Overview

Bibliography

‘Ain Abu Nukhayla is located on a small hillock in the Wadi Ramm. It is a pre-pottery Neolithic site (PPNB) covering some 1200 square meters. The site is located in a hyper-arid region—receiving less than 50 mm of rain per year—but a sufficient amount of water run-off from the nearby hills, which pools in the mudflats below the hillock, allows for cereal agriculture. Evidence of seasonal herding of sheep and goats has also been found at the site.

This site consists of many connected semi-subterranean huts typical of the PPNB period. The houses were constructed in pits lined with undressed stones. Curved internal partition walls set off storage rooms. No streets or external courtyards around the huts have been exposed. The pit-lined walls of numerous unexcavated huts are visible on the surface, but only two small blocks of dwellings consisting of 12 loci have been exposed in the excavations.

The site was discovered by Diane Kirkbride in 1947, and first excavated by her in the 1960s when she laid a small trench along the highest part of the hillock. The site was excavated more fully in 1999, at which time Donald O. Henry led an interdisciplinary team over three seasons of excavation. They excavated a block along Kirkbride’s trench, at the apex of the hillock, and another block midway down the slope.