(Re)Constructing and Using Space in the Epipalaeolithic: Exploring Technologies, Domestic Activities and Communal Living in Eastern Jordan

Summary

In the 10,000 or so years that make up the Epipalaeolithic period, we witness several dramatic social, economic and technological changes documented in the archaeological record, including the appearance of aggregation sites and sedentary villages, intensified use of particular plants and animals, and the movements of people and objects over long distances. While it is easy to track these changes over this large time span, we rarely catch a glimpse of the daily activities and day-to-day interactions in which Epipalaeolithic people participated. Here, with evidence from two Epipalaeolithic sites in eastern Jordan, we attempt to get at these elusive past behaviors as evidenced by reconstructing the macro- and micro-scale activities within and between Epipalaeolithic structures. At the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic site of Kharaneh IV and Late Epipalaeolithic site of Shubayqa I aggregations of people congregated repeatedly and lived together for prolonged periods of time. Both sites prompt many questions about how people may have interacted at the site, what activities they performed, and how they lived. Geoarchaeological analyses of the spaces within and between structures is employed alongside other lines of evidence to reconstruct how space was used and activities negotiated at these substantial, archaeologically-dense sites.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Exploring social change in the Epipalaeolithic and early Neolithic of the Near East

Keywords

Spatial Coverage