Neolithic Levant

In the Neolithic era of the Levant, 11000 BCE - 6000 BCE, people began subsisting by cultivating cereals and legumes, domesticating sheep and goats, hunting wild game, gathering wild seed and fruit and product trading. During the 5,000 Neolithic years, the Near East shifted from small hunting bands to agricultural villages (.2-12 ha) within fertile Levantine zones. The Neolithic in the Levant spanned 8300 BCE - 4500 BCE. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic has all Pottery Neolithic features except pottery. Falling at the bands/tribes level of political complexity, theories on how this Neolithic development occurred are below.

Neolithic cultures had a farmer-hunter economy that relied upon raising of cereals and pulse, and the the hunting of wild animals. Their sites are often buried under alluvium. Alluvial fans were easy to clear for simple farming, and inundation ensured soil fertility. However, as watercourses changed, stones covered the abandoned sites and made them very difficult to find. Hunter-gatherers could exchange hunted meat, plants and desert fruits. Agricultural societies could exchange food products, household items, and practical and decorative lithics. Materials that traveled great distance includes obsidian, asphalt, greenstone and salt.

Obisidian was most commonly traded, and radioactive analysis has traced Levantine and Transjordan obsidian mostly to eastern Anatolia. Trade of domesticated plants and animals is illuminated by their locations over time.

Instead of Natufian exploitation of wild cereals, legumes, seeds and fruits, a clear shift occurred in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A toward systematic cultivation and reduced gathering. Hunting and fishing during the Natufian continued to a lesser extent into the Neolithic. Regarding lithics, Neolithic knapping and tool preparation techniques are markedly different from the Natufian. Also, microliths decreased sharply from ~40% (during the Natufian) to ~20% of total lithics. These changes were seen in agricultural areas first, then a few hundred years later in desert areas.

Levantine flora were/are Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian. Sparse rainfall was regular enough during the winter to support farming. Early Neolithic sites (ie, Jericho and Netiv Ha-Gdud) have been found beneath alluvial fans of wadis out of hills. This indicates that watercourses have changed their flow, burying some sites with alluvium). Natufian sites -- often in caves -- are usually alluvium-free and thus more easily found than Neolithic sites.

The Neolithic is also defined by the secondary products revolution and horticulture. Polished stone axes, pottery and domesticated cereals and animals developed quicker in the European Neolithic than in the Levantine Neolithic.

Pre-Pottery Neolithic

Anthropo- and zoo-morphic figurines have a presumedly religious motivation. An alternative to the cultic possibility is the use of figurines as teaching aids on the mysteries of life. While large-scale cultic items have not been found, smaller finds indicate a household basis for cultic tradition. Exemplary of the Levant's Pre-Pottery Neolithic are plaster statues, clay figures, modelled skulls and stone masks. These all show remarkable facial similarities.

Crude male and femlae figures have been found at Jericho, Munhata, Beidha, Nahal Hemar, 'Ain Ghazal and elsewhere. Lime-plaster figurines from 'Ain Ghazal include full-lengths and busts of men, women and children; the faces were painted with green (likely ground malachite), red (ocher) and black. Eyes were inlaid with Mediterranean or Red Sea shells (as were some modelled skulls).

Modelled skulls are adult skulls, usually lacking the lower jaw, with their front and bottom molded with clay or asphalt (like a mask) and the eyes inlaid with shells, cowrie or dog-dockle. The bottom surface is mostly flat with a mild arch. Numerous skulls have been found together, although it is unclear whether this was for cultic, sacred, storage or all three purposes (likely the case at Nahal Hemar).

Pre-Pottery Neolithic A

Anatolian obsidian was found at Jericho, indicating some form of trade. Microlithis dropped sharply in abundance during the PPNA, a marked departure from the Natufian. PPNA art was limited to anthropomorphic figurines of chalk and clay, although a few stone figurines have been found with crude outlines of features. Also, social stratification is indicated by a range of sizes amongst PPNA houses. Joint communal effort in the PPNA is evidenced by the tower and wall at Jericho.

Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic A sites include: Jericho and Nahal Oren in Israel; Netiv Ha-Gdud, Gilgal and Gesher in the Jordan Valley; and Hatula in the Judaean hills. The sites were either built upon or have been submerged under alluvial fans. Wall foundations at Jericho, Gilgal, Netiv Ha-Gdud and Nahal Oren are made of mortar-reinforced stones, slabs or even bricks. Actual walls were made of sticks and mud, or bricks. Jericho and Netiv Ha-Gdud yielded well-preserved loaf- (plano-convex) and cigar-shaped bricks with lengths of 30-40 cm.

Floorplans were circular or oval. Nahal Oren has yielded 13 structures, ranging from 5-15 sq m (most are 7-10). On the other hand, Netiv Ha-Gdud has yielded structures of adjoining small rooms that are each 6-10 sq m (smaller) to 20-30 sq m (larger). Roofing small rooms required only branches, sticks, hides or clay-covered mats; roofing larger rooms required additional support, likely by a centrally erected wooden post. At Jericho and Netiv Ha-Gdud, floors were plastered with clay or levigated mud; mats sometimes left impressions on wet clay. Floors were sometimes laid on a pebble or stone foundation. Nathal Oren's clay floors were unpreserved -- occupation levels were identified only by hearths, stone slabs, storage installations (30-50 cm wide/deep) and soil color changes.

Pre-Pottery Neolithic B

Herd animals were domesticated in the Levant during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. Sheep and goats were domesticated for practical reasons, and much later cattle were domesticated (although for religious/sacrifice reasons). There was an intense adoration of cattle, evidenced by clay bucrania crowned with real horns found at Catal Huyuk in Anatolia.

Also, the PPNB begins the Neolithic distinction of shifting from circular/oval to rectilinear houses.This was likely due to space limitations, as rectilinear rooms can be efficiently crammed into a small space. Indeed, houses were built one room at a time as needed and rectilinear houses take up much less space than their increasingly rare circular/oval counterparts.

Also arriving in the PPNB is white ware. White ware refers to bowls, cups and footed bowls of lime and ash (giving the impression of soft limestone). Vessels of this type have been found through the ancient Near East.

Pre-Pottery Neolithic C

Rollefson's excavations in Jordan have suggested a 6000 BCE - 5500 BCE Pre-Pottery Neolithic C, based on the following criteria:

Pottery Neolithic

Although continuous with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, knowledge about the Levant's Pottery Neolithic period is fragmentary. This is largely due to a shift in settlement patterns, likely due to a climatic change at the beginning of the 6th millennium BC that dried and then re-moistened the Levant. There are sites in the Jordan valley, and the few hill and desert sites lagged behind their agricultural counterparts: they remained hunter-gatherers; did not use pottery for cooking; and even still built somewhat circular/oval houses. However, the economic base did not change and people still subsisted on domesticated sheep and goats, as well as pigs by now; some wild species were still hunted, possibly by hunter-gatherers who then sold their catch. Distinct forms within the Levantine Pottery Neolithic material culture include tots-in-pots (jars of dead infants) and coffee-bean-eyed figurines. Also, ceramics finally arrived during the Pottery Neolithic. However, ceramics were made on an individual basis, were not widespread, and mostly took on natural forms. It is thus difficult to distinguish distinct ceramics assemblages (let alone styles that can be traced to a specific time or place, as is done with later ceramics).Many sickle blades and grinding tools exist, indicating reaping and preparation of grain. Larger pots could have been used as silos or for liquid storage. Obsidian trade, largely attested at Wadi Rabah, continued -- howver, other trade is scarcely evidenced.

Lithics are continuous with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Blade production evolved mildly, and axe cross-sections remained trapezoidal or almond-shaped. However, in the late Pottery Neolithic, the transverse arrowhead first appeared, fashioned from a blade segment into a trapezoidal or triangular shape. The sickle blade also evolves from a coarse denticulation to a fine (or no) denticulation; this is also characteristic of the Chalcolithic. Fan scrapers also appear in the late Pottery Neolithic.

Artistically, the coffee-bean-eyed figurine is unique to the Pottery Neolithic. It is a clay figurine of a seated woman with ample breasts, a large belly and a heaaddress; her eyes resemble coffee beans. A complete coffee-bean-eyed figurine was found at Munhata (near Sha'ar Ha-Golan) and in Tel Aviv. In another emphasis of the female form, pebbles have been found with crude incisions of eyes, a mouth, hands, legs and possibly a vaginal slit. These pebbles may have been heated, then pressed onto an individual's skin to leave patterned scars. As sheep, goats, cattle and pigs were all domesticated by this time, it is understandable that their forms have also been found fashioned in clay.

Architecture consisted mostly of house pits, storage pits and pits dug for clay excavation. These pits quickly filled with natural and occupation debris. House pits were 3-4 m in diameter and 1 m deep. A house pit at Munhata contained a bench, hearth and paved area. Roofing was made of mud, reeds, thatch and/or hides. Pottery, lithics, animal bones and other artifacts were discovered in and near these pits. Deep and narrow pits were likely formed by clay and earth excavation, followed by use as silos. Despite few graves overall, jar burials of infants have been found (tots-in-pots); however, typical of nomadic lifestyles, these centralized burial locations lack an accompanying settlement.

The four main Pottery Neolithic assemblages (cultures) in the Levant are Wadi Rabah, Yarmukian, Coastal and Desert,

Neolithic Levant Explanations

Below are established explanations for the Neolithic's developments. These explanations place varying emphasis upon: ecological factors at the end of the glacial period ~9th millennium BC, as glaciers melted and temperatures rose; and social factors of between/within different societies, including more functional (need → response to need) explanations. These theories draw upon botany, palynology, and zooarchaeology to varying extents.