The Late Neolithic Site of Shir in Western Syria

doi:10.1017/9781107337640.003

Chapter 2 - The Late Neolithic Site of Shir in Western Syria

The Final Phase of Occupation circa 6000 cal BC

from Part I - Upper Mesopotamia and Eastern Mediterranean

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 April 2022

Karin Bartl

Edited by

Peter F. Biehl and

Eva Rosenstock

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Peter F. Biehl: Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Eva Rosenstock: Affiliation:
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

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Summary

The turn from the 7th to the 6th millennium cal BC is a period not very well known in the northern Levant. Even the recent increase in archaeological data for the Late Neolithic period does not yet allow for a thorough understanding of this time span. However, the data gathered at the site of Shir near Hama document a complex occupation history covering almost the entire 7th millennium cal BC The latest occupational levels date to the last third of the 7th millennium cal BC and are characterized by a great variety of dwellings, among which a large storage building and a separate burial ground are of special interest. This occupation came to an end, without any obvious cause, around 6200/6100 cal BC and, for a long time, did not have any successor site in the immediate surrounding area. For the time being it is not clear whether the desertion of the settlement is the beginning of a general hiatus in the region, whether a new settlement was founded elsewhere, or whether increasingly mobile ways of life began to develop. But in general, the low number of archaeological sites dating to the first half of 6th millennium cal BC might be an indication for changing settlement conditions around 6000 cal BC.

Keywords

Storage Burials Settlement abandonment Settlement shift

Type: Chapter
Information: 6000 BC
Transformation and Change in the Near East and Europe
, pp. 17 - 31

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107337640.003 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2022

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References

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