El Kowm (archaeological site)

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El Kowm
الكوم
Yabrudian, Hummalian, Mousterian
Site notes
Excavation dates1967, 1978–1987, 1997–
ArchaeologistsW.M. van Loon, R.H. Dornermann, D. Stordeur, J. Cauvin, M.C. Cauvin, L. Copeland, F.Hours, Jean Marie Le Tensorer, S. Muhesen
ConditionRuins
ManagementDirectorate-General of Antiquities and Museums
Public accessYes

El Kowm or Al Kawm is a circular, 20 km (12 mi) gap in the Syrian mountains that houses a series of archaeological sites. The El Kowm oasis is located northeast of Palmyra in Syria, near Al-Sukhnah. It shows some of the longest and most important cultural sequences in the Middle East,[1] with periods of occupation by humans for over 1 million years.[2][3]

Excavation

An initial 5-day sounding was made in 1967 by M.N. van Loon and R. H. Dornemann with a 3 by 50 metres (9.8 by 164.0 ft) trench at El Kowm I; a large

French Ministry of Foreign Affairs permanent mission to El Kowm-Mureybet (Syria). The Neolithic stages at this smaller outlying tell showed one of the first places where domestic water and wastewater systems have been installed.[5][6]

Further surveys and fieldwork were carried out from 1980 onwards by Jacques and M.-C. Cauvin,

Yabrudian levels that has been tentatively named as Tayacian
.

Major discoveries

In 1996, a 450,000-year-old skull fragment of Homo erectus was discovered in an Acheulean level of the Old Paleolithic at Nadaouiyeh Aïn Askar. It has been described as one of the most important human skull fragments in the Middle East showing Far-Eastern features and giving us valuable knowledge about early human migration and origins.[7]

In 2005, the team from the University of Basel found over forty

Camelus moreli.[8]

Culture

Natural springs clearly cluster around the southwest and northern rim of the plateau have sustained permanent settlements in the

equids on a plaster vessel. Comparisons of the Neolithic level culture have been made with Tell Abu Hureyra and Bouqras
.

Agriculture and irrigation

rainfall patterns. This type of early irrigation is similar to that suggested to have been employed at Jericho.[12] Jacques Cauvin has also suggested El Kowm as a possible location for the invention of irrigation.[13]

External links

References

  1. ^ Le paléolithique d'El Kowm (Syrie): rapport 1995 - Abstract in English
  2. ^ Th. Hauck, R. Jagher, H. Le Tensorer, D. Richter, D. Wojtczak 2006: Research on the Paleolithic of the El Kowm area (Syria) Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine. Abstract.
  3. ^ Jean-Marie Le Tensorer, Inge Diethelm, Swiss National Fund for Scientific Research, The University of Basel - Departement of Prehistory Archaeological Mission, Damascus University - Département of Prehistory Archaeological Mission., Le paléolithique d'El Kowm (Syrie): rapport 1995, 130 pages, 1995.
  4. ^ Dornemann, Rudolph Henry., A Neolithic village at Tell el Kowm in the Syrian Desert, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 89 pages, 1986.
  5. .
  6. .
  7. ^ Schmid, P.; Rentzel, Ph.; Renault-Miskovsky, J.; Muhesen, Sultan; Morel, Ph.; Le Tensorer, Jean Marie; Jagher, R. 1997: Découvertes de restes humains dans les niveaux acheuléens de Nadaouiyeh Aïn Askar (El Kowm, Syrie Centrale). Paléorient 23/1: 87–93.
  8. ^ BBC NEWS - Giant camel fossil found in Syria, Article, Tuesday, 10 October 2006.
  9. ^ Muhesen, Sultan 2002: The Earliest Paleolithic Occupation in Syria, in Akazawa, Takeru; Aoki, Kenichi; Bar-Yosef, Ofer (eds.): Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia. New York: Kluwer, pp. 95–105.
  10. .
  11. ^ Waterbolk H.T., Paléorient, Volume 13, Number 13-2, pp. 149-150 1987.
  12. ^ Betts, Alison., Paléorient, Volume 27, Number 27-1, pp. 184-185, 2001.
  13. ^ Cauvin, Jacques., Watkins, Trevor. (translator), The birth of the Gods and the origins of agriculture, p. 235, Cambridge University Press (27 July 2000).