The Lithic Industries of Zahrat Adh-Dhra' 2 and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period of the Southern Levant

The site of Zahrat Adh-Dhra 2 (ZAD 2) is located on the eastern side of the Lisan Peninsula of the Dead Sea and has been the subject of excavation from 1999 to 2002. By analysing the lithic assemblage from this site, Sayej seeks to explore the nature of early Neolithic societies in this area and provide an understanding of their subsistence practcies. By studying the lithics from ZAD 2 in terms of lithic technology, typology, microwear analysis and experimental work (plus dating evidence), and comparing these with other sites in the southern Levant. Sayej is in a position to critique the division of material culture into PPNA and EPPNB phases, arguing that the latter is ill-defined and most probably redundant.