The early and intermediate phases were in a thick layer of dense black clayey soil (Gromosol) that contained calcareous and manganese concretions, indicative of a marine formation environment. The lower part of the stratum was devoid of finds.

The Early Phase (1a) consisted of a level of tamped soil and small stones with a few fragments of pottery vessels, flint and animal bones.

The Intermediate Phase (1b) included remains of a building that consisted of at least three rooms (c. 5.0 x 7.5 m; Figs. 1, 2), oriented northeast-southwest. It was enclosed by walls (W12, W14, W44, W55) and divided by a partition wall (W30) into two rooms, an eastern and western ones. A third room that was delimited by Walls 12 and 44 was partially exposed to the south. The walls (width 0.6–0.7 m) were built of two rows of large kurkar fieldstones with a core of small stones. Wall 12 was adjoined from the east by two walls (W13, W56; exposed length 0.62–0.70 m, width 0.35–0.40 m) built of two rows of kurkar fieldstones; it seems that this was a later phase of the construction.

Tamped soil levels that incorporated a few small stones were exposed in the building. These levels yielded fragments of pottery vessels, flint artifacts, bones of sheep/goat and wild cattle, a hippopotamus bone and charcoal remains. Fragments of a holemouth jar rim (Fig. 4:1) were found in an living surface (L29; Fig. 3) that was exposed between Walls 12 and 30. A handle (Fig. 4:2) was recovered from the fill above a second living surface (L26) that was exposed south of W14 and north of W44. A third living surface (L39; Fig. 5) was exposed south of W44 and west of W12.

The Late Phase (2) was located in a gray thin-grained layer and included a dark gray tamped surface above W30 that contained flint artifacts.

 

Lithics

The flint repertoire from all the phases comprised 110 artifacts (Table 1). The raw material is not homogenous and its source is not clear. Signs of burning (31%) are evident on many of the artifacts. The cores are small and most have a single striking platform; they were fully depleted in the process of producing flakes.

The tools constitute 10% of the assemblage and the overwhelming majority (82%) is made on blades. Relative to their small number, the tools represent a broad range of periods and include a scrapper, a Mousterian point from the Middle Paleolithic period, a retouched bladelet from the Epi-Paleolithic period and blades that are divided into two groups: a retouched blade from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (Fig. 6:1) and retouched and/or backed blades from the Pottery Neolithic B (Fig. 6:2–7), which constitute most of the tool assemblage.

 

Table 1. Composition of the Flint Repertoire

 

Component

Number

Percentage

Debitage

38

34.5

Chunks and chips

56

50.9

Cores

5

4.6

Tools

11

10.0

Total

110

100.0

 

The ceramic finds are meager; however, a few fragments facilitate dating to the site to the Pottery Neolithic B, which is corroborated by the composition of the flint assemblage. The discovery of chips and chunks among the lithic finds indicates that some of the flint knapping activity took place at the site or nearby, and the signs of burning that appear on many of the flint artifacts are also likely to indicate that they were discovered in situ.