Chapter 6: Neolithic 4 --- OTHER WEST PALESTINE SITES (Pages 460-462)

Pre-History and Archaeology Glossary

Excerpts and Definitions and Addendums:

Some Neolithic 4 pottery ws found in Stratu XX at Megiddo mixed with Neolithic 3 and Cahalcolithic material. The succeding phase Stratumn XIX contained much Chaloclithic pottery sand flints. Among the Neolithic 4 pots were bowls with splayed sides, hemispherical bowls and others with a carination as well as some dishes. These had been painted red and some also carried incised decoration. Several had been burnished to a high lustre like the pottery from Wadi Rabah and other wetern sites.

One other site in the Plain of Esdraelon, Affula, was probably first settled towards the end of Neolithic 4 since denticulated segmented sickle blades were found in the deposites. There were also a tanged and winged arrowhead but this may be a stray find dating from an earlier period since it has relatively little retouch and resembles Neolithic 2 types. These flints were found in levels that otherwise contained Chalcolithic and Bronze Age pottery though it is possible that some of the pottery thought to have been Chalcolithic was in fact Neolithic 4 in type. However that may be, the site wuld appear to have been first occupied at the end of Neolithic 4 and then in the Chalcolithic.

The settlement of layer II at Kabri in western Galilee was also occupied in Neolithic 4. This layer was stratified above layer III inhabited in Neolithic 3 and below the Chalcolithic layer I. Remains of rectilinear walls and floors of buildings were found in layer II. Several burials were associated with the buildings. The flints included denticulated, segmented sickle blades and trapezoidal axes and adzes, types found in Neolithic 4 sites in Palestine and in the South Syrian group. There was also a little pottery in layer III. One other find of interest should be mentioned, a unique stone jar with a bow rim. This was among the group of fine obsidian and stone objects found during agricultural work which led to the discovery of the site. It was thought to have come from the surface Chalcolithic layer but its shape is most like many pottery jars found on Neolithic 4 sites in Palestine.

Kabri is one of the most northerly of Palestinian Neolithic 4 sites. The material from it while resembling that of other Palestinian sites may also be compared to that of Neolithic 4 sites in southern Lebanon which I have placed in the South Syrian group. The country to the south of the site opens out towards the Acre plain and the Plain of Esdraelon while to the north and east are broken hills. Geographically Kabri has better communication with sites further south and south-east which is why I prefer to place it within the West Palestine group of sites.

I have now concluded my description of Neolithic 4 sites in Palestine. As I mentioned in the last chapter there is a series of other sites in Palestine that we know were occupied during the Late Neolithic but which cannot with certainty be ascribed to either Neolithic 3 or 4. I wish now to briefly describe the location of these sites and their material remains since they augment our knowledge of the distributioion of each type of site in the 6th and 5th millennia.

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