'Ayn Qasiyya is an early epipaleolithic site located in the Azraq Oasis of Jordan, approximately 100 kilometers east of Amman. Channel fill at the site indicates that the early Epipaleolihtic, Natufian and PPNB occupations have occurred in the region, intact, or at least partially intact deposits at the site are restricted to early Epipaleolithic. AMS charcoal dates from the marsh range between 16,000-21,000 cal BP.
Stone tools at the site include microburins, arched backed bladelts and piquant triedre; these are typical of Early Epipaleolithic sites in the Azraq Basin and the Levant in general.
One purposeful burial has been noted at 'Ayn Qasiyya. A suite of AMS dates on associated charcoal establishes the date of this burial between 18,800 and 30,400 cal BP, making 'Ayn Qasiyya the oldest securely dated human remains in Jordan recovered to date.
Burial at 'Ayn QasiyyaThe single burial is of an adult of middle to older age, of relatively small stature (161 cm, or about 5 feet 3 1/2 inches). Only part of the skeletal remains are present, but analysis of the femur head suggests that the bones represent a male.
The body was lying on its back, with the knees tightly flexed. The layout of the body suggests that it was sitting when first buried, but slumped to the left shortly after interment. Archaeologists believe that the body was probably interred in a bound state. The body appears to have been pushed into the soft mud of the marsh at the oasis' edge without excavating a burial pit, and left exposed to allow for excarnation (natural defleshing of the bones). There are no comparable sitting and bound burials recorded at this date, although some similarities are noted for an adult male burial at Ohalo II.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com Dictionary of Archaeology.
Richter T, Stock JT, Maher L, and Hebron C. 2010. An Early Epipalaeolithic sitting burial from the Azraq Oasis, Jordan. Antiquity 84(324):321–334.
Richter T. 2009. Marginal Landscapes? The Azraq Oasis and the cultural landscapes of the final Pleistocene southern Levant. PhD thesis, London: University College London.
