Renewed Excavations at Beisamoun: Investigating the 7th Millennium cal. BC of the Southern Levant

The site of Beisamoun is located on the western side of the marshes of the former Hula Lake in the upper Jordan Valley, in the northern part of the Southern Levant. It is known as a major Middle and Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlement from excavations and surveys undertaken by A. Assaf, J. Perrot and M. Lechevallier and colleagues up to the 1970’s. However, the phases currently being excavated (under the direction of F. Bocquentin and H. Khalaily) represent a later settlement. Ongoing field work has uncovered about 300 m² with five occupation levels. Radiocarbon dates as well as the flint assemblage, the architectural remains, the funerary practices and the absence of pottery indicate a cultural attribution to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C, dated to the first half of the 7th millennium BC. We present here the results of six excavation seasons (2007–2012), including the geoarchaeological background of the site and its surroundings, the stratigraphy, sediment micromorphology, palynology and architecture, as well as preliminary results from analyses of some of the finds including human burials, lithics, groundstone artifacts, personal ornaments, bone tools and faunal remains.