Furs
Furs and unscraped hides remained popular materials for clothing, even in areas where technology was advancing. Furs provided warmth and protection from the elements far beyond other Neolithic clothing materials, and required comparatively little processing. Furs were often pinned together using simple bone fasteners rather than stitched. They remained in wide use as a primary clothing material in cold climates and areas with harsh winters.
Textiles
Flax, wool and goat hair were commonly spun into thread during the Neolithic. The rise of agriculture during this time allowed regular access to these materials, and cloth was a common product of Neolithic communities. While a significant portion of textile production was used to create nets, twine and other utilitarian objects, evidence for flax and wool clothing has been discovered at many Neolithic sites.
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The discovery of the village
"On the far curving shore of the bay lies Skara Brae, hazy
through the sea-haar."
George Mackay Brown - Rockpools and Daffodils
O n the southern shore of the Bay o' Skaill, in the West Mainland parish of Sandwick. is the Neolithic village of Skara Brae - one of Orkney's most-visited ancient sites and regarded by many as one of the most remarkable monuments in Europe.415
In the winter of 1850, a great storm battered Orkney.
There was nothing particularly unusual about that, but on this occasion, the combination of wind and and extremely high tides stripped the grass from a large mound, then known as "Skerrabra".
This revealed the outline of a number of stone buildings — something that intrigued the local laird, William Watt of Skaill, who embarked on an excavation of the site.
In 1868, after the remains of four ancient houses had been unearthed, work at Skerrabra was abandoned. The settlement remained undisturbed until 1925, when another storm damaged some of the previously-excavated structures.
A sea-wall was built to preserve these remains, but during the construction work, yet more ancient buildings were discovered.
"I hear says the writer in The Bulletin that the excavations at Skerrabrae in Orkney, which attracted so much attention last year, are to be resumed at an early date.
"Professor V. Gordon Childe will again co-operate with the representatives of the Office of Works.
"There are still some problems to be solved, and its hoped that this season's researches will throw a flood of light on the period of the underground structures and the people who dwelt in them."
The Orcadian . July 4, 1929
'Modern' investigations
F urther excavations followed and, between 1928 and 1930, the dwellings we see today were released from their protective cocoons. At the time, the village was thought to be an Iron Age settlement, dating from around 500BC — but this was no Pictish village.
Radiocarbon dating in the early 1970s confirmed that the settlement dated from the late Neolithic — inhabited for around 600 years, between 3200BC and 2200BC.
Today, Skerrabra — or Skara Brae as it has become known — survives as eight dwellings, linked together by a series of low, covered passages.
Because of the protection offered by the sand that covered the settlement for 4,000 years, the buildings, and their contents, are incredibly well-preserved. Not only are the walls of the structures still standing, and alleyways roofed with their original stone slabs, but the interior fittings of each house give an unparalleled glimpse of life as it was in Neolithic Orkney.
Each house shares the same basic design - a large square room, with a central fireplace. a bed on either side and a shelved dresser on the wall opposite the doorway.
In its lifetime, Skara Brae became embedded in its own rubbish and this, together with the encroaching sand dunes, meant the village was gradually abandoned. Thereafter, the settlement was gradually covered by a drifting wall of sand that hid it from sight for for over 40 centuries.
But the elements that exposed Skara Brae to the world are also the its greatest nemesis.
The village remains under constant threat by coastal erosion and the onslaught of the sand and sea. In addition, the increasing number of visitors to the site annually are causing problems. Steps are being taken, however, to alleviate, or minimise, this damage.
6.1 Introduction to the Pottery Neolithic
The Pottery Neolithic (PN) covers the eighth and seventh millennia bp. It is divided into an Early and Late phase and as Gopher and Gophna state (1993, p.298) “very different socioeconomic systems appeared in the southern Levant during the eighth and seventh millennia and laid the foundation for the development of complex, urban societies”.
From an archaeological point of view, there have been problems in achieving a modern assessment of the period due to the variable quality of, and the application of different methodologies applied by early projects. Gopher and Gophna (1993) have raised several questions about the nature of the PN data, and point to the problem of excavation techniques which have been used in the past which have lead either to difficulties in opening up or examining intra-site sequences or loss of data (p.301-2). In addition, multiple terminologies have led to considerable confusion, and “insufficient research, a large body of unpublished data, and the many small assemblages coming from problematical contexts. Additional problems in time-space systematics are the use of long-distance typological, but non quantitative, comparisons, mainly of ceramic traits. and the neglect of seriation and the study of diffusion processes” (Gopher and Gophna, p.302).
The attempt by Gopher and Gophna to tease out a coherent overview and a chronological framework for this period is used extensively in this section.
Please note that all dates for the beginning and end of the PNA and PNB follow Rosen (1997). However, there are other schemes and as more C14 dates become available these will be filled out and will become more transparent - and this site will be updated accordingly.
6.2 Early Pottery Neolithic / Pottery Neolithic A (PNA 5900 - 5200 bc)
6.2.1 The Establishment of the Early pottery Neolithic
The Early Pottery Neolithic or Pottery Neolithic A (EPN or PNA) begins at the end of the ninth millennium bp, when the complex interactive networks that had built up during the PPNB apparently cease to operate, and the relative continuity which had been visible from the Natufian onwards can no longer be observed.
A number of possible causes for this have been put forward, including the frequently suggested climatic changes, which are thought to have lead to hotter and drier conditions causing abandonment of some areas and the establishment of new sites in other areas. Estimates put this period of hotter conditions at between a few centuries and 1000 years duration. This would certainly help to explain the thinning of occupation in the Sinai and the Negev at this time. This agrees with Rollefson’s analysis of the PPNC at Ain Ghazal, discussed earlier. However, the climate change explanation is by no means universally accepted, partly because it is based on archaeological rather than environmental data.
6.2.2 Yarmukian
6.2.2.1 Chronology
The Yarmukian, named after the perennial Yarmouk River, appears to be the earliest identifiable entity within the PN, and contain the earliest pottery to be found in the Levant. Yarmukian sites include Shaar Hagolan, Munhata, Nahal Qanah, Nahal Zehora II, Ain Ghazal, Ein Rahub, Wadi Shu’eib, and others.
There are very few chronometric dates for the Yarmukian, but where it is within a stratigraphic sequence it is usually above PPNB or PPNC contexts, and below typologically later levels. Observed similarities with the Byblos NA may place it within the second half of the eighth millennium bp. It certainly predates the Chalcolithic at Munhata, where the Yarmoukian Level 2b, possibly dating to around 5500BC, is stratified beneath the Early Chalcolithic Level 2a, dating to 4600BC (Lovell 2004, p.49). Munhata 2b appears to be contemporary with Sh’ar Hagolan.
6.2.2.2 Industry
The definition of the period is largely based on the flint industry and the introduction of pottery.
The earliest pottery appears in the EPN, with the Yarmukian industry. The pottery is distinctive in terms both of vessel form and applied decoration. There are a variety of forms including bowls and globular jars with tall necks. Some have handles or knobs and/or pedestals. Decoration is not applied to all vessels, but where present it may be painted, incised or both, and is confined to geometric forms – zigzag lines and simple bands. There are no anthropomorphic representations. Painted vessels without incisions appear to be a late feature of the Yarmukian (Gopher and Gophna 1993, p.311).
Lithics represent both continuities and innovations. Blade production was still practiced, but an increasing flake component is notable. Clearly defined tools include axes, borers, scrapers, sickle blades, notches, denticulates and tanged blades. Specific innovations include new types of heavily retouched bifacial sickle blades, Haparsa and Herzliya arrowheads, and new forms of Byblos and Amuq points (Gopher and Gophna 1993, p.308). Sickle blades feature deep and regular pressure, flaked denticulation on both or one lateral edges, made on relatively short truncated blades from cores which are very similar to those of the PPNB (Rosen 1997). Lovell (2004, p.14) points to the fact that an absence of arrowheads could indicate a fall-off in hunting (but also points out that lithic arrowheads could have been replaced by wooden or other spearpoints).
6.2.2.3 Settlement Distribution
Sites are mainly distributed in central Israel and Jordan in the southern Levant, and occur in all the main topographical areas. Sites include: Sha’ar Hagolan near Kibbutz, Munhata, and Ain Ghazal near Jordan on the Wadi Zerqa (following the PPNC phase), ‘Ain Rahub, Jebel Abu Thawab and Wadi Shueib.
Contemporary sites, like Qadesh Barnea 3, feature in the Negev and Sinai, but are not the same and do not feature pottery.
6.2.2.4 Site Organization
Individual structures may be either circular or rectangular, and are usually built using drystone techniques for the foundations. Plaster was only used occasionally. Storage pits accompany these structures.
6.2.2.5 Burials and Ritual
There have been only very few burials found from Yarmukian contexts. On the rare occasions that they have been found, they were interred in a flexed position, in on-site situations. There are no grave goods.
6.2.2.5 Art and Craft
Figurines are particularly notable from middle Jordan Valley sites with smaller numbers elsewhere. Forms are divided into two principal types: stone peoples which are incised with human images and body parts (e. g. at Shaar Hagolan and Munhata), and clay figurines which are often interpreted as representing women (e. g. at Shaar Hagolan). These may represent “a new symbolic framework and new perceptions, probably related to changes in social structure” (Gopher and Gophna 1993, p.344).
6.2.2.6 Economy
Most of the information about the economy during the Yarmukian comes from Ain Ghazal, but additional information about faunal resources comes from Jebel Abu Thawwab and Munhata.
Faunal resources are represented as follows (tabulated from Gopher and Gophna 1993, p.314):
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