Archaeological culture of the Levant, dating to around 15,000 to 11,500 years ago
Natufian culture
A map of the Levant with Natufian regions across present-day Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and a long arm extending into Lebanon and Syria
Geographical range
Levant, Western Asia
Period
Epipaleolithic
Dates
15,000–11,500 BP
Type site
Shuqba cave, in Wadi Natuf
Major sites
Shuqba cave, Ain Mallaha, Ein Gev, Tell Abu Hureyra
Preceded by
Kebaran, Mushabian
Followed by
Neolithic: Khiamian, Shepherd Neolithic
Natufian culture (/nəˈtuːfiən/[1]) is a Late Epipaleolithic archaeological culture of the Neolithic prehistoric[2] Levant in Western Asia, dating to around 15,000 to 11,500 years ago.[3] The culture was unusual in that it supported a sedentary or semi-sedentary population even before the introduction of agriculture. Natufian communities may be the ancestors of the builders of the first Neolithic settlements of the region, 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 earliest evidence of agriculture in the world.[2] 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's northeastern desert, 4,000 years before the emergence of agriculture in Southwest Asia.[4] In addition, the oldest known evidence of possible beer-brewing, dating to approximately 13,000 BP, was found in Raqefet Cave on Mount Carmel, although the beer-related residues may simply be a result of a spontaneous fermentation.[5][6]
Generally, though, Natufians exploited wild cereals and hunted animals, notably gazelles.[7] Archaeogenetic analysis has revealed derivation of later (Neolithic to Bronze Age) Levantines primarily from Natufians, besides substantial admixture from Chalcholithic Anatolians.[8]
Dorothy Garrod coined the term Natufian based on her excavations at the Shuqba cave (Wadi an-Natuf) near the town of Shuqba.
^"Natufian". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^ abMoore, Andrew M. T.; Hillman, Gordon C.; Legge, Anthony J. (2000), Village on the Euphrates: From Foraging to Farming at Abu Hureyra, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-510806-4
^Grosman, Leore (2013). "The Natufian Chronological Scheme – New Insights and their Implications". In Bar-Yosef, Ofer; Valla, François R. (eds.). Natufian Foragers in the Levant: Terminal Pleistocene Social Changes in Western Asia (1 ed.). New York: Berghahn Books. pp. 622–627. doi:10.2307/j.ctv8bt33h. ISBN 978-1-879621-45-9. JSTOR j.ctv8bt33h – via JSTOR.
^Arranz-Otaegui, Amaia; Gonzalez Carretero, Lara; Ramsey, Monica N.; Fuller, Dorian Q.; Richter, Tobias (31 July 2018). "Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (31): 7925–7930. Bibcode:2018PNAS..115.7925A. doi:10.1073/pnas.1801071115. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 6077754. PMID 30012614.
^Liu, Li; Wang, Jiajing; Rosenberg, Danny; Zhao, Hao; Lengyel, György; Nadel, Dani (1 October 2018). "Fermented beverage and food storage in 13,000 y-old stone mortars at Raqefet Cave, Israel: Investigating Natufian ritual feasting". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 21: 783–793. Bibcode:2018JArSR..21..783L. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.08.008. ISSN 2352-409X. S2CID 165595175.
^Eitam, David (2019). "'Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of [beer]!' (R.L. Stevenson) no beer but rather cereal-Food. Commentary: Liu et al. 2018". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 28: 101913. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101913. S2CID 198454176.
^Cite error: The named reference Kottak2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Lazaridis, Iosif; Nadel, Dani; Rollefson, Gary; Merrett, Deborah C.; Rohland, Nadin; Mallick, Swapan; Fernandes, Daniel; Novak, Mario; Gamarra, Beatriz; Sirak, Kendra; Connell, Sarah; Stewardson, Kristin; Harney, Eadaoin; Fu, Qiaomei; Gonzalez-Fortes, Gloria; Jones, Eppie R.; Roodenberg, Songül Alpaslan; Lengyel, György; Bocquentin, Fanny; Gasparian, Boris; Monge, Janet M.; Gregg, Michael; Eshed, Vered; Mizrahi, Ahuva-Sivan; Meiklejohn, Christopher; Gerritsen, Fokke; Bejenaru, Luminita; Blüher, Matthias; Campbell, Archie; Cavalleri, Gianpiero; Comas, David; Froguel, Philippe; Gilbert, Edmund; Kerr, Shona M.; Kovacs, Peter; Krause, Johannes; McGettigan, Darren; Merrigan, Michael; Merriwether, D. Andrew; O'Reilly, Seamus; Richards, Martin B.; Semino, Ornella; Shamoon-Pour, Michel; Stefanescu, Gheorghe; Stumvoll, Michael; Tönjes, Anke; Torroni, Antonio; Wilson, James F.; Yengo, Loic; Hovhannisyan, Nelli A.; Patterson, Nick; Pinhasi, Ron; Reich, David (2016). "Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East" (PDF). Nature. 536 (7617): 419–424. Bibcode:2016Natur.536..419L. doi:10.1038/nature19310. PMC 5003663. PMID 27459054. Fig. 4.
"Our data document continuity across the transition between hunter– gatherers and farmers, separately in the southern Levant and in the southern Caucasus–Iran highlands. The qualitative evidence for this is that PCA, ADMIXTURE, and outgroup f3 analysis cluster Levantine hunter–gatherers (Natufians) with Levantine farmers, and Iranian and CHG with Iranian farmers (Fig. 1b and Extended Data Figs 1, 3). We confirm this in the Levant by showing that its early farmers share significantly more alleles with Natufians than with the early farmers of Iran"
Epipaleolithic Natufians were substantially derived from the Basal Eurasian lineage.
"We used qpAdm (ref. 7) to estimate Basal Eurasian ancestry in each Test population. We obtained the highest estimates in the earliest populations from both Iran (66±13% in the likely Mesolithic sample, 48±6% in Neolithic samples), and the
Levant (44±8% in Epipalaeolithic Natufians) (Fig. 2), showing that Basal Eurasian ancestry was widespread across the ancient Near East. [...] The idea of Natufians as a vector for the movement of Basal Eurasian ancestry into the Near East is also not supported by our data, as the Basal Eurasian ancestry in the Natufians (44±8%) is consistent with stemming from the same population as that in the Neolithic and Mesolithic populations of Iran, and is not greater than in those populations
(Supplementary Information, section 4). Further insight into the origins and legacy of the Natufians could come from comparison to Natufians from additional sites, and to ancient DNA from North Africa."
Natufianculture (/nəˈtuːfiən/) is a Late Epipaleolithic archaeological culture of the Neolithic prehistoric Levant in Western Asia, dating to around...
and followed by the proto-agrarian Natufianculture of the Epipalaeolithic. The appearance of the Kebaran culture, of microlithic type implies a significant...
Negev Desert. It corresponds to the latest stages of the Natufianculture. Like the Natufian, Harifian is characterized by semi-subterranean houses. These...
Emmanuel Anati, the Natufianculture had arisen as a result of the mixing of the local Kebarian culture of the Levant with the Mushabi culture. According to...
and followed by the proto-agrarian Natufianculture of the Epipalaeolithic. The appearance of the Kebarian culture, of microlithic type, implies a significant...
El Khiam arrow heads, the Khiamian is placed in the continuity of the Natufian, without any major technical innovations. However, for the first time houses...
East", in: Humanities 19 (2012) 1-20, hier: S. 2. Epipaleolithic Prehistory of Iran History of Mesopotamia Trialetian cultureNatufianculture Khiamian...
Shubayqa 1, once home of the Natufian hunter-gatherers, roughly 4,000 years before the advent of agriculture. Natufianculture also demonstrates the earliest...
as separate and distinct cultures. According to scholarly opinion the Harifian culture is derived from the Natufianculture in which the only characteristic...
25000–17000 BC. In the Levant, the Natufianculture was the first to become sedentary at around 12000 BC. The Natufians were sedentary for more than 2000...
to predate the invention of agriculture, with the construction of Natufianculture structures beginning earlier than 9000 BCE, the beginning of the Holocene...
significant aspects of this culture were their large community sizes and their sedentary lifestyles. Although the Late Natufian experienced a slight reversal...
witnessed waves of early humans out of Africa, to the emergence of Natufianculture c. 10th millennium BCE, the region entered the Bronze Age c. 2,000...
millennium BC. During this millennium, the first dog remains came from the Natufianculture of the southern Levant. There is material evidence for the build up...
Africa —— Parthenocarpic figs and Nile shellfish (please refer to Natufianculture#Long-distance exchange). Chicki, L; Nichols, RA; Barbujani, G; Beaumont...
culture, as it did in Scandinavia. Following the ASPRO chronology, the Neolithic started in around 10,200 BC in the Levant, arising from the Natufian...
into Israel, eventually feeding the Ayalon River. The Natufianculture–an archaeological culture of the Levant region–is named after the wadi. Along with...
peoples of the Pacific Northwest and perhaps during the Mesolithic Natufianculture. It is possible that food surpluses and relatively large scale social...
outside of Africa. The Natufianculture emerged in the southern Levant by the 10th millennium BCE, followed by the Ghassulian culture by around 4,500 BCE...
excavations revealed the first evidence of the late Epipalaeolithic Natufianculture, characterized by the presence of abundant microliths, human burials...
a process leading to sedentary culture can be seen in the Levant to as early as 12,000 BC, when the Natufianculture became sedentary; it evolved into...
000 BC) and was later correlated with urban population density. The Natufianculture prevailed in the Levant through the 10th millennium and was unusual...
around fresh water springs and lakes in the Levantine corridor by the Natufianculture. Higham, Thomas F. G.; Wesselingh, Frank P.; Hedges, Robert E. M.;...
that a sedentary lifestyle actually came before agriculture (see the Natufianculture). Further surprises followed in the 1990s with the spectacular finds...
in Africa at the time would have been nomadic hunter-gatherers. The Natufianculture continued to prevail in the Levantine and upper Mesopotamian areas...
Mesolithic Caucasus hunter-gatherers, Mesolithic and Neolithic Iranians, and Natufians) suggests that they formed from a combination of Basal Eurasian ancestry...