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Natufian
The Natufian culture ( ) is an archaeological culture of the late Epipalaeolithic Near East in West Asia from 15–11,500 Before Present. The culture was unusual in that it supported a sedentism, sedentary or semi-sedentary population even before the Origins of agriculture in West Asia, introduction of agriculture. Natufian communities may be the ancestors of the builders of the region's first List of Neolithic settlements, Neolithic settlements, which may have been the earliest in the world. Some evidence suggests deliberate cultivation of cereals, specifically rye, by the Natufian culture at Tell Abu Hureyra, the site of the earliest evidence of agriculture in the world. The world's oldest known evidence of the production of bread-like foodstuff has been found at Shubayqa 1, a 14,400-year-old site in Jordan, Jordan's northeastern desert, 4,000 years before the Origins of agriculture in West Asia, emergence of agriculture in Southwest Asia. In addition, the oldest known evidence ...
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Epipalaeolithic Near East
The Epipalaeolithic Near East designates the Epipalaeolithic ("Final Old Stone Age") in the History of the Middle East#Prehistoric Near East, prehistory of the Near East. It is the period after the Upper Paleolithic, Upper Palaeolithic and before the Neolithic, between approximately 25,000 and 11,500 years Before Present. The people of the Epipalaeolithic were nomadic hunter-gatherers who generally lived in small, seasonal camps rather than permanent villages. They made sophisticated stone tools using microliths—small, finely-produced blades that were hafted in wooden implements. These are the primary artifacts by which archaeologists recognise and classify Epipalaeolithic sites. Although the appearance of microliths is an arbitrary boundary, the Epipalaeolithic does differ significantly from the preceding Upper Palaeolithic. Epipalaeolithic sites are more numerous, better preserved, and can be accurately Radiocarbon dating, radiocarbon dated. The period coincides with the gra ...
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ʿAin Mallaha
ʿAin Mallaha () or Eynan () was an Epipalaeolithic settlement belonging to the Natufian culture, occupied circa 14,326–12,180 cal. BP. The settlement is an example of hunter-gatherer sedentism, a crucial step in the transition from foraging to farming. ʿAin Mallaha has one of the earliest known archaeological evidence of dog domestication. Village This site is located in the Hula Valley of northern Israel, north of the Sea of Galilee, and is in an area surrounded by hills and located by an ancient lake, Lake Huleh. At the time of its Natufian inhabitance, the area was heavily forested in oak, almond, and pistachio trees. Evidence of settlement at Mallaha or ʿAin Mallaha dates back to the Mesolithic period at circa 10,000 BCE.Schmandt-Besserat, 2009, p47/ref> The first permanent village settlement of pre-agricultural times in Israel, Kathleen Kenyon describes the material remains found there as Natufian.Kenyon, 1985, p. 20. The Natufian village was colonized in three phas ...
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Harifian Culture
Harifian is a specialized regional cultural development of the Epipalaeolithic of the Negev Desert, in the southern part of the Levant. It corresponds to the latest stages of the Natufian culture, and represents a culmination of the local Natufian developments. History Like the Natufian, Harifian is characterized by semi-subterranean houses. These are often more elaborate than those found at Natufian sites. For the first time arrowheads are found among the stone tool kit. The Harifian dates to between approximately 10,800/10,500 BP and 10,000/10,200 BP. It is restricted to the Sinai Peninsula and Negev, and is probably broadly contemporary with the Late Natufian or Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), although archeological chronology has shown it seems to have occurred during the transition from the Natufian to the PPNA. Microlithic points are a characteristic feature of the industry, with the Harif point being both new and particularly diagnostic – Bar-Yosef (1998) suggests t ...
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Raqefet Cave
Raqefet Cave (''Cyclamen Cave'') is a Late Natufian archaeological site located in Mount Carmel in the north of Israel. History Raqefet Cave was discovered in 1956. The site indicates plants were already used as food here before the advent of agriculture. Remains in one of the chambers of the cave suggest the production of beer during the occupation of the cave. The earliest archaeological evidence of fermentation consists of 13,000-year-old residues of a beer with the consistency of gruel, used by the semi-nomadic Natufians for ritual feasting, at the Raqefet Cave. Earlier levels at Raqefet include remains from the Levantine Aurignacian. Earlier Mousterian remains were also found at Site 187. In 2020, incised slabs were discovered at Raqefet Cave, with a human figure most likely shown as dancing. Gallery Raqefet homo18.JPG, Human remains Raqefet mortars.JPG, Rock mortars used to prepare malt for beer manufacture File:Raqefet Cave rock mortars.jpg, Raqefet Cave rock mortars ...
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Origins Of Agriculture In West Asia
Agriculture in West Asia can be traced back to the early Neolithic in the Near East, between 10,000 and 8,000 BC, when a series of Domestication, domestications by human communities took place, primarily involving a few plants (cereals and Fabaceae, legumes) and animals (sheep, goats, bos, and pigs). In these regions, this gradually led to the introduction of agriculture and animal husbandry and their expansion to other parts of the world. The Neolithic is commonly defined as the transition from a “predatory” economy of Hunter-gatherer, hunter-gatherers (or “collectors”) to a “productive” economy of farmer-breeders, which places the question of plant and animal domestication at the heart of the upheavals brought about by this period. Farming and livestock breeding appeared in areas of rich biological diversity, where domesticated plants and animals were found in the wild. These regions also contain a large number of food resources in their natural state. Before their d ...
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Tell Abu Hureyra
Tell Abu Hureyra () is a prehistoric archaeological site in the Upper Euphrates valley in Syria. The tell was inhabited between 13,300 and 7,800 cal. BP in two main phases: Abu Hureyra 1, dated to the Epipalaeolithic, was a village of sedentary hunter-gatherers; Abu Hureyra 2, dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, was home to some of the world's first farmers. This almost continuous sequence of occupation through the Neolithic Revolution has made Abu Hureyra one of the most important sites in the study of the origins of agriculture. The site is significant because the inhabitants of Abu Hureyra started out as hunter-gatherers but gradually moved to farming, making them the earliest known farmers in the world. Cultivation started at the beginning of the Younger Dryas period at Abu Hureyra. Evidence uncovered at Abu Hureyra suggests that rye was the first cereal crop to be systematically cultivated. In light of this, it is now believed that the first systematic cultivation of cere ...
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Pre-Pottery Neolithic
The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) represents the early Neolithic in the Near East, dating to years ago, (10000 – 6500 BCE).Richard, Suzanne ''Near Eastern archaeology'' Eisenbrauns; illustrated edition (1 Aug 2004) p.24/ref> It succeeds the Natufian culture of the Epipalaeolithic Near East (also called Mesolithic), as the domestication of plants and animals was in its formative stages, having possibly been induced by the Younger Dryas. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture came to an end around the time of the 8.2-kiloyear event, a cool spell centred on 6200 BCE that lasted several hundred years. It is succeeded by the Pottery Neolithic. Chronology Pre-Pottery Neolithic A The Pre-Pottery Neolithic is divided into Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA 10000–8800 BCE) and the following Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB 8800–6500 BCE). These were originally defined by Kathleen Kenyon in the type site of Jericho (Palestine). The Pre-Pottery Neolithic precedes the ceramic Neolithic ...
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Kebaran Culture
The Kebaran culture, also known as the 'Early Near East Epipalaeolithic', is an archaeological culture of the Eastern Mediterranean dating to c. 23,000 to 15,000 Before Present (BP). Its type site is Kebara Cave, south of Haifa. The Kebaran was produced by a highly mobile nomadic population, composed of hunters and gatherers in the Levant and Sinai areas who used microlithic tools. Overview The Kebaran is the first phase of the Epipalaeolithic in the Levant. Kebaran stone tool assemblages are characterized by small, geometric microliths, and are thought to have lacked the specialized grinders and pounders found in later Near Eastern cultures. Small stone tools called microliths and retouched bladelets can be found for the first time. The microliths of this culture period differ greatly from the Aurignacian artifacts. The Kebaran is preceded by the final phase of the Upper Paleolithic Levantine Aurignacian (also known as the Athlitian or Antelian) and followed by the proto ...
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Sedentism
In anthropology, sedentism (sometimes called sedentariness; compare sedentarism) is the practice of living in one place for a long time. As of , the large majority of people belong to sedentary cultures. In evolutionary anthropology and archaeology, ''sedentism'' takes on a slightly different sub-meaning, often applying to the transition from nomadic society to a lifestyle that involves remaining in one place permanently. Essentially, sedentism means living in groups permanently in one place. The invention of agriculture led to sedentism in many cases, but the earliest sedentary settlements were pre-agricultural. Initial requirements for permanent, non-agricultural settlements For small-scale nomadic societies it can be difficult to adopt a sedentary lifestyle in a landscape without on-site agricultural or livestock breeding resources, since sedentism often requires sufficient year-round, easily accessible local natural resources. Non-agricultural sedentism requires goo ...
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Mushabian Culture
The Mushabian culture (alternately, Mushabi or Mushabaean) is an archaeological culture suggested to have originated among the Iberomaurusians in North Africa, though once thought to have originated in the Levant. Historical context The culture is named after Wadi Mushabi and probably derives from the Nizzanian culture of the Negev. According to Bar-Yosef and Emmanuel Anati, the Natufian culture had arisen as a result of the mixing of the local Kebarian culture of the Levant with the Mushabi culture. Archaeologists' opinions According to Ofer Bar-Yosef Ofer Bar-Yosef (; 29 August 1937 – 14 March 2020) was an Israeli archaeologist and anthropologist whose main field of study was the Palaeolithic period. Archaeology and academic career From 1967 Bar-Yosef was Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology ... : ''"A contemporary desertic entity was labeled "Mushabian," and was considered to be, on the basis of the technotypological features of its lithics, of North African origin ...
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List Of Neolithic Settlements
Human Neolithic settlements by See also * Copper Age state societies * Neolithic Revolution The Neolithic Revolution, also known as the First Agricultural Revolution, was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period in Afro-Eurasia from a lifestyle of hunter-gatherer, hunting and gathering to one of a ... * List of Mesolithic settlements References {{DEFAULTSORT:Neolithic settlements Settlements Neolithic settlements Archaeology-related lists ...
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Khiamian Culture
The Khiamian culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture of Southwest Asia, dating to the earliest part of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), around 9700 to 8600 BC. It is primarily characterised by a distinctive type of stone arrowhead—the "El Khiam point"—first found at the type site of El Khiam. Overview The Khiamian owes its name to the site of El Khiam, situated on banks of the Dead Sea, where researchers have recovered the oldest chert arrows heads, with lateral notches, the so-called "El Khiam points".. 2007. ''Zivilisationen – wie die Kultur nach Sumer kam.'' Munich. p126 They have served to identify sites of this period, which are found in Israel, as well as in Jordan (Azraq), Sinai ( Abu Madi), and to the north as far as the Middle Euphrates ( Mureybet). El Khiam points and other chert stone tools alike are often referred to as projectile points or arrowheads. While it is true that they were used as arrowheads, the given names imply function and are therefo ...
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