Tzur Natan, A Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site in central Israel and observations on regional settlement patterns

ct: The results of salvage investigations conducted at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) site of Tzur Natan are descr site is located on the western flanks of the Samarían Hills bordering the central coastal plain (Shephelah). The excavations revea architectural features but numerous cupmarked bedrock installations. The small finds included flint and groundstone artefacts, a small faunal assemblage. The vast majority of the flint tools can be attributed to the PPNA, although there may also be a small Epipalaeolithic Geometric Kebaran element present. Notable are the numbers of bifacial tools, some sickle blades, but few p points. Local settlement patterns are discussed in light of several other recent investigations of PPNA sites in the region. In addi few larger permanent settlements with architecture, such as Hatoula and Nahal Oren, at the western edges of the Judean, Sama Carmel hills, there are numbers of more ephemeral sites, also located on the flanks of the hill zone. These have little or no archi remains but quantities of cup-marked installations and groundstone are found in addition to lithic tool assemblages. These smal perhaps focused primarily on (seasonal?) processing of (vegetal?) resources, as well as the production and use of bifacials. Som blades are found but projectile points are rare or absent. Few, if any, PPNA sites are documented actually within the coastal pl settlement pattern contrasts markedly with the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic and the PPNB, but may reflect some continui the Late Natuf