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

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

Current Anthropology, 1990

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).

After 80 Years – Deeper in the Natufian Layers of el-Wad Terrace, Mount Carmel, Israel

The site of el-Wad Cave, and especially the adjacent terrace, is one of the deepest and most complex Natufian sites in the Mediterranean Levant. The northeast terrace of el-Wad has been excavated by us since 1994, revealing a rich Late Natufian layer and thick, multi-phased Early Natufian deposits. Here we focus on the 2007-2012 excavation seasons at el-Wad Terrace (EWT) and provide a detailed, updated account of the stratigraphy, sedimentology and dating of the site, the abundant Early Natufian architectural features and lithics, the ground stone tools assemblage and a primary burial of an adult woman.

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.