Hunter-gatherers of the Levantine Epipalaeolithic: the socioecological origins of sedentism

The archaeological record of the Levantine Epipalaeolithic has generally been interpreted as showing an abrupt and marked change from a system of simple, mobile hunting-gathering to one of sedentary complex foraging. Thus the Natufian is seen to represent a revolutionary break from its immediate predecessors, the Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran. This paper, in examining this proposition, maintains that the emergence of the Natufian was in fact the result of diachronic evolutionary change. The Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran are shown not to conform to the small, simple and mobile paradigm and it is possible to document processual change leading to the Natufian. While the Natufian did emerge within a setting of palaeoenvironmental change, it is argued that the origins of this archaeological culture are best explained within a framework of evolving socioecological relationships. -Author