Abstract
Human mobility and migration are thought to have played essential roles in the consolidation and expansion of sedentary villages, long-distance exchanges and transmission of ideas and practices during the Neolithic transition of the Near East. Few isotopic studies of human remains dating to this early complex transition offer direct evidence of mobility and migration. The aim of this study is to identify first-generation non-local individuals from Natufian to Pre-Pottery Neolithic C periods to explore the scope of human mobility and migration during the Neolithic transition in the Southern Levant, an area that is central to this historical process. The study adopted a multi-approach resorting to strontium (87Sr/86Sr), oxygen (δ18OVSMOW) and carbon (δ13C) isotope ratio analyses of tooth enamel of 67 human individuals from five sites in Jordan, Syria, and Israel. The isotope ratios point both to a significant level of human migration and/or mobility in the Final Natufian which is compatible with early sedentarism and seasonal mobility and with population aggregation in early sedentary hamlets. The current findings, in turn, offer evidence that most individuals dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic were local to their respective settlements despite certain evidence of non-locals. Interestingly, isotopic data suggest that two possible non-local individuals benefitted from particular burial practices. The results underscore a decrease in human mobility and migration as farming became increasingly dominant among the subsistence strategies throughout the Neolithic transition of the Southern Levant.
Highlights
The emergence of the Neolithic in the Near East was accompanied by economic, demographic, social and ideological changes which culminated in the development of new ways of life marked by a progressive intensification of food p roduction[1,2,3,4,5]
This study offers a glimpse by means of a multi-isotope approach into the role of human mobility and migration during the Neolithic transition in the Southern Levant
The study offers evidence of a significant level of human migration and/or mobility in the Late/Final Natufian period at the site of ‘Ain Mallaha/Eynan that suggests a process of population aggregation in the Jordan Valley
Summary
The emergence of the Neolithic in the Near East was accompanied by economic, demographic, social and ideological changes which culminated in the development of new ways of life marked by a progressive intensification of food p roduction[1,2,3,4,5]. The main characteristic of this region is the change from sedentary or semi-sedentary settlements represented by hamlets in the Natufian Period to later extensive mega-sites that emerged in the Middle/Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B9,10 (Fig. 1) This later timeframe saw a consolidation of sedentarism characterised by vast permanent villages with populations in the h undreds[11,12,13]. This significant shift, represented through the Neolithic Demographic Transition model (NDT)[17], is founded on a relative increase of the proportion of non-adult burials and the totals of the values of female fertility rate (evidenced by the reduction of the birth interval) and a rise in mortality rates According to those paleodemographers, this escalation is especially noticeable among infants, possible due to new health problems associated with sedentary life (infectious diseases) along with shorter periods of breastfeeding which likewise could have led to an upsurge of maternal fertility[16,17]. The multi-isotope approach of this study explores the Scientific Reports | (2021) 11:11857 |
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