Natufian Foragers In The Levant

This large volume presents virtually all aspects of the Epipalaeolithic Natufian culture in a series of chapters that cover recent results of field work, analyses of materials and sites, and synthetic or interpretive overviews of various aspects of this important prehistoric culture.

Over eighty contributions from leading researchers review 2.5 million years of environmental change and human cultural evolution in the Levant.

About 10,000 years ago, humans abandoned three or four million yeas of successful foraging in favor of agriculture--and human society was fundamentally changed. In this book Donald Henry traces the path from simple foraging to agriculture. He challenges several contemporary theories on the origin of agriculture and introduces an alternative model that links the major adaptive shifts to changes in climate, changes in the distribution of resources, and a reduction in human adaptive flexibility.

This large volume presents virtually all aspects of the Epipalaeolithic Natufian culture in a series of chapters that cover recent results of field work, analyses of materials and sites, and synthetic or interpretive overviews of various aspects of this important prehistoric culture. ..".essential reading and an important reference for archaeologists interested in the origins of agriculture." - Daniel E. Lieberman. Contents: O. Bar-Yosef and F.R. Valla, The Natufian Culture - An Introduction; U. Baruch and S. Bottema, Palynological evidence for climatic changes in the Levant ca, 17,000-9,000 B.P.; A. Leroi-Gourhan and F. Darmon, Analyses polliniques de stations natoufiennes au Proche-Orient; L. Copeland, Natufian sites in Lebanon; B. Schroeder, Natufian in the Central Beqaa Valley, Lebanon; O. Bar-Yosef, The archaeology of the Natufian layer at Hayonim Cave; F.R. Valla, F. Le Mort and H. Plisson, Les fouilles en cours sur la Terrasse d'Hayonim; F.R. Valla, Les Natoufiens de Mallaha et l'espace; P. Edwards, Wadi Hammeh 27: An Early Natufian site at Pella, Jordan; A. Ronen and M. Lechevallier, The Natufian of Hatula; P.J. Crabtree, D.V. Campana, A. Belfer-Cohen and D.E. Bar-Yosef, First results of the excavations at Salibiya I, lower Jordan Valley; A.N. Goring-Morris, The Harifian of the southern Levant; A. Betts, The Late Epipaleolithic in the Black Desert, eastern Jordan; A.N. Garrard, Natufian settlement in the Azraq Basin, eastern Jordan; B.F. Byrd, Beidha: An Early Natufian encampment in southern Jordan; B.F. Byrd and S.M. Colledge, Early Natufian occupation along the edge of the southern Jordanian Steppe; A.M.T. Moore, Abu Hureyra 1 and the antecedents of agriculture on the Middle Euphrates; M.C. Cauvin, Du Natoufien au Levant nord? Jayroud et Mureybet (Syrie); E. Tchernov, Biological evidence for human sedentism in Southwest Asia during the Natufian; C. Cope, Gazelle hunting strategies in the southern Levant; D. Helmer, Etude de la faune de la phase IA (Natoufien final) de Tell Mureybet (Syrie), fouilles Cauvin; J. Pichon, Les oiseaux au Natoufien, avifaune et sedentarite; S.J.M. Davis, When and why did prehistoric people domesticate animals? Some evidence from Israel and Cyprus; S.M. Colledge, Investigations of plant remains preserved in Epipaleolithic sites in the Near East; A. Sillen and J.A. Lee-Thorpe, Dietary change in the Late Natufian; A. Belfer-Cohen, L.A. Schepartz and B. Arensburg, New biological data for the Natufian populations in Israel; P. Smith, The dental evidence for nutritional stress in the Natufians; D.I. Olszewski, The lithic evidence from Abu Hureyra I, in Syria; J. Sellars, An examination of lithics from the Wadi Judayid Site; D. Campana, Bone implements from Hayonim Cave: Some relevant issues; D. Stordeur, Le Natoufien et son evolution a travers les artefacts en os; R. Unger-Hamilton, Natufian plant husbandry in the southern Levant and comparison with that of the Neolithic Periods: The lithic perspective; P. Anderson, Harvesting wild cereals during the Natufian as seen from the experimental cultivation and harvest of wild einkorn wheat and microwear analysis of stone tools; T. Noy, Art and decoration of the Natufian at Nahal Oren; A. Belfer-Cohen, Art items from layer B, Hayonim Cave: A case study of art in a Natufian context; C. Marechal, Elements de parure de la fin du Natoufien: Mallaha niveau I, Jayroud 1, Jayroud 3, Jayroud 9, Abu Hureyra et Mureybet IA; D.S. Reese, Marine shells in the Levant: Upper Paleolithic, Epipaleolithic, and Neolithic; D.E. Bar-Yosef, Changes in the selection of marine shells from the Natufian to the Neolithic; C. Perles and J. Phillips, The Natufian Conference - Discussion

Building on the first Wild Things volume (Oxbow Books 2014), which aimed to showcase the research putting archaeologists researching the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic at the cutting edge of understanding humanity’s past, this collection of contributions presents recent research from an international group of both early career and established scientists. Covering aspects of both Palaeolithic and Mesolithic research in order to encourage dialogue between practitioners of archaeology of both periods, contributions are also geographically diverse, touching on British, European, North American, and Asian archaeology. Topics covered include transitional periods, deer and people, stone tool technologies, pottery, land-use, antler frontlets, and the development of prehistoric archaeology an 'age of wonder'.

This study concerns hunter-gatherer cultural and ecological succession during the Levantine Epipaleolithic. Detailed zooarchaeological and taphonomic studies provide a finer understanding of this cultural succession. Uniform patterns of food procurement and processing show cultural continuity in subsistence strategies within the period.

Megadrought and Collapse is the first book to treat in one volume the current paleoclimatic and archaeological evidence of megadrought events coincident with major prehistoric and historical examples of societal collapse. Previous works have offered multi-causal explanations for collapse, from overpopulation, overexploitation of resources, and warfare to poor leadership and failure to adapt to environmental changes. In earlier synthetic studies of major instances of collapse, the full force of climate change has often not been considered. This volume includes nine case studies that span the globe and stretch over fourteen thousand years, from the paleolithic hunter-gatherer collapse of the 12th millennium BC to the 15th century AD fall of the Khmer capital at Angkor. Together, the studies constitute a primary sourcebook in which principal investigators in archaeology and paleoclimatology present their original research. Each case study juxtaposes the latest paleoclimatic evidence of megadrought (so-called for its severity and its decades - to centuries-long duration) with available archaeological records of synchronous societal collapse. The megadrought data are derived from all five archival paleoclimate proxy sources: speleothems (cave stalagmites), tree rings, and lake, marine, and glacial cores. The archaeological records in each case are the most recently retrieved. With Megadrought and Collapse, Harvey Weiss and his team of expert contributors have assembled an authoritative investigation that is certain to engage environmental history readers across disciplines in the sciences and social sciences.