Definition: Wadi Hammeh 27 is a Natufian period site, one of several sites located in Wadi al-Hammeh on the Jordan valley near where a hot spring joins the wadi. The site was occupied about 11,500 years ago. Four phases of occupation are identified within the site, each including a prepared floor, hearths, and houses, each assigned to Natufian period.
Residential structures seen at Wadi Hammeh can be characterized as a single room, marked by a curvilinear stone wall with a wide opening and partial roof. Burials were placed below the floors of the houses and refuse was deposited pretty much where it was created, just outside the walls of the houses.
Cultural material discovered at Wadi Hammeh 27 includes rock art, stone tools of limestone, flint and basalt, and bone ornaments. Also identified were red and yellow ochre, and marine shell (Dentalium) beads. Faunal remains from hunted animals include deer, aurochs, wild boar, equids, sheep/goat, gazelle and birds.
Residential structures seen at Wadi Hammeh can be characterized as a single room, marked by a curvilinear stone wall with a wide opening and partial roof. Burials were placed below the floors of the houses and refuse was deposited pretty much where it was created, just outside the walls of the houses.
Cultural material discovered at Wadi Hammeh 27 includes rock art, stone tools of limestone, flint and basalt, and bone ornaments. Also identified were red and yellow ochre, and marine shell (Dentalium) beads. Faunal remains from hunted animals include deer, aurochs, wild boar, equids, sheep/goat, gazelle and birds.
Source
Hardy-Smith, Tania and Phillip C. Edwards 2004 The Garbage Crisis in prehistory: artefact discard patterns at the Early Natufian site of Wadi Hammeh 27 and the origins of household refuse disposal strategies. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 23(3):253-289.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
