Pre-Pottery Research Articles

Variation in Nemrut Dağ obsidian at Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Late Bronze Age sites (or: all that’s Nemrut Dağ obsidian isn’t the Sıcaksu source)

Nemrut Dağ volcano was a highly important obsidian source in the ancient Near East for millennia, and its circular caldera is a conspicuous landmark on the landscape. In contrast to its archaeological relevance as an obsidian source, Nemrut Dağ was poorly understood for decades, starting with the work of Renfrew and colleagues. Fortunately, in the last decade or two, archaeologists not only have geological studies from which to draw information about the volcano but also have conducted their own research, including the work of Robin (2017) and colleagues (Robin et al., 2015, 2016; Khalidi et al., 2016). One key finding is that all of the tested Nemrut Dağ obsidian artifacts from a variety of sites match the chemical fingerprint of an outcrop near the village of Sıcaksu. Since then, it has been presumed that the Sıcaksu outcrop is the source for Nemrut Dağ obsidian artifacts at sites in various regions and times. In contrast, four types of Nemrut Dağ obsidian, including the Sıcaksu type, occur among the artifacts at Körtik Tepe, Domuztepe, and Tell Mozan, at which there are indications of a diachronic change. Developing our knowledge of field relationships among the types of Nemrut Dağ obsidian advances our ability to make behaviorally relevant interpretations.

Heated mud bricks in submerged and coastal Southern Levant Pre-Pottery Neolithic C and Late Pottery Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic settlements: Diachronic changes in technology and their social implications

Technological and social practices can be deciphered by deployment of multiple techniques that have been developed in the last years for the study of sun-dried and heated mud bricks. This research analyzed for the first time the chain of operational processes involved in the manufacture of heated mud bricks in the Neolithic of the Southern Levant. Heated mud bricks (and associated soil/sediment controls) were studied from four Neolithic sites in Israel; the submerged Pre-Pottery Neolithic C (PPNC) site of Atlit-Yam, the coastal PPNC site of Bene Beraq, the submerged late Pottery Neolithic/ Early Chalcolithic (PN/EC) site of Neve Yam and the coastal PN/EC site of 'Ein Asawir. In all sites, the bricks have been found in open areas within the settlements, in semi-circular concentrations of either pits or piles. The bricks have been characterized macroscopically (shape, size, color pattern) and a variety of micro-geoarchaeological techniques have been used to characterize the mud brick materials (and control soils/sediments) from the four sites. These included, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Electrical Conductivity (EC), pH analysis, calcite content measurements, Loss on Ignition (LOI), phytolith analysis, and petrography. The results show that all bricks have been produced from sediments from the sites' vicinities. PPNC mud bricks are generally devoid of any type of temper and have been heated to a relatively wide range of high temperatures (600–900 °C) under heterogeneous atmospheric conditions. PN/EC mud bricks are enriched in calcite and include vegetal temper, and have been heated to a relatively narrow range of temperatures (500–700 °C) that is lower than that observed in PPNC mud bricks, and under standard oxidizing conditions. The grass component of temper in the PN/EC bricks may originate from emmer wheat, based on phytolith morphological analysis. Interestingly, FTIR criteria for heated clay minerals preserve underwater for millennia, and so do phytolith assemblages; these observations indicate that micro-geoarchaeological proxies can (and should) be utilized in studies of marine submerged prehistory. Overall, a diachronic perspective on the operational chain of PPNC and PN/EC mud bricks, from raw material procurement through tempering, moulding and firing is provided, which may be translated into developing pyrotechnological practices in light of increasing social complexity during the Neolithic. We propose that purposeful tempering by emmer wheat (agricultural by-products) may be related to socioeconomic factors such as symbolic addition of domestic surplus and that temper diversity in the PN/EC may also mirror sedentary life where domestic waste accumulated on local soil/sediment and thus incorporated into mud bricks. Furthermore, we propose that the more standardized pyrotechnological characteristics of PN/EC bricks are related to increased social control over this skill/craft.

Geochemical and spectroscopic approach to the characterization of earliest cremated human bones from the Levant (PPNB of Kharaysin, Jordan)

Cremation is a widespread funerary practice that aims to burn the body and create a new appearance of human remains. It has been interpreted as a ritual transition that includes a sequence of acts and processes aimed at commemorating the dead on an individual and collective scale. In the Near East, fire-induced manipulation or cremation was not a usual burial practice during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. In this contribution, we present the geochemical (X-ray fluorescence), mineralogical (X-ray Diffraction) and spectroscopic (Raman spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance) analysis of bones from a Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (ca. 9000 yr cal BP) burial in Kharaysin site (Quneya, Zarqa) in northwest Jordan. We discuss the data obtained by the different analytical methods reviewing the state of the art of each analytical method to infer bone burning palaeotemperatures. Finally, it is demonstrated the burned character of the analysed bones, confirming the earliest presence of cremated human bones in a funerary context of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Near East in Kharaysin. This fact provides a new insight into the complexity and variability of burial customs within the Pre-Pottery Neolithic in Levant.

Un primer análisis sobre los “ídolos” sobre falange de équido procedentes de Tepecik-Çiftlik, en la región sur de Capadocia, Turquía

Desde el año 2000, el profesor Erhan Biçakçi de la Universidad de Estambul, ha dirigido diversas campañas de excavación en el yacimiento arqueológico de Tepeçik-Çiftlik, en la región Niğde, al sur de la Capadocia. Allí se han podido documentar niveles pertenecientes al Neolítico Pre-cerámico, Neolítico Cerámico y Calcolítico Antiguo. Las excavaciones han sacado a la luz un rico conjunto de objetos de hueso datados en el Neolítico y Calcolítico. Una de las características más destacadas de este conjunto es la presencia de aproximadamente 250 “ídolos” de hueso. Estos objetos fueron realizados sobre la primera falange de équidos, aplanando la superficie dorsal y plantar/volar de ésta. Algunos de ellos incluso muestran una decoración mucho más elaborada. Las medidas tomadas en estos huesos indican que las falanges proximales de caballo salvaje (Equus ferus) e hydruntino (Equus hemionus hydruntinus) fueron empleadas para manufacturar estos objetos de hueso. Este artículo ilustrará cómo estos elementos óseos fueron realizados y cómo se distribuyen cronológicamente en el sitio.

Handling dead bodies: Investigating the formation process of a collective burial from Neolithic Tepecik-Çiftlik, Central Anatolia (Turkey)

There are only a few collective burials that include a large number of individuals during the PPN (Pre-Pottery Neolithic) and PN (Pottery Neolithic) settlements of the Near East. However, analyses of this type of burial are highly important since they provide enormous information about a variety of cultural and biological aspects of a society. In this study, a large collective burial from Tepecik-Çiftlik is evaluated. The main goal of this study is to examine and understand the formation process of this burial. Following excavation, the human skeletal remains were curated and analyzed. In this analysis, at least 42 individuals were documented in the burial. A calculation of the Most Likely Number of Individuals (MLNI) has indicated there may be as many as 47 individuals present. The burial includes both sexes and all age groups, with the exception of infants below the age of 1.5 years. In summary, we argue that the final stage of the burial was formed through multiple factors and the reasons behind the complexity of this assemblage include successive burials over time, movement of the primary burials by human agents, and the secondary deposition of several individuals.

Application of XRD and digital optical microscopy to investigate lapidary technologies in Pre-Pottery Neolithic societies

Beads were an important form of personal ornamentation in southern Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic societies and hold information on symbolic practices and exchange networks engaged by these communities. Establishing the exact mineralogical composition of stone beads and the precise methods used to manufacture beads are key to documenting shifts in these systems, but so far visual inspection has served as the primary mode of analysis for most assemblages. Here, we apply XRD and 3D digital optical microscopy to investigate raw material selection and bead manufacture at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) settlement of el-Hemmeh, Jordan. Analyses reveal that PPNA bead assemblages emphasize the color green but included a wide variety of mineral types. The LPPNB assemblage exhibits a greater diversity in shape and color, including an emphasis on the use of red minerals, but consist of a more restricted range of minerals and lack the rectangular beads found in the PPNA. Color rather than suitability of material properties for bead making appears to have motivated choices for mineral selection. Bidirectional perforation was codified into the technological system and was consistently used to produce beads during the PPNA regardless of their size, thickness, or hardness.

Settled? Recent debates in the archaeology of the Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Southwest Asia

Visiting China for the first time in October 2016, at the kind invitation of Professor Feng Li, I was immediately struck by the scale and complexity of the Neolithic archaeology. During interesting discussions with Chinese colleagues it became clear that many aspects of the archaeological narratives developed for the origins of the Neolithic in China shared many of the same explanatory models and theoretical perspectives as its prehistoric counterpart in southwest Asia (modern-day Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Anatolia). I thought it therefore appropriate in my contribution to this issue of Asian Archaeology to offer a summary of the history and development of “Neolithic transition” archaeology in southwest Asia. I hope this contribution will lead to further comparative discussions.

The Emergence of Animal Management in the Southern Levant

Our compilation of zooarchaeological data from a series of important archaeological sites spanning the Epipaleolithic through Pre-Pottery Neolithic B periods in the Mediterranean Hills of the southern Levant contributes to major debates about the beginnings of ungulate management in Southwest Asia. The data support an onset of ungulate management practices by the Early PPNB (10,500–10,000 cal. BP), more than 500 years earlier than previously thought for this region. There is a clear developmental connection between reduced hunting intensity and the uptake of ungulate management, confirming that this process began in response to local, density-dependent demographic factors. The early process of goat domestication in the southern Levant appears to have been overwhelmingly local. This may have been true for cattle and pigs as well. Nevertheless, the loose synchrony of animal management trends across Southwest Asia was undoubtedly enabled by large-scale social networks that transmitted knowledge. The results add to growing evidence that animal management processes followed multiple regional evolutionary pathways within the Fertile Crescent.

Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic burials from the north Lebanese highlands in their regional context

Archaeological human remains and their funerary contexts provide valuable insights into social and ideological lives as well as the origins, health and activities of past communities. In the southern Levant extensive cemeteries from the Late Epipalaeolithic (Natufian) and Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) have been recognized, although burials from earlier periods are sparse. Elsewhere in the Levant the record from the whole Epipalaeolithic is poor. Excavations at two adjacent caves at Moghr el-Ahwal in the Qadisha Valley of northern Lebanon have provided a window into human lives and mortuary practices from an otherwise poorly known region. This includes material from contexts with radiocarbon dates ranging from the late Kebaran, Geometric Kebaran and Natufian (c. 19–13.8 ka cal BP), as well as directly dated skeletal material from the mid to late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (c. 9.9–9.5 ka cal BP). Although this forested mountain area may have been isolated from other regions in the Levant, the burial practices show links to the wider area.

Bone implements from Chalcolithic Tepecik-Çiftlik: Traces of manufacture and wear on two classes of bone objects recovered from the 2013 excavation season

The site of Tepecik-Çiftlik in southern Cappadocia, Turkey, has provided a rich assemblage of worked bone objects from Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) levels continuing into the extensively excavated Pottery Neolithic (PN) levels and the Early Chalcolithic period (6100-5800 cal BCE). This report presents an initial study of the worked bone objects recovered from the Chalcolithic levels during the 2013 excavation season. This paper examines the methods of manufacture, use-wear traces, and animal species used in the manufacture of two types of Chalcolithic bone tools at Tepecik. The most common tools are pointed implements, primarily made on caprine metapodia, many of which appear to have been used as perforators. Other objects include “idols” made from the first phalanges of equids, including both wild horses and hydruntines.

Human responses and non-responses to climatic variations during the last Glacial-Interglacial transition in the eastern Mediterranean

We review and evaluate human adaptations during the last glacial-interglacial climatic transition in southwest Asia. Stable isotope data imply that climatic change was synchronous across the region within the limits of dating uncertainty. Changes in vegetation, as indicated from pollen and charcoal, mirror step-wise shifts between cold-dry and warm-wet climatic conditions, but with lag effects for woody vegetation in some upland and interior areas. Palaeoenvironmental data can be set against regional archaeological evidence for human occupancy and economy from the later Epipalaeolithic to the aceramic Neolithic. Demographic change is evaluated from summed radiocarbon date probability distributions, which indicating contrasting – and in some cases opposite - population trajectories in different regions. Abrupt warming transitions at ∼14.5 and 11.7 ka BP may have acted as pacemakers for rapid cultural change in some areas, notably at the start of the Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic cultures. However temporal synchroneity does not mean that climatic changes had the same environmental or societal consequences in different regions. During cold-dry time intervals, regions such as the Levant acted as refugia for plant and animal resources and human population. In areas where socio-ecological continuity was maintained through periods of adverse climate (e.g. Younger Dryas) human communities were able to respond rapidly to subsequent climatic improvement. By contrast, in areas where there was a break in settlement at these times (e.g. central Anatolia), populations were slower to react to the new opportunities provided by the interglacial world.

The significance of the morphometric and contextual variation in stone hewn mortars during the Natufian-PPNA transition in the southern Levant

Bedrock features such as hewn mortars and cup-marks are known around the world. In the Levant they first appear in Natufian sites in large numbers, a variety of types and contexts, including habitation sites and burial caves. The Natufian–Pre-Pottery Neolithic A transition witnessed notable changes in these features, including a reduction in their morphometric variation, reflecting a selection of a single type, the cup-mark, which correlates with one of the smallest types of the Natufian bedrock feature repertoire. Moreover, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period we see a duel system in which large bedrock assemblages are found near or at the sites, accompanied by a new trend, the appearance of indoor pounding facilities: slabs, boulder and various grinding tools bearing one or more cup-marks. In this paper we discuss these important changes that characterize the Natufian to Pre-Pottery Neolithic A transition in the southern Levant, and suggest that they reflect the changes in food processing noted during this time span, as well as changes in the context where specific substances were processed. The overall morphometric reduction is thus used here as a proxy for discussing differences between the Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A organization of domestic food production.

Places of Encounter: Relational Ontologies, Animal Depiction and Ritual Performance at Göbekli Tepe

Archaeologists have long debated the potential role of iconographic repertoires in reconstructing prehistoric ontologies and symbolic systems. The rich and complex imagery unearthed at Pre-Pottery Neolithic Göbekli Tepe (Turkey) has offered a promising ground to address this issue further. Previous interpretations have focused on the symbolic meaning of the depictions, often highlighting their male-centred and violent connotations, while overlooking the spatial and performative contexts of the depictions. This paper engages with this scholarly work in order to propose a new interpretation based on the anthropological framework of relational ontologies and on the analysis of some stylistic and contextual aspects of the iconography. Based on these premises, the curvilinear enclosures of Göbekli Tepe are interpreted as places of encounter devoted to interpersonal relationships among human and non-human agents, enabled by the intermediary role of images. The use of particular techniques of visual representation—including cues of motion and an emphasis on three-dimensionality—along with the centripetal orientation of the animal figures contributed to the animation of the depicted animals and to a sense of convergence of human and non-human beings in the social space of the enclosures.

Estimating population size, density and dynamics of Pre-Pottery Neolithic villages in the central and southern Levant: an analysis of Beidha, southern Jordan

An understanding of population dynamics is essential for reconstructing the trajectories of central and southern Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) villages. The aim of this investigation was to derive more empirically and statistically robust absolute demographic data than currently exists. Several methodologies were explored, including those based on dwelling unit size and the number of dwellings; residential floor area per person; population density; and allometric growth formulae. The newly established storage provisions formulae based on the affordance of sleeping individuals within structures was found to be the most viable method. Estimates were adjusted to reflect potential structural contemporaneity calculated from building use-life and phase length estimates based on archaeological, ethnographic and experimental research, and Bayesian chronological modelling of radiocarbon dates. The application of methodologies to the PPNB site of Beidha in southern Jordan is presented. The analysis highlights inconsistencies with current theory relating to population density at Beidha. In particular, the results suggest that nuclear families probably did not form the predominant dwelling unit type during Subphases A2 and B2. In addition, population density was estimated at anywhere between 350 and 900 people per ha. This range far exceeds the ethnographically derived density values commonly utilized for reconstructing PPN village populations (c. 90 to 294 people per ha).

Tell Halula, Syria: Pre-Pottery Neolithic, Pre-Halaf and Halaf bone objects. From technology to typology

The exceptional bone artefact assemblage from the Neolithic site of Tell Halula (Syria)— PPNB, Pre-Halaf, and Halaf periods— comprises 670 items. The abundant data provided by the faunal remains analysis and the stratigraphic distribution of the bone items, as well as their very good conservation and diversity, permit a holistic analysis of raw material and morphologies. The ultimate goal of this research is the understanding of cultural and social dynamics that occur at Tell Halula, through evolution, cultural, and functional representations of the bone objects. The rich PPNB assemblage includes cutting tools, pointed tools, needles, tubular items and hooks : a typical equipment of the Northern Levant overall but also of the Southern Levant. With Pre-Halaf and Halaf objects, this study fills an important documentary gap in the Near East.

Physical burden and lower limb bone structure at the origin of agriculture in the levant.

To examine the femoral midshaft morphological characteristics in hunter-gathering Natufian and farming Pre-pottery Neolithic (PPN) populations in the southern Levant and relate these to changes in mobility, physical stress, and diet. 32 Natufian, 41 PPNB, and 26 PPNC femora, dating from 14,900 to 8,250 cal BP, were studied. Femoral diaphyseal cross-sectional images were obtained from CT scans. Dedicated software was used to measure cross-sectional breadths, areas, cortical bone thickness, rigidity, and strength. Two general temporal trends in femoral bone architecture were observed: (1) a continuous decline in the relative amount of bone tissue (cortical area/total area) due to expansion of the medullary cavity and (2) an increase in circularity (decrease in anteroposterior/mediolateral ratios) together with an overall decline in bone rigidity and strength, mainly apparent in the later PPNC. The first trend suggests a gradual decline in nutritional quality and health continuing from the Natufian through the late Neolithic. The second trend is interpreted as a result of increased sedentism with the full establishment of agriculture. The transition to food production in the southern Levant was accompanied by reduced physical stress and mobility, with the most marked effects occurring toward the end of the PPN with increasing sedentism. Deterioration of nutrition and health also occurred, but more continuously from the beginning of the PPN. Thus, environmental changes associated with the agricultural transition in this region of the world were gradual and prolonged, with direct dietary effects more apparent earlier than reductions in mobility. Am J Phys Anthropol 161:26-36, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Nahal Ein Gev II, a Late Natufian Community at the Sea of Galilee.

The Natufian culture is of great importance as a starting point to investigate the dynamics of the transition to agriculture. Given its chronological position at the threshold of the Neolithic (ca. 12,000 years ago) and its geographic setting in the productive Jordan Valley, the site of Nahal Ein Gev II (NEG II) reveals aspects of the Late Natufian adaptations and its implications for the transition to agriculture. The size of the site, the thick archaeological deposits, invested architecture and multiple occupation sub-phases reveal a large, sedentary community at least on par with Early Natufian camps in the Mediterranean zone. Although the NEG II lithic tool kit completely lacks attributes typical of succeeding Pre Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) assemblages, the artistic style is more closely related to the early PPNA world, despite clear roots in Early Natufian tradition. The site does not conform to current perceptions of the Late Natufians as a largely mobile population coping with reduced resource productivity caused by the Younger Dryas. Instead, the faunal and architectural data suggest that the sedentary populations of the Early Natufian did not revert back to a nomadic way of life in the Late Natufian in the Jordan Valley. NEG II encapsulates cultural characteristics typical of both Natufian and PPNA traditions and thus bridges the crossroads between Late Paleolithic foragers and Neolithic farmers.

Headless but still eloquent! Acephalous skeletons as witnesses of Pre-Pottery Neolithic North-South Levant connections and disconnections

L’objectif de cette contribution est de proposer un fil conducteur pour une comparaison entre le Nord et le Sud Levant du point de vue des pratiques funéraires (Épipaléolithique final et Néolithique précéramique). Les obstacles à une telle approche sont nombreux à cause notamment du manque de données disponibles et de traitements funéraires complexes et variés. Bien que le prélèvement du crâne soit un sujet largement débattu, les données factuelles demeurent incomplètes et dissociées. Nous avons entrepris une synthèse préliminaire basée sur 65 sites (NMI : 3 001 individus) attribués à la période qui va du Natoufien ancien (13000 cal. BC) à la première moitié du 7e millénaire (cal. BC) et situés au Levant nord et sud, dans la haute vallée du Tigre et en Anatolie centrale. Toutes les catégories d’inhumation ont été inventoriées et les squelettes acéphales ont fait l’objet d’une attention spécifique. Ceux-ci représentent 6,1 % du corpus, mais cette proportion varie en fonction des zones géographiques et au fil du temps. Au début du Néolithique Précéramique, la pratique du prélèvement se développe conjointement de part et d’autre du Levant. Mais le PPNB moyen marque une rupture claire alors que le prélèvement devient très sélectif au nord mais concerne, au contraire, plus d’un tiers des défunts au sud. Les données qualitatives apportent également quelques éléments de discussion sur le processus de prélèvement et sur les chaînes opératoires liées au traitement funéraire. Au sud, le prélèvement concerne en majorité le seul bloc crânio-facial et semble intervenir plus tardivement qu’au nord. Toutefois, hors de ce cadre interprétatif standard, une sépulture oubliée de Jéricho témoigne d’un prélèvement antérieur à l’inhumation du cadavre, nous encourageant à davantage de prudence lors de la fouille et de l’interprétation des sépultures du Néolithique précéramique levantin.

New Neolithic cult centres and domestic settlements in the light of Urfa Region Surveys

The present study concerns Neolithic period cult centres and settlements discovered recently during surface surveys in the central district of Urfa (Sanlıurfa) region in south-eastern Turkey. The presence of T-shaped pillars was ascertained at Ayanlar Höyük and Kurt Tepesi cult sites. Other settlements are domestic settlements arranged around cult centre settlements. Some sites belong to Pre Pottery Neolithic, and the others to Pottery Neolithic. They are believed to be coeval with Göbekli Tepe and Nevali Çori cult sites.

The Aegean in the Early 7th Millennium BC: Maritime Networks and Colonization

The process of Near Eastern neolithization and its westward expansion from the core zone in the Levant and upper Mesopotamia has been broadly discussed in recent decades, and many models have been developed to describe the spread of early farming in terms of its timing, structure, geography and sociocultural impact. Until now, based on recent intensive investigations in northwestern and western Anatolia, the discussion has mainly centred on the importance of Anatolian inland routes for the westward spread of neolithization. This contribution focuses on the potential impact of east Mediterranean and Aegean maritime networks on the spread of the Neolithic lifestyle to the western edge of the Anatolian subcontinent in the earliest phases of sedentism. Employing the longue durée model and the concept of ‘social memory’, we will discuss the arrival of new groups via established maritime routes. The existence of maritime networks prior to the spread of farming is already indicated by the high mobility of Epipalaeolithic/Mesolithic groups exploring the Aegean and east Mediterranean seas, and reaching, for example, the Cyclades and Cyprus. Successful navigation by these early mobile groups across the open sea is attested by the distribution of Melian obsidian. The potential existence of an additional Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) obsidian network that operated between Cappadocia/Cilicia and Cyprus further hints at the importance of maritime coastal trade. Since both the coastal and the high seas networks were apparently already well established in this early period, we may further assume appropriate knowledge of geographic routes, navigational technology and other aspects of successful seafaring. This Mesolithic/PPN maritime know-how package appears to have been used by later groups, in the early 7th millennium calBC, exploring the centre of the Anatolian Aegean coast, and in time establishing some of the first permanent settlements in that region. In the present paper, we link this background of newcomers to the western edge of Anatolia with new excavation results from Çukuriçi Höyük, which we have analysed in terms of subsistence strategies, materiality, technology and symbolism. Additionally, further detailed studies of nutrition and obsidian procurement shed light on the distinct maritime affinity of the early settlers in our case study, something that, in our view, can hardly be attributed to inland farming societies. We propose a maritime colonization in the 7th millennium via routes from the eastern Mediterranean to the eastern Aegean, based on previously developed sea networks. The pronounced maritime affinity of these farming and herding societies allows us to identify traces of earlier PPN concepts still embedded in the social-cultural memories of the newcomers and incorporated in a new local and regional Neolithic identity.