The Northern Square
Stratum 2. A fieldstone-built wall (W105; length c. 2.5 m; Figs. 1, 2), preserved one course high, was exposed. A floor built of small pieces of basalt (L104), which abutted both side of the wall, carried ceramics dating to the Pottery Neolithic period.
Stratum 3. Floor 104 was founded on an accumulation of clay soil (L107; thickness c. 0.2 m), which contained flint tools from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. The accumulation layer was founded on sandy bedrock.
 
The Southern Square
Stratum 2. A thick layer of dark clay soil (L108; Figs. 3, 4) that covered the bedrock was exposed c. 1.5 m below the surface. Numerous stones, fragments of basalt vessels, a ceramic spindle weight and fragments of pottery vessels dating to the Neolithic period were discovered in this stratum.
 
The Flint Assemblage
Hamoudi Khalaily
 
A total of 348 flint items were collected during the excavation. Of these, 20 were found on the surface, 21 are from Stratum 2 and the rest, a large majority of items, are from Stratum 3 (Table 1). The absence of important industrial components from the surface repertoire as well as from Stratum 2 indicates that no sifting was conducted for these layers, and thus only noticeable items were collected. On the other hand, it is obvious that the soil from Stratum 3 was sifted, since its assemblage includes industrial components, such as chunks and chips. Therefore, this review will focus on a typological description of the tool groups in each stratum and on defining their technological characteristics and production methods, in order to understand their contribution to dating the site.
 
Table 1. The Flint Assemblage
Stratum
Flakes
Blades/bladelets
Cores
Debitage
Chunks
Chips
Tools
Total
1
12
4
 
 
 
 
4
20
2
15
2
 
 
 
2
2
21
3
100
122
1
3
2
52
27
307
Total
127
128
1
3
2
54
33
348
 
The four tools collected from the surface were made of light gray flint; however, they bear a yellowish patina indicating that they were exposed for an extended period. Two of the tools are awls that were fashioned on thick flakes. Their points were accentuated by two deep notches. The two remaining tools are retouched Levallois points, which are characteristic of the Mousterian culture of the Middle Paleolithic period (Fig. 5). It seems that these two tools originated at another site, whence they were brought to the excavation area.
The flint collection from Stratum 2 is sparse and consists of only two tools: a bi-facial tool (chisel) and a borer. Both were knapped on fine-quality light gray flint. The chisel is broken and is missing its distal end that includes the cutting edge (Fig. 6:1); its classification as a chisel is based on its plano-convex form and its straight sides, fashioned with bi-facial knapping. The borer was made on a broad blade; the point is especially long (more than half the length of the item), and was produced with an abrupt retouch that converges toward the end of the tool. Both of these tools were common in the late Pottery Neolithic period. They were found together along with a fragment of a basalt fenestrated bowl (Fig. 6:2) and two centrally perforated stone discs (Fig. 6:3).
The flint assemblage in Stratum 3 is homogenous, and the number of blades exceeds the number of flakes. The scars on the blades indicate that most of them were knapped from cores with two opposing striking platforms and a production surface shaped by ridge blades. No such cores were discovered; however, the waste elements indicate that production focused on manufacturing blades and bladelets.
The flint tools include an arrowhead fragment, 16 denticulated sickle blades (Fig. 7:1–7), two burins, five borers and awls (Fig. 7:8, 9), two retouched blades and one truncation. Most common are the sickle blades, which constitute about half of the tool assemblage. They are made of a variety of raw materials that are frequently found at the site, but mostly of high-quality flint; most favored was brown flint, which occurred in a variety of shades. Their cutting edges were deeply denticulated and coarse, and usually fashioned with bi-facial pressure retouching. This retouching technique creates deep, even notches along the cutting edge. In most instances the dorsal side was left plain or was delicately retouched. Three of the sickle blades have two cutting edges that were deeply denticulated (Fig. 7:1, 2). The whole sickle blades bear truncations on both ends. All have a heavy gloss sheen that extends the length of the tool, on both their dorsal and ventral sides.
The analysis of the flint tools indicates that the two strata at the site represent two different periods: the Stratum 2 flint tools are characteristic of the late Pottery Neolithic period (the Wadi Rabah culture), and those of Stratum 3 are typical of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C or the beginning of the Pottery Neolithic period.
 
Although the current excavation was conducted on the grounds of Kibbutz Ha-Gosherim, the collected flint assemblage bears the same characteristics as the that found during excavations at the site of Ha-Gosherim, north of the kibbutz. The repertoire of tools from Stratum 3 dates to the time of Stratum IV in Getzov’s excavations, and the flint tools of Stratum 2 are similar to those of Stratum VI (Getzov 2008; HA-ESI 118). This data seems to indicate that the Ha-Gosherim site was extensive and included the kibbutz grounds as well.