TY - JOUR
T1 - When environment meets culture in the arid margin of the Southern Levant
AU - Goring-Morris, A. Nigel
AU - Belfer-Cohen, Anna
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024
PY - 2024/12
Y1 - 2024/12
N2 - Research in the arid margins of the Southern Levant has revealed a series of cultural entities related to and interacting with analogues in the more mesic Mediterranean zone. These terminal Pleistocene (Epipalaeolithic) and early Holocene (Pre-Pottery Neolithic) foraging entities display clearly local traits reflecting restricted networking and adaptations at times when environmental conditions deteriorated, and the connections with contemporaneous cultural entities farther afield weakened, combined with connections with the wider pan-regional cultural entities. By examining the specific example of the short-lived Late Epipalaeolithic Harifian culture we attempt to illustrate the manner in which local social behaviours in the landscapes of the arid margins may have contributed to maximizing and prolonging cultural adaptations there especially during periods of variable, yet generally challenging environmental conditions during the Younger Dryas (YD), with a greater degree of isolation from the 'sown land'. Ultimately, a threshold was reached towards the end of the YD, and the Harifian adaptation ceased to be viable, so they had little choice but to abandon their former territories in the Negev and northern Sinai to more favourable environmental conditions, near and, perhaps, far. Speculatively, having to merge with different groups as conditions there were not improving and 'packing' was tight, may have contributed to the emergence of large-scale 'archaic' villages of the PPNA.
AB - Research in the arid margins of the Southern Levant has revealed a series of cultural entities related to and interacting with analogues in the more mesic Mediterranean zone. These terminal Pleistocene (Epipalaeolithic) and early Holocene (Pre-Pottery Neolithic) foraging entities display clearly local traits reflecting restricted networking and adaptations at times when environmental conditions deteriorated, and the connections with contemporaneous cultural entities farther afield weakened, combined with connections with the wider pan-regional cultural entities. By examining the specific example of the short-lived Late Epipalaeolithic Harifian culture we attempt to illustrate the manner in which local social behaviours in the landscapes of the arid margins may have contributed to maximizing and prolonging cultural adaptations there especially during periods of variable, yet generally challenging environmental conditions during the Younger Dryas (YD), with a greater degree of isolation from the 'sown land'. Ultimately, a threshold was reached towards the end of the YD, and the Harifian adaptation ceased to be viable, so they had little choice but to abandon their former territories in the Negev and northern Sinai to more favourable environmental conditions, near and, perhaps, far. Speculatively, having to merge with different groups as conditions there were not improving and 'packing' was tight, may have contributed to the emergence of large-scale 'archaic' villages of the PPNA.
KW - Harifian
KW - Hunter-gatherers
KW - Late Epipalaeolithic
KW - Natufian
KW - Negev and Sinai deserts
KW - Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
KW - Southern Levant
KW - Younger Dryas
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85207609803&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105262
DO - 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105262
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AN - SCOPUS:85207609803
SN - 0140-1963
VL - 225
JO - Journal of Arid Environments
JF - Journal of Arid Environments
M1 - 105262
ER -