The Natufian in the Levant

Belfer‐Cohen, Anna

doi:10.1146/annurev.an.20.100191.001123

Cited by 109 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Indeed, the earliest stone foundations of walls appear in several Natufian open-air camps and cave sites (44,45). The remains of Natufian structures are typically oval or circular and contain debris of domestic activities; built indoor hearths have also been found in many cases.…”

Section: Upper Paleolithic Dwellingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stone Age hut in Israel yields world's oldest evidence of bedding

Nadel

Weiss

Simchoni

et al. 2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

111

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The earliest archaeological remains of dwelling huts built by Homo sapiens were found in various European Upper Paleolithic open-air camps. Although floors of huts were found in a small number of cases, modern organization of the home space that includes defined resting areas and bedding remains was not discovered. We report here the earliest in situ bedding exposed on a brush hut floor. It has recently been found at the previously submerged, excellently preserved 23,000-year-old fisher-hunter-gatherers' camp of Ohalo II, situated in Israel on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The grass bedding consists of bunches of partially charred Puccinellia confer convoluta stems and leaves, covered by a thin compact layer of clay. It is arranged in a repeated pattern, on the floor, around a central hearth. This study describes the bedding in its original context on a well preserved intentionally constructed floor. It also reconstructs on the basis of direct evidence (combined with ethnographic analogies) the Upper Paleolithic hut as a house with three major components: a hearth, specific working locales, and a comfortable sleeping area near the walls.

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Section: Upper Paleolithic Dwellingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stone Age hut in Israel yields world's oldest evidence of bedding

Nadel

Weiss

Simchoni

et al. 2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

111

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“…Sedentism undoubtedly created new demands regarding social behavior as well. Intensified social activity may, in part, explain the unprecedented fluorescence of symbolic activity observed in the Natufian (7). Nevertheless, to date there are nearly no indications of institutionalized social stratification (5,8) and most researchers have assumed that the Natufians maintained an egalitarian social system, typical of most past and present hunting-gathering societies [but see (9) and discussion in (10)].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A 12,000-year-old Shaman burial from the southern Levant (Israel)

Grosman

Munro

Belfer‐Cohen

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

144

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The Natufians of the southern Levant (15,000 -11,500 cal BP) underwent pronounced socioeconomic changes associated with the onset of sedentism and the shift from a foraging to farming lifestyle. Excavations at the 12,000-year-old Natufian cave site, Hilazon Tachtit (Israel), have revealed a grave that provides a rare opportunity to investigate the ideological shifts that must have accompanied these socioeconomic changes. The grave was constructed and specifically arranged for a petite, elderly, and disabled woman, who was accompanied by exceptional grave offerings. The grave goods comprised 50 complete tortoise shells and select body-parts of a wild boar, an eagle, a cow, a leopard, and two martens, as well as a complete human foot. The interment rituals and the method used to construct and seal the grave suggest that this is the burial of a shaman, one of the earliest known from the archaeological record. Several attributes of this burial later become central in the spiritual arena of human cultures worldwide.Hilazon Tachtit Cave ͉ Natufian ͉ mortuary practices ͉ origins of agriculture

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“…Although it is a small and rather fragmentary collection, the material will add to the existing Natufian skeletal collections (many listed in Bocquentin, 2003) and will help understand the last hunter-gatherers (Belfer-Cohen, 1991;Belfer-Cohen and Bar-Yosef, 2002;Munro, 2004;Portillo et al, 2010) who forayed into agriculture (Bar-Yosef, 1998;Davis and Valla, 1978), as well as population dynamics during the Early Neolithic in the Near East (Haak et al, 2005;Pinhasi and von Cramon-Taubadel, 2009). …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%