A Study of the Facade-side Cairn Burial A Key to the Pastoral Nomadizalion in the Near East

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It is commonly argued that the process of the pastoral nomadization in the Near Fast is difficult to trace because of the low archaeological visibility of early pastoral nomads with high mobility. This project was intended to trace this epoch-making episode from the viewpoint of the techno-typological shift in burial practice, the only visible aspect of early pastoral nomads. For this purpose, two archaeological sites in the Jafr Basin in southern Jordan were excavated. The excavations showed that 1) the PPNB transhumants conducted the facade-side cairn burial, as evidenced at an agro-pastoral outpost of Wadi Abu Tulayha ; 2) this unique burial practice was inherited, though subject to minor techno-typological modification, to the pseudo-house caim burial at Harrat al-Juhayra, a PPNC cemetery of early pastoral nomads ; and 3) it was further descended to Qa' Abu Tulayha West, al. a Late Neolithic cemetery again in the Jafr Basin.These perspectives enabled us to trace the pastoral nomadization in the Jafr Basin through the techno-typological transformation in burial practice in a specific way. Of significance is the fact that there seems to be no remarkable gaps between the series of transformation. Given this it follows that the pastoral nomadization in the basin took place taking the opportunity of the incipient infiltration as transhumants, an important suggestion that the pastoral nomadism originated in the sedentary fanning society to the west.