 Map of the Levantine sites with El Khiam points | |
| Geographical range | Fertile Crescent |
|---|---|
| Period | Neolithic |
| Dates | c. 9700 –c. 8650 BC |
| Type site | El Khiam |
| Major sites | Azraq,Abu Madi,Mureybet |
| Preceded by | Natufian,Harifian |
| Followed by | Yarmukian,Lodian,Nizzanim,Mureybetian,Sultanian |
TheKhiamian culture is aNeolithicarchaeological culture of Southwest Asia, dating to the earliest part of thePre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), around 9700 to 8600 BC.[1] It is primarily characterised by a distinctive type of stone arrowhead—the "El Khiam point"—first found at thetype site ofEl Khiam.
The Khiamian owes its name to the site ofEl Khiam, situated on banks of theDead Sea, where researchers have recovered the oldestchert arrows heads, with lateral notches, the so-called "El Khiam points".[2] They have served to identify sites of this period, which are found inIsrael, as well as inJordan (Azraq),Sinai (Abu Madi), and to the north as far as the MiddleEuphrates (Mureybet). El Khiam points and otherchert stone tools alike are often referred to as projectile points or arrowheads. While it is true that they were used as arrowheads, the given names imply function and are therefore misleading when considering the existence of evidence that suggests that these artefacts were indeed multipurpose tools used for an array of purposes such as knives and drills.[3]
Aside from the appearance of El Khiam arrow heads, the Khiamian is placed in the continuity of the Natufian, without any major technical innovations. However, for the first time houses were built on the ground level itself, and not half below ground as was previously done. Otherwise, the bearers of the El Khiam culture were still hunter-gatherers, and agriculture at that time was then still rather primitive, based on what has been reported on sites of this period.[4] Newer discoveries show that in the Middle East and Anatolia someexperiments with agriculture were being made by 10,900 BC.[5] and that there may already have been experimenting with wild grain processing around 21,000 years ago atOhalo II.[6][7] The Khiamian material culture was succeeded by the Mureybetian in the middle Euphrates and the upper Levant, while the Sultanian emerged in the southern Levant.[8] The Sultanian material culture can be seen as a development from the Khiamian, with the El Khiam point staying as a part of the assemblage but the microliths disappearing and bifacial core knapped stone tools appearing and the appearance of axes andadzes.[9]
The Khiamien also sees a change occur in the symbolic aspects of culture, as evidenced by the appearance of small female statuettes, as well as by the burying ofaurochs skulls. According toJacques Cauvin, it is the beginning of the worship of the Woman and the Bull, as evidenced in the following periods of the Near-Eastern Neolithic.[10]
The largest and most embellished/decorated architecture at the end of this period were in the Northern Levant, with the communal gathering building ofJerf el-Ahmar, and the monumental ceremonial complexes ofGöbekli Tepe.
