Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East

We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 44 ancient Near Easterners ranging in time between ~12,000 and 1,400 BC, from Natufian hunter–gatherers to Bronze Age farmers. We show that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their ancestry from a ‘Basal Eurasian’ lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture and that separated from other non-African lineages before their separation from each other. The first farmers of the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan) and Zagros Mountains (Iran) were strongly genetically differentiated, and each descended from local hunter–gatherers. By the time of the Bronze Age, these two populations and Anatolian-related farmers had mixed with each other and with the hunter–gatherers of Europe to greatly reduce genetic differentiation. The impact of the Near Eastern farmers extended beyond the Near East: farmers related to those of Anatolia spread westward into Europe; farmers related to those of the Levant spread southward into East Africa; farmers related to those of Iran spread northward into the Eurasian steppe; and people related to both the early farmers of Iran and to the pastoralists of the Eurasian steppe spread eastward into South Asia

Ochre, ground stone and wrapping the dead in the Late Epipalaeolithic (Natufian) Levant: revealing the funerary practices at Shubayqa 1, Jordan

The appearance of rich and diverse funerary practices is one of the hallmarks of the Late Epipalaeolithic Natufian in the Levant. Numerous burials at a number of sites excavated mostly in the Mediterranean zone of the southern Levant have fed into the interpretation of the Natufian as a sedentary society of complex hunter-gatherers. Here, we report on the human remains recovered from Shubayqa 1, a well-dated early to late Natufian site in northeast Jordan. The majority of the minimum of 23 individuals that are represented are perinates and infants, which represents an atypical population profile. Ground stone artifacts and traces of colourants are associated with some of these individuals, providing a rare insight into funerary treatment of subadults in Natufian contexts. We interpret the Shubayqa 1 evidence in the light of current and ongoing debates concerning Natufian burial practices and the issue of social complexity

Persistent Place-Making in Prehistory: the Creation, Maintenance, and Transformation of an Epipalaeolithic Landscape

Most archaeological projects today integrate, at least to some degree, how past people engaged with their surroundings, including both how they strategized resource use, organized technological production, or scheduled movements within a physical environment, as well as how they constructed cosmologies around or created symbolic connections to places in the landscape. However, there are a multitude of ways in which archaeologists approach the creation, maintenance, and transformation of human-landscape interrelationships. This paper explores some of these approaches for reconstructing the Epipalaeolithic (ca. 23,000–11,500 years BP) landscape of Southwest Asia, using macro- and microscale geoarchaeological approaches to examine how everyday practices leave traces of human-landscape interactions in northern and eastern Jordan. The case studies presented here demonstrate that these Epipalaeolithic groups engaged in complex and far-reaching social landscapes. Examination of the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic (EP) highlights that the notion of “Neolithization” is somewhat misleading as many of the features we use to define this transition were already well-established patterns of behavior by the Neolithic. Instead, these features and practices were enacted within a hunter-gatherer world and worldview

Sépulture natoufiennes de Mallaha et d'autres sites

International audienceLe Natoufien est connu au Levant entre 13000 et 9500 av, J.-C. environ. On le rencontre de la boucle de l'Euphrate au Néguev e t de la Méditerranée au désert syro-jordanien. Il est considéré comme le moment des premières expériences sédentaires et certains auteurs se demandent si l'on n'a pas procédé alors aux premières manipulations qui devaient conduire au contrôle des nourritures végétales et carnées. Parmi les indices de la sédentarité natoufienne, on mentionne la présence d'une architecture de constructions semi-enterrées circulaires ou ovalaires groupées en petits «villages», auxquelles sont associées dans le Carmel, la Galilée et le bassin du Jourdain un grand nombre de sépultures (N > 350) qui font la matière du présent exposé

Les hommes du Kébarien géométrique de Neve David, Mont Carmel (Israël)

International audienceThe Geometric Kebaran site of Neve David, dated 13,400 and 12,610 BP (uncalibrated), revealed two burials of adults, adding to a still very limited corpus of Epipaleolithic inhumations in the Levant. Neve David 1, a male, is one of the oldest known burials accompanied by ground stone implements. The burials clearly reflect the funerary customs of the following Natufian culture. The morphometric analyses of the best-preserved adult in the context of other Epipalaeolithic specimens from the region add to the anatomical variability already documented for this period.Deux sépultures d’adultes ont été découvertes sur le site Kébarien géométrique de Neve David (Israël) daté de 13 400 et 12 610 ans BP (non calibrées). Elles viennent étayer un corpus de sépultures épipaléolithiques du Levant encore très limité. La sépulture de Neve David 1, un individu de sexe masculin, livre l’une des plus anciennes attestations de matériel de broyage associé à l’inhumation. Le traitement des défunts annonce très clairement les pratiques funéraires natoufiennes qui leur succèdent. L’analyse morphométrique de l’adulte le mieux conservé et sa comparaison aux autres spécimens épipaléolithiques de la région enrichissent les données sur la variabilité anatomique déjà connue pour cette période