Wadi Sallah Explained

Wadi Sallah
Alternate Name:Wadi al-Far'a
Map Type:Israel
Location:Israel
Coordinates:32.2937°N 35.3445°W
Type:Tell
Built:ca. 9300 BC
Abandoned:ca. 6000 BC
Cultures:Qaraoun culture
Excavations:1925-1926
Archaeologists:Francis Turville-Petre
Public Access:yes

Wadi Sallah is a branch of the Wadi Fa'rah where a small cave is located in the Palestinian Tubas Governorate in the northeastern West Bank, located five kilometers southwest of Tubas. The cave was discovered and excavated by Francis Turville-Petre between 1925 and 1926. It contained an occupational Heavy Neolithic archaeological site of the Qaraoun culture. This culture was without pottery and typically used large axes for chopping lumber, cutting wood and felling trees such as the cedars of Lebanon in preparation for the domestication of emmer wheat and the Neolithic Revolution. Levels II and III of Turville-Petre's excavations revealed deposits of flints and potsherds. The pottery was later in date that the Heavy Neolithic material, which included heavy blades (picks, adzes, borers and flake scrapers), massive flake scrapers, and pieces with denticulation, all similar to those found at Shemouniyeh and Wadi Fa'rah. Several arrowheads were also found that were pressure flaked, generally tanged and leaf-shaped. One of these was of the Amuq 2 type.[1] [2]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Moore, A.M.T.. The Neolithic of the Levant. Oxford University, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. 1978. 446–447.
  2. Book: Francis Adrian Joseph Turville-Petre. Dorothea M. A. Bate. Sir Arthur Keith. British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. Researches in prehistoric Galilee, 1925-1926, p. 108. 22 July 2011. 1927. The Council of the School.