In May 2018, a salvage excavation took place northeast of Nahal Shiqma (Permit No. A-8297; map ref. 603406/177456; Fig. 1), prior to laying a fuel line. The excavation, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and funded by Petroleum & Energy Infrastructures Ltd., was directed by T. Abulafia, with the assistance of Y. Alamor (administration), E. Aladjem (surveying), A. Azoulay (drafting), O. Dubovsky (flint drawing) and D. Yegorov (preliminary inspections).
Two previous archaeological surveys were undertaken in the vicinity of the gas pipeline, which runs along and parallel to the planned fuel line (Haiman and Barda 2006; Permit No. S-580/2015). These revealed mainly sherds from the Byzantine period, but scatters of flint from the Epipaleolithic period were also documented.
Seven squares (28 sq m on a 2 × 2 m grid) were opened in compact loess soil along the fuel pipeline, where preliminary inspections identified finds. The squares were excavated down to the natural soil (depth 0.4 m) and yielded a wealth of flint items attributed to the Kebaran culture.
A total of 1,181 flint items was retrieved (Table 1); they are poorly preserved and covered with patina, and a large percentage is broken. Most of the items are knapping debris, the most common of which are flakes (15.9%) and bladelets (7.5%). A high percentage of core trimming elements was also identified (3.8%), including core tablets, ridges, overpasses and other core trimming elements. Microburins (MBT; 0.3%) were also found. The assemblage contains high percentages of tools and cores. The cores (Table 2; Fig. 3) typical of the assemblage have a single striking platform and were used to produce either bladelets (40.4%) or both bladelets and flakes (19.1%).
The assemblage contains 106 tools (Table 3), the most common of which are ad-hoc tools (c. 33%), which include mainly retouched flakes and blades. End scrapers and burins are also common, comprising c. 29% of the tool assemblage, with simple scrapers (Fig. 3:1, 2) and thumb scrapers (Fig. 3:3) being the most common among the end scrapers. The beaked burin and the dihedral burin (Fig. 3:4) are prominent among the burins, but the nucleiform burin (Fig. 3:5) is not. Microliths (Fig. 3:6–9) comprise another rather large group in the tool assemblage. Though most are broken, their similar characteristics are discernable: all display a straight back, have either abrupt or semi-abrupt retouching and are at the most 5.5 mm wide.
Table 1. The Flint Assemblage
Type
|
N
|
%
|
Primary flakes
|
71
|
6.0
|
Primary blades
|
13
|
1.1
|
Flakes
|
188
|
15.9
|
Blades
|
74
|
6.3
|
Bladelets
|
89
|
7.5
|
Core tablets
|
10
|
0.8
|
Ridges
|
15
|
1.3
|
Overpasses
|
7
|
0.6
|
Other core trimming elements
|
13
|
1.1
|
Burin spall
|
1
|
0.1
|
Microburins
|
4
|
0.3
|
Chips
|
437
|
37.0
|
Chunks
|
106
|
9.0
|
Total debris
|
1,028
|
87.0
|
Cores
|
47
|
4.0
|
Tools
|
106
|
9.0
|
Total
|
1,181
|
100
|
Table 2. The Core Assemblage
Type
|
Blades/
Bladelets
|
Bladelets
|
Flakes
|
Flakes/
Bladelets
|
Total
|
Single striking platform
|
|
40.4
|
|
19.1
|
59.5
|
Two parallel striking platforms
|
4.3
|
6.4
|
|
2.1
|
12.8
|
Two non-parallel striking platforms
|
|
4.3
|
4.3
|
10.6
|
19.2
|
Discoidal
|
|
|
4.3
|
2.1
|
6.4
|
Core fragment
|
|
|
2.1
|
|
2.1
|
Total
|
4.3
|
51.1
|
10.7
|
33.9
|
100
|
Table 3. The tool assemblage
Type
|
N
|
%
|
End scrapers
|
14
|
13.21
|
Burins
|
17
|
16.04
|
Truncated
|
5
|
4.71
|
Awls
|
4
|
3.77
|
Notches
|
9
|
8.49
|
Denticulates
|
2
|
1.89
|
Retouched flakes
|
20
|
18.87
|
Retouched blades
|
15
|
14.15
|
Retouched bladelets
|
3
|
2.83
|
Microliths
|
9
|
8.49
|
Side scrapers
|
2
|
1.89
|
Double tools
|
2
|
1.89
|
Varia
|
3
|
2.83
|
Unidentified
|
1
|
0.94
|
Total
|
106
|
100
|
The flint assemblage, especially the cores and the straight-backed microliths, are typical of assemblages of the Kebaran culture (19,000–14,500 BP; Bar-Yosef 1970; Hovers and Marder 1991). The poor state of preservation of the items found in the excavation and their appearance only in the plowed field indicate that they were swept into the site from their original site of deposition.
Bar-Yosef O. 1970. The Epi-Palaeolithic Cultures of Palestine. Ph.D. diss, The Hebrew University. Jerusalem.
Heiman M. and Barda. L. 2006. Ḥorbat Suf, Development Survey along the Route of the National Gas Pipeline. HA-ESI 118.
Hovers E. and Marder O. 1991. Typo-Chronology and Absolute Dating of the Kebaran Complex: Implications from the Second Season of Excavation at Urkan e-Rub IIa. JIPS 24:34–58.