The Neolithic-Chalcolithic Transition and the Qatifian of the Northern Negev and Sinai

Abstract

During the years 19291930 E. Macdonald (1932) surveyed and excavated several protohistoric sites in the Nahal Besor area, adjacent to Tell Fara. A few of Macdonald's sites were later re-excavated and studied by other archaeologists. J. Perrot (1962), after excavating the Beer Sheva sites of the Chalcolithic period, made soundings in parts of sites A and D (his'Gisement I et 2) which had not been studied by Macdonald. D. Alon surveyed and excavated during the 1970S sites in the Tell Fara area such as D (Alon 1977), A and P, in addition to other sites not mentioned by Macdonald. R. Gophna excavated the Early Bronze Age sites of Ein HaBesor (1976b) and site H (1976a) and has recently excavated Macdonald's site M (Gophna and Gazit 1985). lithic and ceramic assemblages excavated by Macdonald were studied by Ann Roshwalb (198 I ; 1987) for her doctoral dissertation. chronological and cultural interpretations of Macdonald (1932) are somewhat vague. Neither summary nor conclusions were presented and the assumed sequence of the assemblages and their significance is interwoven into the detailed description of the artefacts and stratigraphy, only slightly clarified by Petrie's note (ibid. 15-16). material culture of the Besor assemblages was attributed by Macdonald to three different groups. first consists of the assemblages from sites A, B, D and M; the second is represented by sites E and 0 and the third by site H. first group represents desert nomads moving with their tents who were later peacefully joined by a new group of people who inhabited sites E and O. Petrie (in Macdonald 1932, 15-16) noted the similarity of the latecomers' material culture to that at Teleilat Ghassul north of the Dead Sea. As for the third group attributed to the Copper Age: The coming of the H tribe was an actual invasion (ibid. I I). Unlike the desert nomads of the other sites The inhabitants of site H, however, were not tent dwellers, but built rectangular huts ... Using present day terminology it is generally accepted that sites A, B, D, E, M and 0 are of the Chalcolithic period and site H is of the Early Bronze Age I. dichotomy between the six assemblages of the Chalcolithic period (sites A, B, D and M on one hand and E and 0 on the other) observed by Macdonald has

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