The Khiamian culture is a
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
archaeological culture of Southwest Asia, dating to the earliest part of the
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), around 9,700 to 8,600 BC. It is primarily characterised by a distinctive type of stone arrowhead—the "El Khiam point"—first found at the
type site
In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron A ...
of
El Khiam
El Khiam (الخیام) is an archaeological site near Wadi Khureitun in the Judaean Desert in the West Bank, on the shores of the Dead Sea.
Archaeological finds at El Khiam show nearly continuous habitation by groups of hunters since the Mesol ...
.
Overview
The Khiamian owes its name to the site of
El Khiam
El Khiam (الخیام) is an archaeological site near Wadi Khureitun in the Judaean Desert in the West Bank, on the shores of the Dead Sea.
Archaeological finds at El Khiam show nearly continuous habitation by groups of hunters since the Mesol ...
, situated on banks of the
Dead Sea, where researchers have recovered the oldest
chert
Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a ...
arrows heads, with lateral notches, the so-called "El Khiam points".
[. 2007. ''Zivilisationen – wie die Kultur nach Sumer kam.'' Munich. p]
126
They have served to identify sites of this period, which are found in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, as well as in
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
(
Azraq
Azraq ( ar, الأزرق meaning "blue") is a small town in Zarqa Governorate in central-eastern Jordan, east of Amman. The population of Azraq was 9,021 in 2004. The Muwaffaq Salti Air Base is located in Azraq.
History
Prehistory
Archaeol ...
),
Sinai
Sinai commonly refers to:
* Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God
Sinai may also refer to:
* Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
(
Abu Madi
Abu Madi(Arabic:أبو ماضي) is a cluster of prehistoric, Neolithic tell mounds in Southern Sinai, Egypt. It is located east of Saint Catherine's Monastery at the bottom of a granite ridge. It was suggested to have been a seasonal encampm ...
), and to the north as far as the Middle
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
(
Mureybet
Mureybet ( ar, مريبط, muribit, lit=covered) is a tell, or ancient settlement mound, located on the west bank of the Euphrates in Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria. The site was excavated between 1964 and 1974 and has since disappeared und ...
). El Khiam points and other
chert
Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a ...
stone tools alike are often referred to as projectile points or arrowheads. While it is true that they were used as arrowheads, the given names imply function and are therefore misleading when considering the existence of evidence that suggests that these artefacts were indeed multipurpose tools used for an array of purposes such as knives and drills.
Aside from the appearance of El Khiam arrow heads, the Khiamian is placed in the continuity of the Natufian, without any major technical innovations. However, for the first time houses were built on the ground level itself, and not half below ground as was previously done. Otherwise, the bearers of the El Khiam culture were still hunter-gatherers, and agriculture at that time was then still rather primitive, based on what has been reported on sites of this period. Newer discoveries show that in the Middle East and Anatolia some experiments with agriculture were being made by 10,900 BCE.
[Turneya, C.S.M. and H. Brown. 2007. "Catastrophic early Holocene ]sea level rise
Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...
, human migration and the Neolithic transition in Europe." Quaternary Science Reviews 26: 2036–2041. and that there may already have been experimenting with wild grain processing by around 19,000 BCE at
Ohalo II
Ohalo II is an archaeological site in Northern Israel, near Kinneret, on the southwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is one of the best preserved hunter-gatherer archaeological sites of the Last Glacial Maximum, radiocarbon dated to around 23,0 ...
. The Khiamian material culture was succeeded by the Mureybetian in the middle Euphrates and the upper Levant, while the Sultanian emerged in the southern Levant. The Sultanian material culture can be seen as a development from the Khiamian, with the El Khiam point staying as a part of the assemblage but the microliths disappearing and bifacial core knapped stone tools appearing and the appearance of axes and
adzes
An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing o ...
.
The Khiamien also sees a change occur in the symbolic aspects of culture, as evidenced by the appearance of small female statuettes, as well as by the burying of
aurochs skulls. According to
Jacques Cauvin
Professor Jacques Cauvin (1930 – 26 December 2001) was a French archaeologist who specialised in the prehistory of the Levant and Near East.
Biography
Cauvin started his work in France at Oullins Caves and Chazelles Caves (near Saint-André- ...
, it is the beginning of the worship of the Woman and the Bull, as evidenced in the following periods of the Near-Eastern Neolithic.
[. 2000. ''The birth of the gods and the origins of agriculture.'' Cambridge. p]
25
Cf. . 2007. ''Zivilisationen – wie die Kultur nach Sumer kam.'' Munich. p
127
The largest and most embellished/decorated architecture at the end of this period were in the Northern Levant, with the communal gathering building of
Jerf el-Ahmar, and the monumental ceremonial complexes of
Göbekli Tepe
Göbekli Tepe (, "Potbelly Hill"; known as ''Girê Mirazan'' or ''Xirabreşkê'' in Kurdish) is a Neolithic archaeological site in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, between 9500 and 8000 BCE, the ...
.
File:Three El-Khiam points from JQ-101.jpg, Three El-Khiam points
File:Göbeklitepe Şanlıurfa.jpg, Göbekli Tepe
Göbekli Tepe (, "Potbelly Hill"; known as ''Girê Mirazan'' or ''Xirabreşkê'' in Kurdish) is a Neolithic archaeological site in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, between 9500 and 8000 BCE, the ...
, in south-eastern Anatolia. From ca. 9000 BC
References
;Sources
*. 2007. ''Zivilisationen – wie die Kultur nach Sumer kam.'' Munich.
*. 2000. ''The birth of the gods and the origins of agriculture.'' Cambridge.
*. 2008. ''Sie bauten die ersten Tempel. Das rätselhafte Heiligtum der Steinzeitjäger.'' Munich. pp. 283.
* and . 2007. "Catastrophic early Holocene sea level rise, human migration and the Neolithic transition in Europe." Quaternary Science Reviews 26: 2036–2041.
{{Prehistoric Asia
Neolithic cultures of Asia
Archaeological cultures of West Asia
Archaeological cultures in Egypt
Archaeological cultures in Israel
Archaeological cultures in Jordan
Archaeological cultures in Lebanon
Archaeological cultures in Palestine
Archaeological cultures in Syria
Stone Age Asia