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[EN] Nahal Efe is the largest and best preserved Middle PPNB site in the Negev (Israel), constituting a privileged data source for reconstructing the animal exploitation and subsistence strategies of the hunter-gatherer communities that inhabited the Negev 10,000 years ago. The preliminary results of the study of the faunal assemblage from excavation seasons 2015–2019 are presented in this paper. The zooarchaeological study indicates that during the Middle PPNB the community of hunter-gatherers at Nahal Efe exploited a wide spectrum of animal species, favoured by the great potential in terms of animal resources that the site’s surroundings offered, in a contact area between different eco-zones. Large and middle-sized ungulates, small carnivores, hares, and birds were captured, revealing the variability and adaptability of the hunting strategies of the community at Nahal Efe. Hunting, as a source of animal-based food, focused on the exploitation of ibex (C. nubiana) and gazelle (G. gazella) in similar proportions, which were most probably transported complete or almost complete to the site and intensively processed. Finally, another remarkable aspect of the faunal assemblage is the deposit of remains of at least three species of diurnal raptors inside a pit in one of the excavated residential buildings (Unit 10), evidencing the exploitation of birds of prey, most probably to acquire raw materials (e.g. feathers and talons). The presence of fox remains at the site also seems to be related to the procurement of raw materials, furs in this case, but its consumption is also suspected., [FR] Nahal Efe est le plus grand et le mieux préservé des sites du PPNB moyen du Néguev (Israël), constituant une source de données privilégiée pour reconstruire les stratégies d’exploitation animale et de subsistance des communautés de chasseurs-cueilleurs habitant le Néguev il y a 10 000 ans. Les résultats préliminaires de l’étude de l’assemblage faunique des saisons de fouilles 2015-2019 sont présentés dans cet article. L’étude zooarchéologique indique qu’au cours du PPNB moyen, la communauté de chasseurscueilleurs de Nahal Efe a exploité un large spectre d’espèces animales, favorisé par le grand potentiel en termes de ressources animales qu’offrait l’environnement du site, dans une zone de contact entre différentes écozones. Des ongulés de grande et moyenne taille, des petits carnivores, des lièvres et des oiseaux ont été capturés, révélant la variabilité et l’adaptabilité des stratégies de chasse de la communauté de Nahal Efe. La chasse, en tant que source d’aliments d’origine animale, s’est concentrée sur l’exploitation du bouquetin (C. nubiana) et de la gazelle (G. gazella) dans des proportions similaires, qui ont très probablement été transportés complets ou presque complets sur le site et transformés de manière intensive. Par ailleurs, un autre aspect remarquable de l’assemblage faunique est le dépôt de restes d’au moins trois espèces de rapaces diurnes à l’intérieur d’une fosse dans l’un des bâtiments résidentiels fouillés (unité 10), ce qui témoigne de l’exploitation des oiseaux de proie, très probablement pour acquérir des matières premières (par exemple des plumes et des serres). La présence de restes de renards sur le site semble également liée à l’acquisition de matières premières, en l’occurrence des fourrures, mais sa consommation est également suspectée.

Formentera was one of the last Mediterranean islands to be colonized by humans at the end of the third millennium BC. This island is rather small (83¿km2) with marked biogeographical constraints. Typical of a semi-arid environment, the island is poor in resources and biodiversity. Macrolithic tools from the prehistoric sites of Ca na Costa (ca. 2130¿1790 cal BC), Cap de Barbaria II (ca. 1740¿900 cal BC), and Sa Cala (ca. 800¿570 cal BC) showed similar technological, typological, and functional patterns documented in other prehistoric tool assemblages from the Balearic Islands. This common technology is reflected in the way the raw materials were procured, as well as the manufacture, the maintenance strategies, and the use of macrolithic tools (e.g., grinding stone tools, abraders, and percussion tools). Integrated phytolith and starch analyses from grinding toolkits show evidence of people¿s exploitating millet-tribe species (Paniceae) during the Bronze Age, cereals that are well-adapted to nutrient-poor soils, including exotic taxa such as possible foxtail millet (Setaria cf. italica). The production and use of this stone technology suggests how the first human communities on the island achieved and shared social knowledge about the insular landscape and its environmental constraints. This integrative archaeological research in Formentera has shown development of a set of innovative, diversified, and intensive resource exploitation strategies, underlining the high adaptability and resilience of prehistoric societies as well as the sharing of technology within the Balearic archipelago and its independent evolution from mainland technologies.

This article presents the results of the techno-typological and use-wear analyses and contextualization of the Nahal Hemar knives from PPNB Kharaysin. The assemblage is the third largest of this enigmatic and rare tool type in the southern Levant and presents several interesting peculiarities. Almost all the knives were found in two concentrations very close to a funerary area, to which they seem to be related. Some of the knives are the longest ones found to date in the Near East and, interestingly, some could be retted. Use-wear analysis concludes that Nahal Hemar knives from Kharaysin were basically used for cutting soft animal tissue and, less frequently, scraping bones (human bodies?). The results suggest the two concentrations of knives were caches of artefacts of particular signifcance, possibly ritual and associated with the mortuary practices that took place next to where they were found. Thus, would establish, for the first time after Nahal Hemar Cave, a connection between Nahal Hemar knives and the mortuary practices of PPNB communities in the southern Levant.

In this article, we describe petrological, mineralogical and typological analyses of handmade pottery recovered from the Bronze Age site of Cap de Barbaria II, which is located on the island of Formentera (Balearic Islands, Spain). In addition, the mineralogy and texture of several clay deposits present within the study area are also characterized using X-ray powder diffraction and laser diffraction particle size analysis. The goals of this research are, first, to identify the different technological choices made by the community of potters that inhabited this settlement in various stages of the chaîne opératoire (i.e., the procurement of raw materials, preparation of pastes, shaping of the vessels, and firing); second, we aim to determine the relationships between the technological choices identified at this site and the prehistoric technological traditions observed on the other islands of the Balearic archipelago. The results provide evidence that the Bronze Age potters from Cap de Barbaria II developed a very cohesive production system for the procurement of raw materials and the paste recipes used to produce the vessels. Moreover, the results indicate a clear preference for the long-term use of decalcified clays and spathic calcite temper, thus reflecting a consistent community of practice among the potters that shared several technological choices with artisans located at other sites on Formentera and other islands within the archipelago.

El Cierro Cave possesses one of the few sequences in SW Europe in which archaeological levels cover the transition from the late Pleistocene to the early Holocene. Information contributed by the palynological and anthracological studies indicates that this transition was marked by a steady expansion of broadleaf woodland and a reduction in herbaceous-shrub communities. Archaeofaunal studies reveal continuity in subsistence strategies throughout the sequence. This was based on specialisation in hunting red deer, fishing, and gathering molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderm species on rocky shores. The difference between the Azilian and Mesolithic occupations lies in the replacement of some marine invertebrate species and the decrease in limpet sizes. The abiotic evidence is characterised by a lithic assemblage with allochthonous flint types, which has been interpreted as continuity of the raw material procurement strategies inherited from the Magdalenian.

This paper presents new archaeological evidence recorded in the late Pleistocene levels from Arangas cave (Northern Spain). The main goal is to reconstruct the subsistence strategies of the hunter-gatherer groups that occupied the cave between 18,500 and 12,500 cal BP from the integral study of biotic and abiotic remains. Anthracological study reveals that during the Lower Magdalenian (Levels G and F) and Azilian (Level E) daily firewood was collected mainly from species such us as Scots pine nowadays disappeared around the catchment area of the cave or the common oak located in sheltered areas of the hillsides. Faunal remains indicate that the diet was based almost exclusively in the hunting of several ungulates species (red deer, Iberian ibex and chamois). Small vertebrate assemblage is only abundant during the Level G where an open humid and not very cold environment has been inferred. The abiotic evidence is characterized by a lithic assemblage made in local raw materials (above all quartzite). Whereas in the levels dated during the Lower Magdalenian the retouched implements are typologically unrepresentative, in the Azilian level they are more characteristic, above all with the classification of a "thumbnail" end scraper.

Correction to: Nature Ecology & Evolution https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1102-0, published online 24 February 2020.

Steppe-pastoralist-related ancestry reached Central Europe by at least 2500 bc, whereas Iranian farmer-related ancestry was present in Aegean Europe by at least 1900 bc. However, the spread of these ancestries into the western Mediterranean, where they have contributed to many populations that live today, remains poorly understood. Here, we generated genome-wide ancient-DNA data from the Balearic Islands, Sicily and Sardinia, increasing the number of individuals with reported data from 5 to 66. The oldest individual from the Balearic Islands (~2400 bc) carried ancestry from steppe pastoralists that probably derived from west-to-east migration from Iberia, although two later Balearic individuals had less ancestry from steppe pastoralists. In Sicily, steppe pastoralist ancestry arrived by ~2200 bc, in part from Iberia; Iranian-related ancestry arrived by the mid-second millennium bc, contemporary to its previously documented spread to the Aegean; and there was large-scale population replacement after the Bronze Age. In Sardinia, nearly all ancestry derived from the island’s early farmers until the first millennium bc, with the exception of an outlier from the third millennium bc, who had primarily North African ancestry and who—along with an approximately contemporary Iberian—documents widespread Africa-to-Europe gene flow in the Chalcolithic. Major immigration into Sardinia began in the first millennium bc and, at present, no more than 56–62% of Sardinian ancestry is from its first farmers. This value is lower than previous estimates, highlighting that Sardinia, similar to every other region in Europe, has been a stage for major movement and mixtures of people.

During the Early Neolithic in the Near East, particularly from the mid ninth millennium cal BC onwards, human iconography became more widespread. Explanations for this development, however, remain elusive. This article presents a unique assemblage of flint artefacts from the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (eighth millennium BC) site of Kharaysin in Jordan. Contextual, morphological, statistical and use-wear analyses of these artefacts suggest that they are not tools but rather human figurines. Their close association with burial contexts suggests that they were manufactured and discarded during mortuary rituals and remembrance ceremonies that included the extraction, manipulation and redeposition of human remains.

The lithic assemblage studied here comes from El Horno Cave (Ramales de la Victoria, Cantabria, Spain) and is dated in the recent Magdalenian. It was recovered in Level 2 in this site, during fieldwork in 2000 and 2001, in association with a large collection of bone industry, portable art and fauna. The study has been conducted within an integral approach, on the premise that the technological organisation of Magdalenian groups included a series of inter-related strategies involving the procurement of raw materials and the production and fabrication, use and discard of lithic artefacts. Groups of raw materials were established for the technological study in order to characterise the different chaînes opératoires. These vary significantly depending on the flint type. In some cases all or part of the technological process is present, whereas in others only the implement use and discard stage is documented. The flint knappers at El Horno Cave used high-quality raw materials, particularly the Flysch flint-type. The circulation of raw materials indicates that the record at El Horno resembles the pattern identified at other Magdalenian sites in the region. The assemblage appears to correspond to a context of débitage. Although materials were widely available, only a moderate number of potential blanks were retouched into tools, and the choice of these was not especially strict. The retouched tools are not indicative of a situation of specialisation, and use-wear analysis has revealed functional diversity, including complex transformation activities, which are usually linked to stable occupations.

Cremation is a widespread funerary practice that aims to burn the body and create a new appearance of human remains. It has been interpreted as a ritual transition that includes a sequence of acts and processes aimed at commemorating the dead on an individual and collective scale. In the Near East, fire-induced manipulation or cremation was not a usual burial practice during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. In this contribution, we present the geochemical (X-ray fluorescence), mineralogical (X-ray Diffraction) and spectroscopic (Raman spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance) analysis of bones from a Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (ca. 9000 yr cal BP) burial in Kharaysin site (Quneya, Zarqa) in northwest Jordan. We discuss the data obtained by the different analytical methods reviewing the state of the art of each analytical method to infer bone burning palaeotemperatures. Finally, it is demonstrated the burned character of the analysed bones, confirming the earliest presence of cremated human bones in a funerary context of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Near East in Kharaysin. This fact provides a new insight into the complexity and variability of burial customs within the Pre-Pottery Neolithic in Levant.

[EN] The Qarassa North Tell excavations, conducted between 2007 and 2010 by a French-Syrian-Spanish team, were the final phase of a program of research that began in 2002 with the Leja archaeological surveys. Following the surveys, excavations started on the southern tell of Qarassa in 2007, with the aim of assessing the Bronze and Iron Age sequence identified among modern houses scattered on the southern tell during previous surveys. In 2008, surface collection and limited soundings on the northern tell revealed archaeological material that appeared to derive from the Neolithic period. While microlithic materials near the tell pointed to a possible Khiamian and Natufian occupation on the edge of the basaltic plateau, naviform blades on the tell slopes as well as pottery sherds suggested the possibility of a long Neolithic occupation spanning the Pre- Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) to the Chalcolithic. Two seasons of excavation at different locations on the northern tell and the basaltic plateau facing it have produced improved chronological and cultural models of the Southern Levant in a region that has thus far been lacking in well-preserved archaeological sequences from the Natufian to the Chalcolithic., [FR] Les fouilles de Qarassa North Tell, menées entre 2007 et 2010 par une équipe franco-syrienne-espagnole, ont constitué la phase finale d’un programme lancé en 2002 avec les études archéologiques dans le plateau du Leja. Par la suite, des fouilles ont débuté sur le tell sud de Qarassa en 2007, dans le but d’évaluer la séquence de l’âge du Bronze et du Fer identifiée lors de prospections précédentes parmi les maisons modernes sur le tell sud. Finalement, en 2008, des prélèvements de surface et des sondages limités sur le tell du Nord ont révélé la présence de matériel archéologique apparemment lié à la période néolithique. Si, près du tell, les matériaux microlithiques indiquaient une possible occupation khiamienne et natoufienne au bord du plateau basaltique, des lames naviformes sur les pentes du tell ainsi que des fragments céramiques nous ont suggéré l’existence d’une longue occupation néolithique, allant du PPNB au Chalcolithique. Deux saisons de fouilles, à des endroits différents du tell septentrional et du plateau basaltique qui lui fait face, nous ont permis de progresser dans le diagnostic chronologique et culturel du Levant méridional dans une région jusqu’ici dépourvue de séquences archéologiques bien conservées entre le Natoufien et le Chalcolithique.

The ArqueoBarbaria archaeological project aims to characterise the economic strategies and environmental context of Formentera's first human settlers at two Bronze Age sites (Cap de Barbaria II and cave 127) using an interdisciplinary approach.

Electric resistivity tomography (ERT) prospection conducted at the Pre‐Pottery Neolithic site at Kharaysin, Jordan, building on previous surface prospection and excavation, found a number of new sub‐surface anomalies. Subsequent excavations determined that the anomalies corresponded with the stone walls of habitation structures and possibly terrace walls. These features covered large areas of the site slope, inclusive of clustered settlement structures and frequent building superpositions indicative of multi‐phase occupation. Despite the generally arid conditions, the moist soil matrix allowed for the effective use of ERT. This article presents the integrated data of the archaeological excavation and the geophysical survey. As a test case it proves the utility of ERT in the identification of Pre‐Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) and Pre‐Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) sub‐surface anthropogenic features.

The spread of the Neolithic from its area of origin in the Fertile Crescent into Europe, North Africa and Central Asia, vast regions with high ecological and geographical disparity, in a relatively short period of time (a little over two millennia) shows the expansive potential of this new way of life. This was possible because a robust and flexible socio-economic system was built during the four millennia in which the transition from hunter-gatherer to farming societies took place. Better knowledge of how the dynamic forces of the Neolithic developed in the Near East is a precondition for understanding the mechanisms and reasons of its successful expansion. During the last decade, thanks to the intensive work carried out by many international research teams, a much better comprehension on how this happened has been gained. The Fertile Crescent now appears to have been the location of a mosaic of groups evolving at different rhythms and creating different cultural patterns, but who were walking in the same direction due to strong currents of interaction existing between distant regions. These synergies, which contributed to the dynamism and resilience of the process, were possible because of the setup of complex exchange networks, the migration of whole communities and the wandering of task groups.