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A Specialized Sheep-Hunting Camp Reveals High-Altitude Habitats in the Earliest Neolithic of the Central Levant

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A Specialized Sheep-Hunting Camp Reveals High-Altitude Habitats in the Earliest Neolithic of the Central Levant RESEARCH ARTICLE Mugharat an-Nachcharini: A specialized sheep-hunting camp reveals high-altitude habitats in the earliest Neolithic of the Central Levant Stephen RhodesID*, E. B. Banning, Michael Chazan Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada a1111111111 * [email protected] a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 Abstract a1111111111 The earliest Neolithic of southwest Asia is generally perceived and portrayed as a period of emerging economic practices that anticipated full-fledged food-producing economies. This first Neolithic, however, can also be seen as the last gasp of an earlier way of life that OPEN ACCESS remained fundamentally Epipaleolithic in character. While people at this time had begun to Citation: Rhodes S, Banning EB, Chazan M (2020) cultivate some of the plant foods gathered in preceding periods, and to live for lengthy peri- Mugharat an-Nachcharini: A specialized sheep- ods in sites with substantial architecture, they also relied on hunting for a significant portion hunting camp reveals high-altitude habitats in the of their diet and logistical movement across landscapes to exploit diverse environments. earliest Neolithic of the Central Levant. PLoS ONE The objective of our research on Nachcharini Cave, the only excavated early Neolithic site 15(1): e0227276. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0227276 in the high mountains of northeastern Lebanon, is to evaluate its role in a form of logistical organization not well attested at other sites in the Levant during this period. On the basis of Editor: Peter F. Biehl, University at Buffalo - The State University of New York, UNITED STATES material that Bruce Schroeder excavated in the 1970s, we present here for the first time analyses of faunal and lithic evidence from Nachcharini Cave, along with new radiocarbon Received: June 9, 2019 dates that place the major occupation layer of the site firmly in the earliest Neolithic. We con- Accepted: December 16, 2019 clude that Nachcharini was a short-term hunting camp that was periodically used over some Published: January 22, 2020 two centuries. Copyright: © 2020 Rhodes et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are The prevailing picture of the shift from mobile hunter-gatherer adaptations to village farming within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. All archaeological materials communities in the Middle East portrays a complex process in which changes in settlement, (lithics and fauna) are curated in the Anthropology ritual, and mobility preceded clear morphological evidence for subsistence based on domesti- Department at the University of Toronto, and are cated crops and subsequently domesticated animals [1±4]. In this process, the early Pre-Pot- available for reference upon request. The numbers tery Neolithic A (PPNA), which corresponds to the climatic amelioration that followed the of specimens discussed herein are too numerous end of the Younger Dryas, was a critical transition during which increased nucleation, more to mention individually, therefore the data is summarized here in tables and in the text. The permanent settlement, and examples of monumental architecture provide evidence for social radiocarbon information is summarized in Table 1, cohesion and display [5±7]. However, while the prevalence of grinding stones signals the the lithics inventory is summarized in Tables 2 and important role of plant foods in diet and there is strong evidence for crop cultivation at some PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227276 January 22, 2020 1 / 19 Early Neolithic Nachcharini Cave (PPNA) 3, and the fauna is summarized by taxonomic sites, evidence for plant domestication is minimal [8±10], and the exploitation of ungulates groups in Table 4. shows little change from the preceding Natufian period [11]. Funding: Funding for radiocarbon dating was We present here the first comprehensive overview of the results of Bruce Schroeder's exca- provided by The Archaeology Centre at the vations at the PPNA site of Mugharat an-Nachcharini in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains (Fig 1), University of Toronto (MC and SR). Additional including AMS radiocarbon age determinations, the characteristics of the lithic assemblage, support for research was provided by the Ontario and the composition of the ungulate faunal assemblage. These results confirm Schroeder's Graduate Scholarship program (SR). identification of Mugharat an-Nachcharini as a short-term hunting camp, a previously unat- Competing interests: The authors have declared tested type of PPNA occupation, that was contemporary with the large Sultanian sites of the that no competing interests exist. Jordan Valley and has particularly strong parallels to Netiv Hagdud. Furthermore, Nachcharini is the first PPNA site to show a predominance of sheep in the hunted fauna. These results sup- port the view of PPNA society as consisting of hunter-gatherers who practiced logistical Fig 1. Map of region showing location of Nachcharini Cave and other sites mentioned herein. Map by the authors. Sources: Hillshade: Airbus, USGS, NGA, NASA, NOAA, CGIAR, GEBCO, NLS, OS, NMA, Geodatastyrelsen, GSA, GSI and the GIS User Community; World Imagery (Clarity): Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, and the GIS User Community. This work is licensed under the Esri Master License Agreement. Site locations based on researcher database. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227276.g001 PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227276 January 22, 2020 2 / 19 Early Neolithic Nachcharini Cave (PPNA) foraging, with both base camps in the form of substantial villages, and specialized sites, such as the hunting camp at Nachcharini. Site background Nachcharini Cave (Fig 2) is located at an elevation of ca. 2100 masl in the central ‘Ard al- Kichek plateau of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains (al-Jebel ash-Sharqi) in eastern Lebanon, near Fig 2. Views of Nachcharini Cave and environs. a) view of cave mouth looking east, b) view of ‘Ard al-Kishek plateau looking west from cave, c) view of excavation units at end of season, summer 1974, looking east. All photos by B. Schroeder. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227276.g002 PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227276 January 22, 2020 3 / 19 Early Neolithic Nachcharini Cave (PPNA) the modern border with Syria [12±14]. Unlike the lowland villages that have been the focus of most research on this period, Nachcharini is thus at the highest elevation of any known early Neolithic site in the Levant, making it a truly montane site. Its environs are characterized by rolling land broken by karstic sinkholes that create small, steep-walled canyons and valleys. These landforms provide a good potential habitat for wild sheep, and there are steeper peaks and slopes nearby that would provide habitat for wild goat and mountain gazelle. The presence of deer in the Nachcharini faunal assemblage suggests proximity to wooded areas. During win- ter, the plateau receives significant snowfall, and snow often persists there until May or June. The plateau may well have sustained vegetation suitable for grazing and browsing herbivores into the late summer, when available resources may have diminished in the adjacent lowlands. Jacque BesancËon discovered Nachcharini Cave about 1970, and Bruce Schroeder subse- quently excavated at the site in 1972 and 1974. Significant disturbances at the site substantially reduced the area available for excavation. The 1972 season produced a stratigraphic profile in an exposure of approximately 0.5 m2 and pointed to the richness of the PPNA component (Fig 3). The excavation of 1974 expanded the initial exposure of the PPNA to a total of Fig 3. Stratigraphic profile of Schroeder's excavations at Nachcharini Cave. L. Wadsworth and S. Rhodes after original by B. Schroeder. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227276.g003 PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227276 January 22, 2020 4 / 19 Early Neolithic Nachcharini Cave (PPNA) approximately 3 m2. Excavation was in 1 m2 units, subdivided into 9 subsquares, with baulks left that reduced the excavation area (Fig 2C). Schroeder's excavation involved attention to full recovery of all materials and is an early example of the use of the décapage method, with expo- sure and photography of in situ surfaces of artifacts and fauna preceding any removals. Schroe- der identified a sequence of five levels (Fig 3). Here we focus on Layer 4d at the bottom of PPNA Layer 4, in which Schroeder exposed a dense concentration of remains. Layer 4d was reached in three squares (D9, D10, and E9) although part of the area was disturbed by intrusive pits. As Fig 4 shows, Layer 4d was excavated as two surfaces, the upper 4d1 and the Fig 4. Photographs of layer 4d in situ material prior to removal, exemplifying the décapage method. Photos by B. Schroeder. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227276.g004 PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227276 January 22, 2020 5 / 19 Early Neolithic Nachcharini Cave (PPNA) immediately underlying 4d2. In 2001, work by the Nachcharini Highland Survey Project con- firmed Schroeder's original stratigraphy and found that looting had further damaged the site [13]. Materials and methods All material from Schroeder's original excavations
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