Tell Ramad
تل رماد · Tell er-Ramād · Ramad
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (c.8200–7000 BCE)·PPNB (Damascus basin)·🇸🇾 Rif Dimashq, Qatana District, Anti-Lebanon foothills, Syria
About
About Tell Ramad
Iconic PPNB village on Anti-Lebanon foothill basalt, 2 ha, 6 m deep stratigraphy (c.8200–7000 BCE). Classic southern PPNB with plastered floors, lime-plaster statues (mother-and-child), naviform blades, and plastered skulls/casts rivaling Tell Aswad. Excavated 1966–73 by Henri de Contenson: two PPNB horizons (Ramad I late 8th mill., Ramad II early 7th mill.) with rectangular corridor houses, communal storage and lentil/wheat assemblages documenting rain-fed farming. Roman cisterns cap mound.
Why it mattersType-site for southern PPNB skull cult and early Neolithic plaster statuary with Jericho.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Relationship to Mount Hermon obsidian?
Theories
- 01Skull plastering ancestor veneration
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.8200 BCE PPNB early
- Period
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (c.8200–7000 BCE)
- Culture
- PPNB (Damascus basin)
- Builders
- Damascus basin early farmers
- Purpose
- Rain-fed farming village with skull cult and statue workshop
- Abandoned
- c.7000 BCE Post-PPNB hiatus
- Rediscovered
- 1963 de Contenson survey; 1966 excavation
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.8200 BCE
PPNB early village founded
c.7600 BCE
Plastered skulls and statues phase
c.7000 BCE
Abandoned at PPNB end
1966–73
Contenson excavations
On the ground
Structures & features
33.3600° N · 35.9490° E · 820 m · 3 mapped features
Tell Ramad — Plastered Skull Cache
cacheTwo plastered skulls, PPNB middle level
33.3605° N · 35.9490° ETell Ramad — Statue Workshop
workshopMother-and-child lime statue fragments
33.3600° N · 35.9493° ETell Ramad — Corridor House Row
houseRectangular PPNB houses with red floors
33.3595° N · 35.9485° E