Natufian culture

The Natufians are a 12,000 year old semi-sedentary population originating from the Levant. The novelty of their sedentism may have implications on the biological diversity of the population and previous studies have described the Natufians as a homogenous population. This description has remained unchallenged for several decades. However, an increase in the volume of cultural and biological material available for study now allows for in-depth investigation of the spatial and temporal diversity of Natufian populations. A comparison of Natufian cultural remains from the sites of Hayonim, Nahal-Oren and Ain-Mallah suggest that the material culture of the Natufians is not homogenous across either the sites or the early and late phases. Biological markers and morphological metrics are employed using ANOVA, principal component analysis and discriminant analysis to assess the diversity of i) the Natufian populations ii) the relationship of the Natufians to contemporary hunter-gatherers from the Maghreb, ancestral Levant and recent Levant populations. The biological data from the Natufians reflects the between site cultural relationships and the temporal decline in culture throughout the Natufian is negatively correlated with biological homogeneity. Morphologically, the early Natufian is closely related to the contemporary hunter-gatherers, supporting previous studies that suggest broad population circum-Mediterranean relationships at the time. The late Natufians show an increased similarity to later Levantine populations, a shift in morphology that may be related to sedentary living. Two models are suggested to describe the overall relationship between three Natufian sites chosen as the focus of this study and the effect of sedentism on the diversity and morphology of the Natufians in relation to the other populations. As access to prehistoric cultural and biological material improves it is important to reassess conclusions and assumptions made in the past on minimal and incomplete sets of evidence. This study is an attempt to rectify this situation in regard to the Natufians.

The intensive appearance of artistic manifestations in the Levantine Natufian culture (ca. 15,000 BP onwards) has been linked with the Natufian apparent social complexity, part of the social transformations which accompanied the transition from Paleolithic to Neolithic lifeways. Although Natufian art objects have been explored since the discovery of the Natufian culture, the artistic-visual context of Natufian art is yet to be defined. A group of limestone slabs bearing patterned incisions were retrieved from Natufian contexts at Hayonim Cave, Israel. These incised stone slabs enabled a cross-disciplinary approach for studying Natufian art by using the art history comparative method, where inductive bodies of visual comparisons follow descriptive, stylistic and thematic questions. As a result, we can distinguish between different artistic modi, infer on their production, use, as well as to the means by which they are perceived, indicating their role in social interactions. The second level of the same methodological approach target primary meaning and identification of what was depicted by enlarging the comparative body to encompass other corpora, based on the same abstracted visual attributes. This approach of exploration, hitherto not applied to the study of Natufian artistic manifestations, seems to be worthwhile and promising.

Az Urfa-régió eddig feltárt lelőhelyei igen kiemelkedő helyet foglalnak el Anatólia neolitikus kultúráinak kutatásában. A legelső antropogén hatások egészen a mezolitikum idejére nyúlnak vissza. A régészeti kutatás tekintetében, hitvilági aspektusból a legjelentősebb leletek a mobil művészet emlékei, illetőleg a különböző objektumok, amelyeknek sorából kiemelkedik Göbekli Tepe lelőhelye, amelynek rétegei egyértelműen a kerámia előtti neolitikum időszakára datálhatók, habár a domesztikációra utaló nyomok mondhatni teljes egészében hiányoznak. Legkorábbi fázisának megalitikus oszlopokból álló kőkörei megalapozták a lelőhely hírnevét és tudományos jelentőségét. A régió gazdag vadállatfaunája feltehetőleg nagy hatást gyakorolt a korabeli ember életére, gondolkodására, nemcsak a mindennapi táplálékszerzés és közvetlen környezet tekintetében, hanem az ábrázoló művészetben is, melynek a kutatás mai állása szerinti legelfogadottabb értelmezése egyértelműen a szakrális szimbolikához köti. Számos értelmezés és eredmény látott napvilágot az évek során, azonban ha figyelembe vesszük a lelőhelyek kiterjedését vagy a becsült várható további lelőhelyeket, objektumokat, és egyéb leleteket, akkor kijelenthetjük, hogy a kutatás a régió jelentős részén még igencsak a kezdeti szakaszban van.

A small bone-tool assemblage was found at the Natufian burial site of Hilazon Tachtit, Israel. This site served as a locus for
funerary rituals, enabling us to consider the role of bone tools within a unique ritual context. The bone tool assemblage comprises
65 pieces; mostly modified fragments and tools, but also a few blanks and manufacture waste. The assemblage is typical of the
Natufian, in that pointed implements are dominant and gazelle long bones are the most common raw material. The preferred
method of manufacture is shaving. Given the nature of Hilazon Tachtit, it is likely that the bone tools were used in burial related
activities. Importantly, the tools were mostly manufactured off-site, and were brought on-site intentionally. A few may have
belonged to or have been given to the buried individuals at death. It is possible that the site of Hilazon Tachtit or the burial
activities practiced therein held such special meaning that after their use, the tools were no longer considered fit for mundane,
everyday tasks and were thus ritually abandoned among the trash from the funeral feast. The disposal of ritual detritus in this
way may be a harbinger to the appearance of hoards or burials of ritually significant objects in the southern Levant during the
Pre-Pottery Neolithic.

In the literature reviews, it has been seen that terminological definition mistakes are found in studies on Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic period on Turkey geography. In these researches, the most striking mistake is that the cultures of the last Pleistocene period was defined as the Mesolithic period. In this thesis study, pre-Neolithic cultures (20-10k B.P.) in Turkey geography are tried to be explained by comparing the researches made in the past years and the researches made in the recent years. For this purpose, the findings such as chipped stone tools, flora and fauna remnants, grave and grave gifts, ornaments obtained from settlements such as open-air settlements, workshops, rock shelters where hunter-gatherer groups lived between 20.000 and 10.000 B.P. in geography of Turkey, were collected through literature reviews and a database was builded. It is determined which ones of the sites in Turkey were contemporary with which cultural regions and which regions they were communicating with, and it is tried to make historical analysis and identify cultures of pre-Neolithic cultures. In our study, pre-Neolithic cultures on Turkey geography were separated from each other in temporal and geographical terms. According to this, Mesolithic and Epipalaeolithic period in Aegean Region; Mediterranean, Central Anatolia, Southeastern Anatolia, Black Sea regions Epipaleolithic period; while it is seen that the Epipalaeolithic period was experienced in some of the settlement areas of the Marmara region, it was not decided what to call the period in some settlement areas.

Grooved items are usually regarded as tools used for modifying other implements made of bone, stone, plants or wood, whether referred to as shaft straighteners, smoothers, polishers or sharpening tools. They were also attributed to various symbolic meanings in Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in the southern Levant and they were also associated with bead manufacturing process in the Neolithic. Grooved basalts found on Early Natufian (ca. 14,000 BP) living floors at el-Wad Terrace, Mount Carmel, Israel, were the subject of microscopic use-wear analysis. Here we present the preliminary results of the research, introducing our functional reconstruction based on experiments. The most outstanding result is that traces on the perimeters, attributed to shaping of the artefact, are different from the traces inside the groove which are related to the use of the artefact. We conclude that the groove is a part of the instrument, shaped before its use in order to work the abraded materials. Tra...

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.

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 wit...

Ever since the 19th and 20th centuries, academic discourse concerning the role of religion amongst archaeological societies has been problematic. This is because religion typically consists of abstract thought, reasoning, and expression of beliefs and symbols, of which does not conveniently leave material traces. Thus, prior to the 19th and 20th centuries, studies of ancient religions were largely left to historians, which would therefore not allow for the discussion of hypothetical religious systems in preliterate societies. The monopoly of history as a discipline on the study of ancient religions, however, has been challenged, with archaeologists focusing on the role of ritual and cult as a means of reconstructing the nature of ancient religion. Ritual and cult are reliable themes within religion for archaeology to discuss, as they have a greater chance of yielding physical remains for the archaeologist to access and analyse (Fogelin, 2007, p. 3). The focus of this research, therefore, will be to develop an understanding of what is meant by the term, ‘religion’, such as its role, function, and the methodological issues in studying it within an archaeological context. With this definition and these issues in context, archaeological data from Neolithic sites throughout southwest Asia shall be surveyed as to how they demonstrate fulfilment of the varying roles and functions of what is meant by religion. A particular emphasis will be given to sites of the Natufian as a prelude to the Neolithic, as well as Çatalhöyük and Göbekli Tepe as examples of evolved and developed Neolithic communities. Finally, it will be essential to discuss and evaluate the extent to which changing perceptions and understandings of natural and social phenomenon as explored through religious ritual and cult may have been responsible for the origins and development of Neolithic communities.

In the past 25 years since the reconstruction of Shelter 131 of Eynan was suggested by Francois Valla, its image has become almost iconic—a highly cited symbol of early sedentism constituting a significant part of our knowledge on early stone constructions and the people behind them. A new look at the architectural remains and the stratigraphy resulted in an alternative reconstruction, essentially different than the one we have come to know. We used spatial (architectural-geometrical) analysis in order to study the relationships between the different architectural elements and to test our hypothesis that the series of postholes may have not pertained to the upper floor 131 of Layer IV as suggested by Perrot and Valla, but rather to the successive occupational and architectural episode. The association of the postholes with Wall 51 of Layer III sheds new light on the architectural remains revealing their geometric design, an important characteristic of Early Natufian Architecture, the meaning and implications of which we shortly discuss.

So far the excavations in Baaz Rockshelter uncovered horizons dating to the Natufian, PPN A, PPN C and PN. The site is characterized by a relatively high density of finds even in less rich find horizons. This indicates that prehistoric people intensively used this rockshelter. The strategically advantageous position at ecotones and in proximity to water help to explain the intensity of occupation. Up to now the main focus of the analysis has been the chipped flint artefacts and especially on flint tools.The cores from all layers were made primarily of regionally occurring high quality flint. Generally, preparation and reduction of cores took place on site. Chert artefacts were also used, but since no chert cores were found during excavation it seems likely that chert artefacts were knapped elsewhere before being brought into the shelter. Evidence for core rejuvenation has rarely been found, but highly reduced cores are present as well. Cores with one platform and parallel flaking dominate in all horizons. Although there are many microblade cores, the number of microblades is very low. This is due to the use of microblades and small blades for tool production. Even if many tools were produced from microblades, flakes clearly dominate the assemblage in all layers. The use of blanks for tool production depended on the desired tool type. Microliths, truncations, projectiles, backed bladelets and to some extent laterally retouched artefacts were made from bladelets. Flakes were used for scrapers, side scrapers, notched and denticulated pieces. Tools produced of microblades and blades dominate the assemblages.

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.