Abu Madi (Arabic:أبو ماضي) is a cluster of prehistoric, Neolithictell mounds in Southern Sinai, Egypt. It is located east of Saint Catherine's Monastery at the bottom of a granite ridge. It was suggested to have been a seasonal encampment for groups of hunter gatherers and contained the remains of two major settlements; Abu Madi I and Abu Madi III.[1][2] Abi Madi I is a small site with the remains of a partially buried 4 metres (13 ft) building containing deposits up to a depth of 1.3 metres (4.3 ft).[3] Abu Madi III was an area of roughly 20 square metres (220 sq ft) that was excavated close to a large nearby boulder.[4]Dwellings were found to have stone built silos next to them.[5] It was first excavated in the early 1980s by Ofer Bar-Yosef.[6]
Culture
The culture has been referred to as the Abu Madi Entity as it shows evidence of having retained Natufian characteristics of a temporary settlement, while being at least partly contemporary with the PPNA cultures of the Levant further to the North. It has been dated approximately 10100 to 9700 BP[7] or from between 9660 to 9180 BC[8] with calibrated datings ranging between c. 9750 and 7760 BC.[9] Judging by these radiocarbon dates, Abu Madi has been suggested to be a form of late Khiamian culture.[10] It has been suggested that the dwellings found housed small groups of nuclear families continuing in the Natufian style.[11] A large number of chipped flints were recovered including a new type of aerodynamicarrowhead known as the Abu Madi Point characterised by elongated ovals or rhomboid shapes, occasionally with a small tang.[1]El Khiam points were also found with deep concave bases[12] and it has been suggested these arrowheads were used to hunt such animals as gazelles and wild ibexes.[13] Abu Madi has been suggested to be amongst the ten probable centers for the origin of agriculture and used in statistical analysis to determine the rate of spread into Europe.[14]
Literature
Bar-Yosef, Ofer., Neolithic Sites in Sinai, Frey and Uerpmann 1981, Beiträge zur Umweltgeschichte des Vorderen Orients, Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients (TAVO) A 8, Wiesbaden, pp. 217–235, 19 pages, 1981.
Gopher, Avi., Flint tool industries of the Neolithic period in Israel, PhD thesis, Hebrew University Jerusalem, 389 pages, 1985.
Kuijt, I. Bar-Yosef, O., Radiocarbon Chronology for the Levantine Neolithic: Observations and Data, Radiocarbon, 36, 227–245, 1994.
Gopher, A., Arrowheads of the Neolithic Levant. A Seriation Analysis, PhD thesis. American Schools of Oriental Research. Dissertation Series 10, 1994.
^Gopher Avi., Bar-Yosef Ofer., Nadel D., Early Neolithic arrowhead types in the Southern Levant : a typological suggestion, Paléorient, Volume 17, Number 17-1, pp. 109–11, 1991.
^British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (2001). Levant.
.svg){kind=small}
