces were characterized by small pits and hollows similar to Chalcolithic sites from the Nahal Besor (12) and the Nahal Gerar(13). Two radiocarbon determinations were obtained from charcoal found in a hearth in the upper village. The two samples are from tamarisk charcoal and come from the northeast corner of the test excavation from two debris layers separated by ca. 10 cm of fill. The sample from the upper layer (Locus 412, Basket 1064) yielded an uncalibrated date (RT-649-D) of 6,150 ± 180 B.P. The lower sample (RT-649-B) yielded a date of 5,750 ± 180 B.P. As seen in Table 1, these are the oldest radiocarbon determinations for any Chalcolithic site in the Beer Sheva valley. These two dates are problematic in that the date from the upper level (Locus 412) is older than the date from the lower level (Locus 415). These loci may have been mixed in antiquity. However, the fact that these dates are ca radiocarbon years older than the dates from the last building phase in the lower village and have reasonably small standard deviations (± 180), may be an indication that the upper village was abandoned when the major building activities occurred in the lower village. VILLAGE ARCHITECTURE The shallow nature of the upper building phases in the lower village has provided an ideal opportu- (10) PERROT, 1955; PERROT, 1984; BAUMGARTEN and ELDAR, 1984; DOTH AN, (11) LEVY and ALON, 1983; LEVY, (12) MACDONALD et ai, (13) I. GILEAD, pers. comm. nity for investigating the lay-out of the Shiqmim village. Phase I ( ) of the Shiqmim expedition was primarily devoted to the investigation of these upper building phases. To date, portions of 16 separate buildings have been recovered less than 40 cm below the site surface. All of these structures are rectangular in shape and similar to the upper phase buildings found at other Nahal Beer Sheva village sites such as Bir-es Safadi (14). The Shiqmim buildings can be divided into two main class sizes: small and large (PI. 1:2). The small buildings are ca. 2.5 x 5.5 m and the larger buildings ca. 5.5 x 10 m. At this point in the investigation it seems that the smaller buildings were generally used for domestic activities. This observation is based on the fact that grinding equipment (mortars and grinding stones), cooking vessels, hearths, domestic refuse and spindle whorls were found on the floors of these rooms. This observation was highlighted during the 1984 excavation in Area D, where a Chalcolithic family compound or courtyard unit came to light (15) (PI. 1:3). Evidence for the following activities were found in this room: food procurement, preparation, storage, and consumption; some kind of hide or leather working; and trade. As seen in Plate 1:3, a small rectangular structure (Room 6) with stone foundations measuring ca. 4.8 x 6.2 m was found in association with a rectangular courtyard (ca. 6.2 m x 10 m). On the western side of the courtyard a passageway was found (PI. 1:3). Room 6 was built along the northern wall of the courtyard. The room had a doorway along the broad-side which opened on to the courtyard and a bench made of mudbricks along the northern wall (PI. 1:3,4). The domestic function of this room is highlighted by the artefacts found inside. As seen in Plate 1:4, a remarkably well-preserved floor assemblage included among other things: 1- a bifacially flaked adze, 2- a small grinding stone, 3- a "digging stick weight", 5- a large V-shape bowl, 6- five ceramic cooking vessels, 7- two bifacially drilled stones, 8- a copper awl with two spare copper points, and 9- an oven. Other objects "loom" included two tabular scrapers, two ceramic weights, two choppers, and a number of utilized flint flakes. The copper awl (PI. 11:1) was made on a sheep/goat metapodial and had a copper point embedded in the distal end of the bone. Two spare copper points were found next to the awl. These finds suggest that hide or leather working was one of the activities carried out by members of the family who lived in the room. The remains of several sheep/goat and cattle bones were found in the centre of the room suggest that a meal was consu- (14) PERROT, Dr. (15) Augustin The authors HOLL, are Laboratoire indebted to d'ethnologie our friend and et Sociologie colleague, Comparative, Université de Paris X, for supervising the excavation of this room. A future paper, written in collaboration with Dr. HOLL, will discuss the full socio-economic significance of the Chalcolithic compound in the Negev. 75

7 ( r Pl. II : 1. Shiqmim. Detail of awl found in Room 6. A copper point was embedded into a sheep/goat metapodial. Two spare copper points are located to the right of a awl. PI. II : 2. Shiqmim. Large rectangular building (ca. 4 x 11.5 m), Area D, 1984 excavations. An Arrow indicates the doorway of a building where a stone socket was found. PI. II : 3. Shiqmim. Cist structures found in Cemetery 3, 1982 excavations. A total of 10 stone lined cists were found in this excavation. PI. II : 4. Shiqmim. Grave Circle 24, Cemetery 3, 1982 excavations. A minimum number of 24 disarticulated individuals were found here. 76

8 med here. However, most of the artefacts were found close to the walls of the room. This implies that an effort was made to leave the centre of the room clear for food preparation and consumption and other activities. The presence of two tabular scrapers and an ivory blade shaped object indicate trade with other communities in the Negev. According to Rosen (16) the source for tabular scrapers is in the Central Negev Highlands. The source of the unusual ivory object is more difficult to define. Perrot(17) suggests that a Chalcolithic ivory workshop was present at Safadi, so there is a possibility that the object originates from there. Naroll(18) estimated that in "Neolithic" type villages, an average of about 10 sq m of roofed area per person was available. If this average is accepted for Shiqmim, where 'residential' houses were ca sq m in area, then we would conclude that these Chalcolithic houses were built for nuclear families. The courtyard associated with Room 6 comprises ca. 60 sq m and suggests that even more space was available to the occupants of the courtyard unit. To date, three large buildings have been discovered. It is difficult to generalize about the function of these large structures because only two have been fully excavated. In general, the large buildings lack the domestic artifacts that are found in relative abundance in the small rooms. Room 1 (Area A, fig. 2) is one of the large buildings that was completely excavated. Like most buildings at Shiqmim, this room contained 2 occupation floors made of hard packed loessial soil. The upper floor (which provided radiocarbon determination RT-554 A) contained a very large grinding stone weighing over 30 kg and some domestic refuse including several pottery vessels and finished flint tools. The lower floor of this structure was of a non-domestic character. Here the remains of numerous copper slags, part of a crucible furnace and a complete copper standard (fig. 2) similar to those found in the Nahal Mishmar hoard (19) were found here. This buiiding had no closing wall at the southern end. An open building of this kind may have been associated with copper working activities carried out there. There is also the possibility that this large room was an extension added on to a smaller room from the main Building Phase II architectural plan (fig. 2). During the 1984 season the largest building to be discovered to date was excavated in Area D (PI. 11:2). This building is located ca. 7.5 m north of the courtyard unit discussed above. Like the majority of the buildings found at Shiqmim this is of the broadroom type with the entrance facing the southeast. The building measures ca. 4 x 11.5m and T U А В С D E F G H J KLM NO P Q R FIG. 2. A map of Shiqmim indicating the architectural remains exposed in the western portion of the village, (16) ROSEN S., (17) PERROT, (18) NAROLL, (19) BAR ADON,

9 contains two hard packed loessial floors with very little evidence of domestic artefacts. Two semi-circular installations were found along the southern wall of the building and to the right of the doorway. The function of these installations should become more clear when soil deposits collected from these installations are analyzed. In addition to these building structures, a number of other architectural features have been found at Shiqmim. These include: 1) an alleyway 2 m wide in Area A that extends for over 25 m in length (fig. 2), 2) three additional courtyard areas which are each associated with the large buildings found at the site, 3) small (ca. 1 x 1 m) square installations located inside the courtyards and near the large rooms. One of these installations can be seen in PI. 11:2 approximately 1.5 m southwest of the large building. Other architectural features include stone and mudbrick built benches such as the one located along the north wall of Room 6 (PI. 1 :4), passageways, and partition walls. The most impressive aspect of the architectural remains at Shiqmim concerns the range of architectural features found and the orientation of the upper building phase foundation walls (fig. 2). There is a clear northwest/southeast orientation of the foundation walls in the lower village which indicates a high degree of early village planning. It is possible that prevailing winds from the west may have influenced the initial orientation of the buildings at the site. However, the careful layout of the village shows that some degree of pre-planning was made in the construction of the alleyway, courtyards, buildings and other features. The closest Palestinian parallel for this kind of planning is the Chalcolithic type site at Teleilat Ghassul in Jordan (20). The Phase I investigations suggest that the architectural features outlined above preview many of the architectural features that are fully developed at the northern Negev urban site at Arad in the following Early Bronze Age (21). The organized and well laid out village plan at Shiqmim may be an indicator that an individual and/or group of decision makers lived at the site. This is one of the attributes of what anthropologists refer to as ranked societies (22). These social observations will be of key importance for studying the evolution of social complexity in southern Palestine, a topic which is becoming of increasing interest to archaeologists working in this region (23). VILLAGE FINDS As might be expected in a village site, a high density of artefacts were found in the excavations. (20) HENNESSY, 1969, 1977, 1982; NORTH, 1961; MAL- LON el al, (21) AMIRAN, (22) RENFREW and SHENNAN, (23) KEMPINSKI, During the 1983 excavation a total of 36,838 pieces of flint debitage and tools were recovered. These included tools typical of Negev Chalcolithic assemblages: awls, notches, denticulates, end scrapers, side scrapers, round scrapers, tabular scrapers, sickle blades, axes, adzes, chisels and choppers. A selection of tabular scrapers are illustrated in figure 3. In general terms, the ceramic industry parallels the assemblages published for other Nahal Beer Sheva sites such as Abu Matar, Bir-es Safadi and Horvat Beter (24). A number of exotic pottery forms were found in a cache of 13 vessels discovered in Area В which include a fenestrated holemouth jar with intricate painted decorations, a high-neck bottle, and a jug with narrow neck and flared rim (fig. 3). Some of the exotic artefacts found include a copper sceptar, copper mace head, shell pendants from the Red Sea, an anthropomorphic statuette head made of basalt (25), carved basalt bowls, a Nubian sandstone pallet and other objects (fig. 4). Quantitative studies concerning the horizontal and vertical distributions of both flint and ceramic artifacts are providing new insights into the functional, stylistic and temporal changes of these artefacts at Shiqmim (26). For example, Kangas (27) has shown in an attribute analysis of V-Shape bowls from the Upper village, Cemetery 1, and the Lower Village, variability in the diameters of these vessels. The extremely narrow size range of V-shape bowls in the cemetery suggests a 'special function' for the smaller bowls. This is highlighted in the histograms illustrated in figure 5. These infered functional differences observed in the V-shape bowls are also being examined between the large and small buildings found in the lower village. This will help test the hypothesis that the larger buildings at Shiqmim had a non-domestic function. THE CHALCOLITHIC MORTUARY COMPLEX The presence of a large village site with abundant architectural remains suggested that some kind of cemetery should be located within the vicinity of the Shiqmim site. To test this hypothesis, a special survey with the aim of locating a Chalcolithic cemetery was carried out in the early fall of Until that time, the main Chalcolithic mortuary sites in western Palestine were known from the Sharon coastal plain around what is now Tel Aviv (28). These are primarily burial caves containing ceramic ossuaries, various grave offerings and disarticulated (24) CONTENSON, 1956; DOTHAN, 1959; PERROT, (25) LEVY and ALON, in press B. (26) LEVY, in prep. (27) KANGAS, in prep. We are grateful to Steven Kangas for providing us with this data. (28) PERROT 1961; PERROT and LADIRAY,

10 2. 10 lem cm 5. FIG. 3. Selected artefacts: 1, High neck ceramic bottle; 2, Jug with flaring neck; 3, V-shape bowl; 4-5, Tabular flint scrapers. burials. The 1979 survey concentrated on examining the hill slopes around Shiqmim for evidence of possible cave entrances. Careful examination of the area showed no evidence of burial caves. Instead, numerous circular graves were found very close to the surface along a series of chalk hilltops which parallel the Shiqmim village and the Nahal Beer Sheva for approximately 800 m (PI. 1:1, C-D). The size of this cemetery, based on surface indicators, can be estimated at ca. 8 hectares. The circular graves were very shallow (less than 20 cm below the site surface) and could be grouped into four size classes ranging from 3.5 m to less than 1 m in diameter. In a study of the energy expended in the 79 construction of these circles as well as the burial offerings associated with individuals found in these circles (29), it was possible to identify some degree of social ranking among the buried population. To date, excavations on two of the cemetery hilltops (PI. 1:1) have revealed 49 Chalcolithic mortuary structures within an excavation area of 1,025 sq m (ca. 300 sq m were excavated in the Cemetery 1 hilltop and ca. 725 sq m in Cemetery 3 hilltop). Most of these grave circles, such as the one illustrated here (PI. 11:4), were filled with disarticula- (29) LEVY and ALON, 1982.

11 О 1 2 2:5 10 lem 6. FIG. 4. Selected artefacts: 1, Basalt statuette head; 2, Trapeazoidal shell pendant; 3, Mother-of-pearl pendant; 4, Copper mace head; 5, Incised basalt bowl; 6, Copper Standard. ted multiple burials. The human remains were carefully placed inside of the grave circles in small piles and then grave offerings such as V-Shape bowls (fig. 3:3), pendants, pottery vessels and other objects placed alongside the burial. In several cases, ceramic ossuaries were found inside the grave circles. The burial method and the circular shape of these mortuary structures is similar in principle to the enigmatic Nawamis burial structures excavated in the southern Sinai peninsula (30). However, unlike the stone built Nawamis, the Shiqmim grave circles seem to represent the foundations of a circular or bee-hive shape structure that had a superstructure made of mudbrick. The construction of the burial structures at Shiqmim is in sharp contrast with the ca. 2,101 Enéolithique jar burials found at Byblos in Lebanon (31). Another difference between the two sites concerns the mode of burial. At Byblos bodies were (30) BAR YOSEF et ai, (31) DUNAND,

12 50 40 ЗО 1OO cemetery 1 n=28 lower village n=273 Rim Diameter (cm) FIG. 5. Percentage distribution of V-shape bowls according to size classes at Shiqmim. usually tied into a very flexed position immediately after death and then placed in large burial jars. The secondary burial method practiced in the Shiqmim cemetery implies a different, perhaps more time consuming, method of body treatment prior to burial. In 1982, 10 well built cist structures were found associated with the grave circles in the Cemetery 3 hill top (PI. 11:3). The cists are stone lined pits which average 1.95 m in maximum outside length, 1.34 m in maximum outside width and.72 m in depth. Like the grave circles, they were constructed out of a variety of materials including quarried chalk, wadi cobbles and limestone rocks. Each cist contained a minimum of 1 V-Shape bowl and sometimes other objects such as tubular scrapers, beads and pendants. Perhaps the most enigmatic feature concerning the cists is the fact that no human bone remains were found in them. However, it is 81 clear from the size of the cists that they could accommodate a body. We have suggested elsewhere that the presence of offerings and the close association of the cists with the grave circles may indicate that they were used as receptacles for decomposing primary burials (32). Presumably, when the body had decomposed the bones were collected from the cist and placed in the grave circles or other areas. The close proximity of the Chalcolithic mortuary complex to the Shiqmim village is remarkably similar to the spatial relationship between Teleilat Ghassul and the nearby Adeimeh Necropolis (33). The presence of large mortuary complexes associated with both of these villages highlights the importance of these sites as centres of ritual activity. DISCUSSION The Shiqmim village and mortuary centre are firmly tied to the Nahal Beer Sheva regional Chalcolithic cultural assemblage. Based on a survey of Chalcolithic sites along the Nahal Beer Sheva carried out by the writers (34) it is clear that Shiqmim is the largest settlement centre in a group of 30 village sites which spread for over 40 km along both banks of the wadi. Although only a handful of radiocarbon determinations are available for these sites, Shiqmim has produced the earliest determinations for the Nahal Beer Sheva Chalcolithic settlement system. These dates, the large size of the site and the presence of an extensive Chalcolithic mortuary site in close association with the Shiqmim village, point to the importance of Shiqmim as a regional centre during this formative period. In terms of social change, these factors will be of great importance in any future study which attempts to reconstruct the emergence and growth of a ranked society in the Nahal Beer Sheva Chalcolithic settlement system and its relationship to urban developments in the following Early Bronze Age. Excavations in the Shiqmim mortuary have shown distinct burial practices (i.e., the building of cists and circular graves, the high degree of body treatment given to the burials, etc.) which highlight the local nature of cultural expression and development in the northern Negev. The establishment of this extensive mortuary site and all of the associated ritual activities that when with it provide additional evidence for the development of Shiqmim as a ritual centre. The question remains, on what scale did Shiqmim function as a ritual centre? Was it as a sub-regional centre that served only the satellite sites immediately surrounding Shiqmim? Or did it serve a larger hinterland which included most of the sites along the Nahal Beer Sheva? A third possibility (32) LEVY and ALON, (33) NEUVILLE, 1930; STEKELIS, (34) LEVY and ALON, 1983.

13 concerns the intra-regional function the site may have had (i.e., the connection between Shiqmim and other regions such as the Sinai, the Sharon Coastal Plain, the Jordan Valley, the Golan and other areas). The finds to date clearly indicate that connections did indeed exist between Shiqmim and all of these regions. However, only larger scale excavations at this site will clarify the precise nature of these relationships. The emergence of some degree of social ranking along the Nahal Beer Sheva may relate to the exploitation and conservation of the critical soil resources found in the trough shape valley bottom along the Nahal Beer Sheva. In our subsistence reconstruction, flood water farming in the valley bottom seems to have been an importance aspect of the palaeoeconomy. Site catchment analyses of Chalcolithic village sites in this region show a strong association between village sites from this period and the restricted distribution of these soils (35). The flood water farming hypothesis as also supported by the high percentage of multi-celled barley and wheat phytoliths recovered from Shiqmim (36). The latter being an indicator of crops grown under irrigated conditions. As the plough does not seem to have emerged in Palestine until the Early Bronze Age (37), Chalcolithic farmers must have continued to practice intensive hoe cultivation in the valley bottom. This type of farming has been suggested for the 4th millenniun B.C. site at Jawa in Jordan and is well known from the American southwest where pueblo farmers use the seasonal floods in the arroyos to help irrigate their crops (38). In the Nahal Beer Sheva case, the close association of Chalcolithic village sites with the restricted valley bottom soils can be characterized as resource concentration. According to Flannery (39), three principal methods of defending territory have been observed among aboriginal farmers. These include: "a) permanent settlement on the critical resource area, b) development of a territorial gradient from the "core" to the "periphery" of their home range, and c) an ideology of descent which stresses maintenance of land ownership through many generations, with continued participation of deceased ancestors in the affairs of the descent group." These ethnographic observations are applicable to the Nahal Beersheva where a) settlements are concentrated on the critical resource area, and b) "core" areas can be identified around sub-regional site centres along the wadi (fig. 1, sites 29, 18, 8, and 74) and "periphery" areas by the cluster of satellite sites around the centres. The problem of an ideology of descent is more difficult to deal with. However, the formal burial grounds at Shiqmim suggests a deep concern with deceased ancestors. Taken together these patterns (35) LEVY, (36) LEVY et al, in press: ROSEN A. in prep. (37) REDMAN, 1978; SHERRATT, (38) HELMS, 1981; BRYAN, (39) FLANNERY indicate a growing concern over territory during the Chalcolithic in this region. According to Carneiro (40), resource concentration is a type of environmental circumscription that can lead to conflict over land, and consequently to political integration beyond the village level. This type of process seems applicable to Shiqmim which has been classified as a two-tier settlement hierarchy, with a sub-regional centre with at least 6 satellite sites around it. Future excavations during Phase II of the investigation will help clarify in more detail the processes that contributed to the emergence of social complexity in the northern Negev. BIBLIOGRAPHY Thomas Evan LEVY W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem and David ALON Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums, Jerusalem ALON D. and LEVY T Preliminary Note on the distribution of Chalcolithic Sites on the Wadi Beersheva and Lower Wadi Besor Drainage System. Israel Exploration Journal, 30: AMIRAN R Early Arad. The Chalcolithic Settlement and Early Bronze City. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society. BAR ADON P The Cave of the Treasure. Jerusalem: Israel tion Society. BAR-YOSEF O., BELFER A., GOREN A. and SMITH P The Nawamis near 'ein Huderah (Eastern Sinai). Israel Exploration Journal, 27: BAUMGARTEN Y. and ELDAR I Neve Noy A Chalcolithic Site near Beer-Sheba. Qadmoniot, : (in Hebrew). BRYAN K Floodwater Farming. Geographical Review, 19: CARNE1RO R.L A Theory of the Origin of the State. Science, 169: CONTENSON H. de 1956 La céramique chalcolithique de Beershéba: Etude typologique. Israel Exploration Journal, 6: , DOTHAN M Excavations at Horvat Beter (Beer Sheva). Atiqot, 2: DUNAND M Touilles de By bios, L'architecture, les tombes, le matériel domestique, des origines néolithiques à l'avènement urbain. Paris: Maisonneuve. (40) CARNEIRO,

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