Conventions in fresh water fishing in the prehistoric southern Levant: The evidence from the study of Neolithic Beisamoun notched pebbles
Keywords:
notched stone weights, fishing, southern Levant, Hula Valley, Neolithic period, ground stone tools
Abstract
[Research Article]
Fishing gear is not frequently found in archaeological sites in the southern Levant. Bone hooks were found as early as the later Epipalaeolithic period (mainly in Natufian culture sites) and continue to appear in small numbers until the Chalcolithic period, when the first copper hooks are found. But for most sites, we have scant information about fishing gear or techniques. The paucity of fishing gear in archaeological assemblages is notable and holds true for sites near the former Mediterranean Sea shore and for inland sites situated near fresh water sources. This may be attributed to preservation issues, in part, but also seems to reflect preferences in the selection of raw material for making various fishing implements. The present paper discusses a specific type of fishing gear, the notched pebbles. These implements are small pebbles with various degrees of modification - sometime including notable modification of the original pebble by flaking and sometimes only slightly modifying it by creating the two opposed notches. We will use the assemblage found at the Neolithic site of Beisamoun, in the Hula Valley, northern Israel as a test-case for discussing raw material and other preferences and long-term aspects of conventions in fresh water fishing gear.
References
Altman, H. M., & Ebrary, I. 2006, Eastern Cherokee Fishing. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 168 p.
Bar-Yosef, O. 1998, The Natufian culture in the Levant, threshold to the origins of agriculture. Evolutionary Anthropology, 6(5): 159-177. doi:10.1002/(sici)1520-6505(1998)6:5%3C159::aid-evan4%3E3.0.co;2-7
Bar-Yosef, O., & Belfer-Cohen, A. 1989, The origins of sedentism and farming communities in the Levant. Journal of World Prehistory, 3(4):447-498. doi:10.1007/bf00975111
Bocquentin, F., Khalaily, H., Bar-Yosef Mayer, D., Berna, F., Biton, R., Boness, D., Dubreuil, L., Emery-Barbier, A., Greenberg, H., Goren, Y., Horwitz, L. K., Le Dosseur, G., Lernau, O., Mienis, H. K., Valentin, B., & Samuelian, N. 2014, Renewed excavations at Beisamoun: Investigating the 7th millennium cal. BC of the Southern Levant. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 44: 5-100
Bocquentin, F., Khalaily, H., Samuel, N., Barzilai, O., Le Dosseur, G., Horwitz, L. K., & Barbier, A. E. 2007, Renewed excavation of the PPNB Site of Beisamoun, Hula Basin. Neo-Lithics, 2(7): 17-21.
de Contenson, H. 1992, Préhistoire de Ras Shamra: Text, Figures et Planches: Ras Shamra-Ougarit VIII, Vol. 1 and 2. Éditions Recherche sur les civilisations, Paris, 285 p.
Galili, A., Lernau, O., & Zohar, I. 2004, Fishing and coastal adaptation at Atlit-Yam - A submerge PPNC fishing village off the Carmel coast, Israel. ‘Atiqot, 48: 1-34.
Galili, E., Rosen, B., Gopher, A., & Kolska-Horwitz, L. 2003, The emergence and dispersion of the Mediterranean fishing village: Evidence from submerged Neolithic settlements off the Carmel Coast, Israel. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 15:167-198. doi:10.1558/jmea.v15i2.167
Gopher A., & Orrelle E. 1995a, The Ground Stone Assemblages of Munhata. Cahiers des Missions Archéologiques Françaises en Israël 7, Faton, Paris, 183 p.
Gopher, A., & Orrelle, E. 1995b, The Ground Stone Assemblages of Munhata: A Neolithic Site in the Jordan Valley, Israel: a Report. Les Cahiers Des Missions Archéologiques Françaises En Israël Vol. 7. Association Paléorient, Paris, 183 p.
Khalaily, H., Barzilai, O., & Jaffe, G. 2009, Beisamoun (Mallaha). IAA Reports 121, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem. URL: http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.asp?id=1245&mag_id=115
Khalaily, H., Kuperman, T., Marom, N., Milevski, I., & Yegorov, D. 2015, Beisamun: An Early Pottery Neolithic site in the Hula Basin. ‘Atiqot, 82: 1-61.
Lechevallier, M. 1978, Abou Gosh et Beisamoun: Deux Gisements du VII Millénaire Avant L’ère Chrétiènne en Israël. Mémoires et Travaux du Centre de Recherches Préhistoriques Francais de Jérusalem Vol. 2, Paris, 289 p.
Marder, O., Biton, R., Boaretto, E., Feibel, C., Melamed, Y., Mienis, H. K., Rabinovich, R., Zohar I. & Sharon, G. 2015, Jordan River Dureijat - A new Epipalaeolithic site in the Upper Jordan Valley. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 45: 5-30.
Moore, A. M. T. 2000, Stone and other artifacts. In: Village on the Euphrates: From Foraging to Farming at Abu Hureyra, (Moore, A.M.T., Hillman, G.C., & Legge, A.J., Eds.), Oxford University Press, Oxford: p. 165-186.
Nadel, D., & Zaidner, Y. 2002, Upper Pleistocene and Mid-Holocene net sinkers from the Sea of Galilee, Israel. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 32: 49-71.
Pajdla, P. 2014, Overview of Prehistoric Tools Connected with Fishing in the Upper Mesopotamia. Unpublished Master of Arts Thesis, Masaryk University, Brno, 56 p.
Perrot, J. 1966, Le gisement Natufien de Mallaha (Eynan), Israël. L’Anthropologie, 70(5-6): 437-484 (in French) (“The Natufian settlement from Mallaha (Eynan), Israël”)
Perrot, J. 1975, בייסמון בעמק החולה, Qadmoniot: A Journal for the Antiquities of Eretz-Israel and Bible Lands, 4(32): 114-117 (in Hebrew) (“Beisamoun in the Hula Valley”). URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23671628
Potts, D. T. 2012, Fish and fishing. In: A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, (Potts, D. T., Ed.), John Wiley & Sons, Chichester: p. 220-235. doi:10.1002/9781444360790.ch12
Prausnitz, M.W. 1970, From Hunter to Farmer and Trader: Studies in the Lithic Industries of Israel and Adjacent Countries (From the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Age). Sivan Press, Jerusalem, 184 p.
Rau, C. 1884, Prehistoric Fishing in Europe and North America. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C, 380 p. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.29980
Rosenberg, D. 2010, An Early Pottery Neolithic Occurrence at Beisamoun, the Hula Valley, Northern Israel. BAR International Series Vol. 2095, Archaeopress, Oxford, 138 p.
Rosenberg, D. 2011, Development, Continuity and Change: The Stone Industries of the Early Ceramic Bearing Cultures of the Southern Levant. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Haifa, Haifa, 572 p.
Rosenberg, D., Assaf, A., Eyal, R., & Gopher, A. 2006, Beisamoun - The Wadi Raba occurrence. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 36: 129-137.
Rosenberg, D., & Garfinkel, Y. 2014, Sha’ar Hagolan 4 - The Groundstone Industry: Stone Working at the Dawn of Pottery Production in the Southern Levant. The Institute of Archaeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 336 p.
Rosenberg, D., & Greenberg, R. 2014, The stone assemblages. In: Bet Yerah: The Early Bronze Age Mound (Vol. 2) Urban Structure and Material Culture. 1933-1986 Excavations, (Greenberg, R., Ed.), IAA Reports Vol. 54, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem: p. 189-234.
Sandelowski, B. H. 1970, Notched pebbles from South Africa. South Africa Archaeological Bulletin, 26(103/104): 154. doi:10.2307/3887810
Smith, H. I. 1910, The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History. Vol. 4, Part 1. American Museum of Natural History, New York, 470 p.
Valla, F. R., Khalaily, H., Samuelian, N., Bocquentin, F., Delage, C., Valentin, B., Plisson, H., Rabinovich, R., & Belfer-Cohen, A. 1998, Le Natufien Final et les nouvelles fouilles à Mallaha (Eynan), Israel 1996-1997. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 28: 105-176.
Vered, A., & Birkenfeld, M. 2015, Notched Stone Weights from PPNA ʻEin Dishna: a Longue Durée Perspective. A poster presented in the first meeting of the Association for Ground stone Tools Research (AGSR), July 5-9, 2015. University of Haifa, Haifa.
Yegorov, D. 2011, Flint Industry from Beisamoun and the Question of Yarmukian Settlement in the Hula Valley. Unpublished MA Thesis, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 82 p.
Zaidner, Y. 2002, Double-notched pebbles from Ohalo II: The earliest evidence for the use of net sinkers in the Levant. In: Ohalo II: A 23,000 Year-Old Fisher-Hunter-Gatherers’ Camp on the Shore of the Sea of Galilee, (Nadel, D., Ed), Reuben and Edith Hecth Museum, University of Haifa, Haifa: p. 49-52
Zohar, I., Goren, M., & Goren-Inbar, N. 2014, Fish and ancient lakes in the Dead Sea Rift: The use of fish remains to reconstruct the ichthyofauna of paleo-Lake Hula. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 405: 28-41. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.04.006
Bar-Yosef, O. 1998, The Natufian culture in the Levant, threshold to the origins of agriculture. Evolutionary Anthropology, 6(5): 159-177. doi:10.1002/(sici)1520-6505(1998)6:5%3C159::aid-evan4%3E3.0.co;2-7
Bar-Yosef, O., & Belfer-Cohen, A. 1989, The origins of sedentism and farming communities in the Levant. Journal of World Prehistory, 3(4):447-498. doi:10.1007/bf00975111
Bocquentin, F., Khalaily, H., Bar-Yosef Mayer, D., Berna, F., Biton, R., Boness, D., Dubreuil, L., Emery-Barbier, A., Greenberg, H., Goren, Y., Horwitz, L. K., Le Dosseur, G., Lernau, O., Mienis, H. K., Valentin, B., & Samuelian, N. 2014, Renewed excavations at Beisamoun: Investigating the 7th millennium cal. BC of the Southern Levant. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 44: 5-100
Bocquentin, F., Khalaily, H., Samuel, N., Barzilai, O., Le Dosseur, G., Horwitz, L. K., & Barbier, A. E. 2007, Renewed excavation of the PPNB Site of Beisamoun, Hula Basin. Neo-Lithics, 2(7): 17-21.
de Contenson, H. 1992, Préhistoire de Ras Shamra: Text, Figures et Planches: Ras Shamra-Ougarit VIII, Vol. 1 and 2. Éditions Recherche sur les civilisations, Paris, 285 p.
Galili, A., Lernau, O., & Zohar, I. 2004, Fishing and coastal adaptation at Atlit-Yam - A submerge PPNC fishing village off the Carmel coast, Israel. ‘Atiqot, 48: 1-34.
Galili, E., Rosen, B., Gopher, A., & Kolska-Horwitz, L. 2003, The emergence and dispersion of the Mediterranean fishing village: Evidence from submerged Neolithic settlements off the Carmel Coast, Israel. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 15:167-198. doi:10.1558/jmea.v15i2.167
Gopher A., & Orrelle E. 1995a, The Ground Stone Assemblages of Munhata. Cahiers des Missions Archéologiques Françaises en Israël 7, Faton, Paris, 183 p.
Gopher, A., & Orrelle, E. 1995b, The Ground Stone Assemblages of Munhata: A Neolithic Site in the Jordan Valley, Israel: a Report. Les Cahiers Des Missions Archéologiques Françaises En Israël Vol. 7. Association Paléorient, Paris, 183 p.
Khalaily, H., Barzilai, O., & Jaffe, G. 2009, Beisamoun (Mallaha). IAA Reports 121, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem. URL: http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.asp?id=1245&mag_id=115
Khalaily, H., Kuperman, T., Marom, N., Milevski, I., & Yegorov, D. 2015, Beisamun: An Early Pottery Neolithic site in the Hula Basin. ‘Atiqot, 82: 1-61.
Lechevallier, M. 1978, Abou Gosh et Beisamoun: Deux Gisements du VII Millénaire Avant L’ère Chrétiènne en Israël. Mémoires et Travaux du Centre de Recherches Préhistoriques Francais de Jérusalem Vol. 2, Paris, 289 p.
Marder, O., Biton, R., Boaretto, E., Feibel, C., Melamed, Y., Mienis, H. K., Rabinovich, R., Zohar I. & Sharon, G. 2015, Jordan River Dureijat - A new Epipalaeolithic site in the Upper Jordan Valley. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 45: 5-30.
Moore, A. M. T. 2000, Stone and other artifacts. In: Village on the Euphrates: From Foraging to Farming at Abu Hureyra, (Moore, A.M.T., Hillman, G.C., & Legge, A.J., Eds.), Oxford University Press, Oxford: p. 165-186.
Nadel, D., & Zaidner, Y. 2002, Upper Pleistocene and Mid-Holocene net sinkers from the Sea of Galilee, Israel. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 32: 49-71.
Pajdla, P. 2014, Overview of Prehistoric Tools Connected with Fishing in the Upper Mesopotamia. Unpublished Master of Arts Thesis, Masaryk University, Brno, 56 p.
Perrot, J. 1966, Le gisement Natufien de Mallaha (Eynan), Israël. L’Anthropologie, 70(5-6): 437-484 (in French) (“The Natufian settlement from Mallaha (Eynan), Israël”)
Perrot, J. 1975, בייסמון בעמק החולה, Qadmoniot: A Journal for the Antiquities of Eretz-Israel and Bible Lands, 4(32): 114-117 (in Hebrew) (“Beisamoun in the Hula Valley”). URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23671628
Potts, D. T. 2012, Fish and fishing. In: A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, (Potts, D. T., Ed.), John Wiley & Sons, Chichester: p. 220-235. doi:10.1002/9781444360790.ch12
Prausnitz, M.W. 1970, From Hunter to Farmer and Trader: Studies in the Lithic Industries of Israel and Adjacent Countries (From the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Age). Sivan Press, Jerusalem, 184 p.
Rau, C. 1884, Prehistoric Fishing in Europe and North America. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C, 380 p. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.29980
Rosenberg, D. 2010, An Early Pottery Neolithic Occurrence at Beisamoun, the Hula Valley, Northern Israel. BAR International Series Vol. 2095, Archaeopress, Oxford, 138 p.
Rosenberg, D. 2011, Development, Continuity and Change: The Stone Industries of the Early Ceramic Bearing Cultures of the Southern Levant. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Haifa, Haifa, 572 p.
Rosenberg, D., Assaf, A., Eyal, R., & Gopher, A. 2006, Beisamoun - The Wadi Raba occurrence. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 36: 129-137.
Rosenberg, D., & Garfinkel, Y. 2014, Sha’ar Hagolan 4 - The Groundstone Industry: Stone Working at the Dawn of Pottery Production in the Southern Levant. The Institute of Archaeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 336 p.
Rosenberg, D., & Greenberg, R. 2014, The stone assemblages. In: Bet Yerah: The Early Bronze Age Mound (Vol. 2) Urban Structure and Material Culture. 1933-1986 Excavations, (Greenberg, R., Ed.), IAA Reports Vol. 54, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem: p. 189-234.
Sandelowski, B. H. 1970, Notched pebbles from South Africa. South Africa Archaeological Bulletin, 26(103/104): 154. doi:10.2307/3887810
Smith, H. I. 1910, The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History. Vol. 4, Part 1. American Museum of Natural History, New York, 470 p.
Valla, F. R., Khalaily, H., Samuelian, N., Bocquentin, F., Delage, C., Valentin, B., Plisson, H., Rabinovich, R., & Belfer-Cohen, A. 1998, Le Natufien Final et les nouvelles fouilles à Mallaha (Eynan), Israel 1996-1997. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 28: 105-176.
Vered, A., & Birkenfeld, M. 2015, Notched Stone Weights from PPNA ʻEin Dishna: a Longue Durée Perspective. A poster presented in the first meeting of the Association for Ground stone Tools Research (AGSR), July 5-9, 2015. University of Haifa, Haifa.
Yegorov, D. 2011, Flint Industry from Beisamoun and the Question of Yarmukian Settlement in the Hula Valley. Unpublished MA Thesis, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 82 p.
Zaidner, Y. 2002, Double-notched pebbles from Ohalo II: The earliest evidence for the use of net sinkers in the Levant. In: Ohalo II: A 23,000 Year-Old Fisher-Hunter-Gatherers’ Camp on the Shore of the Sea of Galilee, (Nadel, D., Ed), Reuben and Edith Hecth Museum, University of Haifa, Haifa: p. 49-52
Zohar, I., Goren, M., & Goren-Inbar, N. 2014, Fish and ancient lakes in the Dead Sea Rift: The use of fish remains to reconstruct the ichthyofauna of paleo-Lake Hula. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 405: 28-41. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.04.006
Published
31-Oct-2016
How to Cite
Rosenberg, D., Agnon, M., & Kaufman, D. (2016). Conventions in fresh water fishing in the prehistoric southern Levant: The evidence from the study of Neolithic Beisamoun notched pebbles. Journal of Lithic Studies, 3(3), 457-478. https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.v3i3.1639
Issue
Section
Presented at the 1st Meeting of the Association for Ground Stone Tools Research
This is an Open Access journal. All material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence, unless otherwise stated.
Please read our Open Access, Copyright and Permissions policies for more information.
