Natufian culture

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Paleolithic Lower Paleolithic Homo control of fire, stone tools Middle Paleolithic Homo neanderthalensis Homo sapiens out of Africa Upper Paleolithic behavioral modernity, atlatl, dog Mesolithic microliths, bow, canoes Neolithic Pre-Pottery Neolithic farming, animal husbandry, polished stone tools Pottery Neolithic pottery Chalcolithic metallurgy, horse, wheel
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The Natufian culture (IPA: [natʏˈfjẽː]) existed in the Mediterranean region of the Levant. It was a Mesolithic culture, but unusual in that it established permanent settlements even before the introduction of agriculture. The Natufians are likely to have been the ancestors of the builders of the first Neolithic settlements of the region, which may have been the earliest in the world. There is also evidence that the Natufians themselves had already begun deliberate cultivation of cereals, and were certainly making use of wild grasses. The Natufians chose central places to stay so that the wild cereals could be harvested in all three zones^[clarify]. However, due to climate changes resulting in drier conditions, the Natufians were forced to stay in areas with permanent water. Evidence for the storage of the grain can also be seen at some sites. The Natufians hunted gazelles as well as harvesting wild grasses.^[1] The culture is a successor of Kebaran culture.

Contents 1 Dating 2 Settlements 3 Sedentism 4 Lithics 5 Other finds 6 Subsistence 7 Development of agriculture 8 Domesticated dog 9 Burials 10 Long distance exchange 11 Sites 12 See also 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External links

[edit] Dating

Radiocarbon dates of 14,500–11,500 BP place this culture just before the end of the Pleistocene.^[2]

The period is commonly split into two subperiods: Early Natufian (14,500–12,800 BP) and Late Natufian (12,800–11,500 BP). The Late Natufian most likely occurred in tandem with the Younger Dryas.

[edit] Settlements

The Natufians settled in the woodland belt where oak and pistachio were prevailing species. The underbrush of this open woodland was grass with high frequencies of grain. The high mountains of Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon, the steppe areas of the Negev desert in Israel and Sinai, and the Syro-Arabian desert in the east put up only small Natufian living areas due to both their lower carrying capacity and the company of other groups of foragers who denuded this large region.

The houses of the Natufian are semi-subterranean, often with a dry-stone foundation. The superstructure was probably made of brushwood. No traces of mudbricks have been found that became common in the following Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, abbreviated PPN A. The round houses have a diameter between 3 and 6 meters, they contain a central round or subrectangular fireplace. In Ain Mallaha traces of postholes have been identified. These could have been used for rituals by the leader of the group. Villages can cover over 1,000 square meters. Smaller settlements have been interpreted as less permanent abodes (camps). Traces of rebuilding in almost all excavated settlements seem to point to a frequent relocation. This then indicates a temporary abandonment of the settlement. Settlements have been estimated to house 100–150, but there are three categories: small, median, and large, ranging from 15 m sq. to 1,000 m sq. of people. There are almost no indications of storage facilities.

[edit] Sedentism

A sedentary life may have been made possible by abundant resources due to a favourable climate at the time, with a culture living from hunting, fishing and gathering, including the use of wild cereals. Tools were available for making use of cereals: flint-bladed sickles for harvesting, and mortars, grinding stones, and storage pits.

[edit] Lithics

The Natufian had a microlithic industry, made on short blades and bladelets. The microburin-technique was used. Geometric microliths include lunates, trapezes and triangles. There are backed blades as well. A special type of retouch (Helwan) is characteristic for the early Natufian. In the late Natufian, the Harif-point, a typical arrowhead made from a regular blade, became common in the Negev. Some scholars use it to define a separate culture, the Harifian.

Sickle blades made on blades appear for the first time. The characteristic sickle-gloss shows that they have been used to cut the silica-rich stems of cereals and form an indirect proof for incipient agriculture. Shaft straighteners made of ground stone indicate the practice of archery. There are heavy ground-stone bowl mortars as well.

[edit] Other finds

There was a rich bone industry, including harpoons and fish-hooks. Stone and bone was worked into pendants and other ornaments. There are a few human figurines made of limestone (El-Wad, Ain Mallaha, Ain Sakhri), but the favourite subject of representative art seems to have been the gazelle. Ostrich-shell containers that have been found in the Negev.

[edit] Subsistence

The Natufian people lived by hunting and gathering. The preservation of plant remains is poor because of the soil conditions, but wild cereals, legumes, almonds, acorns and pistachios may have been collected. Animal bones show that gazelle (Gazella gazella and Gazella subgutturosa) were the main prey. Additionally deer, wild cattle and wild boar were hunted in the steppe zone onagers and caprids (Ibex) as well. Water fowl and freshwater fish formed part of the diet in the Jordan River valley. Animal bones from Salibiya I (12,300–10,800 BP) have been interpreted as evidence for communal hunts with nets.

[edit] Development of agriculture

According to one theory (described in 4^{[citation needed]}), it was a sudden change in climate, the Younger Dryas event, that inspired the development of agriculture. The Younger Dryas was a 1,000-year-long interruption in the higher temperatures prevailing since the last ice age, which produced a sudden drought in the Levant. This would have endangered the wild cereals, which could no longer compete with dryland scrub, but upon which the population had become dependent to sustain a relatively large sedentary population. By artificially clearing scrub and planting seeds obtained from elsewhere, they began to practice agriculture.

[edit] Domesticated dog

It is at Natufian sites that the earliest archaeological evidence for the domestication of the dog is found. At the Natufian site of Ein Mallaha in Israel, dated to 12 000 BP, the remains of an elderly human and a four-to-five-month-old puppy were found buried together.^[3] At another Natufian site at the cave of Hayonim, a man was found buried with two canids.^[3]

[edit] Burials

Burials are located in the settlements, commonly in pits in abandoned houses but also in caves in Mount Carmel and the Judean Hills. The pits were backfilled with settlement refuse, which sometimes makes the identification of grave-goods difficult. Sometimes the graves were covered with limestone slabs. The inhumations are stretched on their backs or flexed, there is no predominant orientation. There are both single and multiple burials, especially in the early Natufian, and scattered human remains in the settlements that point to disturbed earlier graves. The rate of child mortality is rather high. It consisted of about one-third of the dead between ages five and seven. Skull removal was practiced in Hayonim cave, Nahal Oren and Ain Mallaha. Sometimes the skulls were decorated with shell beads (El-Wad). Grave goods consist mainly of personal ornaments, like beads made of shell, teeth (red deer), bones and stone. There are pendants, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and belt-ornaments as well.

[edit] Long distance exchange

At Ain Mallaha (in Israel), Anatolian obsidian and shellfish from the Nile-valley have been found. The source of malachite-beads is still unknown.

[edit] Sites

Natufian sites include:

• Tell Abu Hureyra, Mureybat, Yabrud III (Syria)
• Hayonim Terrace, Ein Mallaha (Eynan), Beidha, Ein Gev, Hayonim Nahal Oren, Salibiya I (Israel)
• Jericho (Israel)
• Jiita III, Borj el-Barajné, Saaidé, Aamiq II (Lebanon)
• El-Wad and Shuqba.

[edit] See also

• Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Balter, Michael (2005), The Goddess and the Bull, New York: Free Press, ISBN 0-7432-4360-9 
• Bar-Yosef, Ofer (1998), “The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture”, Evolutionary Anthropology 6 (5): 159-177, <http://www.columbia.edu/itc/anthropology/v1007/baryo.pdf> 
• Bar-Yosef, Ofer (1999), “Encoding information: unique Natufian objects from Hayonim Cave, Western Galilee, Israel”, Antiquity 73: 402-409 
• Bar-Yosef, Ofer (1992), Valla, Francois R., ed., The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Ann Arbor: International Monographs in Prehistory, ISBN 1879621037 
• Campana, Douglas V. (1990), “Communal Hunting in the Natufian of the Southern Levant: The Social and Economic Implications”, Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 3 (2): 223-243 
• Clutton-Brock, Juliet (1999), A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals (2nd ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-63247-1 
• Dubreuil, Laure (2004), “Long-term trends in Natufian subsistence: a use-wear analysis of ground stone tools”, Journal of Archaeological Science 31 (11): 1613-1629 
• Munro, Natalie D. (2004), “Zooarchaeological measures of hunting pressure and occupation intensity in the Natufian: Implications for agricultural origins”, Current Anthropology 45, <http://www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/munro/assets/Munro2004.pdf>  S6-S33.
• Simmons, Alan H. (2007), The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: Transforming the Human Landscape, University of Arizona Press, ISBN 978-0-8165-6 

[edit] External links

• http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Natufian_Culture.html Epi-Palaeolithic (European Mesolithic) Natufian Culture of Israel (The History of the Ancient Near East)]
• Cultural Complexity (Hierarchical Societies [Socio-Economic-Political Inequalities) in Mesopotamia: An Outline], <http://unix.temple.edu/~phansell/65online/lect8.htm>