Chapter 6: Neolithic 4 Munhatta (Pages 455-456)

Pre-History and Archaeology Glossary

Excerpts and Definitions and Addendums

Level 2A or the Wadi Rabah phase falls within Neolithic 4. In this level rectangular houses with two or three smal rooms were built for the first time. The walls were set on stone foundations and the floors were of trodden earth laid on beds of stone.

The pottery of this phase was also different from that of Level 2B. The pots were made from a clay tempered with grits and almost no straw, much less than on the southern sites, and were quite hard fired to a buff or grey colour. The vessels had thin walls with the exception of some of the coarse ware. The principal kinds of pots were jars, bowls and cups. Some of the jars were globular, others quite deep with curved sides. These jars had simple hole-mouths, collared necks, or flared or bow rims. Some of the bowls were quite deep with hole-mouths while others were carinated. A few stood on pedestal bases, a feature found on some other Neolithic 4 sites, but most had flat bases. The cups were deep with straight sides. Some of the jars had lugs, ledge or strap hndles.

Many of these vessels were coloured red, orange, brown or black and then burnished, often to a high poish. The darker highly polished vessels were more common here than on sites further south. A few pots were painted with linear designs. Others were decorated with incised patterns of criss-cross lines, chevrons and groups of stab marks. This type of decoration was also more common here than on sites in southern Palestine. Some pots even had applied designs of coiled snakes or human figures, a feature found on pottery of several sites of western Palestine but not in the south ...

The History of the Ancient Near East Electronic Compendium