The archaeology of mortuary practices and related foodways in the Late Natufian (LN; ca. 14,000... more The archaeology of mortuary practices and related foodways in the Late Natufian (LN; ca. 14,000/13,500–11,700 BP) sheds light on the communal activities of the last hunter–gatherers in the Mediterranean Levant. We present a detailed analysis of the fauna from the LN cemetery of Raqefet Cave (Mount Carmel, Israel). Taphonomic evidence indicates that the animal bones are butchery and consumption leftovers. While the patterns of animal exploitation are reminiscent of Natufian habitation sites, the remains do not reflect the typical recurring post-discard damage resulting from continuous or repeating habitations in those sites. Hence the fauna is interpreted as the leftovers of punctuated, short-term events, rather than ‘ordinary’ Natufian household trash. Taking into account the special depositional context and site characteristics, we interpret the fauna as the intentionally-gathered and buried remains of simple funerary feasts. Elaborate mortuary behavior and symbolic role of food refuse were recently suggested at the contemporaneous cave of Hilazon Tachtit (Israel). The new data from Raqefet Cave probably reflect a somewhat different type of communal meals, adding to the diversity and complexity of pre-agricultural life-ways in the Levant.
The Early Kebaran site of Ohalo II was exposed and found in the fall of 1989, when the Sea of Gal... more The Early Kebaran site of Ohalo II was exposed and found in the fall of 1989, when the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) reached an unusually low level. It is located on the south-western corner of the lake, near the north-eastern corner of Tell Beit-Yerah, 9 km south of the modern city of Tiberias, (grid reference 2038, 2364, Figs. 1, 2). The site was found on the exposed beach, and a salvage excavation sponsored by the Israel Antiquities Authority was conducted. The following descriptions and remarks are based on the preliminary results obtained to date. The area of the site is more than 1000 square meters. The upper layer of an
<p>In addition to tectonics and climatic changes, humans have exerted a significant... more <p>In addition to tectonics and climatic changes, humans have exerted a significant impact on surface erosion over timescales ranging from years to centuries. However, the magnitude of such impact over millennial timescales remains unsubstantiated. The Dead Sea drainage basin, Southern Levant, offers a rare combination of abundant archaeological evidence for past landscape-related human activity coupled with a continuous high-resolution record of basin erosion. Here we present measurements of detrital accumulation rates in the Dead Sea depocenter, showing anthropogenic-intensified basin erosion since ~11.5 kyr BP. The average detrital accumulation rate during the Holocene is ~2-3 times higher than during the last two glacial cycles. This erosive rate is incompatible with tectonic and climatic regimes during the corresponding period but is closely associated with the Neolithic Revolution in the Levant, suggesting that enhanced human impact on the landscape led to intensified erosion.</p>
<p>In addition to tectonics and climatic changes, humans have exerted a significant... more <p>In addition to tectonics and climatic changes, humans have exerted a significant impact on surface erosion over timescales ranging from years to centuries. However, the magnitude of such impact over millennial timescales remains unsubstantiated. The Dead Sea drainage basin, Southern Levant, offers a rare combination of abundant archaeological evidence for past landscape-related human activity coupled with a continuous high-resolution record of basin erosion. Here we present measurements of detrital accumulation rates in the Dead Sea depocenter, showing anthropogenic-intensified basin erosion since ~11.5 kyr BP. The average detrital accumulation rate during the Holocene is ~2-3 times higher than during the last two glacial cycles. This erosive rate is incompatible with tectonic and climatic regimes during the corresponding period but is closely associated with the Neolithic Revolution in the Levant, suggesting that enhanced human impact on the landscape led to intensified erosion.</p>
The location of sites often serves in geomorphological research as a fixed marker for the chronol... more The location of sites often serves in geomorphological research as a fixed marker for the chronology of environmental changes. The discovery of sites on the sea bed, in wadi terraces, or in a cave on a cliff the access to which is extremely difficult, indicate changes in the landscape that have occurred since the time of occupation at the site. The prehistoric site of Ohalo, which was exposed in the summer of 1986 as a result of a drop of the Kinneret (Sea of Galiliee) water level down to -212.4 m. is such a site.
The archaeology of mortuary practices and related foodways in the Late Natufian (LN; ca. 14,000... more The archaeology of mortuary practices and related foodways in the Late Natufian (LN; ca. 14,000/13,500–11,700 BP) sheds light on the communal activities of the last hunter–gatherers in the Mediterranean Levant. We present a detailed analysis of the fauna from the LN cemetery of Raqefet Cave (Mount Carmel, Israel). Taphonomic evidence indicates that the animal bones are butchery and consumption leftovers. While the patterns of animal exploitation are reminiscent of Natufian habitation sites, the remains do not reflect the typical recurring post-discard damage resulting from continuous or repeating habitations in those sites. Hence the fauna is interpreted as the leftovers of punctuated, short-term events, rather than ‘ordinary’ Natufian household trash. Taking into account the special depositional context and site characteristics, we interpret the fauna as the intentionally-gathered and buried remains of simple funerary feasts. Elaborate mortuary behavior and symbolic role of food refuse were recently suggested at the contemporaneous cave of Hilazon Tachtit (Israel). The new data from Raqefet Cave probably reflect a somewhat different type of communal meals, adding to the diversity and complexity of pre-agricultural life-ways in the Levant.
The Early Kebaran site of Ohalo II was exposed and found in the fall of 1989, when the Sea of Gal... more The Early Kebaran site of Ohalo II was exposed and found in the fall of 1989, when the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) reached an unusually low level. It is located on the south-western corner of the lake, near the north-eastern corner of Tell Beit-Yerah, 9 km south of the modern city of Tiberias, (grid reference 2038, 2364, Figs. 1, 2). The site was found on the exposed beach, and a salvage excavation sponsored by the Israel Antiquities Authority was conducted. The following descriptions and remarks are based on the preliminary results obtained to date. The area of the site is more than 1000 square meters. The upper layer of an
<p>In addition to tectonics and climatic changes, humans have exerted a significant... more <p>In addition to tectonics and climatic changes, humans have exerted a significant impact on surface erosion over timescales ranging from years to centuries. However, the magnitude of such impact over millennial timescales remains unsubstantiated. The Dead Sea drainage basin, Southern Levant, offers a rare combination of abundant archaeological evidence for past landscape-related human activity coupled with a continuous high-resolution record of basin erosion. Here we present measurements of detrital accumulation rates in the Dead Sea depocenter, showing anthropogenic-intensified basin erosion since ~11.5 kyr BP. The average detrital accumulation rate during the Holocene is ~2-3 times higher than during the last two glacial cycles. This erosive rate is incompatible with tectonic and climatic regimes during the corresponding period but is closely associated with the Neolithic Revolution in the Levant, suggesting that enhanced human impact on the landscape led to intensified erosion.</p>
<p>In addition to tectonics and climatic changes, humans have exerted a significant... more <p>In addition to tectonics and climatic changes, humans have exerted a significant impact on surface erosion over timescales ranging from years to centuries. However, the magnitude of such impact over millennial timescales remains unsubstantiated. The Dead Sea drainage basin, Southern Levant, offers a rare combination of abundant archaeological evidence for past landscape-related human activity coupled with a continuous high-resolution record of basin erosion. Here we present measurements of detrital accumulation rates in the Dead Sea depocenter, showing anthropogenic-intensified basin erosion since ~11.5 kyr BP. The average detrital accumulation rate during the Holocene is ~2-3 times higher than during the last two glacial cycles. This erosive rate is incompatible with tectonic and climatic regimes during the corresponding period but is closely associated with the Neolithic Revolution in the Levant, suggesting that enhanced human impact on the landscape led to intensified erosion.</p>
The location of sites often serves in geomorphological research as a fixed marker for the chronol... more The location of sites often serves in geomorphological research as a fixed marker for the chronology of environmental changes. The discovery of sites on the sea bed, in wadi terraces, or in a cave on a cliff the access to which is extremely difficult, indicate changes in the landscape that have occurred since the time of occupation at the site. The prehistoric site of Ohalo, which was exposed in the summer of 1986 as a result of a drop of the Kinneret (Sea of Galiliee) water level down to -212.4 m. is such a site.
Research on the sedentarization and intensification processes in the Epipaleolithic period of the... more Research on the sedentarization and intensification processes in the Epipaleolithic period of the Levant, which culminated in the Natufian Culture, often turns to the earlier Epipaleolithic cultures to discern the roots of these important developments. Specifically, the investigation of Geometric Kebaran sites in the Mediterranean southern Levant, using up-to date research methods, may enable robust comparisons between the latest pre-Natufian Epipaleolithic phase and the Natufian phase. A site that has played a key role in all discussions of the pre-Natufian Epipaleolithic is Neve David, inside the modern city of Haifa, which was investigated between 1984 and 1990 by one of us (D. Kaufman). Here we provide a summary of the previous fieldwork at the site, followed by a report on our renewed project at Neve David which commenced on September 2014. We present new studies on the geomorphology and sedimentology, accounts of the new lithic and faunal assemblages, and the first microbotanical (phytolith) data from the site. We conclude that rich Epipaleolithic layers are still preserved at Neve David, and that they are thicker and more spread than previously estimated. The renewed fieldwork at the site, in conjunction with revisiting the materials collected in the previous campaign, has significant potential to contribute to the insufficient knowledge of the pre-Natufian Epipaleolithic in the Mediterranean southern Levant.
The miniaturization of stone tools, as reflected through the systematic production of blade-lets ... more The miniaturization of stone tools, as reflected through the systematic production of blade-lets and bladelet tools (microliths), characterized many industries of the Late Pleistocene, with the Levantine Epipalaeolithic serving as a well-studied example. It is commonly held that microliths were used as modular inserts in composite projectiles, while their incorporation in other tools for different tasks is generally overlooked, the latter aspect being the main focus of this paper. We present here a more inclusive approach through a case study of the Geometric Kebaran (Middle Epipalaeolithic, ca. 18,500-15,000 cal BP) site of Neve David, Mount Carmel, Israel. Recent excavations at the site exposed a variety of features, and one well-preserved shallow pit provided a large lithic assemblage with ca. 90 microliths. We studied this assemblage using both the low-and high-magnification use-wear protocols, accompanied by a range of experiments. Our results show that a) the fragmentation rate is very high in this assemblage (ca. 90%), b) most of the microliths have identifiable use-wear, c) the microliths were commonly used as inserts in composite projectiles, d) many microliths were used for functions not related to weaponry and hunting, such as wood-working, weed harvesting and meat processing. These findings strongly support the suggestion that the small insets, regardless of their specific type (trapeze, rectangle, backed/retouched blade-let), were used in a wide variety of composite tools. We argue that such a versatile approach and flexibility in the use of microliths reflect a technological advantage where a minimal set of microlithic types, produced in large numbers, could provide the required elements for weapons, as well as for a variety of cutting, processing and harvesting tools needed for mundane tasks at a large Middle Epipalaeolithic camp. PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.
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