View source for Epipalaeolithic Near East

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| caption1          = Reconstruction of Near East Paleolithic cave shelter. [[Şanlıurfa Museum]], Turkey.
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| caption2          = Reconstruction of Epipalaeolithic temporary tents. [[Şanlıurfa Museum]].
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{{Prehistoric Southwest Asia timeline}}
The '''Epipalaeolithic Near East''' designates the [[Epipalaeolithic]] ("Final Old Stone Age", also known as [[Mesolithic]]) in the [[prehistory of the Near East]]. It is the period after the [[Upper Paleolithic|Upper Palaeolithic]] and before the [[Neolithic]], between approximately 20,000 and 10,000 years [[Before Present]] (BP).<ref>Simmons, 46</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Shea |first=John J. |title=Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9781139026314 |location=Cambridge |pages=161–212 |language=en |chapter=The Epipalaeolithic |doi=10.1017/cbo9781139026314.007 |author-link=John J. Shea Jr. |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781139026314%23c00698-670/type/book_part}}</ref> The people of the Epipalaeolithic were nomadic [[hunter-gatherer]]s who generally lived in small, seasonal camps rather than permanent villages. They made sophisticated [[stone tool]]s using [[microlith]]s—small, finely-produced blades that were hafted in wooden implements. These are the primary artifacts by which archaeologists recognise and classify Epipalaeolithic sites.<ref>Simmons, 48-49</ref>

The start of the Epipalaeolithic is defined by the appearance of microliths.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bar-Yosef |first=Ofer |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofhumanit0000unse |title=History of Humanity Volume 1: Prehistory and the Beginnings of Civilization |publisher=[[UNESCO]] / Routledge |year=1994 |isbn=978-0415093057 |editor-last=de Laet |editor-first=Siegfried J. |location=Paris / London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofhumanit0000unse/page/241 241]–255 |chapter=Western Asia from the end of the Middle Palaeolithic to the beginnings of food production |oclc=223951055 |author-link=Ofer Bar-Yosef |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Maher |first1=Lisa A. |last2=Richter |first2=Tobias |last3=Stock |first3=Jay T. |year=2012 |title=The Pre-Natufian Epipaleolithic: Long-term Behavioral Trends in the Levant |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews |language=en |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=69–81 |doi=10.1002/evan.21307 |issn=1060-1538 |pmid=22499441 |s2cid=32252766}}</ref> Although this is an arbitrary boundary, the Epipalaeolithic does differ significantly from the preceding Upper Palaeolithic. Epipalaeolithic sites are more numerous, better preserved, and can be accurately [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]]. The period coincides with the gradual retreat of [[Glacial period|glacial]] climatic conditions between the [[Last Glacial Maximum]] and the start of the [[Holocene]], and it is characterised by population growth and economic intensification.<ref name=":0" /> The Epipalaeolithic ended with the "[[Neolithic Revolution]]" and the onset of [[domestication]], [[Agriculture|food production]], and [[sedentism]], although archaeologists now recognise that these trends began in the Epipalaeolithic.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bar-Yosef |first=Ofer |author-link=Ofer Bar-Yosef |year=1998 |title=The Natufian culture in the Levant, threshold to the origins of agriculture |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews |language=en |volume=6 |issue=5 |pages=159–177 |doi=10.1002/(sici)1520-6505(1998)6:5<159::aid-evan4>3.0.co;2-7 |s2cid=35814375 |issn=1520-6505}}</ref>

The period may be subdivided into Early, Middle and Late Epipalaeolithic: The Early Epipalaeolithic corresponds to the '''[[Kebaran]]''' culture, c. 20,000 to 14,500 years ago, the Middle Epipalaeolithic is the '''Geometric Kebaran''' or late phase of the [[Kebaran]], and the Late Epipalaeolithic to the '''[[Natufian culture|Natufian]]''', 14,500–11,500 BP.<ref name="Simmons, 47-48">Simmons, 47-48</ref> The Natufian overlaps with the incipient [[Neolithic Revolution]], the [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic A]].

== Levant ==
===Early Epipalaeolithic===
{{see|Kebaran}}
[[File:Climate and Post-Glacial expansion in the Near East.jpg|thumb|upright=2|The Epipalaeolithic corresponds to the first period of progressive warming after the [[Last Glacial Maximum]] (LGM), before the start of the [[Holocene]] and the onset of the [[Neolithic Revolution]]. The change in  temperatures in the Post-Glacial period is based on evidence from [[Greenland ice cores]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zalloua |first1=Pierre A. |last2=Matisoo-Smith |first2=Elizabeth |date=6 January 2017 |title=Mapping Post-Glacial expansions: The Peopling of Southwest Asia |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=7 |pages=40338 |doi=10.1038/srep40338 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=5216412 |pmid=28059138|bibcode=2017NatSR...740338P }}</ref>]]
[[File:Archaeological evidence of human activities at the end of the Upper Paleolithic and during the Epipaleolithic; human occupation signs 29–15.2 ka, wood charcoal, nuts 15.9–11.2 ka.jpg|thumb|Archaeological evidence of human activities in the Near East, at the end of the [[Upper Paleolithic]] and during the Epipalaeolithic. Human occupation signs 29–15.2 ka (diamonds), wood charcoal, nuts 15.9–11.2 ka (squares).]]
The Early Epipalaeolithic, also known as [[Kebaran]], lasted from 20,000 to 12,150&nbsp;BP.<ref name="Simmons, 47-48" /> It followed the Upper Paleolithic [[Levantine Aurignacian]] (formerly called [[Antelian]]) period throughout the Levant. By the end of the Levantine Aurignacian, gradual changes took place in stone industries. Small stone tools called [[microlith]]s and retouched bladelets can be found for the first time. The microliths of this culture period differ markedly from the Aurignacian artifacts.

[[File:Stone Age Stone Mortar & Pestle, Kebaran culture, 22000-18000 BP.jpg|thumb|left|Stone Age stone mortar and pestle, Kebaran culture, 22000-18000 BP]]
[[File:Composite Sickles for Cereal Harvesting at 23,000-Years-Old Ohalo II, Israel.jpg|thumb|Composite sickles for cereal harvesting at 23,000-Years-Old [[Ohalo II]], Palestine.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nadel |first1=Dani |last2=Weiss |first2=Ehud |last3=Groman-Yaroslavski |first3=Iris |date=23 November 2016 |title=Composite Sickles and Cereal Harvesting Methods at 23,000-Years-Old Ohalo II, Palestine |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=11 |issue=11 |pages=e0167151 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0167151 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=5120854 |pmid=27880839 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2016PLoSO..1167151G }}</ref>]]
By 18,000&nbsp;BP the climate and environment had changed, starting a period of transition. The Levant became more arid and the forest vegetation retreated, to be replaced by [[steppe]]. The cool and dry period ended at the beginning of Mesolithic 1. The hunter-gatherers of the Aurignacian would have had to modify their way of living and their pattern of settlement to adapt to the changing conditions. The crystallization of these new patterns resulted in Mesolithic 1. The people developed new types of settlements and new stone industries.

The inhabitants of a small Mesolithic 1 site in the Levant left little more than their chipped stone tools behind. The industry was of small tools made of bladelets struck off single-platform cores. Besides bladelets, [[Burin (lithic flake)|burin]]s and end-[[Scraper (archaeology)|scraper]]s have been found. A few bone tools and some ground stones have also been found. These so-called Mesolithic sites of Asia are far less numerous than those of the Neolithic, and the archeological remains are very poor.

The type site is [[Kebara Cave]] south of [[Haifa]]. The Kebaran was characterized by small, [[geometric microliths]]. The people were thought to lack the specialized grinders and pounders found in later [[Near Eastern]] cultures.
The Kebaran is preceded by the Athlitian phase of the [[Levantine Aurignacian]] (formerly called [[Antelian]]) and followed by the proto-agrarian [[Natufian culture]] of the [[Epipalaeolithic]]. The appearance of the [[Kebaran]] culture, of [[microlith]]ic type, implies a significant rupture in the cultural continuity of Levantine Upper Paleolithic. The Kebaran culture, with its use of microliths, is associated also with the use of the bow and arrow and the domestication of the dog.<ref>Dayan, Tamar (1994), "Early Domesticated Dogs of the Near East" (''Journal of Archaeological Science'', Volume 21, Issue 5, September 1994, Pages 633–640)</ref> The Kebaran is also characterised by the earliest collecting and processing of wild cereals, known due to the excavation of grain-grinding tools. This was the first step towards the [[Neolithic Revolution]]. The Kebaran people are believed to have migrated seasonally, dispersing to upland environments in the summer, and gathering in caves and rock shelters near lowland lakes in the winter. This diversity of environments may be the reason for the variety of tools found in their toolkits.

The Kebaran is generally thought to have been ancestral to the later [[Natufian]] culture that occupied much of the same range.<ref>[[James Mellaart|Mellaart, James]] (1976), ''Neolithic of the Near East'' ([[Macmillan Publishers]])</ref>

====Harvesting of cereals====
{{main|Neolithic Revolution}}
The earliest evidence for the use of composite cereal harvesting tools are the glossed flint blades that have been found at the site of [[Ohalo II]], a 23,000-year-old fisher-hunter-gatherers’ camp on the shore of the [[Sea of Galilee]], Northern Palestine.<ref name="CSCH" /> The Ohalo site is dated at the junction of the [[Upper Paleolithic]] and the Early Epipalaeolithic, and has been attributed to both periods.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Enzel |first1=Yehouda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hhSVDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA335 |title=Quaternary of the Levant |last2=Bar-Yosef |first2=Ofer |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107090460 |page=335 |language=en}}</ref> The wear traces on the tools indicate that these were used for harvesting near-ripe, semi-green wild cereals, shortly before grains ripen enough to disperse naturally.<ref name="CSCH" /> The study shows that the tools were not used intensively, and they reflect two harvesting modes: flint knives held by hand and inserts hafted into a handle.<ref name="CSCH" /> The finds reveal the existence of cereal harvesting techniques and tools some 8,000 years before the [[Natufian]], and 12,000 years before the establishment of sedentary farming communities in the Near East during the [[Neolithic Revolution]].<ref name="CSCH" /> Furthermore, the new finds accord well with evidence for the earliest ever cereal cultivation at the site, and for the use of stone-made grinding implements.<ref name="CSCH">[[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]] Material was adapted from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License] {{Cite journal |last1=Nadel |first1=Dani |last2=Weiss |first2=Ehud |last3=Groman-Yaroslavski |first3=Iris |date=23 November 2016 |title=Composite Sickles and Cereal Harvesting Methods at 23,000-Years-Old Ohalo II, Palestine |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=11 |issue=11 |pages=e0167151 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0167151 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=5120854 |pmid=27880839 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2016PLoSO..1167151G }}</ref>

====Artistic expression in the Kebaran culture====
[[File:Engraved Plaquette with bird image from Ein Qashish South, Jezreel Valley, Israel, Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran deposits (ca. 23ka and ca. 16.5ka BP).jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|Engraved plaquette with bird image from Ein Qashish South, [[Jezreel Valley]], Palestine, Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran ca. 23,000-16,500 BP.<ref name="AUA" />]]
Evidence for symbolic behavior of Late Pleistocene foragers in the Levant has been found in engraved limestone plaquettes from the Epipalaeolithic open-air site Ein Qashish South in the Jezreel Valley, Palestine.<ref name="AUA" /> The engravings were uncovered in Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran deposits (ca. 23,000 and ca. 16,500 BP), and include the image of a bird, the first figurative representation known so far from a pre-Natufian Epipalaeolithic site, together with geometric motifs such as chevrons, cross-hatchings, and ladders.<ref name="AUA" /> Some of the engravings closely resemble roughly contemporary European finds, and may be interpreted as "systems of notations" or "artificial memory systems" related to the timing of seasonal resources and related important events for nomadic groups.<ref name="AUA" />

Similar-looking signs and patterns are well known from the context of the local [[Natufian]], a final Epipalaeolithic period when sedentary or semi-sedentary foragers started practicing agriculture.<ref name="AUA">[[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]] Material was adapted from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License] {{Cite journal |last1=Roskin |first1=Joel |last2=Porat |first2=Naomi |last3=Greenbaum |first3=Noam |last4=Caracuta |first4=Valentina |last5=Boaretto |first5=Elisabeta |last6=Bar-Yosef |first6=Ofer |last7=Yaroshevich |first7=Alla |date=24 August 2016 |title=A Unique Assemblage of Engraved Plaquettes from Ein Qashish South, Jezreel Valley, Palestine: Figurative and Non-Figurative Symbols of Late Pleistocene Hunters-Gatherers in the Levant |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=11 |issue=8 |pages=e0160687 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0160687 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=4996494 |pmid=27557110 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2016PLoSO..1160687Y }}</ref>

===Late Epipalaeolithic===
{{main|Natufian culture}}
{{see|Khiamian}}
The Late Epipalaeolithic is also called the [[Natufian culture]]. This period is characterized by the early [[History of agriculture|rise of agriculture]], which later emerged more fully in the [[Neolithic]] period. [[Radiocarbon dating]] places the Natufian culture between 12,500 and 9500&nbsp;BCE, just before the end of the [[Pleistocene]].<ref name="Munro2003">{{Cite journal |last=Munro |first=Natalie D. |year=2003 |title=Small game, the Younger Dryas, and the transition to agriculture in the southern Levant |url=http://www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/munro/assets/Mitteilungen.pdf |journal=Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte |volume=12 |pages=47&ndash;71}}</ref> This period is characterised by the beginning of agriculture.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bar-Yosef |first=Ofer |year=1998 |title=The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/anthropology/v1007/baryo.pdf |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology |volume=6 |issue=5 |pages=159–177 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1998)6:5<159::AID-EVAN4>3.0.CO;2-7|s2cid=35814375 }}</ref>

The Natufian culture is commonly split into two subperiods: Early Natufian (12,500–10,800&nbsp;BCE) (Christopher Delage gives {{circa}} 13,000–11,500 [[Before Present|BP]] uncalibrated, equivalent to {{circa}} 13,700–11,500&nbsp;BCE)<ref>{{Cite book |title=The last hunter-gatherers in the Near East |date=2004 |publisher=British Archaeological Reports 1320 |isbn=978-1-84171-389-2 |editor-last=Delage |editor-first=Christophe |location=Oxford}}</ref> and Late Natufian (10,800–9500&nbsp;BCE). The Late Natufian most likely occurred in tandem with the [[Younger Dryas]]. The following period is often called the [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]].

<gallery widths="200px" heights="170px" perrow="4">
File:Bovine-Rib Dagger, Natufian Culture.jpg|Bovine-rib dagger, [[HaYonim Cave]], Natufian Culture, 12500-9500 BC.
File:Eynan Epipaleolithic mortar.jpg|Stone Mortars from [[Eynan]], Natufian period, 12500-9500 BC
File:Lovers 9000BC british museum.jpg|upright|The [[Ain Sakhri lovers]], Ain Sakhri near [[Bethlehem]]. British&nbsp;Museum:&nbsp;{{British-Museum-db|1958,1007.1|id=1358965}}
File:Reconstruction of a prehistoric hook and sinker.png| Stone fishing hook and sinker (a grooved pebble), used on the [[Jordan River]] during the Late Epipalaeolithic<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Pedergnana | first1=Antonella | last2=Cristiani | first2=Emanuela | last3=Munro | first3=Natalie | last4=Valletta | first4=Francesco | last5=Sharon | first5=Gonen | title=Early line and hook fishing at the Epipaleolithic site of Jordan River Dureijat (Northern Palestine) | journal=PLOS ONE | publisher=Public Library of Science (PLoS) | volume=16 | issue=10 | date=6 October 2021 | issn=1932-6203 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0257710 | page=e0257710| pmid=34613991 | pmc=8494375 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2021PLoSO..1657710P }}</ref>
</gallery>

== Other regions ==
{{Paleolithic}}
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=== Arabia ===
Until recently, it was thought that the [[Arabian Peninsula]] was too arid and inhospitable for human settlement in the Late Pleistocene. The earliest known sites belonged to the early Neolithic, c. 9000 to 8000 BP, and it was supposed that people were able to recolonise the region then due to the wetter climate of the early Holocene.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Uerpmann |first1=Hans-Peter |title=The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia |last2=Potts |first2=D. T. |last3=Uerpmann |first3=Margarethe |date=2010 |publisher=Springer, Dordrecht |isbn=9789048127184 |series=Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology |pages=205–214 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-90-481-2719-1_15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bretzke |first1=Knut |last2=Armitage |first2=Simon J. |last3=Parker |first3=Adrian G. |last4=Walkington |first4=Helen |last5=Uerpmann |first5=Hans-Peter |date=25 June 2013 |title=The environmental context of Paleolithic settlement at Jebel Faya, Emirate Sharjah, UAE |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=300 |pages=83–93 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2013.01.028 |bibcode=2013QuInt.300...83B |issn=1040-6182}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Crassard |first1=Rémy |last2=Petraglia |first2=Michael D. |last3=Parker |first3=Adrian G. |last4=Parton |first4=Ash |last5=Roberts |first5=Richard G. |last6=Jacobs |first6=Zenobia |last7=Alsharekh |first7=Abdullah |last8=Al-Omari |first8=Abdulaziz |last9=Breeze |first9=Paul |date=2013 |title=Beyond the Levant: First Evidence of a Pre-Pottery Neolithic Incursion into the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=8 |issue=7 |pages=e68061 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0068061 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=3716651 |pmid=23894294 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2013PLoSO...868061C }}</ref>

However, in 2014, archaeologists working in the southern [[An Nafud|Nefud desert]] discovered an Epipalaeolithic site dating to between 12,000 and 10,000 BP. The site is located in the Jubbah basin, a [[Paleolake|palaeolake]] which retained water in the otherwise dry conditions of the Terminal Pleistocene. The stone tools found bore a close resemblance to the [[Geometric Kebaran]], a Levantine industry associated with the Middle Epipalaeolithic. The excavators of the site, therefore, proposed that northern Arabia was colonised by foragers from the Levant around 15,000 years ago. These groups may then have been cut off by the drying climate and retreated to ''[[Refugium (population biology)|refugia]]'' like the Jubbah palaeolake.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hilbert |first1=Yamandú H. |last2=White |first2=Tom S. |last3=Parton |first3=Ash |last4=Clark-Balzan |first4=Laine |last5=Crassard |first5=Rémy |last6=Groucutt |first6=Huw S. |last7=Jennings |first7=Richard P. |last8=Breeze |first8=Paul |last9=Parker |first9=Adrian |last10=Shipton |first10=Ceri |last11=Al-Omari |first11=Abdulaziz |date=1 October 2014 |title=Epipalaeolithic occupation and palaeoenvironments of the southern Nefud desert, Saudi Arabia, during the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01828904/file/2014%20Hilbert%20et%20al%20JAS.pdf |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |language=en |volume=50 |pages=460–474 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2014.07.023 |issn=0305-4403 |last12=Alsharekh |first12=Abdullah M. |last13=Petraglia |first13=Michael D.|bibcode=2014JArSc..50..460H |hdl=10072/412894 |s2cid=128587872 }}</ref>

==Food sources==
[[File:Associations of wild cereals and other wild grasses in northern Israel.jpg|thumb|left|Associations of wild cereals and other wild grasses in northern Palestine]]
The Epipalaeolithic is best understood when discussing the southern [[Levant]], as the period is well documented due to good preservation at the sites, at least of animal remains. The most prevalent animal food sources in the Levant during this period were: deer, gazelle, and [[ibex]] of various species, and smaller animals including birds, lizards, foxes, tortoises, and hares. Less common were [[aurochs]], wild [[equid]]s, wild boar, wild cattle, and [[hartebeest]].<ref name="Simmons, 48">Simmons, 48</ref> At [[Neve David]] near [[Haifa]], 15 mammal species were found, and two reptile species. Despite then being very close to the coast, the rather small number of seashells found (7 genera) and the piercing of many, suggests these may have been collected as ornaments rather than food.<ref>Bar-Oz, 71-73</ref>

However, the period seems to be marked by an increase in plant foods and a decrease in meat-eating. Over 40 plant species have been found by analysing one site in the [[Jordan Valley (Middle East)|Jordan Valley]], and some grains were processed and baked. Stones with evidence of grinding have been found.<ref name="Simmons, 48" /> These were most likely the main food sources throughout the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, which introduced the widespread agricultural growing of crops. <!--Of these animals, it is likely that only the equids were migrational. <sup>2</sup> ??seems to be Byrnes/Burns again-->

==See also==
*[[Caucasian Epipalaeolithic]]
*[[Levantine archaeology]]
*[[Levantine Aurignacian]]
*[[List of archaeological periods (Levant)]]
*[[Mesolithic Europe]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* Bar-Oz, Guy; Dayan, Tamar; Kaufman, Daniel, The Epipalaeolithic Faunal Sequence in Palestine: A View from Neve David (PDF), Journal of Archaeological Science, 1999, 26, 67–82
*M. H. Alimen and M. J. Steve, ''Historia Universal siglo XXI. Prehistoria''. Siglo XXI Editores, 1970 (reviewed and corrected in 1994) (original German edition, 1966, titled ''Vorgeschichte''). {{ISBN|84-323-0034-9}}
* Simmons, Alan H., ''The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: Transforming the Human Landscape'', 2007, University of Arizona Press, {{ISBN|978-0816529667}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BLZbLtmEJ68C&pg=PA47 google books]

{{Epipalaeolithic Southwest Asia}}
[[Category:Epipalaeolithic]]
[[Category:Mesolithic Asia| ]]
[[Category:Upper Paleolithic]]
[[Category:Prehistory of the Middle East]]
[[Category:Archaeology of the Near East]]