Cases from Wadi Hammeh 27, Jordan

The Natural Inspiration for Natuﬁan Art: Cases from Wadi Hammeh 27, Jordan

Phillip C. Edwards, Janine Major, Kenneth J. McNamara & Rosie Robertson

The likelihood that Palaeolithic artisans sometimes used natural objects as models for their image-making has long been suggested, yet well-contextualized and stratified examples have remained rare. This study examines a series of natural and fabricated items from the Natufian settlement of Wadi Hammeh 27 in Jordan (12,000–12,500 cal. BC)to propose that the site occupants collected a variety of found objects such as fossils, unusually shaped stones and animal bones, which they utilized as templates in the production of geometric art pieces. Natural and fabricated objects were woven into complex schemes of relation by Natufian artisans. Existing patterns were copied and applied to a variety of representational images. Found objects were sometimes subtly modified, whereas at other times they were transformed into finished artefacts. The scute pattern on the tortoise carapace, in particular, appears to have formed the basis of important ritual beliefs across the Natufian culture area. At Wadi Hammeh 27, it was evoked in various media and at various scales to form interrelating tableaux of representation.

Introduction The practice of collecting or lightly modifying natural forms reflects a widespread phenomenon that Inhabitants of the Early Natufian site of Wadi Marshack (1997a) believed is ubiquitous in our spe- Hammeh27inJordan(12,000–12,500 cal. BC) collected cies. Indeed, the ability to recognize animate forms interesting curios such as fossils, semi-precious stones, in inanimate objects may be an integral part of the tortoise shells and oddly shaped pieces of rock human condition (Marshack 1997a; Onians 2007). (Edwards et al. 2013a). Here we provide contextual evi- Evidence for this capability appears widely in time dence to suggest that patterns on a variety of these and space; for example, the subtle modifications objects were used by artisans at the site as geometric made to European cave walls and stalagmites in motifs which were applied to portable artworks. The the Upper Palaeolithic to enhance their representa- idea that interesting natural designs may have tional value (Bahn & Vertut 1997, 105–6) and the prompted ancient artisans to reproduce or abstract embellishment of elongated stone objects to elaborate them has been recognized for centuries (Hodgson & their phallic form by Indigenous Australians Pettitt 2018, 597). Yet it is less common to find exam- (McCarthy 1976, 70; Mountford 1939; 1960). ples of art objects and similar natural prototypes in The earliest example of this type from the contemporaneous and secure archaeological contexts, Levant is the Acheulian ‘figurine’ (c. 230,000 years located close to each other. This article presents three ago) from Berekhat Ram on the Golan Heights plausible cases from Wadi Hammeh 27. (d’Errico & Nowell 2000). Unmodified, coloured peb- Like other peoples, Natufian-period artisans bles were also collected at Qesem Cave during the were drawn to a variety of interesting natural objects. late Lower Palaeolithic period (c. 420,000–200,000

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.202.226, on 27 Sep 2021 at 06:18:50, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774319000234 Phillip C. Edwards et al.

approaches to the study of geometric art in the late Pleistocene.

The Natuﬁan culture and the site of Wadi Hammeh 27

The Natufian period (13,000–10,300 cal. BC) in the Levant is considered a crucial juncture in human settlement history because it marks the transition between the mobile hunter-gatherers of earlier Epipalaeolithic phases (20,000–13,000 cal. BC) and the sedentary, agrarian villagers of the Early Neolithic (10,300–8300 cal. BC: Bar-Yosef & Valla fi Figure 1. Exfoliating cobble (RN 80153), Phase 3, Wadi 2011; Grosman & Munro 2017). The Natu an settle- Hammeh 27. ment system has been claimed as an example of inter-annual, pre-agricultural sedentism, and while this level of settlement permanence has yet to be years ago: Assaf 2018). Much later, a Geometric demonstrated, there is broad consensus that the Kebaran chert nodule from Wadi Mataha (c. 16– large, open-air Early Natufian sites, termed ‘base- 17,000 years ago) was smoothed and incised to camps’ (Bar-Yosef & Goren 1973), represent a more enhance its anatomical likeness to a seated human intensive residential system than had previously figure (Gregg et al. 2011, fig. 3; Stock et al. 2005). existed in the Mediterranean zone of the southern Perhaps the most striking example of the Natufian Levant (Boyd 2006; Byrd 1989; Edwards 1989). interest in found objects is another anthropomorphic However, it is not clear as to whether fully inter- cobble from Wadi Mataha, minimally shaped to annual, year-on-year sedentism is demonstrated, emphasize its likeness to a seated human figure rather than intensified occupations per se (Valla (Gregg 2002, fig. 35). 2018). Natufian artisans from Wadi Hammeh 27 also Natufian base-camps are important novelties in took inspiration from natural forms, such as the the archaeological record and represent the founda- exfoliating cobble RN (Registered Number) 80153 tions of the Neolithic village in the Middle East. They (Fig. 1), which suggests an animal’s head with a include the first agglomerations of round and oval large eye. This example is echoed by a zoomorphic huts, constructions which were rebuilt over many gen- flint nodule from the site of El Wad with a strategic- erations, with occupation persisting for hundreds or ally placed ‘eye’ (Weinstein-Evron 1998, 104). even thousands of years. The earliest of the large base- Moreover, elongated flint nodules from El Wad camp settlements in the Mediterranean zone of the were transformed into phallic representations by southern Levant were located in caves or rock-shelters, the strategic addition of grooves representing the such as at El Wad at Mount Carmel, founded around prepuce and urethral opening. The shape of a pestle 13,000 cal. BC (Caracuta et al. 2016; Eckmeier et al. also naturally suggests a phallic form, and this was 2012; Garrod & Bate 1937). Despite the provision of a sometimes accentuated by the application of ‘ureth- natural shelter, the Natufian occupation at El Wad, ral’ and radial grooves added to the end, as in exam- as at several other Natufian cave sites, was equipped ples from El Wad (Weinstein-Evron 1998,96–7) and with a variety of stone features such as hearths, post- Hayonim Cave (Belfer-Cohen 1991, 575). A phalli- holes and pavements. Around 12,500 cal. BC, base- form representation at Wadi Hammeh 27 (RN camp sites were founded in open-air locations, in the 80024) was effected on the longest pestle found at Jordan Valley at Wadi Hammeh 27 (Edwards et al. the site (Edwards 2013a, 316), and also more natural- 2013b) and in the Galilee region shortly afterwards at istically on the smaller pestle, RN 140053 (Edwards ‘Ain Mallaha (Valla et al. 2007, 146). At around the et al. 2018; Robertson 2016). same time, it is now apparent that a settlement of This examination is directed at the more preme- similar complexity had emerged at Shubayqa 1 in ditated and calculated use of natural objects as tem- northeast Jordan (Richter et al. 2017). These open-air plates for geometric motifs applied to portable settlements remained unconstrained by the limits of artworks. Before proceeding to examine the cases, natural shelters and grew to larger sizes up to 0.5 we first review the Natufian period of the Levant, ha in area, with cultural deposits accumulating up Wadi Hammeh 27 and its art, and then review to several metres in thickness. Wadi Hammeh 27

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(Edwards 2013b;Edwardset al. 2013b) is the earliest incised ochre fragment from Blombos Cave, South and only the third major, open-air Early Natufian base- Africa (Henshilwood et al. 2009). The Blombos Cave camp excavated extensively in the Mediterranean example dates between 75,000 and 100,000 years region of the southern Levant over the past 70 years ago and is considered to have been made by early (after Mallaha and Jericho). The site yielded four modern humans. An even earlier example (540,000– major occupational phases, comprising three sets of 450,000 years ago) is an incised freshwater mussel superimposed housing structures (Phases 1–3) overly- from Trinil, Indonesia, with a zigzag motif, probably ing a phase with burials dug into bedrock (Phase 4). produced by a Homo erectus individual (Joordens The uppermost occupation (Phase 1) contains one of et al. 2015). To what extent geometric motifs were dis- the largest, most complex pre-Neolithic buildings yet covered in the natural world, experienced under the discovered in the Middle East (Structure 2). The site influence of plant derivatives with hallucinogenic is well preserved, yielding dozens of artefact caches properties, or conceived internally through neuro- and activity areas. Material culture includes many physiological processes has remained a matter for artefact types in flint (Edwards 2013c), limestone conjecture. Internally generated sources include (Edwards 2013d), basalt (Edwards & Webb 2013) innate ‘phosphene forms’, or natural images which and animal bone (Edwards & Le Dosseur 2013); are seen behind the eyelids (Bahn 2016, 288). It has ochre and shell fragments (Edwards et al. 2013); and been speculated that similarly fragmented visions taxonomically diverse faunal and botanical remains. of reality might also have been stimulated by the Subsistence was based on broad-spectrum hunting ingestion of psychotropic substances in the past of large and small mammals, birds and reptiles (Davis 1986; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1988). (Edwards & Martin 2013) and the gathering of small- If geometric motifs seem more at home in our seeded plants, including wild barley, lentils and pista- modern world with its mathematical foundations, chios (Colledge 2013). The earlier excavations at Wadi and filled as it is with rectilinear shapes, there are Hammeh 27 (between 1983 and 1990) were directed at nevertheless abundant natural models that could a broad exposure of the uppermost Phase 1, with a have been utilized as geometric designs in the remote small sounding reaching the base of the site. They past. The subject of the natural origins of geometric yielded a significant corpus of images, incised art items is not expansively considered in the litera- on stone and carved into animal bone (Edwards ture (cf. Bahn 2016, 90; Petzinger 2016, 188), because 2013a;Major2012; 2013; 2018). Many of the pieces it is often difficult to go beyond the general observa- involve geometric or schematic renderings on small tion that natural forms were probably noticed and limestone plaques and fragments. Depending on the interpreted by prehistoric artisans. An extensive criteria for inclusion—as it is difficult in some cases array of potential sources would have been available: to decide between formal patterning, manufacture lightning strikes, crystals, jointed rock formations, marks, ad hoc doodlings or pieces in preparation— water ripples, ferns and leaves, honeycomb, fossils, the assemblage numbers 57 pieces, according to molluscs and other invertebrates, patterning in ani- Edwards (2013a), or alternatively 69 objects, according mal skins, imprints of animal hooves, and imprints to the detailed analysis carried out by Major (2018, of human anatomy in soft ground. Such spurs to cre- table 6.1). ativity are plausible, but establishing inspirations in A further 15 portable art objects (73 per cent the prehistoric milieu entails more than a general geometric, 27 per cent representational) were discov- possibility; it requires evidence from specific arch- ered in the new series of excavations undertaken at aeological settings. Wadi Hammeh 27 between 2014 and 2016 (Edwards et al. 2018; Robertson 2016; Robertson Palaeolithic art and Natufian art et al. 2019). This project explored the lower phases of the site over a broader area. The quantification of Palaeolithic art objects from various regions is often an uncertain task, given the Geometric motifs in Palaeolithic art variable nature of excavations and their publication, the histories of the items themselves and debates The very first visual images that might be definable about what constitutes purposeful image making as art (Bahn 2016, 21) feature geometric designs. (Bahn 2016). The well-known galleries of figurative Some of the earliest examples are not limited to sim- art in late Pleistocene France and Spain are outnum- ple strokes or lines, but also feature complex schemes bered by thousands of geometric art pieces, the involving zigzags, chevrons and cross-hatched majority incised or painted on plaques and pebbles panels. Such an intricate composition occurs on an (Bahn 2016, 135).

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The general equation is the same for Natufian Qashish South) is figurative, rendering the art, which has no parietal cave-art tradition, and in pre-Natufian art corpus almost entirely geometric which geometrically decorated pieces make up 69 (c. 92 per cent). But if the report of up to 50 incised per cent of the repertoire (Major 2018, 145). The bone pieces from Kharaneh IV (Maher et al. 2012)is most rigorous compilation given by Major (2012, correct, then the percentage of pre-Natufian figura- 36) involves 296 art objects derived from 30 sites tive art becomes vanishingly small, while the pres- (cf. Shaham & Belfer-Cohen 2013). There are also ence of images and symbols in that period is the 15 new objects from our recent excavations, substantially augmented. Pre-Natufian art has thus described above, and new pieces that emerge from emerged as reasonably widespread, with only one, excavations of other Natufian sites, such as Nahal two, or occasionally a few items recovered from Ein Gev II (Grosman et al. 2017). Major’s estimate is each site. Some of these motifs—not only the rows certainly an underestimate, given indications of of short notches, but also the more complex ladder incomplete cataloguing for several excavations and patterns—have been conjectured as notational unquantified references to art objects in the literature devices (Yaroshevich et al. 2016: cf. d’Errico 1998; (e.g. Turville-Petre 1932, 276). Three-quarters of the d’Errico & Cacho 1994; Marshack 1972; 1997b). examples come from several major habitation sites Pre-Natufian art is significant for this discussion located in the core Natufian areas of Mount because some geometric motifs continue from the Carmel, Galilee and the Upper Jordan Valley, and Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic into the Natufian, nearly 70 per cent are from the largest, most complex and even beyond. For example, the so-called ‘ladder- base-camp settlements of ‘Ain Mallaha, El-Wad, pattern’ on a piece from Ein Qashish South (dated to Hayonim Cave, Hayonim Terrace, Kebara Cave and the Early Epipalaeolithic), comprising vertical incised Wadi Hammeh 27. bands pendant from upper horizontal bands, is strik- The Natufian tradition is entirely portable in ingly paralleled on a Natufian plaque from Wadi type. Apart from a few large, decorated rock slabs Khawwan 1 (Edwards et al. 1998). Similar designs set up at the base of house walls, which might be occur on later plaques from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic considered as parietal or pseudo-parietal (cf. Bahn A period sites Netiv Hagdud (Gopher 1997,171)and 2016, 157), most pieces are engraved on small Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2 in the Jordan Valley (Edwards stone plaques (or ‘plaquettes’: cf. Bahn & Vertut 2007). The circular pebble with circumscribed incised 1997, 90) and pebbles, with a smaller number of line from Middle Epipalaeolithic Wadi Hisban 5 in groundstone vessels such as basaltic mortars and the Jordan valley (Edwards et al. 1999) finds several pestles decorated in relief. Representational and close parallels from Wadi Hammeh 27. Lastly, an geometric motifs are also whittled and engraved ovoid limestone piece incised with a cross-hatched on animal bones. Some of these examples are motif from Middle Epipalaeolithic Wadi Madamagh carved in the round, especially those adorning in southern Jordan shows similarities to one of the nat- tools such as sickle hafts. Unlike the situation in ural objects from Wadi Hammeh 27. The implications Europe, with its impressive art panels in caves of these cases are discussed below. and rock-shelters, all Natufian art pieces are found Mobiliary art becomes much more abundant in habitation sites. during the Natufian period, occurring at a rate (cal- Although a few images occur sporadically in the culated roughly by numbers over time) nearly 50 Upper Palaeolithic of the southern Levant, and even times higher than previously. This concurrence has in the Middle and Lower Palaeolithic periods led to the suspicion that the florescence of mobile (Belfer-Cohen 1988), the first regular series of carved art was related to the advent of sedentary life and and incised images occur prior to the Natufian, in the intensified food procurement during the Early Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic periods (c. 21,000– Natufian period (Belfer-Cohen 1988). The increased 13,000 cal. BC). There are a dozen or so pieces span- numbers might also have to do with the likelihood ning some 5000 years. They occur at Ein Qashish that the persistently occupied Natufian base-camps South in the Jezreel Valley (Yaroshevich et al. 2016), have concentrated art items to a greater extent than Ohalo II in Galilee (Rabinovich & Nadel 1994) and the smaller sites of the earlier Epipalaeolithic. Urkan-e-Rubb in the Jordan Valley (Hovers 1990), Cauvin (2000, 25) characterized Natufian art as all in Israel; in Lebanon at Jiita (Copeland & Hours essentially zoomorphic. It is true that the genre 1977) and Ksar Akil (Tixier 1974); and in Jordan at includes some memorable images of animals, yet the Wadi Madamagh (Byrd & Reese 2014), Kharaneh Natufian tradition—just as in Palaeolithic Europe—is IV (Maher et al. 2012) and Wadi Hisban 5 (Edwards proportionally dominated by geometric pieces (Major et al. 1999). Only one of these items (from Ein 2018, table 7.5; Uribe 1994,62).Theyaremainly

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formed on limestone plaques and pebbles, with a few perspective may have been logographic in intent, made on large rock slabs. Most of the zoomorphic conceived as symbols of aspects of the natural representations occur on tools such as sickles, mortars world. They may have represented important stories and pestles. Although we can often recognize the or concepts (Petzinger 2016, 223). We believe that the intent to portray an animal in Natufian art, the species nested-square motif we present below is likely to depicted is never easy to identify and we do not gain have functioned in this way. More basically, any the sense of immediate recognition that is possible faithful copy of a real geometric motif is by its nature with the horses, bison and lions of European both geometric and representational. Palaeolithic cave art. There are numerous anthropomorphic images, and also phallic representations. Case studies from Wadi Hammeh 27 Representational images in the Natufian are always rendered in the round, rather than engraved Three cases are presented below in order to argue on flat surfaces. In four cases, geometric decorative that patterns on specific manuports imported to schemes also adorn the surface of carved figurative Wadi Hammeh 27 were imitated to produce sym- pieces (which number 21, and include images of peo- bolic designs on portable art pieces. The examples ple, animals and phalli: Major 2018, 146). This statis- come from well-documented archaeological contexts. tic excludes engraved or relief features ostensibly In each case, the natural object occurs in a layer con- intended to convey anatomical details, such as nos- temporary to the analogously decorated artefact(s), trils, eyes or musculature. One example is a sickle or else it is earlier than the latter, establishing appro- haft from El Wad (Garrod & Bate 1937, pl. XXIII1, priate temporal links between the sets. In two cases, 1A; Major 2018, 146), decorated with a carving of a our argument is strengthened by the existence of a small ruminant, with patterns of four strokes on the natural prototype which has been directly modified legs. The second piece is an incised calcite figurine to form an artefact, directly demonstrating interest from ‘Ain Mallaha, interpreted as a ‘tortoise’ (Major in the natural object. Ultimately, the resemblances 2018, 147; Perrot 1974, 485; Valla 1998, 177), with we raise lie in the eye of the beholder. Before continu- its carapace decorated by a nested-square motif. ing, it is important to note that we do not mean to This case provides critical evidence for this discus- impute that Natufian artisans were committed to a sion and is revisited below. The final two instances form of naturalism, slavishly searching for novel pat- come from Wadi Hammeh 27 and both feature the terns to convert into art (cf. Abadía et al. 2012). As same surface pattern of rectangular panels. Gombrich (1968, 304) put the matter, ‘the question In an attempt to maintain consistency with pre- is not whether nature “really looks” like these pictor- vious works, Major (2018) used a classificatory sys- ial devices but whether pictures with such features tem to describe motifs and design elements based suggest a reading in terms of natural objects’. on the International Federation of Rock Art Given the recurrence of similar motifs across the Organisation’s (IFRAO 2003) terminology for parietal prehistoric world, and the resilience of particular art, and also in part on Uribe’s(1994) system. The motifs in the Levant over long timespans, we also quantification for Wadi Hammeh 27 is more accurate need to ask: is it likely that any of the natural pat- than for most other published Natufian assemblages terns reported here were really ‘discovered’ by because its sediments were sieved in a fine-scale man- Natufian communities? This issue is revisited below ner and all potential art items were retrieved and after presentation of the Wadi Hammeh 27 cases. documented. According to Major (2018, table 6.2), 80 per cent of the repertoire are geometric art pieces Case 1: Fossil sea-urchin—zoomorphic plaques and 20 per cent are representational (the latter cat- egory comprising 14 per cent zoomorphic, 3 per The first instance involves a fossil echinoid cent anthropomorphic and 3 per cent phallic images). (sea-urchin) bearing distinctive suture impressions, The results give a useful overview; however, it which form a geometric pattern of rectangular is impossible to compartmentalize artefacts entirely panels. It is here compared to two representational within a series of mutually exclusive categories in figurines, each decorated with a similar motif. any typological scheme. Some pieces may include more than one categorical type. For example, a few 1. Fossil echinoid cf. Leioechinus sp. (RN 160138) Natufian art objects have geometric motifs applied (Phase 4 – Plot XX F, Locus 9.1, Square D4-1) to the surfaces of representational images made in A fossil echinoid, 30 mm in diameter (Fig. 2), was the round. More pertinently, some items which found on an exterior Lower Phase 3 floor (Plot XX must be classified as ‘geometric’ from an etic F, Locus 9.1, Square D4-1). It is probably a

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Figure 3. Zoomorphic bone figurine (RN 140226), Phase 2, Wadi Hammeh 27. Figure 2. Fossil echinoid, cf. Leioechinus (RN 160138), Lower Phase 3, Wadi Hammeh 27. Robertson et al. 2019). The head is broken at the ‘neck’ and is evidently a fragment of a larger object. The presence of some broken pieces of calcined bone stomechinid example and possibly belongs to the found lying distal to the head indicate that the object genus Leioechinus, which has been described from was originally more extensive. These observations, the Middle Jurassic of Saudi Arabia (Kier 1972). and two parallel objects from the Mount Carmel This taxon is widespread and ranges in age from region, indicate that the piece was originally the dec- the Jurassic to the Cretaceous periods (c. 201.3–65.5 orative terminal of a bone sickle haft. million years ago). This specimen represents the Calcination has resulted in breakage and exten- first example of its type to be recovered from Wadi sive exfoliation at its base and along the left and right Hammeh 27, or any secure Natufian archaeological lateral margins. Despite the extensive damage, the context, although echinoids have been previously fine modelling of the piece is evident and the form unearthed from the Natufian site of El Wad (below). of the head of an ungulate, probably a gazelle, is RN 160138 is relatively worn by natural pro- clear. The frontal region of the head is marked cesses. Like all echinoids, the animal’s test (shell) is between the ears by opposed sets of short strokes, composed of five double columns of large plates the left set comprising four strokes and the right (the interambulacra), alternating with five columns one, five. Distally, the face is demarcated from the of small plates that are pierced by a pair of pores frontal region by a deeply incised line that runs (the ambulacra). The abrasion suffered by the fossil across and cuts through the distal margin of the left has resulted in many of the surface features of the ear. Surface damage truncates the line before it plates, especially the tubercles that in life bore spines, reaches the right ear. The muzzle is marked by five having been worn away. A few residual tubercles rows of longitudinal, incised strokes running all the occur on some ambulacral plates. The wear has way to the snout (Fig. 3). The rows comprise sets of emphasized the specimen’s patterning by highlight- ten, seven, six, eight and five short lines, respectively. ing the sutures between the plates. The strokes were originally more extensive laterally, but fire damage has erased some of them. 2. Zoomorphic bone figurine (RN 140226) (Phase 2 – Locus 2.5, Square E6–1) RN 140226 (Figs. 3–4) is carved from bone to 3. Zoomorphic limestone plaque (RN 120146) (Surface represent an animal head and the surface of the find, westerly cliff section) image is augmented with a pattern of strokes that The zoomorphic limestone plaque RN 120146 (Fig. 5) resemble rectangular panels (Edwards et al. 2018; was recovered from the westerly erosion cliff zone,

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Figure 4. Six views of the zoomorphic bone ﬁgurine (RN 140226), Phase 2, Wadi Hammeh 27.

where many other Natuﬁan artefacts and human knee and splays laterally from the body. This attri- remains were noted (Edwards 1991). Although less bute, and the dorsal crest running centrally along secure in its attribution than the excavated objects, the preserved section of the ‘body’, suggest the the locale of Wadi Hammeh 27, embedded atop an piece is a portrayal of a reptile, perhaps one of the inselberg, with cliffs truncating the main body of agamid lizards that inhabit the region. Parallel the site on three sides, naturally leads to the contin- grooves run transversally from the dorsal crest, ual shedding of cultural material from its edges. nine on one ﬂank and seven on the other. Both RN 120146 is 13 cm long. The body is decorated grooves are scored longitudinally with lighter incised by a pattern of rectangular panels. Cross-hatching lines creating a series of rectangular compartments. and herringbone motifs are also used on the piece On the obverse face, the piece has a raised band (Edwards 2013a, 312). The item has been shaped or central ‘spine’ that bisects the ‘body’ along the into a biconvex ‘body’ with two rear ‘legs’ partially long axis. On each side of the central ‘spine’, the preserved. The left rear ‘leg’ is folded back at the ‘body’ is incised with an irregularly spaced cross-

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Moreover, they are unusual in that they constitute two of only a few Natufian art items which combine figurative representation with surface geometric patterning. The interpretation of the decorative patterns added to these objects is complex. The pattern on the plaque (RN 120146) might have been intended to represent the patterned skin of a lizard. It also seems clear, too, that incised lines on the El Wad ‘gazelle head’ mark anatomical features such as the eyes and the nostrils. However, it is unlikely that the stroke-pattern on the Wadi Hammeh 27 gazelle head was intended as a naturalistic feature. Further afield, a pebble from ‘Ain Mallaha (Major 2018, fig. 7.87; Valla et al. 1999, fig. 15.1) incised with a series of panels also closely resembles the Leioechinus echinoid from Wadi Hammeh 27. As we have argued elsewhere (Robertson et al. Figure 5. Zoomorphic limestone plaque (RN 120146), fi 2019), the Mountain Gazelle (Gazella gazella)was surface nd, Wadi Hammeh 27. the most likely subject for RN 140226. The animal’s muzzle is marked by a longitudinal light-coloured stripe with a blackish lower margin, extending hatched motif, which is obscured in part due to ero- from the eye to the mouth (Mendelssohn et al. sion (Major 2018, 338). Incisions oriented on the short 1995). It is possible to make a connection between axis are continuous and deep compared to those on this and the geometric design applied to RN the long axis that are discontinuous and shallow. 140226, but there is no obvious correlation between ‘ ’ Incisions transverse to the spine vary in distance the restricted longitudinal markings on the actual from each other from 4 mm to 8 mm. antelope and the sets of strokes distributed all over ‘ ’ The preserved leg is also incised with the bone head. Another factor counting against the Y-shaped motifs. Similar motifs intersect the lower equation is that the stroke-pattern is turned perpen- ‘ ’ rear body and underside of the leg . They comprise dicular on the occipital region of RN 140226, where three long grooves augmented with V-shaped it consists of sets of opposed strokes. Therefore, the strokes, perhaps intended to signify barbed projec- geometric motif applied to RN 140226 seems to tiles striking the animal. The longest, which is aug- have been a concept developed separately from mented with six pairs of barbs, probes the junction observation of the gazelle; the pattern evident on ‘ ’ ‘ ’ of the leg and the body ; a similar groove with the fossil echinoid seems a good candidate for its four pairs of barbs contacts the lower body; and inspiration. another with three barb-pairs thrusts at the rear leg. In Phase 1, Wadi Hammeh 27 displays close cul- Alternatively, the herringbone motif recalls interpre- tural links to other Natufian sites along the Jordan tations of marks on plaques from Wadi Hammeh 27 Valley (Edwards 2015). One of the shared forms is and European Magdalenian examples (RN 80151 and the ‘miniature bowl’, usually made from basaltic fi RN 110012: cf. Bahn & Vertut 1997, 156, g. 10.26) rock but also from limestone. Wadi Hammeh 27 is ‘ ’ described as plant-like . In this case, the image the only Natufian site that has yielded numerous might represent the animal amongst vegetation. In ‘miniature bowls’ and ‘miniature plates’, with 28 fi either scenario, if the two areas, gure and back- examples in basaltic rock (Edwards & Webb 2013, ground, are considered as independent components 212) and 10 examples made from limestone ‘ ’ of the same story , the item depicts a scene and con- (Edwards 2013d, 236). These enigmatic artefacts are tains a narrative. scarcely known elsewhere. There are a couple of instances from Salibiya XII, located further south in Comments the Jordan Valley than Wadi Hammeh 27, and a We draw attention to the resemblances between the few from Kebara Cave and El Wad Cave at Mount decorative patterns both on the bone head (RN Carmel (Belfer-Cohen & Goring-Morris 2013). In 140226) and the zoomorphic limestone plaque (RN Phase 2, two recent finds from Wadi Hammeh 27 120146), and the surface pattern of the fossil echinoid indicate close links with Natufian sites to the west, (RN 160138). The art items are rare in this regard. at Mount Carmel and in western Galilee. They

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Figure 6. Worked fossil echinoid, Heterodiadema Figure 7. Miniature limestone bowl, I-10742, from El lybica, I-10834, from El Wad Natufian layers. Wad Natufian layers. (Rockefeller Museum.) (Rockefeller Museum.) of basaltic rock, or, less commonly, from a piece of include the bone ‘gazelle head’ representation limestone. described above (RN 140226) and a basalt pestle El Wad and Wadi Hammeh 27 are now with a hoof-shaped terminal (RN 140049; Edwards uniquely linked in that both sites contain miniature et al. 2018). The bone item finds a strong parallel to bowls and fossil echinoids. It is possible, although a bone sickle haft with a zoomorphically rendered not necessarily the case, that the morphology of terminal, fashioned to resemble an ungulate, found Heterodiadema lybica prompted the creation of the at Kebara Cave (Layer B, Plot XXVII: Turville-Petre miniature bowl type, or else it might have just been 1932). The Kebara piece is complete and its form pro- viewed as an expedient pre-form for an already exist- vides an important clue to the likely original config- ing type. The El Wad echinoid also demonstrates the uration of the Wadi Hammeh 27 piece. The Natufian interest in a natural object as a template for decorative pestle (RN 1400049) has parallels with artefact production. This attitude was also evidently objects from El Wad (Garrod & Bate 1937, pl. XV: in play in the following case. 4; Major 2018, 146) and Hayonim Cave (Belfer-Cohen 1991, figs 7:1, 3, 5). Case 2: Modified patterned stone—grooved pebble A pair of unpublished items from El Wad, held with complex geometric motif in the Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem, provide a wider perspective on this discussion. The first While the second pair of objects are both artefactual, (I-10834) is a worked fossil echinoid, identified as a the design on one (RN 80087) is entirely anthropo- specimen of Heterodiadema lybica (Fig. 6). The second genic, whereas a broad groove on the other (RN is a miniature limestone bowl (I-10742: Fig. 7). 100008) has been added to modify and augment a Heterodiadema normally exhibits a concave profile naturally existing pattern. on its aboral surface (the upper surface in Figure 6), where the animal’s mouth is located. On a well- a. Modified patterned stone (RN 100008) (Phase 1 – Plot preserved fossil, the aboral surface is also usually XX E, Locus 5.2, Square Ib-1) well marked by test material (Bandel & Geys 1984). This is a shaped travertine piece (7.2 cm long) Neither of these features is present on the concave marked by a series of up to 20 undulating lateral surface of specimen I-10834, demonstrating that it bands which encircle the piece (Fig. 8.1). They result has been deliberately hollowed out. The result is from natural weathering of the stone. A broad, verti- that the piece looks like—in fact has been trans- cal groove has been applied down the middle of the formed into—one of the characteristic Natufian mini- piece. The effect, when looking at the obverse face, is ature bowls that are normally reduced from a block to form a complex geometric motif in which the

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Figure 8. (1) Incised travertine fragment (RN 100008), Phase 1, Wadi Hammeh 27; (2) grooved limestone pebble with complex geometric motif (RN 80087), Phase 1, Wadi Figure 9. Basaltic grooved plaques (1) RN 100033; (2) Hammeh 27. RN 100034; (3) RN 110075; (4) RN 120244. Phase 1, Wadi Hammeh 27. groove is framed by bands emanating laterally from both of its margins. limestone respectively, both types appear to be symbolic or ornamental versions of utilitarian grooved b. Limestone pebble with complex incised motif (RN stones, many examples of which occur in Natufian 80087) (Phase 1 – Plot XX F, Locus 2.2) sites. There are 16 grooved stones at Wadi This is a limestone pebble (5.5 cm long) with a broad Hammeh 27, with over 80 per cent made on basaltic V-shaped central groove framed by a pair of longitu- rock and the remainder on limestone. The grooved dinally incised lines (Fig. 8.2). A series of transverse stones are oval plaques of lenticular or plano-convex horizontal strokes fill the spaces between these cross-section with a broad, deep, V-sectioned groove outer lines and the central groove. Finer striations oriented along the longitudinal axis of one face from preliminary smoothing occur across the obverse (Fig. 9). They have sometimes been referred to as surface. They are truncated by the decorative inci- ‘shaft straighteners’ (Edwards & Webb 2013, 226; sions, demonstrating the preparation of the surface Wright 1992, 73) with the idea being that they were prior to the application of the motif. A few incised used to straighten bone or wooden shafts, perhaps transverse lines superimpose the vertical framing when heated. This function is unlikely, however, lines, showing that the bounding frame was created given direct observations of traditional artisans and first. The reverse surface is crudely worked with experimental reconstructions of these objects’ use. coarse grinding after the initial pecking. Wooden spears or shafts are usually straightened by hand while being held over a fire (Cosner 1951). Comments Alternatively, the grooved stones were probably The items occur in contemporary deposits, so no used to abrade softer materials such as Phragmites temporal priority can be assigned to one or the reeds, while drawing shafts back and forth through other. Manufactured from friable travertine and soft the cavity formed by binding two stones tied

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together with the grooves opposed (Wilke & Quintero 2009). It is probably for this reason that pairs of grooved stones are found in situ at three Natufian sites: one at ‘Ain Mallaha (Valla 1988), two at the Late Natufian site of Rosh Zin (Henry 1976) and a pair at Wadi Hammeh 27, the latter with one grooved stone found overlapping the other (Edwards & Hardy-Smith 2013, 118). Rather than being a direct case of inspiration from a natural object to a cultural artefact, this is more a case of decorative or symbolic versions of a utilitarian tool, where one of the copies utilizes a natural occurring Figure 10. Carapace of the Spur-thighed tortoise pattern as a shortcut. A further refrain on this (Testudo graeca). theme comes from the Natufian layers of Moghr al-Ahwal in Lebanon, where an unbaked clay model of a grooved stone, certainly not utilitarian, The tortoise carapace is composed of scutes was retrieved (Garrard & Yazbeck 2013, 24). which form concentric annuli (Lambert 1982). The There are also other dimensions of similarity to be annuli reflect yearly growth and thus differ accord- noted. RN 80087 bears strong comparison with the ing to the age of an animal. In profile, they appear Leioechinus specimen, particularly if we consider as closed concentric shapes that overlie similar the fossil as a series of dissociable patterns. Thus, the shapes along the distal margin of the carapace central groove of RN 800787 is reminiscent of the nar- (Fig. 10). The patterning on the scutes along the distal rower ambulacra of the echinoid. The parallel, thin inci- margin is truncated, making a series of slightly off- sions either side resemble the longitudinal partition set concentric U-shapes. In profile, the carapace between the two sets of interambulacral plates (cf. thus consists of two rows of closed concentric shapes Fig.2), and the outer transverse create the effect of overlying a truncated series that is aligned along and interambulacral plates. Just as striking a parallel is a open toward the distal margin of the carapace. pebble from ‘Ain Mallaha with an incised pattern of rectangular panels (Major 2018, fig. 7.87; Valla et al. 1999). b. Three incised slabs decorated with nested-square motifs (RN 60401, RN 60402, RN 603403) (Phase 1, Plot XX D, Locus 1.5) Case 3: Tortoise carapace—large stone slabs and Structure 2 at Wadi Hammeh 27 has yielded consid- small plaques with nested-square/concentric-line erable evidence of its use as a domestic residence. As motifs well as scattered fragments of burnt human crania, there are several features which raise the possibility This case involves the copying of a naturally existing, that it also functioned as a ritual space. The most nested-square pattern to decorate large stone slabs arresting of these is a line of large, decorated stone and a variety of small plaques and other objects. In stelae (RN 60401, RN 60402 and RN 60403: Fig. 11) turn, the large slabs that constitute the main interest incorporated into Wall 3 (Fig. 12). Together, the in this discussion are positioned near the centre of an assembly of decorated stones measured 2 m long architectural construction which itself appears to be a and attained a maximum height of 34 cm. The representation of the nested-square motif. three slabs were placed together, supported by a backing of rubble, with their carved panels facing a. Tortoise carapace fragments (Phases 1– 4; various loci) southeast in the direction of a group of boulders Large numbers of scutes belonging to the (Feature 18). The latter form the focal point of Spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca) were recovered Structure 2. from Wadi Hammeh 27. Specimens numbered 169, The decorated face of RN 60401 is incised with a along with small numbers of humerus and scapula repeated array of nested-squares. Each element con- fragments. It seems clear from the evidence of bone sists of a central rounded boss, formed in relief, disarticulation, cut-marks on the bones, burnt speci- which is circumscribed by lines of grooves and raised mens and the abundance of disarticulated scutes ridges that form a series of approximate squares. throughout the site that the tortoise was a habitual Four of these elements are aligned in an upper regis- prey target (Edwards & Martin 2013). ter, and were evidently placed to fit within the

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Figure 11. Three incised stone slabs comprising Feature 2, in their relative positions as found. Phase 1, Wadi Hammeh 27.

Figure 12. The uppermost occupation phase (Phase 1) at Wadi Hammeh 27 (light grey shading) with areas excavated to Phase 4 indicated by darker grey shading. The three incised slabs (RN 60401-60403) are indicated as F. 2 in Structure 2.

margins of the slab. Three concentric lines and incised with three rows of the concentric design grooves surround the central boss in each of them. element described for RN 60401, each row consisting The lower register of three squares are preserved of three squares. Whereas the well-preserved squares only at their tops, and the bases are truncated by of the upper row were formed with three concentric the slab’s lower margin. Each of the motifs in the ridges and grooves, those of the two lower rows have lower register consist of only two concentric ridges only two, like the bottom row of RN 60401. The and grooves. squares appear to have been ﬁnished to ﬁt with the The limestone slab RN 60402 was erected as the upper and left-hand margins, but are truncated by middle member of the trio. Its decorated face is the right-hand, oblique margin, which forms a

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diagonal break across them, and the lower margin of the slab. It is evident that RN 60402 and RN 60403 were originally parts of a single larger slab which had subsequently broken. The right-hand member RN 60403 displays the same format, with the upper row of squares contain- ing three concentric ridges and grooves, whereas those in the middle row have only two. The bottom row, truncated by the lower margin of the slab, consists of only the top of the outer line. The bottom right-hand square of the middle row is unique, with the concentric lines extending only beside and above the central boss, but not below it. This may be because the design element was ﬁtted into the available space.

c. Limestone fragment with concentric line motifs (RN 80042) (Phase 1, Plot XX D, Locus 7.1) This broken fragment (11 cm long) bears two sets of Figure 13. Incised limestone fragment (RN 80042), concentric line motifs; the first of three curved, Phase 1, Wadi Hammeh 27. incised grooves and the second of two more finely incised lines (Fig. 13). The piece is similar in concep- part of Structure 2, between the slabs and Feature tion to the three large slabs described above. 18 (Fig. 11). Four are fragments of decorated basalt vessels and the fifth is the fragment RN 80042, d. Structure 2 – elaborate architectural complex (Phase 1, described above (Fig. 13). RN 80042 recalls the Plot XX D, various loci) repeated stelae, but it is not part of them. The loca- It is possible—that is to say, it appears that—the lay- tion of these similar objects in the focal centre could out of Structure 2 (Fig. 11) was intended as a not be a result of post-depositional disturbance, representation of the concentric motifs applied to and indeed there is little indication of any significant the decorated slabs RN 60401–60403. Structure 2 is lateral disturbance of objects at Wadi Hammeh 27 the largest and most elaborate architectural complex (Hardy-Smith & Edwards 2004). known from the Natufian culture. It has an oval lay- out, with a major (north–south) axis of 14 m and a Comments minor one of at least 11 m. This is probably an under- Major (2018, 349–50) has noted the remarkable cor- estimate, since the western part of the structure was respondence between the natural design elements truncated by erosion. The building’s three concentric on the Spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca) carapace walls, disposed about the central focus of large and the geometric pattern on the decorated slabs at boulders (Feature 18), echo the motif of grooves cir- Wadi Hammeh 27. On each are two series of closed cumscribing a central boss. The walls were each cut concentric shapes that overlie a truncated series of against a step in Plot XX D, and so terracing occurs open concentric shapes along the distal margin between Walls 1, 2 and 3, but this is not the case in (Fig. 10). The parallels between the tortoise carapace Plot XX H, where the walls merge onto a common and the slabs is further emphasized if the decorated sloping surface. The occupation surface slopes gently slabs are considered in their original state, whereby down from the perimeter Wall 1 to the group of large the proximal margins formed a cohesive arch. They boulders. The concentric walls disappear altogether may have been conceived as representative of one in the southeastern sector of Structure 2, but appear image with a plano-convex profile; the same profile to return, if in a disordered state, in the southwestern created by the plastron and carapace of a tortoise. sector. The plan of Structure 2 is unparalleled in the The similarity in these complex compositions raises Natufian architectural tradition. the possibility that Testudo graeca, a tortoise species The focal area of Structure 2 is further distin- local to Wadi al-Hammeh, provided the inspiration guished by the presence of five of six small decorated for the composition featured on the trio of slabs. stone fragments found at the site, bearing parallel An evocative figurine from ‘Ain Mallaha sug- band/meander motifs (similar to the motif repeated gests that the nested-square pattern may have indeed on the three stelae). These were found in the central symbolized the tortoise. The item has a convex dorsal

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surface, plausibly representing a tortoise carapace, as period at Nahal Ein Gev II (c. 10,000 cal. BC), Jean Perrot thought (1974, 484), although Valla (1998, Grosman and colleagues (2017) see a schematic 177) considered that it might represent a scarab. The human face, carved on a limestone pebble, as being curved surface bears a series of nested-square motifs stylistically derivable from a version of the that are not bounded at the lateral margins, perhaps nested-square motif found at ‘Ain Mallaha. Such intended to represent the marginal scutes of the temporal changes can be readily understood as a Testudo carapace, which are also unbounded. consequence of the Natufian artisan’s restless play with motifs. Designs (and presumably also concepts) Discussion were not only transferred across different media; they were also cycled through different genres of The examples presented here demonstrate the close expression, from artefact to art object, and even attention paid by Natufian artisans to natural objects into architectural space. as stimuli for their artistic representations. Their The nested-square pattern derived from the tor- interest in natural patterns is reflected by their toise scute first appears in the imagery of the Natufian habit of collecting eye-catching curios: fossil inverte- period, but it is a natural feature that was observed for brates including licinid bivalves, ammonites, gastro- thousands of years previously. A familiar creature on pods such as Strombus sp. and Turritella sp. the Mediterranean landscape, the slow-moving (Edwards et al. 2013a, 285), and fossil echinoids. Spur-thighed tortoise was exploited through the The fossils were available from Mesozoic to Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic periods (Bar-Oz Tertiary limestone outcrops at the head of Wadi 2004, 37). Its characteristics must have been intimately al-Hammeh, and as objects washed into the valley’s known to pre-Natufian hunter-gatherers, but only stream channels. There are several shiny, semi- Natufian artisans deemed it interesting enough to precious stones, and odd, suggestively shaped stones portray, for unknown cultural reasons. such as RN 80153 (Fig. 1) and RN 120150. So, the situation is more complex than simple The carapace of the Spur-thighed tortoise seems discovery and inevitable copying. A different scen- to have been an important symbol, acting as a ario involves the rectangular panels on the echinoid representation of aspects of the animal itself. Its and incised pieces described in ‘Case 1’ above. This nested-square motif was incised into large stelae motif does appear beforehand in earlier Levantine which formed the focus of an elaborate architectural geometric art. Most notable is an ‘egg-shaped’ cobble representation of the same motif. It fulfils the criterion from the Geometric Kebaran layers of Wadi of the ‘attention-focusing device’ suggested by Madamagh (Byrd & Reese 2014, 49) with a cross- Renfrew (1994) as one of the hallmarks of a ritual hatched pattern incised on it. Both the form of the structure. The motif was part of a wider tradition, piece and the surface decoration recall the fossil ech- and is evident in parallel forms elsewhere, particularly inoid (RN 160138) deposited later at Wadi Hammeh at the Natufian base-camp of ‘Ain Mallaha. The tor- 27. A chance encounter with a patterned ornate fossil toise also featured in a grave at Hayonim Terrace. such as RN 160138 might have reminded a Natufian Here, three individuals were accompanied by two artisan of a motif already known in the cultural rep- dogs and two tortoise carapaces (Valla 2012). These ertoire, perhaps even one generated from internal examples hail from west of the Jordan Valley, in the cognitive processes. Its material manifestation in Galilee region, and suggest that the symbolic import- the natural world, or even—as it could have been ance of the tortoise was expressed variably in different interpreted—from the supernatural realm, might regional traditions. Tortoise remains appear to have then have been welcomed as a kind of external valid- held intrinsic ritual significance in a Late Natufian ation of a traditionally important design concept. burial at Hilazon Tachtit. Here, an elderly woman In this paper we have drawn attention to sets of was buried with accompanying grave goods that linked geometrically decorated art objects and simi- included up to 50 complete tortoise shells (Grosman lar naturally patterned objects at the Early Natufian &Munro2007;Grosmanet al. 2008). Grosman and site of Wadi Hammeh 27, indicating that these Munro (2007) interpret them as being involved with objects were important as templates for artistic repre- feasting rituals at the site. sentations. In two of the cases, the natural objects As we know, geometric or other motifs in had themselves been modified as art objects or to ancient art are polyvalent (Farbstein 2013, 24). Even function as artefacts, at Wadi Hammeh 27 as at if the nested-square motif arose as a referent for the other Natufian sites. The phenomenon is a particular tortoise, it may not have always meant this to example of a broad interest in raw materials, animals Natufian groups. For example, in the Late Natufian and plant resources held by the inhabitants of Wadi

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Hammeh 27. Of all the many kinds of cherts avail- References able in the rocky outcrops overlooking the Jordan Valley, the Wadi Hammeh 27 knappers targeted a Abadía, O.M., M.R.G. Morales & E.P. Pérez, 2012. yellow flint, available from the banks of the nearby ‘Naturalism’ and the interpretation of cave art. – Wadi Jirm (Delage in Edwards et al. 2018). They World Art 2(2), 219 40. Assaf, E., 2018. Paleolithic aesthetics: collecting colorful also used an unusual type of phosphatic quartz sand- fl stone as a type of red ochre pigment (Edwards et al. int pebbles at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel. Journal of Lithic Studies. http://journals.ed.ac. 2013a). Basaltic rock was procured from as far away uk/lithicstudies/article/view/2616 as the Dead Sea region, 150 km to the south Bahn, P., 2016. Images of the Ice Age. Oxford: Oxford (Edwards & Webb 2013). As a preliminary to the University Press. fi making of art, Natu an artists well knew the types Bahn, P. & J. Vertut, 1997. Journey through the Ice Age. of stones and bones available for selection and modi- London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. fication as canvases. In making art, they were intim- Bandel, K. & J.F. Geys, 1985. Regular echinoids in the Upper ately familiar with the patterns of the natural world. Cretaceous of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. They co-opted some of them as symbols in order to Annales de la Societé Géologique du Nord 54, 97–115. express their artistic and ritual conceptions. Bar-Oz, G., 2004. Epipaleolithic Subsistence Strategies in the Levant: A zooarchaeological perspective. Boston (MA): Brill. Acknowledgements Bar-Yosef, O. & N. Goren, 1973. Natufian remains in Hayonim Cave. Paléorient 1, 49–68. fi Thanks are due to Alegre Savariego and the Israel Bar-Yosef, O. & F. Valla, 2011. The Natu an culture and the Antiquities Authority for permission to reproduce the origin of the Neolithic in the Levant. Current – images in Figures 6 and 7 (credited to photographer Anthropology 31(4), 433 6. Meidad Suchowolski). Belfer-Cohen, A., 1988. The appearance of symbolic expression in the Upper Pleistocene of the Levant as com- L’Homme de Néandertal: Phillip C. Edwards pared to western Europe. Volume 5, La Pensée, by M. Otte. Liège: ERAUL, 25–9. Department of Archaeology & History Belfer-Cohen, A., 1991. Art items from Layer B, Hayonim La Trobe University VIC 3086 Cave: a case study of art in a Natufian context, in Australia The Natufian Culture in the Levant, eds. O. Bar-Yosef Email: [email protected] & F.R. Valla. Ann Arbor (MI): International Monographs in Prehistory, 569–88. Janine Major Belfer-Cohen, A. & A.N. Goring-Morris, 2013. Breaking the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council mold: phases and facies in the Natufian of the Department of Premier and Cabinet Mediterranean zone, in The Natufian Culture in the Level 3, 3 Treasury Place Levant, eds. O. Bar-Yosef & F.R. Valla. Ann Arbor – East Melbourne VIC 3002 (MI): International Monographs in Prehistory, 544 61. Boyd, B., 2006. On ‘sedentism’ in the Later Epipaleolithic Australia (Natufian) Levant. World Archaeology 38(2), 164–78. Email: [email protected] Byrd, B., 1989. The Natufian: settlement variability and eco- nomic adaptations in the Levant at the end of the Kenneth J. McNamara Pleistocene. Journal of World Prehistory 3(2), 159–98. Downing College Byrd, F. & D. Reese, 2014. The Late Pleistocene occupation of Cambridge CB2 1DQ Madamagh Rockshelter, Southern Jordan: new data UK andperspectivesonanoldexcavation,inSettlements, & Survey and Stone: Essays on Near Eastern prehistory in School of Earth Sciences honour of Gary Rollefson, eds. B. Finlayson & – University of Western Australia WA 6009 C. Makarewicz. Berlin: ex oriente, 37 52. Australia Caracuta, V., M. Weinstein-Evron, R. Yeshurun, Email: [email protected] D. Kaufman, A. Tsatskin & E. Boaretto, 2016. Charred wood remains in the Natufian sequence of el-Wad Terrace (Israel): new insights into the cli- Rosie Robertson matic, environmental and cultural changes at the Department of Archaeology & History end of the Pleistocene. Quaternary Science Reviews La Trobe University VIC 3086 131, 20–32. Australia Cauvin, J., 2000. The Birth of the Gods and the Origins of Email: [email protected] Agriculture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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