Shuqba

Shuqba (Arabic: شقبة) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 17 kilometers northwest of the city of Ramallah in Palestine. Shuqba has a total area of 13,990 dunams (1,399 ha; 3,460 acres), and the built-up area comprises 616 dunams (61.6 ha; 152 acres). Shuqba was home to 5,459 inhabitants in 2017. Shuqba is located 17,9 km northwest of Ramallah. It bordered by Deir abu Mash'al and Al-Itihad to the east, and Ni'lin, Qibya and Shabtin to the south. To the west is the Green line, and to the north is 'Abud, Rantis, and Israeli settlement of Ofarim. Dorothy Garrod studied the transition of Mesolithic to Neolithic culture represented in the Shuqba Cave on the northern bank of Wadi an-Natuf near Shuqba in 1928. The name "Natufian Culture" was then coined to describe the inhabitants of the southern Levant at this crucial juncture in human history. Sherds from Iron Age I-II, Iron Age II, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman Empire, Byzantine and Mamluk eras have been found. Sherds from the early Ottoman era have been found here.