Atlit Yam
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The final Pre-pottery Neolithic B site of Atlit Yam in Israel dates between 6900 and 6300 BC cal. Today, it lies between 8-12 m beneath sea level in the Bay of Atlit at the mouth of the Oren river on the Carmel coast. It covers an area of ca. 40.000 m2. Underwater excavations have uncovered rectangular houses and a well, which to date (2004) is the oldest in the world. The site was covered by the eustatic rise of sea-levels after the end of the Ice-Age. It is assumed that the contemporary coast-line was about 1 km west of the present coast.
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history of research
Submerged settlements and shipwrecks have been found on the Carmel coast since ca. 1960, when sand quarrying started on a big scale.
houses
There are remains of rectangular houses. Hearth-places have been preserved as well.
the well
The well lies 10.5 m under present sea-level. It is constructed by dry-stone walling, with a diameter of 1.5 m and a depth of 5.5 m. It is cut into a layer of clay the bedrock of quarzitic sandstone. The fill contained worked flints, artefacts of ground stone and bone and animal bones in two separate layers. The upper layer contains partly articulated animal bones, which were presumably thrown in after the well went out of use, maybe because of increasing salinity of the water. There are other round structures at the site which may be wells as well.
burials
Ten flexed burials have been discovered, both inside the houses and in their vicinity.
finds
Anthropomorphic stone stelae have been found. The lithics include arrowheads, sickle-blades and axes. Bone fish-hooks point to the importance of marine resources.
economy
Animal bones and plant remains have been preserved as well, Numerous fish-bones point to a bigger dependence on marine resources than hitherto assumed for this period. Animal bones come mainly from wild species. The plant remains include wild grape, poppy and caraway seeds. Granary weevils indicate the presence of stored grain. Pollen analysis and the remains of marsh-plants indicates the local presence of swamps.
dating
The settlement has been dated by three Radiocarbon dates from submerged branches:
| Lab-number | date | deviation |
|---|---|---|
| RT-2477/8 | 7605 | 55 |
| RT-2479 | 7460 | 55 |
| RT-2489 | 7880 | 55 |
sources
- Ehud Galili/Y. Nir, The submerged pre-pottery neolithic water well at Atlit-Yam, northern Israel, and its palaeoenvironmental implications The Holocene 3, 1993, 265-270.
- Ehud Galili/ Jacob Sharvit, Submerged Neolithic water-wells from the Carmel coast of Israel. Landschaftsverband Rheinland, Rheinisches Amt für Bodendenkmalpflege (ed.), Brunnen der Jungsteinzeit. Internationales Symposium in Erkelenz, 27. bis 29. Oktober 1997. Materialien zur Denkmlapflege im Rheinland 11, 1998 (Bonn Habelt) 31-44.