Everything about The Natufian Culture totally explained
The
Natufian culture existed in the
Mediterranean region of the
Levant. It was a
Mesolithic culture, but unusual in that it established permanent settlements even before the introduction of
agriculture. The Natufians are likely to have been the ancestors of the builders of the first
Neolithic settlements of the region, which may have been the earliest in the world. There is also evidence that the Natufians themselves had already begun deliberate cultivation of
cereals, and were certainly making use of wild
grasses. The Natufians chose central places to stay so that the wild cereals could be harvested in all three zones. However, due to climate changes resulting in drier conditions, the Natufians were forced to stay in areas with permanent water. Evidence for the storage of the grain can also be seen at some sites. The Natufians hunted
gazelles as well as harvesting wild grasses.
The culture is a successor of
Kebaran culture.
Dating
Radiocarbon dates of 14,500–11,500
BP place this culture just before the end of the
Pleistocene.
The period is commonly split into two subperiods:
Early Natufian (14,500–12,800 BP) and
Late Natufian (12,800–11,500 BP). The Late Natufian most likely occurred in tandem with the
Younger Dryas.
Settlements
The Natufians settled in the
woodland belt where
oak and
pistachio were prevailing species. The underbrush of this open woodland was grass with high frequencies of grain. The high mountains of
Lebanon and the
Anti-Lebanon, the
steppe areas of the
Negev desert in
Israel and
Sinai, and the
Syro-Arabian desert in the east put up only small Natufian living areas due to both their lower carrying capacity and the company of other groups of foragers who denuded this large region.
The houses of the Natufian are semi-subterranean, often with a dry-stone foundation. The superstructure was probably made of brushwood. No traces of
mudbricks have been found that became common in the following
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, abbreviated PPN A. The round houses have a diameter between 3 and 6 meters, they contain a central round or subrectangular fireplace. In
Ain Mallaha traces of
postholes have been identified. These could have been used for rituals by the leader of the group. Villages can cover over 1,000 square meters. Smaller settlements have been interpreted as less permanent abodes (camps). Traces of rebuilding in almost all excavated settlements seem to point to a frequent relocation. This then indicates a temporary abandonment of the settlement. Settlements have been estimated to house 100–150, but there are three categories: small, median, and large, ranging from 15 m sq. to 1,000 m sq. of people. There are almost no indications of storage facilities.
Sedentism
A sedentary life may have been made possible by abundant resources due to a favourable
climate at the time, with a culture living from hunting, fishing and gathering, including the use of wild cereals. Tools were available for making use of cereals:
flint-bladed sickles for harvesting, and
mortars, grinding stones, and storage pits.
Lithics
The Natufian had a
microlithic industry, made on short
blades and bladelets. The
microburin-technique was used. Geometric
microliths include lunates, trapezes and triangles. There are
backed blades as well. A special type of
retouch (Helwan) is characteristic for the early Natufian. In the late Natufian, the Harif-point, a typical
arrowhead made from a regular blade, became common in the
Negev. Some scholars use it to define a separate culture, the
Harifian.
Sickle blades made on blades appear for the first time. The characteristic
sickle-gloss shows that they've been used to cut the
silica-rich stems of cereals and form an indirect proof for incipient agriculture. Shaft straighteners made of
ground stone indicate the practice of
archery. There are heavy ground-stone bowl
mortars as well.
Other finds
There was a rich bone industry, including
harpoons and fish-hooks. Stone and bone was worked into pendants and other ornaments. There are a few human figurines made of limestone (El-Wad, Ain Mallaha, Ain Sakhri), but the favourite subject of representative art seems to have been the gazelle. Ostrich-shell containers that have been found in the
Negev.
Subsistence
The Natufian people lived by hunting and gathering. The preservation of plant remains is poor because of the soil conditions, but wild cereals,
legumes,
almonds,
acorns and
pistachios may have been collected. Animal bones show that
gazelle (
Gazella gazella and
Gazella subgutturosa) were the main prey. Additionally
deer, wild
cattle and
wild boar were hunted in the
steppe zone
onagers and caprids (Ibex) as well. Water fowl and freshwater fish formed part of the diet in the
Jordan River valley. Animal bones from Salibiya I (12,300–10,800 BP) have been interpreted as evidence for communal hunts with nets.
Development of agriculture
According to one theory (described in 4 ), it was a sudden change in
climate, the
Younger Dryas event, that inspired the development of
agriculture. The Younger Dryas was a 1,000-year-long interruption in the higher temperatures prevailing since the last
ice age, which produced a sudden drought in the Levant. This would have endangered the wild cereals, which could no longer compete with dryland scrub, but upon which the population had become dependent to sustain a relatively large sedentary population. By artificially clearing scrub and planting seeds obtained from elsewhere, they began to practice agriculture.
Domesticated dog
It is at Natufian sites that the earliest archaeological evidence for the
domestication of the
dog is found. At the Natufian site of Ein Mallaha in Israel, dated to 12 000 BP, the remains of an elderly human and a four-to-five-month-old puppy were found buried together. At another Natufian site at the cave of Hayonim, a man was found buried with two canids.
Burials
Burials are located in the settlements, commonly in pits in abandoned houses but also in caves in
Mount Carmel and the
Judean Hills. The pits were backfilled with settlement refuse, which sometimes makes the identification of grave-goods difficult. Sometimes the graves were covered with limestone slabs. The inhumations are stretched on their backs or flexed, there's no predominant orientation. There are both single and multiple burials, especially in the early Natufian, and scattered human remains in the settlements that point to disturbed earlier graves. The rate of
child mortality is rather high. It consisted of about one-third of the dead between ages five and seven.
Skull removal was practiced in Hayonim cave, Nahal Oren and Ain Mallaha. Sometimes the skulls were decorated with shell beads (El-Wad).
Grave goods consist mainly of personal ornaments, like beads made of shell, teeth (red deer), bones and stone. There are pendants, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and belt-ornaments as well.
Long distance exchange
At Ain Mallaha (in
Israel), Anatolian
obsidian and shellfish from the
Nile-valley have been found. The source of
malachite-beads is still unknown.
Sites
Natufian
sites include:
- Tell Abu Hureyra, Mureybat, Yabrud III (Syria)
- Hayonim Terrace, Ein Mallaha (Eynan), Beidha, Ein Gev, Hayonim Nahal Oren, Salibiya I (Israel)
- Jericho (Israel)
- Jiita III, Borj el-Barajné, Saaidé, Aamiq II (Lebanon)
- El-Wad and Shuqba.
Further Information
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