Final Report on the 1991-94 Excavations at Tell esh-Shuna North, Jordan

Many of these issues are being addressed through the analysis of evidence from excavations at Tell esh-Shuna in the north Jordan Valley undertaken 1991-94. The site has revealed a stratigraphic sequence which allows us to chart changes in the subsistence economy, the organisation of space, the production and deployment of material culture, and local and interregional connections through the 4th millennium BC, i.e. the immediate background to the appearance of the walled settlements that characterise the EB II-III in the region. One of the pleasures of preparing this material for publication two decades after the excavation, has been the ability to enrich the dataset by applying to the material, analytical techniques that simply did not exist in the years immediately following fieldwork. As a result the publication project is allowing us to ask new questions, and look at the evidence in ways that were simply not envisaged in the 1990s.

The publication project is directed by Dr. Graham Philip.

Building 9, a circular structure of early EB I date.

Part of rectilinear, multi-roomed Building 3, of late EB I date. The large flat stones on each side of the wall are post-pads on which upright timbers would be set in order to supported the roof. This suggests that booth rooms were of substantial size, and that Building 3 was a substantial structure.

Buildings of Chalcolithic date (ca. 5000 cal. BC). The bun-shaped mudbricks used in this period are quite different from the large flat bricks favoured during the EB I occupation (see Fig.1)

Part of casting mould, found with copper prills adhering, late EB I. Fragments of moulds and crucibles found in a late EB I midden deposit attest to copper working on site during EB I. Chemical and Lead isotope analysis are helping us to understand the networks involved in the procurement of copper.