Natufian Site Research Articles

The Garbage Crisis in prehistory: artefact discard patterns at the Early Natufian site of Wadi Hammeh 27 and the origins of household refuse disposal strategies

Concepts of refuse behavior and site abandonment have been developed that show potential to distinguish degrees of mobility and sedentism among past human communities. Whereas much of this work had been conducted in ethnographic situations or on recent sites, this study makes an initial attempt to apply this body of theory to the archaeological record of humanity's most fundamental settlement transition: from mobile hunter-gatherer to settled village farmer. The centerpiece of the study is an analysis of artefact distribution patterns in the Natufian site of Wadi Hammeh 27 (ca. 12,000 years BP), which is combined with a diachronic overview of data from earlier and later sites, dating from 20,000 to 8000 years BP. We conclude that human communities in the Natufian period had not yet tailored their indifferent household refuse disposal practices to the long-term requirements of sedentary living. Subsequently, there occurs a punctuated gradient of change in the Levantine sequence, towards higher rates of secondary refuse disposal. Elementary efforts at refuse disposal begin in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period (ca. 10,300–9200 years BP), and some form of consistent garbage cycling was probably a standard feature in many villages by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (ca. 9200–8000 years BP).

Long-term trends in Natufian subsistence: a use-wear analysis of ground stone tools

The author studied intensification of plant use (including cereal consumption) during the Natufian period of the Levant, using microscopic analysis of use-wear on 166 basalt grinding stones from Natufian sites. These prehistoric grinding surfaces were compared to those created on an experimental collection of basalt stones used for known tasks. The Natufian tools were judged to have been used for a variety of purposes, including hide working, legume processing, cereal processing, and mineral grinding. There seemed, however, to be a clear increase over time in the use of grinding slabs with flat surfaces, suitable for reducing cereals and legumes to tinier particles, with a concomitant increase in the release of nutrients. This trend may help explain the appearance of agriculture at the end of the Natufian.

Preserving Cultural Traditions in a Period of Instability: The Late Natufian of the Hilly Mediterranean Zone

The Near East and in particular the Levantine Corridor (fig. 1) have been a focus of research into the origins of food production since the 19th century. Indeed, in recent decades this region has provided archaeological evidence for the transition from hunting and gathering to village farming. Research on the origins of agriculture is concerned with the description and interpretation of the data and with issues related to the evolution of the human social structures that led to the flourishing of Neolithic society. About 2,500 years before the establishment of Neolithic villages, changes were observed in the nomadic human societies of the Levantine Mediterranean zone. The archaeological entity associated with these changes is the Natufian culture, which has been recognized as the harbinger of the food-producing cultures of the Levant (Garrod 1932). Since the 1930s many Natufian sites have been excavated in the Mediterranean region, the Jordan Valley, the Negev, and the Transjordanian Plateau (Bar-Yosef 1991, Edwards 1991, Byrd 1989, Goring-Morris 1987, 1997, Henry 1976, Olszewski and Hill 1997, Valla et al. 1999). Apart from the lithic component, which was the main criterion for its definition, other material remains unique to the Natufian have been recovered,

The Natufian site of Eynan (Hula Valley, northern Israel): Magnetic prospecting reveals new features

The Natufian site of Eynan (Hula Valley, northern Israel): Magnetic prospecting reveals new features

The Natufian human skeletal remains from Wadi Hammeh 27 (Jordan)

This report describes skeletal remains from the early Natufian site of Wadi Hammeh 27 in Jordan. At least seven individuals are represented, and although small, the collection is notable for the eclecticism of its mortuary practice. Modes of mortuary disposal and ritual include a single-primary burial, a collective-secondary burial, burnt human cranial fragments disposed in residential contexts, and the ochre staining of bones. The two burials come from the lowest phase of the site, with fragmentary burials and smaller amounts of material issuing from the upper phases. The primary inhumation is marked by a neighbouring pit, which seems to be augmented by other features through three subsequent stratigraphie phases. Artefact types accompanying the burials were limited to a single Dentalium shell necklace. Overall, the bone series represent gracile individuals with good nutritional and health status. The most extensive data was gained from Homo 1, whose skeleton revealed indications of high functional demands, including several healed injuries, arthritis, a preference for using the right arm, and severe wear of the first molars.

Natufian Settlement and Mobility: A Lithic Perspective from Saaïdé II, Lebanon

This study is concerned with settlement and mobility patterns from the perspective of the organization of the lithic technology. Radiating mobility patterns in the context of the Levantine Late Natufian are investigated by looking at the intensity of lithic reduction and the use of blanks for tool manufacture. By conjoining the results of the technological and morphological analysis of lithic tools with additional lines of evidence, such as site location, proximity to various resources, seasonal availability of resources, functional use of flint and non-flint artifacts, an integrated view has been reached on the intensity of human occupation at the Late Natufian site of Saaïdé II. With its large size, thick cultural deposits, varied tool kit and generalized subsistence, Saaïdé II was a residential camp for bands that subsisted on hunting and gathering. What enabled people to reside in this spot for more than one season was the overlap of seasonally available resources. The model of radiating mobility proposed for Saaïdé II illustrates that radiating mobility strategies were not abandoned with the onset of the climatic deterioration triggered by the Younger Dryas around 9,000 Be. Sites located in more marginal areas, beyond the boundaries of the Natufian "homeland", were able to sustain larger agglomerations of people and intensive human occupation.

Fauna from the Early Natufian Site of Upper Besor 6 in the Central Negev, Israel.

: Les recherches menées en bordure des hauteurs du Neguev central sur le site Upper Besor 6 ont révélé la première attestation, dans cette région, d'un camp de base de prédateurs présentant des vestiges d'architecture durable associés à des installations domestiques. Le site fut fondé lors du Ramonien final aux alentours de 12 500 BP (non calibré), équivalent local du Natoufien ancien mais il continua à être en usage pendant le Natoufien final ; il fut fréquenté sporadiquement pendant le Harifien. Les fouilles livrèrent un assemblage faunique qui provient pour l'essentiel de la première phase d'occupation, celle du Ramonien final. Les espèces identifiées sont la gazelle des montagnes (Gazella gazella), Г ibex fCapra ibexj et un équidé de grande taille que l'on pense pouvoir identifier comme étant l'âne sauvage nubien (Equus africanusj, l'Autruche (Struthio camelusj dont des fragments d'œufs, certains décorés, furent recueillis ainsi que de grandes quantités de coquilles de dentales (Dentalium spj. Ces données sont discutées en fonction de celles fournies par d'autres assemblages du Natoufien ancien provenant des zones arides du Levant sud.

Saflulim: A Late Natufian Base Camp in the Central Negev Highlands, Israel

The limited excavations at Saflulim demonstrate that, together with Rosh Horesha, it functioned as some form of Negev Late Natufian residential basecamp or, more plausibly, aggregation site, with substantial and durable architectural features present. Together they represent a single site complex forming, by far, the largest Natufian (and indeed Epipalaeolithic) site documented in the Negev to date. Without doubt this is in large measure accounted for by the particular phytogeographic location of the site in the highest reaches of the central Negev Highlands during a period when environmental conditions were more favourable and a wider array of vegetal resources were available than at present.The recovered assemblages increase the data base for ongoing technological, typological, stylistic and functional comparative studies of the Late Natufian in the Negev. In particular they should provide some indications as to the degree of variability between different types of site in the various phytogeographic zones within the region. Though not entirely conclusive, the newly acquired data appear to bolster the likelihood that previously reported assemblages from the adjacent site of Rosh Horesha are at least partially mixed.

Two New Dogs, and Other Natufian Dogs, from the Southern Levant

Two new fairly complete remains of dogs were uncovered from a burial in Hayonim Terrace (northern Israel), dated to the first half of the 11th millenium (bp) (Late Natufian). This burial contained the remains of three humans associated with an elaborate construction. A detailed analysis of these dogs, and a comparison with all known Natufian remains, suggested that genuine dogs were already living around and within human habitations during this period. While most studies on early dogs were carried out on post-Natufian material, a period during which intentional selection could have already been widely experienced, we show that the evolvement of Natufian dogs were the product of unconscious selection of commensal wolves quasi-isolated under the special anthopogenic habitats created within and around Natufian sites, and at least ritually assimilated to human society. There is no evidence that Neolithic dogs are direct descendants of Natufian ancestors. Their multiregional origination is a widely accepted phenomenon. We suggest that Neolithic dogs were either domesticated anew, or were introduced from elsewhere to the southern Levant. Although the number of specimens of Natufian dogs is still small, evidently the emergence of some patterns clearly indicate that all them were already markedly different from the recent southern Levantine wolves and, in spite of their widely ranged morphology, constituted a unique group. It is shown that the shortening of the muzzle mainly affected the anterior part of the snout, while the posterior region remained practically unchanged. In this respect they seem to display a typical case of paedomorphosis. The simultaneous diminution of the carnassials, and other teeth, alongside with the snout, was marked enough that no crowding of the teeth took place by any of the Natufian dogs. The disproportional reduction of the snout versus teeth that caused the “crowding” phenomenon is only known from later periods.

Natufian Chipped Lithic Assemblage from Sunakh near Petra, Southern Jordan

located on the footslopes of the al-Bara Massif in south central Jordan, not far from Petra. The short monograph reviewed here is a detailed techno-typological study of the roughly 5000 chipped stone artifacts recovered during investigation of the site. The descriptive analysis is exhaustive and undeniably competent. All major indices are presented, as are important technological data like metric distributions of different artifact classes, including blank types. Indeed, the wealth of data is impressive, and are more or less easily incorporated into any greater synthesis of Natufian or Epipaleolithic lithic industries. The book is divided into 10 short chapters. The first five, Introduction, Research situation, Site description, Methodology, and General classification, provide a general background to the site, its assemblage, and the basic frameworks used in the analysis. These background statements are fundamentally sound and straightforward, drawing on standard Levantine Paleolithic practice. They are supplemented by three appendices describing the coding systems and attributes recorded (A), the Tool Type List (B), and a list of raw material types (C). The next four chapters, Technological analysis, Tool blank analysis, Typological analysis, and Comparative analysis, are detailed analytic descriptions of the different elements of the lithic assemblage, followed by a comparison with other selected Natufian collections. The primary conclusions are summarized in the final chapter, Conclusion. Even more briefly summarized they are: 1) that the assemblage constitutes a reasonable sample, in spite of post-depositional disturbance, and by extension, so do other surface assemblages, 2) there was some deliberate selection of raw materials, and some offsite preparation of both cores and debitage, 3) blade production shows more control than does flake production, and there is evidence for some preference for specific attributes in the selection of blades for modification into tools, 4) according to tool frequencies, the site should be dated to the latter part of the Early Natufian, and 5) relatively high tool type diversity, and the low tool:debitage ratio together suggest a longer duration of occupation, although not sedentism. In spite of this, and at the risk of being accused of cursing the light, the study is problematic technically, and in terms of substance. The technical problems begin with what is not presented. There is no map of the site. The text indicates a general scatter on the order of 12,000 sq m, from which 64 sq m were systematically collected in two 2 m x 16 m transects, one N-s and one E-wV, in the center and densest area of the site. This is a huge scatter as far as desert Natufian sites go, yet no estimate is made of the original size of the site, nor even the size of the dense part of the scatter. The problem is particularly acute in light of the claim that movement has not destroyed totally the spatial distribution [p. 20], although no spatial analyses were included due to the erosion of the materials [p. 20]. The 5123 artifacts recovered from the collection area constitute quite a high lithic density, and if this extends over the entire area of the transects, as claimed, the site is one of the richest desert Natufian sites investigated in terms of lithic density (compare to Goring-Morris 1987: 287, table VIII-3). Even in the absence of architecture, a plan of the general scatter with the location of the transects, as well as various topographical f-eatures (runnels, pits, the escarpment) seems a basic part of the documentation of such a site, especially in a monograph. Debitage categories are not presented in a summary chart. Although Table 3 [p. 37] presents the frequencies of Primary Products, there is no breakdown here of flakes, blades, and bladelets. Admittedly, various ratios of different types of blades and flakes are presented in

Prehistoric cultural ecology and evolution: insights from Southern Jordan

Introduction and Overview. Late Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology of the Area in the Vicinity of Ras en Naqb F.A. Hassan. Culturalhistoric Framework. The Lower Paleolithic Site of Wadi Qalkha. The Middle Paleolithic Sites. Lithic Microwear Analysis of the Tor Faraj Rockshelter J.J. Shea. Late Levantine Mousterian Patterns of Adaptation and Cognition. The Upper Paleolithic Sites N.R. Coinman, D.O. Henry. The Qalkhan Occupations. The Hamran Sites. The Madamaghan Sites D.O. Henry, C. Shen. The Natufian Sites and the Emergence of Complex Foraging. Cultural Evolution and Interaction during the Epipaleolithic. An Early Neolithic Hunting Camp: Jebel Queisa. The Timnian and Pastoral Nomadism in the Chalcolithic. Pollen Analysis: Environmental and Climatic Implications A. Emery-Barbier. Shells from the Wadi Hisma Sites D.S. Reese. Cementum Increment Analysis of Teeth from Wadi Judayid (J2) and Tor Hamar (J431): Estimations of Site Seasonality D.E. Liberman. Analysis of Phytoliths: Seasonal, Economic, and Environmental Evidence A.M. Rosen. The Tor Hamar Fauna R.G. Klein. Adaptive Behaviors, Evolution, and Ethnicity. Index.

The Natufian in the Levant

The Natufian entity was first identified and described in the early 1930s by D. Garrod (39) following her excavations at the Shukba Cave in the Samaria (Figure 1). Other assemblages identified as Natufian were subsequently uncovered within the boundaries of what was to become identified as the Natufian core area, encompassing the Galilee, Mt. Carmel, and the Judean Hills and Desert (41, 64, 83). Though the original definition of the Natufian complex was based on the characteristics of its chipped stone industry, both Garrod and Neuville (63, 64), who explored the Judean desert Natufian sites, were impressed by the nonlithic finds. This is the first Levantine prehistoric entity with durable architectural remains bearing evidence of intensive building activities. Some of the sites exceed in size anything known before, heralding the appearance of the villages and compounds of the Neolithic cultures to come. Besides an unprecedented abundance (in quantity and variety) of bone implements, there is a wealth of limestone and basalt artifacts. Also, for the first time there appear numerous art objects and ornaments made of a variety of raw materials, both common and exotic. All these components place the Natufian apart from preceding archaeological cultures. Since the early discoveries, sites identified as Natufian have been reported both from the core area (12, 49, 65, 67, 78, 88) and from regions further away, some within different phytogeographic zones: northern Syria (26, 27, 60), north and south Lebanon (19), the Jordan Rift Valley (9, 33, 38), southern Jordan (46, 55, 56), the Syrian-Arabian Desert (20), and the Negev (43, 58, 61) (Figure 1). The abundant data accumulated over the years

The Natufian Culture and the Origin of the Neolithic in the Levant

The Natufian culture occupies a special place in the evolution of human societies in the Near East, namely, that of the threshold to the emergence of farming communities. The idea that the Natufians were the earliest farmers is as old as the original discovery of their cultural remains by Garrod (I932). What seemed at the time an intuitive suggestion is now considered perhaps the right interpretation (Moore i982, Unger-Hamilton i989). The shift from hunting-and-gathering with some horticulture to a true farming economy seems a logical continuum (Henry i989). The fact that most of the hard evidence from the Natufian sites comes from the Early or even Middle Natufian (Valla i984), which predates the Early Neolithic by at least 8oo radiocarbon years, is rarely taken into account (Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen i989). The discovery of early farming sites in the Jordan Valley and the adjacent hilly areas on both the east and the west side of the Rift Valley has made it clear that the origins of wheat and barley agriculture were in the southern Levant (van Zeist I988, Bar-Yosef i989). Thus the need to understand cultural processes in and around the Natufian homeland (Stordeur i98i) has assumed special importance. Explaining not only how but also why the Natufian culture emerged from a world of hunter-gatherers apparently not much different in material culture from their contemporaries has become the concern of a number of scholars. Henry (i989) has produced perhaps the most substantial discussion, which takes population dynamics into account. As more and more new data have been retrieved from Natufian sites, pollen cores, and faunal collections, the need for direct international discussion has become obvious, especially since many scholars working in various countries of the Near East have no such communication because of the political situation. The participants in the conference on the Natufian held at the Centre des Recherches Archeologiques, Sophia Antipolis, Valbonne, June 6-8, I989, were archaeologists, zooarchaeologists, palynologists and palaeobota-

A Note on the First Season of Excavation at the Late Natufian Site of Salibiya I, Jordan Valley

Les premières fouilles sur le gisement de Salibiya I (Basse Vallée du Jourdain) ont révélé près d'un mètre de dépôts anthropiques et deux couches natoufiennes. L'industrie lithique associée permet de placer ce site sur l'horizon récent du Natoufien. On n'a pas trouvé de vestiges de structures, mais faunes et charbons sont particulièrement bien conservés.

The Epi-Palaeolithic Southern Levant and the Origins of Cultivation

The Epi-Palaeolithic Southern Levant and the Origins of Cultivation

Jebel Es-Subhi : A Natufian Site in Eastern Jordan

Considering its location and its lithic assemblage, Jebel es-Subhi, a small natufian site in the Black Desert (Jordan), seems to be a short term campsite and a knapping station.

Un nouveau sondage sur la terrasse d'El Ouad, Israël

A re-examination of the deposits at El-Wad Terrace was carried out in 1980-81. Layers B.2 (Early Natufian) and B.I (Late Natufian) were found as described by Garrod. The uppermost layer A is disturbed but the flint industry can be classified as an evolved Natufian, recently named Final Natufian. Together with Mallaha (Eynan), the sequence of El-Wad is therefore the longest presently known among Natufian sites. The paper presents the lithic industry, isolated human teeth, bone objects, marine molluscs, land snails, mammalian and fish remains.

Archaeological and Faunal Evidence from Natufian and Timnian Sites in Southern Jordan, with Notes on Pollen Evidence

Archaeological excavations in the vicinity of Ras en-Naqb, southern Jordan, produced artifacts and faunal remains of two distinct cultural stages. The early Natufian site of Wâdī Judayid is carbon-dated ca. 12,000 b. p. This site predates the earliest dated coastal site in the Levant. The large number and variety of tools, combined with the large amount of débitage and the faunal remains indicate that the Wâdī Judayid site was a large base camp occupied over considerable periods of time. The second site described is Jebel el-Jill, a Timnian site containing ground stone items, pottery sherds, and worked bone in addition to a large inventory of flint artifacts. Evidence is presented in favor of the argument that southern Jordan enjoyed a more humid climate at the end of the Pleistocene period, before the present arid conditions set in. The earliest known wild sheep bones are reported from the Natufian site.

Note on 'Ain Rahub, a new Late Natufian site near Irbid, Jordan

A 'Ain Rahub (Jordanie septentrionale), un sondage de 16 m2 a permis de mettre au jour des vestiges de structures circulaires en pierre. Deux niveaux d'occupation ont été distingués. L'industrie lithique associée, homogène, permet de placer ce site sur l'horizon final du Natoufien.

A Natufian site in the Black Desert, Eastern Jordan

Une prospection effectuée dans la zone basaltique de la Jordanie orientale a permis de localiser plusieurs gisements épipaléolithiques. Cette note préliminaire est consacrée à l'un d'entre eux, une station de chasseurs, d'époque natouftenne.