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The emergence of the Upper Palaeolithic in Southwest Asia is considered a unique phenomenon in relation to other parts of the Old World. Besides the local circumstances that are particular to each region, this is the only region outside Africa with the clear presence of modern humans producing Middle Palaeolithic industries. Still, it seems that also here, as elsewhere outside Africa, the UP is conceived mostly as portraying a break with MP life-ways, and continuity, if indicated, is on a rather modest scale. While the geographical extent of the Levant (i.e. the eastern Mediterranean, from the Taurus Zagros mountains in the north, to southern Sinai and from the coast eastwards of the Rift valley into the Saudi Arabian deserts) is relatively small, at least four or five variants of Initial Upper Palaeolithic lithic industries have been identified/defined, based on techno-typological criteria, geographical constraints and differing chronologies, as demonstrated at Boqer Tachtit, Tor Sadaf, Ksar Akil, Umm el-Tlel, and Ucagizli. Besides the usual obstacles archaeologists face in trying to identify and define relationships between various archaeological assemblages in time and space, prehistoric research of the Levant, like other regions, suffers from its Eurocentric past and international present, whereby research reflects the different ‘weltanschauung’ and paradigms of the scholars currently conducting it. We shall attempt to present a coherent picture of the present state of affairs, as well as our own understanding of the Levantine IUP, based on the locally available data within the wider context of current prehistoric research.

Anatolia was home to some of the earliest farming communities. It has been long debated whether a migration of farming groups introduced agriculture to central Anatolia. Here, we report the first genome-wide data from a 15,000-year-old Anatolian hunter-gatherer and from seven Anatolian and Levantine early farmers. We find high genetic continuity (~80–90%) between the hunter-gatherers and early farmers of Anatolia and detect two distinct incoming ancestries: an early Iranian/Caucasus related one and a later one linked to the ancient Levant. Finally, we observe a genetic link between southern Europe and the Near East predating 15,000 years ago. Our results suggest a limited role of human migration in the emergence of agriculture in central Anatolia. © 2019, The Author(s)., Wenner-Gren Foundation National Geographic Society: 8625/09 Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences Israel Science Foundation: 558/04, 755/07, 840/01, 1161/10 National Geographic Society: GEFNE 1-11 University of Oxford Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft: 80 1599/14–1, GZ: British Institute at Ankara Australian Research Council: DP0663385, DP120100969 Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering British Academy: BR100077 Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering: AINGRA10069, AINGRA05051 Liverpool John Moores University LRG 35439, We thank G. Brandt, A. Wissgott, F. Aron, M. Burri, C. Freund, and R. Stahl (MPI-SHH) for their support in laboratory work, M. Oreilly for graphic support, A. Gibson for help in proofreading, and the members of the population genetics group in the Department of Archaeogenetics, SHH-MPI for their input and support. This work was supported by the Max Planck Society. Experimental work at LJMU and LR stay at the MPI-SHH were funded with an internal grant from LJMU Faculty of Science to EFD. The funding for the Ba‘ja project was granted by the German Research Foundation (GZ: 80 1599/14–1) and ex oriente e.V., Berlin. Kfar HaHoresh fieldwork was supported (to N.G.-M.) by the Israel Science Foundation (Grants 840/01, 558/04, 755/07, 1161/10), The National Geographic Society (Grant 8625/09), and The Irene Levi Sala CARE Foundation. The Konya Plain fieldwork was funded by The British Institute in Ankara, British Academy (Research Development Award BR100077), a British Academy Large Research Grant LRG 35439, Australian Research Council (grants DP0663385 and DP120100969), National Geographic award GEFNE 1-11, University of Oxford (Wainwright Fund), Australian Institute for Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE awards AINGRA05051 and AINGRA10069), Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (Postdoctoral Research Grant 2008 The Origins Of Farming In The Konya Plain, Central Anatolia), Institute for Field Research.

The edge angle of lithic tools is an important source of information on the intended function and the manufacturing technology of these artifacts. Yet, previously proposed procedures, both traditional and computer-based, can be flawed by ambiguity in the artifact positioning and in the choice of the points or surfaces defining the angle. A novel method, based on digital 3-D models of the artifact, calculates the measure of the edge angle based on its complete shape, providing an accurate and repeatable measurement of this feature. The procedure includes the automatic, univocal determination of the area that best represents the angle between the two surfaces, further increasing the objectivity of the result. To test its power in providing novel archaeological insight, the method is tested on a series of assemblages of Epipalaeolithic microliths. The combination of the obtained quantitative data with the typology-based cultural attribution of the assemblages highlights possible connections between different areas in the Southern Levant.

Aurochs played a prominent role in mortuary and feasting practices during the Neolithic transition in south-west Asia, although evidence of these practices is diverse and regionally varied. This article considers a new concentration of aurochs bones from the southern Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Kfar HaHoresh, situating it in a regional context through a survey of aurochs remains from other sites. Analysis shows a change in the regional pattern once animal domestication began from an emphasis on feasting to small-scale practices. These results reveal a widely shared practice of symbolic cattle use that persisted over a long period, but shifted with the beginning of animal management across the region

We evaluate suggestions as regards the assumed sharp division between the Early (so called Pre-Pottery) and the Late (so called Pottery) Neolithic in the southern and central Levant. The traditional division marker was the appearance of ceramics, which has become rather an obsolete criterion, since there is growing evidence that ceramics as an established phenomenon appeared earlier during the Early Neolithic. Is such a division still valid? The answer is equivocal depending upon which aspect of the Neolithic human existence we focus. At least in the southern and central Levant, it seems that the existence of an independent, Late (Pottery) Neolithic stage is rather of a short and limited duration, as parts of what was previously considered Late Neolithic are currently assigned to the following Chalcolithic era, that is, the Wadi Rabah phase. Similarly, the Yarmukian phase, which was considered as the first stage of the Late Pottery Neolithic, under detailed scru- tiny and with more information at hand, displays closer similarities with the later stages of the Early Neolithic, namely the PPNB. Finally, even if one can come up with some unique characteristics, are they sufficient to consider the existence of an independent stage in local human history, given the problematic dating of southern Levantine sites originally assigned to this stage?

Shells found at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site of Yiftahel reflect various aspects of the cultic, social, and economic life at the site. Taxonomically, the assemblage is typical to sites in the Mediterranean climatic zone, dominated by Mediterranean bivalves with several local gastropods and a few specimens originating from the Red Sea. This composition reflects the community's observation of local norms as well as their participation in wide-ranging regional interaction networks with remote populations. Shells were found across the site, yet several exceptional contexts of shell deposition shed light on specific shell-related behaviours practiced on-site. A shell cache, unique in the PPNB, was found in an open courtyard of a public building, possibly related to both ritualistic as well as socio-economic aspects of life at Yiftahel. Shells were also found embedded in the eye-sockets of three plastered skulls found at the site, demonstrating the incorporation of shells in the cultic life of the community, as well as nuances of this practice in the region. Shells were found to have had multiple significant meanings and community-wide roles in many aspects of life at Yiftahel.

Animal husbandry emerged as an important subsistence strategy at various tempos and trajectories across the southern Levant during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (ca. 8500–6500 cal bc). Here, we explore temporal variation in the emergence of animal management strategies, in particular those that alter the composition of the animal diet, west of the Jordan Valley, through carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic analyses of mountain gazelle, bezoar goat and aurochsen bone collagen from the funerary complex of Kfar HaHoresh. Analyses presented here show an extended range of carbon isotope values in the collagens of Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) goats relative to Middle PPNB goats, which are also enriched in 13C relative to contemporaneous gazelle. This shift may reflect a greater catchment from which morphologically wild goats derived or that some of the goats at Kfar HaHoresh were provided with some fodder. If the latter is the case, then the use of fodder by 7500 cal bc at Kfar HaHoresh is a relative...

The Negev Desert, an arid region of the southern Levant, was only occasionally suited for human occupation in prehistory. Archaeological sites are especially abundant in the Epipaleolithic periods, likely due to changes in the availability and distribution of water resources. We consider how hunter-gatherers adapted to this sometimes marginal region by investigating human demography, site occupation intensity and population mobility by revisiting the zooarchaeological assemblage from the Late Epipaleolithic, Harifian site of Ramat Harif (12,650/12,500–11,650 cal. BP) in the Central Highlands of the Negev. A near exclusive focus on ungulate species at Ramat Harif indicates efficient hunting overall. Nevertheless, high proportions of juvenile ibex and gazelle suggest intensive hunting of these two species. The rarity of other taxa in the diet indicates that they stopped short of depressing ungulate prey. Small variation in the body-part representation and age structure of the ungulates from Ramat Harif and other Late Epipaleolithic Negev sites may be linked to seasonality and their relative proximity to ibex and gazelle territories. The Negev pattern diverges from the adjacent Mediterranean zone where local Natufian populations hunted more diverse taxa, particularly small game. This pattern undoubtedly reflects higher occupation intensity and larger human populations in the Mediterranean zone as well as lower net primary production and biodiversity in the Negev desert.

There is a general consensus that the Ahmarian techno-complex represents an endemic Upper Palaeolithic entity that emerged in south-western Asia. Its entrenchment in the region is apparent over a long chronological span and a wide geographic range, as is most especially apparent in the Levant. Notwithstanding diachronic and synchronic variability, its basic parameters have been widely recognized since it was first defined over 30 years ago. The Ahmarian characterization is based on certain intrinsic features as well as on the absence of hallmarks of other Upper Palaeolithic entities identified in the region.

Archaeological investigations along Nahal Sekher on the eastern edge of Israel's northwestern Negev Desert dunefield revealed concentrations of Epipalaeolithic campsites associated respectively with ancient water bodies. This study, aimed at better understanding the connections between these camps and the water bodies, is concerned with a cluster of Natufian sites. A comprehensive geomorphological study integrating field mapping, stratigraphic sections, sedimentological analysis and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages was conducted in the vicinity of a recently excavated Natufian campsite of Nahal Sekher VI whose artifacts directly overlay aeolian sand dated by OSL to 12.4 ± 0.7 and 11.7 ± 0.5 ka. Residual sequences of diagnostic silty sediments, defined here as low-energy fluvial fine-grained deposits (LFFDs), were identified within the drainage system of central Nahal Sekher around the Nahal Sekher VI site. LFFD sections were found to represent both shoreline and mid-water deposits. The thicker mid-water LFFD deposits (15.7 ± 0.7–10.7 ± 0.5 ka) date within the range of the Epipalaeolithic campsites, while the upper and shoreline LFFD units that thin out into the sands adjacent to the Nahal Sekher VI site display slightly younger ages (10.8 ± 0.4 ka–7.6 ± 0.4 ka). LFFD sedimentation by low-energy concentrated flow and standing-water developed as a result of proximal downstream dune-damming. These water bodies developed as a result of encroaching sand that initially crossed central Nahal Sekher by 15.7 ± 0.7 ka and probably intermittently blocked the course of the wadi. LFFD deposition was therefore a response to a unique combination of regional sand supply due to frequent powerful winds and does not represent climate change in the form of increased precipitation or temperature change. The chronostratigraphies affiliate the Natufian sites to the adjacent ancient water bodies. These relations reflect a rapid, but temporary anthropogenic response to a transient ‘window’ of improved local aeolian-fluvial palaeoenvironmental conditions during the Late Pleistocene–Holocene transition, but don't necessarily point to a wetter or drier palaeoclimate.

This paper summarises typological and technological research on a small assemblage of pottery containers recovered at Kfar HaHoresh (KHH), a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site in the Southern Levant. The majority of the sherds belong to a distinguishable fabric, composed of local marl matrix tempered with vegetal material originating from herbivore manure. Based on the scarcity and properties of the sherds, we propose that the pottery containers at KHH were rare vessels possibly produced for personal use or for use by distinctive individuals for very limited purposes.

A method is presented for calculating the blade productivity of bidirectional (naviform) blade cores, a hallmark of Near Eastern Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) chipped stone tool assemblages. This approach involves estimating the volume of the core that furnished serial blades, together with the mean volume of a typical targeted blade blank. Simple computation of the volume of a wedge in both instances provides an estimate of the number of targeted blades that were produced in an average single reduction sequence. The method is checked against two replicated bidirectional blade reduction sequences, and a refitted bidirectional blade core from the site of Kfar HaHoresh, Israel. Finally, a case study from Kfar HaHoresh is presented in order to illustrate the application of the method, which may have ramifications concerning the evaluation of incipient craft specialization in the region.

The Near East is one of those unique places where the transition(s) from hunter-gatherers to farmers occurred locally, so it is possible to observe the whole sequence of these processes within the region as a whole. We discuss the archaeological evidence pertaining to those transformations within the Levant, presenting the particularistic local changes in settlement patterns and the character of the different communities juxtaposed with the landscapes and environmental background. The asynchronous developments clearly reflect the mosaic nature of the Levant in terms of specific local environmental conditions that influenced the scope and pace of Neolithization processes.

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This paper presents the detailed analysis of a bidirectional blade workshop dump from a pit (Locus 1007) dating to relatively late within the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) occupation of Kfar HaHoresh in Northern Israel. The contents of the pit minimally derive from 117 reduction sequences and quite probably at least twice that number. The dump includes waste products from all stages of knapping. The assemblage is described in detail, with an emphasis on the diagnostic debitage types produced by each knapping stage, and hence reflects the local blade-knapping tradition. The results contribute to understanding the character of the local bidirectional operational sequence at Kfar HaHoresh. This included the import of high quality flint nodules from specific outcrops elsewhere in the lower Galilee. In many cases the nodules were subjected to meticulous core pre-formation followed by serial blade production, core maintenance and core abandonment. Following the end of intensive knapping the waste products were carefully collected and dumped in the pit at the edge of the site, while the designated products (blades and tools) were locally distributed or cached for various reasons. The recognized lithic organization, together with the high quality of the blades and tools elsewhere on-site, is indicative of a specialized Middle/ Late PPNB lithic workshop. The pattern recognized at Kfar HaHoresh, supplemented by recent discoveries of flint outcrops and nearby PPNB workshop sites at HaSollelim and Givat Rabi East, together with the evidence for a regional blade production center at the village of Yiftahel, demonstrates the importance of this technology within the lower Galilee PPNB., Cet article présente l’analyse détaillée d’un dépotoir d’atelier de débitage laminaire bipolaire, sur le site de Kfar HaHoresh, (Nord d’Israël), qui provient d’une fosse (locus 1007) datant d’une phase relativement tardive du PPNB. Le contenu de cette fosse correspond à au moins 117 séquences de débitage et voire probablement au double ; elle contient les déchets de la chaîne opératoire. L’assemblage est décrit en détail, en mettant l’accent sur les produits de débitage diagnostics de chaque étape de la taille et qui reflètent la tradition locale de débitage bipolaire. Ces résultats permettent de mieux comprendre la séquence opératoire bidirectionnelle mise en oeuvre à Kfar HaHoresh. Celle-ci comprenait l’importation de nodules de silex de bonne qualité, provenant d’affleurements de Basse Galilée. Dans de nombreux cas, les nucléus ont fait l’objet d’une mise en forme soignée, suivie par la production en série de lames et l’entretien du nucléus, avant son abandon. Une fois ce débitage intensif achevé, les déchets étaient collectés avec soin et rejetés dans une fosse en bordure du site, tandis que les produits recherchés (lames et outils) étaient redistribués ou cachés. La nature particulière de ces industries, ainsi que la qualité des lames et des outils découverts sur le site, montrent qu’il s’agit d’un atelier lithique spécialisé du PPNB moyen/ récent. Le modèle reconnu à Kfar HaHoresh atteste l’importance de cette technologie en Basse Galilée ; il vient s’ajouter aux découvertes récentes d’affleurements de silex et d’ateliers trouvés à leur proximité à HaSollelim et Givat Rabi East, ainsi qu’au centre régional de production de lames mis en évidence dans le village de Yiftahel., Barzilai Omry, Goring-Morris A. Nigel. Bidirectional Blade Production at the PPNB Site of Kfar HaHoresh: The Techno-Typological Analysis of a Workshop Dump. In: Paléorient, 2010, vol. 36, n°2. pp. 5-34.

Microlith production in the Levant began with the Upper Paleolithic. Two microlithic production techniques have been observed: straight retouched (Ahmarian) bladelets from a blade bladelet-oriented reduction sequence; and tiny, twisted “Dufour” (Levantine Aurignacian) bladelets, intentional and/or unintentional byproducts of carination. Twisted bladelets appear in varying frequencies throughout the Upper Paleolithic. The straight variety ultimately dominates and characterizes the fully fledged microlithic Epipaleolithic. A major conceptual change occurs in fashioning microliths during the late Upper Paleolithic/Early Epipaleolithic. Earlier assemblages were produced by a predetermined chaine operatoire and blanks closely parallel the microliths in shape and size. During the Early Epipaleolithic tool shapes increasingly resulted from subsequent blank modification, by invasive retouch and, sometimes, use of the microburin technique. By the late Epipaleolithic almost any small, elongated flake was opportunistically fashioned into a microlith. Explanations for the appearance of microliths include developments in economizing behaviors, hafting practices, projectile-point propulsion mechanisms, and functional variability. The described changes could be interpreted as declining knapping abilities, yet such developments probably reflect increasing efficiency and flexibility.

The social construction of identity and memory can be expressed through public ritual. The organization of mortuary practices, the repetitive use of imagery and figurines, and the long-term reuse of human skulls in the Near Eastern Neolithic illustrate how household ritual linked the living to the dead. Secondary mortuary practices and the plastering and painting of human skulls as ritual heirlooms served as a form of memorialization and erasure of identity within communities. The deliberate focus on the face in both construction and decoration was part of a shared system of ritual practices. Skull caching and modification transcended the past, present, and future, reiterating the expectation of future mortuary events while simultaneously recognizing continuity with the past through the crafting of memory. Collectively these patterns represent a complex web of interaction involving ritual knowledge, imagery, mortuary practices, and the creation of intergenerational memory and structures of authority.

Evidence for a Neolithic funeral feast has been excavated in northern Israel. A herd of eight wild cattle (aurochs) were slaughtered and joints of their meat placed in a pit which was covered over and the human burial laid on top. This was covered in turn with plaster, but the human skull was later removed through an accurately sited hole. It was the feast that began this funerary sequence, and the authors conservatively calculate that it provided a minimum of 500kg of meat. Given a 200g steak apiece this could theoretically feed some 2500 people, endorsing the authors' claim that the site was a central cult site serving surrounding villages. It is also suggested that the aurochs skulls, missing from the pit, may have been reserved for ritual purposes elsewhere, an early example of the Near Eastern bull cult that was later to have a long history in Europe.

One of the central questions of the transition from mobile hunter-gatherers to sedentary farming communities concerns the establishment of new social structures and group identities. Along with other important factors, such as territory, ideology or economy, biological relationships might have played a decisive role in defining social groups. We therefore systematically analyzed teeth and jaw remains from nine sites in the Near East dating from the Natufian to the Late PPNB as primary proxy data for the reconstruction of familial relationships. This paper presents the results of morphological analyses on the teeth of the individuals from Kfar HaHoresh, one of the investigated Pre-Pottery Neolithic B sites. Kfar HaHoresh is located in the Nazareth hills of Galilee (32°42'20'' N 35°16'28'' E), Israel. Different statistical methods were applied to our data of epigenetic traits with the aim of determining biological relationships within the community, whereby the data of the eight other sites were used as cross-references. Our comparison of the traits of all individuals from Kfar HaHoresh indicates a rather heterogeneous community, but clearly shows one cluster belonging to a quite homogenous group, suggesting close biological relations between females and sub-adults. Interestingly, none of the male individuals belongs to this cluster, although their number outweighs that of the female individuals. This might suggest matrilocal residence patterns. However, due to the incomplete preservation of the teeth along with several other uncertainties, our conclusion must be seen as preliminary. A cross-examination of the results on skeletons excavated after our investigation should also be taken into consideration.

The transition from foraging to farming of the Neolithic periods is one of, if not, the most important cultural processes in recent human prehistory. Integrating previously published archaeological materials with archaeological research conducted since 1980, the first half of this essay synthesizes our current understanding of archaeological data for the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (ca. 11,700–ca. 8400 B.P.) of the southern Levant, generally defined as including southern Syria and Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Autonomous Authority, Jordan, and the Sinai peninsula of Egypt. The second half of the essay explores how these data inform archaeologists about the processes by which social differentiation emerged, the nature of regional and interregional connections, and the mechanisms and processes by which the transition from foraging to food production first occurred in the Neolithic.

The manufacturing techniques of two PPNB plastered skulls each from Jericho, Kfar HaHoresh and Beisamoun were studied by a series of different and complementary analyses. These revealed that all share a common general technological background, and yet marked intra-site details of fabrication can be identified. All appear to have been locally produced. Similar conclusions are reached on the basis of iconographic features. Thus, although the artisans shared general concepts of the objects to be created and their means of manufacture, strong site-specific traditions were displayed. This conclusion is further reinforced by recent information concerning plastered faces from Ain Ghazal, as well as the preliminary reports on skulls from Ramad. Accordingly it is suggested that, while broad pyrotechnological and ritual information was most likely disseminated by oral communication, the artisans producing the plastered skulls were locally based and working within the framework of powerful on-site traditions.

Renewed excavations at the site of Abu Salem near Har Harif revealed the presence of a substantial Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) occupation that partly overlapped the previously documented Late Epipalaeolithic Harifian settlement. The latter occupation is quite limited in extent, comprising a beehive arrangement of small oval architectural features and related installations; however, the use to which the structures were put remains enigmatic. A small groundstone tool assemblage was recovered. The chipped stone tool assemblage is dominated by projectile points, notches and denticulates, retouched blades and flakes, and borers. Seriation analysis of the arrowheads indicates that the Neolithic settlement was sporadically occupied over a considerable periods beginning during the Early PPNB, towards the end of the ninth millennium BP (uncalibrated). The specific location and nature of the site are indicative of repeated seasonal (summer?) occupation of the highest elevations of the Negev by a small group of hunter-gatherers.

The Levantine Epipalaeolithic,c.20,000–10,000 BP, represents one of the most intensively studied periods in prehistoric research in the past 30 years, with literally hundreds of sites being discovered and many systematically investigated. The researchers involved come from a diverse range of backgrounds and national 'schools', and include American, Australian, British, French and Israeli scholars. Some, myself included, see its variability in chipped stone tool morphology, techniques of manufacture and specific means of hafting to reflect, in addition to functional factors, the stylistic traditions of specific groups in the landscape (Bar-Yosef 1991a; Goring-Morris 1987; 1995). This evidence is further bolstered by chrono-stratigraphy, settlement patterns, inter- and intra-site organization and patterning, as well as other material culture residues (Goring-Morris 1989a; 1989b; 1991).

It is widely agreed that a pivotal shift from wild animal hunting to herd animal management, at least of goats, began in the southern Levant by the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (10,000-9,500 cal. BP) when evidence of ritual activities flourished in the region. As our knowledge of this critical change grows, sites that represent different functions and multiple time periods are needed to refine the timing, pace and character of changing human-animal relationships within the geographically variable southern Levant. In particular, we investigate how a ritual site was provisioned with animals at the time when herd management first began in the region. We utilize fauna from the 2010-2012 excavations at the mortuary site of Kfar HaHoresh-the longest continuous Pre-Pottery Neolithic B faunal sequence in the south Levantine Mediterranean Hills (Early-Late periods, 10,600-8,700 cal. BP). We investigate the trade-off between wild and domestic progenitor taxa and classic demographic indicators of management to detect changes in hunted animal selection and control over herd animal movement and reproduction. We find that ungulate selection at Kfar HaHoresh differs from neighboring sites, although changes in dietary breadth, herd demographics and body-size data fit the regional pattern of emerging management. Notably, wild ungulates including aurochs and gazelle are preferentially selected to provision Kfar HaHoresh in the PPNB, despite evidence that goat management was underway in the Mediterranean Hills. The preference for wild animals at this important site likely reflects their symbolic significance in ritual and mortuary practice.