Potential Use of the Small-Eyed Needle from Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic Baʿja in Jordan

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites in Jordan represent important stages in the evolution of human social structures in the Middle East. These sites reveal a remarkably complex social differentiation, as well as cultural and technological advances that paved the way for stratified socioeconomic structures in the Transjordanian Highlands. One important Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic (LPPNB) site is Ba`ja (c. 7,200-6,800 BCE) (Gebel, 2004). Dr. Hans Georg K. Gebel and his team from the Free University of Berlin first excavated Ba`ja in 1984. Excavations resumed in 1997 and continue today (Gebel 2023). This paper examines a particular bone tool: a very thin cylindrical eye needle, recovered in the lowermost layer of Ba`ja stratigraphy (Gebel et al., 2020). The object is notable for its dimensional smallness. In order to gather more information about its possible production technique and use, the researchers conducted a scientific experiment to produce a replica similar to the original Ba`ja eye needle.