TheNachcharini cave is located at a height of 2,100 m (6,889.76 ft) on theNachcharini Plateau in theAnti-Lebanon Mountains near the Lebanese/Syrian border and among the most elevatedNatufian andKhiamian hunter-gatherer occupation sites found to date.[1]
Moderately sized, but of significance for the study of thePre-Pottery Neolithic A period inLebanon, it was excavated in 1972 and 1974 by Bruce Schroeder as part of theUniversity of Toronto's investigation of Paleo-human occupation throughout theBeqaa Valley in the west. Research was discontinued during theLebanese Civil War. The only radiocarbon date of the Neolithic period from this site has a high deviation rate, falling between 8,500 BC and 7,700 BC.[2] Resumed investigation into the prehistoric land use of this site were carried out in 2001, directed by Alex Wasse of theCouncil for British Research in the Levant. The team found the site badly looted but was able to recover numerous tools and flints for further study.[3][4]
Harsh local climate restricted occupation of the site most likely to spring and summer only. Heavy snowfall lasts into spring, which provides water for areal irrigation into June, of some of the historically richestLevantine pastures.[5]
Research suggests, that there are strong elements of continuity between the Natufian (as the last Levantine Epipaleolithic culture) and the PPNA as evidenced by tool comparison. Analysis of chipped stone tools revealed similarities to theJericho Sultanian style, suggesting more advanced activities than carried out at other PPNA sites. Evidence from Wadi Faynan suggests a variety of non-hunting purposes for these types of tools.[6][7][8] Microdrills are a particularly common tool type in theKhiamian period. They were used mainly to perforate stone beads. This can be deduced from the use-wear marks on the active areas and the residue conserved on them.[9]
^Schroeder, H.B. (1977). "Nachcharini, a Stratified Post-Natufian Camp in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains".Regional centers in archaeology : prospects and problems. Forty-first annual meeting of the Society for American archaeology. St. Louis, Missouri, Columbia: Marquardt.
^Garrard, A.; Pirie, A.; Schroeder, B.; Wasse, A. (2001). "Survey of Nachcharini Cave and prehistoric settlement in the northern Anti-Lebanon Highland".Bulletin d'Archéologie et d'Architecture Libanaises (7):15–48.
Ofer Bar-Yosef, François Raymond Valla:The Natufian culture in the Levant,International Monographs in Prehistory, 1991.
^ Borrell, Ferran; Ibáñez, Juan José; Molist, Miquel (January 2014). Stone Tools in Transition: From Hunter-Gatherers to Farming Societies in the Near East. Servei de Publicacions de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. pp. 211–.ISBN978-84-490-3818-1.
^ Alan H. Simmons (15 April 2011). The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: Transforming the Human Landscape. University of Arizona Press. pp. 118–.ISBN978-0-8165-0127-4.
^ Peter M. M. G. Akkermans; Glenn M. Schwartz (2003). The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (c.16,000-300 BC). Cambridge University Press. pp. 33–.ISBN978-0-521-79666-8.
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