Season 2024

Excavation results of the Spanish-Italian expeditions

During the 2024 excavation’s season the C-East and C-West areas were opened and investigated; in the C-East area two distinct trenches were opened:

C-East Area

This large excavation area was opened around the so-called Great Enclosure, an open air semicircular sanctuary whose first phase dates back to the Early Bronze Age IA (3500-3100 BC), in this excavation season, two distinct trenches were opened in the c-east area, one inside the structure (C-East 1) and the other one outside the Enclosure (C-East 2):

• C-East 1: Trench 1, opened on the inner side of the Great Enclosure, measures 5x5 mt, and has its northern side directly against the wall of the structure (W.101). During the excavation human bones become visible on the eastern side of the trench, these human remains pertain to a single burial of an individual deposed directly on the bedrock (B. 1608). The well preserved jaw of the burial with all the teeth clearly identifiable during the excavations were shipped to Italy to obtain first C14 analysis and then (if proved to be an EB I deposition) used also for ancient DNA analysis, to compare the results with the other ancient DNA analysis performed on the burials discovered in the EB I dolmens of the huge megalithic necropolis used by the inhabitants of Jebel al-Mutawwaq mostly between the EB IA and the EB IB.

• C-East 2: Trench 2 (5x5 m), was opened just to the north of the eastern part of the other external Trench opened last season 2023. The main aim of the operation was to understand the organization of the urban space around the Great Enclosure, especially on its northern side, between the two main phase of use of the settlement. The invasive activities of modern bulldozers that, after the ’90’s of the past centuries were operated on the top of the site removed the upper part of the walls of the EB I structure of the site, collecting together in lines to made the modern terraces. In the layer (US 829; 830) on the northern side of the excavation trench, a few entire materials were collected, between them a complete tabular scraper and a few broken flint blades (one Cananean) and a fragment of grinding stone, possibly in situ. The bedrock appeared directly under this layer perfectly leveled and it has probably to be interpreted as a street or an open space around the Great Enclosure (L. 1609), The bedrock was exposed also in the south-eastern part of the trench, where two cupmarks were identified one close to the other. The first one (CM. 1610) is shallow, with smooth sides, the other (CM. 1611) is deep, reducing in dimension toward the end. The first cup mark, that possibly could be used as small mortar, has remains of small burned seeds inside. The second one, deeper, could also be used as a hole to sustain a wooden pillar for a tent.

C-West Area

The new trench (5x10 m) opened in Area C West is centered on the so-called Building C, identified in season 2015. Originally it was thought that the building was one single house oriented north-south, but the excavation of season 2024 proved that there are two different houses, with the double apsidal plan typical of the Jebel al-Mutawwaq settlement of the EB I, oriented north-south, now called Building Ca (the northern one), delimited by W. 1700 and Building Cb (the southern one), delimited by W. 1701. After the removal of the surface (US 0) the plan of the two buildings appeared very clearly. The northern apsis of Building Cb was built directly against the southern apsis of Building Ca, suggesting a relation between the two buildings, that could be functional or connected to family relationship between the two houses. On its easternmost part, following wall W. 1700, the bedrock has at least one rock cut installation (I. 1705), where pottery sherds (between them at least one complete small jar) were recovered. To the south of the rock cut installation, another natural step on the bedrock was used to locate ceramic vessels, recovered crashed on it, between them at least one partially complete jug with loop double handle and globular body was discovered. The same situation was recovered on the last southern stone step of the bedrock, larger than the previous one, where several complete jars where recovered crashed on the floor. In the southernmost part of the house, the floor, probably due to a higher step of the bedrock, was made uprising the walking surface with a layer of pebbles, small stones and compact earth. In the south-eastern corner of the apsis at least four storage vessels were identified (considering the number of the complete bases and the ledge handles discovered during the excavations). However, several other simple ware vessels were also recovered. Between them one complete shape is a small red burnished bowl with an upstanding broken handle, probably used as a sort of deep spoon. Together with these vessels also two very interesting lamps have been recognized: the first one is a deep small bowl with the inner borders of the rim hardly burned. This kind of lamps have good parallel in the EB IA and EB IB tombs of Bab edh Dhra and other sites in the Southern Levant. The other lamp is a flat dish with a single horizontal loop handle and part of the rim broken on the opposite side (where usual the flattened lamps have the spout). Together with the pottery, mostly on the north-western part of the house also several lithic tools have been recovered. Between them a polishing hard stone, a flint polishing tool, two heavy stone of different dimensions, probably used to crash cereals or, more probably, to press olives, have been recovered. In the south-eastern corner of the house also a large stone mortar, broken at the base has been discovered. Concerning the vegetal remains recovered in the layers directly on the bedrock it must be mentioned a complete olive seed (in US 961) and an elongate seed (in US 953), probably related to a palm date. This last seed is very important, because testify a contact with the Jordan Valley, the unique place in Jordan where palm dates trees could be grown.