Neolithic Phase A
Phase A1 is represented on the VWP site overview feature by the salmon-colored plan at the southern tip of Zone 1. At the northern edge of the layout sits a large circular house, designated Building 48, one of the earliest structures marking the beginning of Beidha’s roughly 500-year PPNB occupation (Level 6). Carbon-14 samples its construction materials suggest it was constructed sometime around 6800 BCE. Some of the surrounding Phase A1 buildings were built somewhat earlier; however, this building was among the most thoroughly excavated. Its ovate shape is about 4.2 meters in diameter and its floor lies below the surface of the ground surrounding it, typical of other early PPNB semi-subterranean houses. It appears that initially a pit was dug, in which 23 wooden support posts made of oak, juniper, and pistachio wood were set around the perimeter some 20 cm. below the ground. The postholes were relatively small—as little as 10 cm. in diameter. According to the reports, three of the posts measured roughly 20 cm. thick and were placed at somewhat equal intervals around the building, no doubt serving an important load-bearing function; however, the primary support for the roof of this large building came from a central pole, situated slightly south of center, sunk in a posthole some 50 cm. in diameter. Excavation reports state that the central pole was made of pistachio wood.
In terms of its immediate context, this large building is part of a four-building cluster that shares common walls and closely grouped entrances. Adjacent buildings yielded no apparent interior features except postholes for roof supports and thin bits of ordinary plaster from their floors. Artifacts recovered from Building 48 suggest that a variety of activities took place here, ranging from tool-working to food production, as indicated by the stone axes and grinders recovered within it. Actual cooking and other food preparation activities appear to have taken place in the open common courtyard spaces amid the buildings. Other Phase A round houses, built a bit later than this complex, are situated along the settlement’s western edge, in an area that has suffered significant erosion into the steep, 18 meter-deep wadi known as Seyl Aqlat. Taken all together, these features suggest that the building cluster was inhabited by related households, or by an extended single household.