The long-term Israeli-Spanish research project at Nahal Efe is focused on the study of the Neolithic developments in the Negev desert during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (10th–7th millennia cal. BC). This is a region with a particular evolution that differed from the mainstream Neolithization processes observed in the neighbouring core regions (Mediterranean region and Transjordan). The project is also aimed at refining our understandings of social interaction between the foragers of the Negev and the neighbouring farming communities and, secondly, at reconstructing humanenvironment interaction in the southern Levantine arid regions. In order to achieve the goals of the project, we have focused on the extensive excavation of what has revealed to be one of the largest and best preserved PPNB sites in the Negev, thus providing a range of new data on the evolution of cultural dynamics during the 9th to 8th millennia cal. BC transition in the region. The site, which extends for over 2000 square metres, is located in the northern Negev highlands, close to the Mediterranean Judean hills and only 10 km south of the well-known culticcave of Nahal Hemar. The main occupation of the site can be dated in the Middle PPNB, around the first half of the 8th millennium cal. BC. This occupation corresponds to a cluster of relatively large sub-circular stone buildings located on different levels at the top of the hillside. To date we have excavated two buildings (Unit 1 and 2), part of a third (Unit 6) and delimited three more (Units 3, 4 and 5), constituting a residential area unique in the region. In addition, several more circular structures (more than twenty) are partly visible on the surface. The excavation of the habitation units excavated has so far yielded a relatively abundant chipped lithic assemblage as well as other stone tools such as basins, bowls, and shaft straighteners. The representation of fauna is limited, while botanic remains are well preserved and abundant, thus allowing refined radiometric dating of the Neolithic settlement. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of the study of the chipped lithic assemblage from the 2015–2018 seasons, corresponding to the Middle PPNB occupations of the site, dating to the first quarter of the 8th millennium cal. BC. The techno-typological examination of the abundant chipped industry allows full characterization of stone tool production and use at the residential site of Nahal Efe. In addition, the presence of a notable component of bidirectional blades and cores at the site provides interesting insights into the chronology and nature of the diffusion and adoption of this technology in the southernmost arid margins of the Southern Levant.

Peer reviewed