Abu Salem: A Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Camp in the Central Negev Highlands, Israel

A report on excavations at the site of Abu Salem near Har Harif in the Central Negev Highlands, Israel. These excavations uncovered evidence of a substantial Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) occupation that partly overlapped the previously recorded Late Epipaleolithic Harifian settlement. Quite limited in extent, the latter comprises a “beehive” arrangement of small oval architectural features and related installations, whose purpose remains unclear. A small groundstone tool assemblage was also recovered, and this is dominated by projectile points, notches and denticulates, retouched blades and flakes, and borers. Seriation analysis of the arrowheads suggests that the Neolithic settlement was sporadically inhabited over a sizable time scale, starting during the Early PPNB and concluding toward the end of the 9th millennium BP (uncalibrated). The site's specific location and nature are suggestive of repeated seasonal (possibly summer) occupation of the highest elevations of the Negev Highlands by a small group of hunter-gatherers.