The origins, development and practice of economic and social strategies in the Middle East from earliest times to the modern day

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This theme includes the study of late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer developments of agriculture and sedentism. The start of the Neolithic has always represented a major Near Eastern research theme. Despite discoveries of independent processes around the world, it appears that the Near Eastern developments remain the earliest, and for European developments, the most important. Recent research has indicated that there are two keys areas within the Levant, the southern Levant and the northern Euphrates. CBRL is actively involved in research in the southern area, and in projects in Lebanon which potentially connect the two areas. The theme however also includes later developments in nomadism, modern economics and sociology. These are critical to the current development of society in the region, with specific issues such as the settlement of the Bedouin and large scale refugee and migrant worker population movements.
CBRL has been supporting the following projects:

Ain Qasiyeh Project
Tobias Richter (UCL, former CBRL Research Scholar)

An examination of the social change in the Cypro-Geometric period
Sarah Janes (University of Glasgow, PhD project)

Badia Development Project
Jordanian Higher Council for Science and Technology
Royal Geographical Society (UK) 
Durham University
This is a long-term initiative (running for 10 years so far) where CBRL has supported a series of sub-projects and provided a base for visiting senior academics and postgraduate scholars.

Beidha Conservation and Presentation
Prof Bill Finlayson (CBRL, University of Edinburgh, Dept of Antiquities (Jordan))
A joint project with Dr Mohammed Najjar (Dept of Antiquities) and Samantha Dennis (PhD student) to protect the important Neolithic site of Beidha and demonstrate how sites of this period may be presented to the public. This is also supported by the British Embassy (Amman) and has now developed EU links (Germany and Denmark) in the development of small-scale tourism with direct economic gains for the local population.

Dhra’ Excavation
Prof Bill Finlayson (CBRL, University of Edinburgh, with University of Notre Dame)
Multi-disciplinary project that seeks to recover data on the transition from foraging to farming. Dhra’ is the only known apparently sedentary village from the PPNA outside the Mediterranean woodland zone and contains data critical to the PPNA social and economic adaptations. Final field season completed 2005.

Experimental Archaeology at Beidha (Jordan)
Samantha Dennis (University of Edinburgh, PhD research)
Reconstructing a series of early Neolithic structures for research and presentational purposes. Part of a larger conservation and presentation project organized by CBRL with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan.

Nachcharini Cave Excavations (Lebanon)
Dr Andrew Garrard (UCL)

Qadisha Valley Early Prehistory (Lebanon) (2003-2006)
Dr Andrew Garrard (UCL)
Dr Corine Yazbeck (St Joseph’s University, Beirut)
The Qadisha Valley Project is the first prehistoric field research in Lebanon for 30 years and has successfully moved from an initial CBRL grant to larger scale BA funding. It was initiated to explore the adaptations of Palaeolithic and Neolithic communities to the highly mesic forested environments of the north Lebanese Mountains. In summer 2003 a survey was undertaken at various elevations in the valley system, and the team found extensive traces of early prehistoric activity. Of particular interest was a cluster of three cave-sites at Moghr el Ahwal, where surface material was recovered dating from the Lower Palaeolithic through to the Late Neolithic. During summer 2004, excavations were undertaken in the central of the three caves (Cave 2). Although the prehistoric deposits were shallow, they included well preserved occupational horizons relating to the Geometric Kebaran, Natufian and the Late Neolithic. This included a rare human burial with grave goods from the Geometric Kebaran and secondary or disturbed burials from the Natufian. Subsistence strategies show a shift from the hunting of species such as roe deer and wild goat in the Epipalaeolithic to animal herding in the Late Neolithic.
Team Members: Dr Martin Bates (University of Wales, Lampeter), Dr Gassia Artin (University of Lyon).

The End of Mamluk Dhiban
Dr Bruce Routledge (Liverpool University)
A study of the abandonment of a Mamluk village and its use in the Ottoman period, representative of an important phenomenon in the shaping of modern Jordan. The project will integrate archaeological research, sustainable site development and direct community engagement in heritage interpretation, management and presentation


Additional activities

• Conference published as ‘Neolithic Revolution’ in the Levant Supplementary Series

• Organization of a session on ‘Formal typology, function and chronology within the PPNA: Views from the southern Levant’ at the Neolithic conference in Fréjus

• Planned conference in Jordan on ‘Landscapes in Transition: Understanding hunter-gatherer and farming landscapes in the early Holocene of Europe and the Levant’ to bring together perspectives from NW Europe and the Levant.

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