DOCSLIB.ORG

03 Landscapes of Survival First Inhabitants Richter 2020

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
03 Landscapes of Survival First Inhabitants Richter 2020 First inhabitants the early prehistory of north-east Jordan Richter, Tobias; Akkermanns, Peter; Ahmad, Jallad, Al- Published in: Landscapes of Survival Publication date: 2020 Document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Document license: Unspecified Citation for published version (APA): Richter, T., Akkermanns, P. (Ed.), & Ahmad, J. A. (Ed.) (2020). First inhabitants: the early prehistory of north- east Jordan. In P. Akkermans (Ed.), Landscapes of Survival: International Conference on The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Jordan’s North-Eastern Desert (pp. 17). sidestone press academics. Download date: 26. sep.. 2021 LANDSCAPES OF SURVIVAL This is a free offprint – as with all our publications the entire book is freely accessible on our website, and is available in print or as PDF e-book. www.sidestone.com LANDSCAPES OF SURVIVAL THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY OF JORDAN’S NORTH-EASTERN DESERT AND BEYOND edited by PETER M.M.G. AKKERMANS © 2020 Individual authors Published by Sidestone Press, Leiden www.sidestone.com Lay-out & cover design: Sidestone Press Photograph cover: Peter Akkermans – Jebel Qurma Archaeological Landscape Project ISBN 978-90-8890-942-9 (softcover) ISBN 978-90-8890-943-6 (hardcover) ISBN 978-90-8890-944-3 (PDF e-book) Contents Foreword 7 Aktham Oweidi Introduction: landscapes of survival 9 Peter M.M.G. Akkermans First inhabitants: the early prehistory of north-east Jordan 17 Tobias Richter New techniques for tracing ephemeral occupation in arid, 37 dynamic environments: case studies from Wadi Faynan and Wadi al-Jilat, Jordan Daniella Vos Populating the Black Desert: the Late Neolithic presence 59 Yorke M. Rowan, Gary O. Rollefson and Alexander Wasse Flamingos in the desert: how a chance encounter shed light on 79 the ‘Burin Neolithic’ of eastern Jordan Alexander Wasse, Gary Rollefson and Yorke Rowan Pastoralists of the southern Nefud desert: inter-regional contact 103 and local identity Maria Guagnin The works of the old men in Arabia: a comparative analysis 117 David Kennedy Defending the ‘land of the devil’: prehistoric hillforts in the 145 Jawa hinterland Bernd Müller-Neuhof The Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age of the badia and 165 beyond: implications of the results of the first season of the ‘Western Harra Survey’ Stefan L. Smith East of Azraq: settlement, burial and chronology from the 185 Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age and Iron Age in the Jebel Qurma region, Black Desert, north-east Jordan Peter M.M.G. Akkermans and Merel L. Brüning Identifying nomadic camp sites from the Classical and Late 217 Antique periods in the Jebel Qurma region, north-eastern Jordan Harmen O. Huigens The Nabataeans as travellers between the desert and the sown 235 Will M. Kennedy The desert and the sown: Safaitic outsiders in Palmyrene territory 255 Jørgen Christian Meyer The north-eastern badia in Early Islamic times 265 Karin Bartl Depicting the camel: representations of the dromedary in the 287 Black Desert rock art of Jordan Nathalie Østerled Brusgaard Bows on basalt boulders: weaponry in Safaitic rock art from 305 Jebel Qurma, Black Desert, Jordan Keshia A.N. Akkermans ‘Your own mark for all time’: on wusūm marking practices in the 317 Near East (c. 1800-1960 AD) Koen Berghuijs Rock art in Saudi Arabia: a window into the past? First insights 333 of a comparative study of rock art sites in the Riyadh and Najrān regions Charly Poliakoff Graffiti and complexity: ways-of-life and languages in the 343 Hellenistic and Roman harrah Michael C.A. Macdonald Gaius the Roman and the Kawnites: inscriptional evidence for 355 Roman auxiliary units raised from the nomads of the harrah Ahmad Al-Jallad, Zeyad Al-Salameen, Yunus Shdeifat and Rafe Harahsheh Remarks on some recently published inscriptions from the 363 harrah referring to the Nabataeans and the ‘revolt of Damasī’ Jérôme Norris Two new Safaitic inscriptions and the Arabic and Semitic plural 391 demonstrative base Phillip W. Stokes First inhabitants: the early prehistory of north-east Jordan Tobias Richter Abstract The semi-arid to arid steppe and desert regions of eastern Jordan have produced a remarkable record for human occupation during the Pleistocene and early Holocene. Humans arrived in this region as early as 400,000 years ago during the Lower Palaeolithic. Fieldwork has produced particularly substantial evidence for human habitation during the Epipalaeolithic, and recent fieldwork has also demonstrated considerable human settlement during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A. This contribution outlines the history of prehistoric research in eastern Jordan, and summarises the evidence for each of the key periods. Cumulatively, the evidence suggests that eastern Jordan was not always a marginal or peripheral region during the Palaeolithic and early Neolithic. Human groups used the steppe and desert to the best of their advantage and adapted to the physical constraints of these landscapes in different ways. Keywords: Palaeolithic, Epipalaeolithic, Pre-Pottery Neolithic, Azraq, harrah Introduction With human presence attested at least 400,000 years ago, the Azraq basin and adjacent areas of north-east Jordan preserve one of the most continuous and well-known sequences of early prehistoric settlement in the Levant. Although the north-east badia of Jordan had for a long time been thought of as a largely inhospitable region, hostile to permanent human occupation, archaeological fieldwork over the past four decades has demonstrated that the region’s early occupation spans from the later part of the Lower Palaeolithic to the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. The idea that north-east Jordan was a landscape in which, due to the environmental constraints of the semi-arid steppe and arid desert, survival was difficult and life was harsh, has therefore been undergoing active revision (e.g. Richter 2014; Maher et al. 2016). Thus, it has become clear that east and north-east Jordan were not a cultural ‘periphery’, as has sometimes been implied (e.g. Bar-Yosef 1998; Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen 2000; 1989; Bar-Yosef and Meadow 1995; Garrard et al. 1996; Goring-Morris 1987). Key cultural, economic and social advances have commonly been described as having occurred outside this region and were introduced to the badia only later. But at least in terms of early human settlement, this is not necessarily a given, as I hope to show in this article. Certain developments in the prehistory of north- east Jordan can actually be seen as locally-specific processes, independent of events taking place elsewhere. Furthermore, it is important not to judge the archaeological record of this semi-arid steppe and desert through the perspective of a modern, western individual. Oftentimes, we tend to judge the suitability of landscapes for human occupation based In: Peter M. M. G. Akkermans (ed.) 2020: Landscapes of Survival - The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Jordan’s North-Eastern Desert and Beyond, Sidestone Press (Leiden), pp. 17-36. 17 on the idea how suitable, or not, such an area is or was in the area. Under current climatic conditions, rainfall for agriculture, especially when it comes to more recent declines from c. 200-300 mm in the north-west to 60 mm periods. While it is clear that farming was probably in the south-west of the badia, whereas mean annual always opportunistic and seasonal in eastern Jordan, rainfall on the eastern limestone plateau declines from 90 we ought to recognise that the inhabitants of this region to 70 mm from west to east. The area is thus classified as a would not have seen it the same way. Instead, I argue that hot, semi-arid steppe and desert. this landscape was the centre of their social lives. Their However, the catchment area of the Azraq basin experience of living in and off this land made them experts extends over an area of 12,000 km2 and reaches as far up at constructing their very own niche, developing modes as the Jebel al-‘Arab/Jebel Druze in southern Syria, where of existence and experiences that were particular to this mean annual precipitation ranges between 350 and 500 mm and similar parts of south-west Asia. It is also important (Haaland 2009; Noble 2009). Almost all of the water on the to recognise that the landscape that characterises north- southern, south-eastern and eastern slopes of the Jebel east Jordan today has changed dramatically since the al-‘Arab drain towards the Azraq oasis, transporting large beginning of human settlement in the region. There is quantities of surface run-off during the autumn and winter ample evidence to suggest that the landscape we consider seasons. The springs of the oasis are fed by the uppermost today as characteristic of eastern Jordan was radically of the three Azraq aquifers, which are replenished through different in the deep past. I will return to these twin issues this seasonal rainfall. Their discharge was low compared to throughout this contribution. recharge, creating a permanent water source even during drier climatic intervals, but this equilibrium has been Geography, research history and disturbed by recent water extraction. Seasonal rainfall also palaeoenvironment of north-east leads to flooding of playas, which stay flooded for several Jordan weeks and months, usually drying up by the late spring/ The region under discussion encompasses the geological early summer. The largest of these is the Azraq qa’, which areas of the north-eastern part of Jordan’s central plateau, can flood up to 50-60 km2. Outside of the oasis, there is the Azraq-Sirhan basin; the northern basalt plateau, little or no fresh water across much of the area during the part of the Harrat al-Sham volcanic field; and the north- summer period. eastern limestone plateau. It totals c. 40,000 km2 in area. Following initial reports of archaeological structures The northern basalt plateau is comprised of lava flows spotted from the air by air-mail pilots Maitland (1927) dating from the Miocene-Pliocene, which overlie older and Rees (1929), Henry Field was the first archaeologist Cretaceous, Eocene and Oligocene limestone formations.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Late Neolithic Colonization of the Eastern Badia of Jordan
    The Late Neolithic colonization of the Eastern Badia of Jordan 1 Gary Rollefson1, Yorke Rowan2 and Alexander Wasse Pioneering research by Betts and by Garrard in the eastern steppe and desert of Jordan demonstrated the presence of Late Neolithic (c. 7000–5000 cal BC) pastoral exploitation of this currently arid/hyper-arid region, but the scale of Late Neolithic presence in the area was difficult to assess from the reports of their surveys and excavations. Recent investigations by the Eastern Badia Archaeological Project at Wisad Pools and the Wadi al-Qattafi in the Black Desert have shown that conditions during the latter half of the 7th millennium and into the 6th, permitted substantial numbers of pastoralists to occupy substantial dwellings recurrently, in virtual village settings, for considerable amounts of time on a seasonal basis, relying heavily on the hunting of wild animals and perhaps practising opportunistic agriculture in addition to herding caprines. Keywords Late Neolithic, pastoralism, architecture, palaeoclimate, caprines Introduction The combination of high demands for farmland and The middle of the 8th millennium in the southern pasturage on unstable resources resulted in drastically Levant witnessed considerable turmoil: substantial reduced populations at some of the sites (e.g. ‘Ain 2numbers of Middle PPNB settlements in the Jordan Ghazal and Wadi Shu’eib) and the outright abandon- Valley and areas to the west were abandoned, and ment of other population centres. With population large numbers of people migrated to
    [Show full text]
  • Primary Sources of Archaeobotanical Datasets and Radiocarbon Dates from Southwest Asia
    Asouti, Eleni, and Dorian Q Fuller. A Contextual Approach to the Emergence of Agriculture in Southwest Asia: Reconstructing Early Neolithic Plant-Food Production. Supplement A: Primary Sources of Archaeobotanical Datasets and Radiocarbon Dates from Southwest Asia. Current Anthropology 54(3). Supplement A: Primary Sources of Archaeobotanical Datasets and Radiocarbon Dates from Southwest Asia We have assembled in this supplement the primary sources of archaeobotanical datasets retrieved from sites in Southwest Asia (Part 1) and the radiocarbon dates by which these sites have been assigned calendrical ages (Part 2). Part 3 presents the radiocarbon dates for early PPN sites that, to date, have not produced relevant published archaeobotanical assemblages. Part 1: Sites with Published Archaeobotanical Datasets For general overviews see Asouti and Fuller (2012), Charles (2007), Colledge and Conolly (2007), Colledge, Conolly, and Shennan (2004), Fuller et al. (2012), Garrard (1999), Willcox (1999, 2007) and Zohary, Hopf, and Weiss (2012). Sources for individual sites are indicated below, listed alphabetically by site name, followed by a short assessment of plant domestication status for all sites listed in Tables 3-4, and a list of bibliographic references. 1A. Archaeobotanical primary data sources Abdul Hosein, Tepe Iran Hubbard 1990. ‘Abr, Tell Syria Willcox et al. 2009, Willcox et al. 2008. Abu Hureyra, Tell Syria Colledge and Conolly 2010; Hillman 2000; Hillman et al. 1989; Hillman et al. 2001; de Moulins 1997, 2000. ‘Ain Ghazal Jordan Rollefson et al. 1985. Ali Kosh Iran Helbaek 1969. Aşıklı Höyük Turkey van Zeist and de Roller 1995. Aswad, Tell Syria van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1985 [1982]. Ayios Epiktitos Vrysi Cyprus Kyllo 1982.
    [Show full text]
  • Mushash 163: a Site of the 9Th Millennium BCE in the Jordanian Badia
    Field Report Mushash 163: A Site of the 9th Millennium BCE in the Jordanian Badia. Results From the Investigations in 2016 and 2017 Karin Bartl The Neolithic site of Mushash 163 is located in the known in the north-western Badia, but it has been evi- north-western part of the Jordanian desert steppe denced for example at Wadi Jilat, about 40 km south of (badia) and about 40 km east of Amman (Fig. 1). It was Mushash 163 (Garrard et al. 1994). discovered during a survey in the surroundings of the The area surrounding Mushash 163 lacks perennial Islamic site of Qasr Mushash in 2012. Further archaeo- watercourses and springs. The only drainage today logical investigations followed between 2014 and 2017. comes from winter precipitation that briefly causes The aim of the work was to determine the stratigraphic flash floods in wadis and depressions, but that also sequence, as well as to obtain information about the collects in ground water reservoirs. Exploitation of the built structures of this 0.25 ha large settlement. area’s high groundwater table has until the present day The collected surface finds from the 2012 survey therefore been a traditional way of getting access to the pointed to the site’s occupation between the Early and water in this region. Late Neolithic Period, i.e. between the 10th/9th and the Today the area’s landscape is that of a desert steppe 7th/6th millennium BCE. The former period is not well- deprived of its former vegetation. Its overexploitation Fig. 1 Sites mentioned in the text.
    [Show full text]
  • Original Research Paper the Origins of Nomadic Pastoralism in the Eastern Jordanian Steppe
    Manuscript Click here to access/download;Manuscript;Miller et al The Origins of Nomadic Pastoralism.docx Original Research Paper The origins of nomadic pastoralism in the eastern Jordanian steppe: a combined stable isotope and chipped stone assessment Holly Miller1, Douglas Baird2, Jessica Pearson2, Angela L. Lamb3, Matt Grove2, Louise Martin4 and Andrew Garrard4. The circumstances in which domestic animals were first introduced to the arid regions of the Southern Levant and the origins of nomadic pastoralism, have been the subject of considerable debate. Nomadic pastoralism was a novel herd management practice with implications for the economic, social and cultural development of Neolithic communities inhabiting steppe and early village environs. Combining faunal stable isotope and chipped stone analysis from the Eastern Jordanian Neolithic steppic sites of Wadi Jilat 13 and 25, and ‘Ain Ghazal in the Mediterranean agricultural zone of the Levantine Corridor, we provide a unique picture of the groups exploiting the arid areas. Key words Neolithic; stable isotopes; nomadic pastoralism; lithic analysis; fauna. Introduction Some of the earliest evidence for domestic sheep and goats herds in the Eastern Jordanian steppe has been recovered from the sites of Wadi Jilat 13 and 25 at the beginning of the seventh millennium cal. BC (Garrard 1998; Garrard et al. 1994b; Martin 1999; Martin and Edwards 2013), although the possibility of their introduction in the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (henceforth LPPNB) 1 Holly Miller (corresponding author) Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK. email: [email protected], telephone: +44 (0)115 951 4813, ORCHiD: 0000-0002- 0394-9444 2 Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
    [Show full text]
  • Feeding Villages: Foraging and Farming Across Neolithic Landscapes
    Feeding Villages: Foraging and farming across Neolithic landscapes by Matthew V. Kroot A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology) in the University of Michigan 2014 Dissertation Committee: Professor Henry T. Wright, Chair Professor Daniel C. Fisher Professor Kent V. Flannery Professor Ian Kuijt, Notre Dame University Professor Joyce Marcus ©Matthew V. Kroot 2014 Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to Robin G. Nelson. ii Acknowledgments There are two parts to this dissertation work, the first being the research and the second being the writing. I would like to thank all those who labored in the field and in the lab with me to make the ‘Assal-Dhra’ Archaeological Project (ADAP) – the research program through which all the primary data of this dissertation has been derived – possible. This includes Chantel White, my co-director in the first year, as well as the paleo-environmental specialist for the duration of the project and Eliza Wallace, the project’s GIS specialist. In the first year the survey and surface collections could never have been completed without Joshua Wright who essentially designed the methodologies that we used. Additionally, Phil Graham provided enthusiastic and valuable work during this first season. Our Department of Antiquities representative, Rami Freihat, helped with fieldwork and field life in countless ways. In the second season, I had the pleasure of working with two very helpful members of the Department of Antiquities: Jamal Safi, who helped map the site of al-Khayran, and Khaled Tarawneh, who worked tirelessly for ADAP both in the field and in the bureaucracy.
    [Show full text]
  • Natufian Foragers in the Levant
    Natufian Foragers in the Levant Terminal Pleistocene Social Changes in Western Asia edited by Ofer Bar-Yosef & François R. Valla INTERNATIONAL MONOGRAPHS IN PREHISTORY Archaeological Series 19 © 2013 by International Monographs in Prehistory All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved Paperback: ISBN 978-1-879621-45-9 Hard Cover: ISBN 978-1-879621-46-6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Natufian foragers in the Levant : terminal Pleistocene social changes in Western Asia / edited by Ofer Bar-Yosef & François Valla. pages cm. -- (Archaeological series / International Monographs in Prehistory ; 19) Papers from a symposium held in 2009. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-879621-45-9 (paperback : acid-free paper) -- ISBN 978-1-879621-46-6 (hard cover : acid-free paper) 1. Natufian culture--Middle East--Congresses. 2. Hunting and gathering societies--Middle East--Congresses. 3. Pleistocene-Holocene boundary--Congresses. 4. Social archaeology--Middle East--Congresses. 5. Social change--Middle East--History--To 1500--Congresses. 6. Excavations (Archaeology)--Middle East--Congresses. 7. Middle East--Antiquities--Congresses. I. Bar-Yosef, Ofer. II. Valla, François Raymond. GN774.3.N38N28 2013 306.3›640956--dc23 2013035516 Printed with the support of the American School of Prehistoric Research (Peabody Museum, Harvard University) This book is printed on acid-free paper. ∞ International Monographs in Prehistory Ann Arbor, Michigan U.S.A. Table of Contents List of Contributors ................................................................................................................... vii Preface – The Natufian Culture in the Levant: Twenty Years Later Ofer Bar-Yosef and François R. Valla ...............................................................................xv Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................xix Northern Levant Natufian Lifeways in the Eastern Foothills of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains Nicholas J.
    [Show full text]
  • Fresh Fields and Pastures New Papers Presented in Honor of Andrew M.T
    Chazan (eds) Chazan & Lillios Fresh Fields and Pastures New PAPERS PRESENTED IN HONOR OF ANDREW M.T. MOORE Fresh Fields and and Fields Fresh Fresh Fields and Pastures New New Pastures This volume honors the career and contributions of Andrew M.T. Moore. Moore’s groundbreaking work at Abu Hureyra, Syria and excavations at Neolithic sites in Croatia have made him a pioneer in integrated interdisciplinary research in archaeology, expressing a deeply held conviction that developments in human culture can only be understood when embedded in an ecological approach. of of in Honor Presented Papers In this book, colleagues and former students of Moore, working in the Near East and A ndrew M. ndrew Croatia, present current research, illustrating the continuing impact of Moore’s work on the early farming and herding peoples of the eastern Mediterranean. T . Moore edited by Sidestone ISidestoneSBN 978-90-8890-348-9 Press Katina T. Lillios & Michael Chazan ISBN: 978-90-8890-348-9 9 789088 903489 This is an Open Access publication. Visit our website for more OA publication, to read any of our books for free online, or to buy them in print or PDF. www.sidestone.com Check out some of our latest publications: Fresh Fields and Pastures New Sidestone Press Fresh Fields and Pastures New PAPERS PRESENTED IN HONOR OF ANDREW M.T. MOORE edited by Katina T. Lillios & Michael Chazan © 2016 individual authors Published by Sidestone Press, Leiden www.sidestone.com ISBN 978-90-8890-348-9 Lay-out & cover design: Sidestone Press Photographs cover: Also available as: e-book (PDF): ISBN 978-90-8890-349-6 Contents Preface 7 Michael Chazan & Katina T.
    [Show full text]
  • Faunal Turnover in the Azraq Basin, Eastern Jordan 28,000 to 9,000 Cal BP, Signalling Climate Change and Human Impact
    *Manuscript Click here to view linked References For submission to Quaternary Research Pages 1 Faunal turnover in the Azraq Basin, eastern Jordan 28,000 to 9,000 cal BP, signalling climate change and human impact Louise Martina, b, c, Yvonne H. Edwardsa, Joe Roea, Andrew Garrarda aInstitute of Archaeology, University College London, Gordon Square London WC1H 0PY: bcorresponding author: [email protected] Page 2 Abstract Recent zooarchaeological analyses of game exploitation in the Epipalaeolithic of the Southern Levant identify a decline in large game in the Natufian, with corresponding increase in small prey, interpreted as hunting pressure driven by population expansion. To date, studies focus on the Mediterranean zone. This paper adopts similar approaches to examine Epipalaeolithic to Neolithic faunal data from 16 sites in the steppic Jordanian Azraq Basin. Results here reveal very different trends. Large game, mainly equids, fluctuate throughout the Epipalaeolithic, due to climatic conditions and available water/vegetation. Cattle thrive in the Azraq oasis, showing no decline in the Late Epipalaeolithic. Gazelle exploitation is predominant and sustainable throughout the Epipalaeolithic, even at Kharaneh IV and Wadi Jilat 6 ‘megasites’. However, PPNB assemblages from the limestone steppe show intensive game exploitation resulting from longer-stay settlement. The focused gazelle-hunting camp at Dhuweila in the Basalt desert also shows pressure from indiscriminate culling impacting herd demography, interpreted as providing meat for onwards exchange. Human impacts on steppe fauna appear both local and in many cases short-term, unlike the large-game suppression reported from west of the Rift Valley. Resource pressures and game over-kill, whether population-driven or otherwise, are not currently apparent east of the Jordan River.
    [Show full text]
  • Quaternary of the Levant
    'ii Quaternary of the Levant Environments, Climate Change, and Humans Edited by Ynnouoe ENzBr The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Open Bn n-Yossr' H arvard University, Mas s achus ett s CATVTBNIDGE UNI\TERSITY PRESS cANrsnrDGE UNTVERSITY PRESS University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor. New York. NY 1000b, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, yIC 3207, Australia 4843/24,2nd Floor, Ansari Road. Daryaganj. Delhi - 1 10002, India 79 Anson Road, #06-04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University's mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge .ory/97 81107 090460 10.10t7 t9'7 I I 3 1 61 067 54 O Cambridge University Press 2017 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. Firsr published 20t7 Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ Intemational Ltd. Padsrow Comwall A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. Lib rary of C on g re s s C at alo g Lting-in- P ub lic ation Data Names: Enzel, Yehouda, 1955- editor. I Bar-Yosef, Ofer, editor. Title: Quatemary of the Levant : environments, climate change, and humans / edited by Yehouda Enzel and Ofer Bar-Yosef. Description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 20i7.
    [Show full text]
  • Modeling Foraging Ranges and Spatial Organization of Late Pleistocene Hunter-Gatherers in the Southern Levant - a Least-Cost GIS Approach
    Elsevier Editorial System(tm) for Quaternary International Manuscript Draft Manuscript Number: QUATINT-D-15-00225R1 Title: Modeling Foraging Ranges and Spatial Organization of Late Pleistocene Hunter-gatherers in the Southern Levant - A Least-Cost GIS Approach Article Type: Late Pleistocene Levant Keywords: Least-Cost GIS; Paleolandscape reconstruction; Foraging range modeling; Southern Levant; Epipaleolithic, Near East Corresponding Author: Dr. Brian F. Byrd, PhD Corresponding Author's Institution: Far Western Anthropological Research First Author: Brian F. Byrd, PhD Order of Authors: Brian F. Byrd, PhD; Andrew Garrard, Ph.Dl; Paul Brandy, MS Manuscript Region of Origin: USA Abstract: This study takes a regional approach to understanding the nature of Near Eastern hunter- gatherer spatial organization near the height of the Last Glacial Maximum, circa 21,000 calibrated years ago. To do so, we reconstructed the paleogeography and paleovegetation and then employed least-cost GIS analysis to model foraging ranges and potential annual territorial extent associated with a selection of excavated and dated sites throughout the Southern Levant. Settlement trends in the region as a whole are explored first, followed by a case study of annual settlement scenarios in the arid Azraq Basin on the eastern edge of the Levant, focusing on its distinctive large aggregation sites. The results of the study reveal that potential maximum daily foraging ranges as well as habitats and habitat zone heterogeneity within these foraging ranges differed greatly across the region. Due to variance in potential plant and animal productivity, settlement patterns undoubtedly differed significantly across the southern Levant particularly with respect to the number of moves per year, the importance of fusion-fission strategies, the seasonality of relocation tactics, and the importance of group territoriality.
    [Show full text]
  • A Case Study in the Zagros Mountains of Iran
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Redfame Publishing: E-Journals International Journal of Social Science Studies Vol. 3, No. 6; November 2015 ISSN 2324-8033 E-ISSN 2324-8041 Published by Redfame Publishing URL: http://ijsss.redfame.com From Forager to Cultivator: A Case Study in the Zagros Mountains of Iran Jonathan Adam Baines1 1Tübingen University, Institut für Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie, 23 Rümelinstrasse, 72070 Tübingen, Germany. Correspondence: Jonathan Adam Baines, Tübingen University, Institut für Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie, 23 Rümelinstrasse, 72070 Tübingen, Germany. Received: August 31, 2015 Accepted: September 11, 2015 Available online: October 30, 2015 doi:10.11114/ijsss.v3i6.1183 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11114/ijsss.v3i6.1183 Abstract This paper examines the early aceramic Neolithic botanic assemblage from Chogha Golan, Iran, for signs of cultivation. Based on the presumption that people's engagement with the local vegetation altered due to a changing mode of residence and mobility during that period, its record of edible and useful plants ought to look different compared to that of the site's later assemblages that include domesticated emmer. The study involved data from coeval sites in the region and three Palaeolithic outliers, including Ghar-e Boof, a Rostamian cave occupation in the Zagros Mountains. Though the information does not refute efforts at cultivation at the site during the midden's initial occupation, the analyses rather suggest that a realignment of hunter-gatherer traditions took place, with local plant exploitation targeting a wider breadth in the landscape. Inherited subsistence strategies were adapted to the new human and natural setting inhabited, in which high yield legumes and grasses dominated procurement and became the focus of the incipient agricultural transformations underway.
    [Show full text]
  • The Environmental Setting of Epipalaeolithic Aggregation Site Kharaneh IV
    Quaternary International xxx (2015) 1e10 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint The environmental setting of Epipalaeolithic aggregation site Kharaneh IV * Matthew D. Jones a, , Lisa A. Maher b, Danielle A. Macdonald c, d, Conor Ryan e, Claire Rambeau f, Stuart Black g, Tobias Richter h a School of Geography, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK b Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, USA c Department of Archaeological Science, University of Bradford, UK d Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa, Harwell Hall, 800 S Tucker Drive, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA e Golder Associates (UK) Ltd, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, UK f Institut für Geo- und Umweltnaturwissenschaften e Geologie, University of Freiburg, Germany g Department of Archaeology, School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, UK h Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark article info abstract Article history: The archaeological site of Kharaneh IV in Jordan's Azraq Basin, and its relatively near neighbour Jilat 6 Available online xxx show evidence of sustained occupation of substantial size through the Early to Middle Epipalaeolithic (c. 24,000e15,000 cal BP). Here, we review the geomorphological evidence for the environmental setting in Keywords: which Kharaneh IV was established. The on-site stratigraphy is clearly differentiated from surrounding Epipalaeolithic sediments, marked visually as well as by higher magnetic susceptibility values. Dating and analysis of off- Jordan site sediments show that a significant wetland existed at the site prior to and during early site occupation Last Glacial Maximum (~23,000e19,000 BP).
    [Show full text]