Nahal Ein Gev II, a Late Natufian Community at the Sea of Galilee

Abstract

The Natufian culture is of great importance as a starting point to investigate the dynamics of the transition to agriculture. Given its chronological position at the threshold of the Neolithic (ca. 12,000 years ago) and its geographic setting in the productive Jordan Valley, the site of Nahal Ein Gev II (NEG II) reveals aspects of the Late Natufian adaptations and its implications for the transition to agriculture. The size of the site, the thick archaeological deposits, invested architecture and multiple occupation sub-phases reveal a large, sedentary community at least on par with Early Natufian camps in the Mediterranean zone. Although the NEG II lithic tool kit completely lacks attributes typical of succeeding Pre Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) assemblages, the artistic style is more closely related to the early PPNA world, despite clear roots in Early Natufian tradition. The site does not conform to current perceptions of the Late Natufians as a largely mobile population coping with reduced resource productivity caused by the Younger Dryas. Instead, the faunal and architectural data suggest that the sedentary populations of the Early Natufian did not revert back to a nomadic way of life in the Late Natufian in the Jordan Valley. NEG II encapsulates cultural characteristics typical of both Natufian and PPNA traditions and thus bridges the crossroads between Late Paleolithic foragers and Neolithic farmers.

Fig 1. Location of NEG II in the Southern Levant and other sites mentioned in the text.

Fig 2. Plan of the site and the excavated areas.

Fig 3. Area A: (A) plan and (B) section.

Fig 4. Area B: (A) plan and (B) section.

Fig 5. Probability distribution of the calibrated radiocarbon date ranges of the NEG II samples.

Fig 6. Rounded storage pit.

Fig 7. Building 3.

Fig 8. Building 4 –(A) view from the south and (B) from the west.

Fig 9. Building 5 –view from the south.

Fig 10. Homo 2.

Fig 11. Homo 4—located at the base of the multi-burial grave.

Fig 12. NEG tools: 1–3: cores; 4–5 scrapers; 6–7: burins; 8–20: perforators; 21–29: sickle blades; 30: backed blade; 31: notched; 32: varia; 33: truncated; 34–35:lunates; 36–39:backed bladelets.

Fig 13. Relative abundance indices including broad taxonomic groups, ungulates and small game taxa.

Fig 14. Survivorship curve of gazelles from NEG II based on the proportion of fused first and second phalanx (6.5 mos), distal tibia (9 mos), tuber calcis of calcaneum (12 mos), distal metapodial (16 mos), distal radius (18 mos) [35,36].

Fig 15. Special Items: 1: Perforated Piece; 2–5: Decorated objects; 6: Green Stone Spacers; 7: Shell Bead; 8–10: Disc Beads; 10, 12–14: Disc Beads Pre-forms.

(2–5 photographed by Gabi Laron; 1, 6–14: photographed by Ella Klein).