Ain Mallaha

A large village of the early Natufian period near Lake Huleh in Upper Jordan. The three phases contain 50 large circular houses and open areas with storage pits. The well-built houses suggest a permanent occupation. The economy was probably based on the hunting and herding of gazelle and other large animals, fishing, and harvesting cereals. Many of the houses had paved stone floors and a central stone-lined hearth.

[Eynan]. large village of the early Natufian period by Lake Huleh in Upper Jordan. Each of the three phases contained about 50 substantial circular houses and open areas with storage pits. The size of the settlement (c2000 square metres) and the well-built houses suggest that this settlement was permanently occupied. The economy was based on the hunting or herding of gazelle, as well as hunting other large animals, fishing and harvesting wild cereals. The houses in the lowest level were between 7 and 9 metres in diameter, those from the upper two levels c3-4 metres. They are built in hollows; many had paved stone floors with centrally placed stone-lined hearths, and the superstructures were probably of reeds and branches. One early house, with a paved stone floor and red wallplaster, was later re-used as a tomb of a man and a woman of some importance, the woman adorned with a shell head-dress. Other graves have also been found, containing single or collective inhumations.