Multi-isotope evidence of population aggregation in the Natufian and scant migration during the early Neolithic of the Southern Levant

Abstract

Human mobility and migration are thought to have played essential roles in the consolidation and expansion of sedentary villages, long-distance exchanges and transmission of ideas and practices during the Neolithic transition of the Near East. Few isotopic studies of human remains dating to this early complex transition offer direct evidence of mobility and migration. The aim of this study is to identify first-generation non-local individuals from Natufian to Pre-Pottery Neolithic C periods to explore the scope of human mobility and migration during the Neolithic transition in the Southern Levant, an area that is central to this historical process. The study adopted a multi-approach resorting to strontium (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr), oxygen (δ18O_VSMOW) and carbon (δ¹³C) isotope ratio analyses of tooth enamel of 67 human individuals from five sites in Jordan, Syria, and Israel. The isotope ratios point both to a significant level of human migration and/or mobility in the Final Natufian which is compatible with early sedentarism and seasonal mobility and with population aggregation in early sedentary hamlets. The current findings, in turn, offer evidence that most individuals dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic were local to their respective settlements despite certain evidence of non-locals. Interestingly, isotopic data suggest that two possible non-local individuals benefitted from particular burial practices. The results underscore a decrease in human mobility and migration as farming became increasingly dominant among the subsistence strategies throughout the Neolithic transition of the Southern Levant.

Figure 1

Left: correlation of the chronology (calibrated Before Present), climatic period, chronological period (culture), nature of settlement and economy during the Neolithic transition in the Southern Levant. PPN Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Right: Map locating the archaeological sites yielding human enamel samples serving for the analysis. We acknowledge Luis C. Teira for his Near East map (on the right). The figure was generated using Adobe Illustrate CC 2019 (https://www.adobe.com/cn/products/illustrator.html).

Figure 2

Scatter plot of the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios according to the geological areas identified in the study. The Eastern Highlands includes ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of human samples from the sites of Kharaysin and ‘Ain Ghazal (Cretaceous limestone). The Hula Basin in the upper Jordan Rift Valley corresponds to the sites of Ain Mallaha/Eynan and Beisamoun (Hula Basin: basalt soil, terra rossa and Cretaceous limestone) Those from Al-Leja are from the site of Tell Qarassa North (Late Miocene, Pliocene, and Quaternary basalts).

Figure 3

Scatter plot of δ¹⁸O_carb(VMOW) and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope ratios for the 67 individuals from the five archaeological sites of the Southern Levant. The isotope ratios for individual sites are plotted in Fig. S3 (Supplementary Material). The light colour figures mark the Sr local baseline range at each site: blue (‘Ain Mallaha/Eynan and Beisamoun, 0.70782–0.70808); green (Tell Qarassa North, 0.70750–0.70770), yellow (Kharaysin, 0.70792 to 0.70828), and black (‘Ain Ghazal, 0.70787–0.70810).

Figure 4

Scatter plot of the δ¹³C and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope ratios of the 67 individuals from the five archaeological sites of the Southern Levant. Isotope ratios for individual sites are plotted in Fig. S4 (Supplementary Information). The light colour figures mark the Sr local baseline range at each site: blue (‘Ain Mallaha/Eynan and Beisamoun, 0.70782–0.70808); green (Tell Qarassa North, 0.70750–0.70770), yellow (Kharaysin, 0.70792 to 0.70828), and black (‘Ain Ghazal, 0.70787–0.70810).