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68 - Human Fossils from the Upper Palaeolithic through the Early Holocene

from Part VI: - Humans in the Levant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

By
Israel Hershkovitz  and
Baruch Arensburg
Edited by
Yehouda Enzel  and
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Yehouda Enzel
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
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Summary

This chapter presents major characteristics of populations inhabiting the southern Levant 55-8 ka. There was no population continuity between the late Mousterian-Initial UP (Manot ~55 ka) and the late UP in the Levant (e.g., Qafzeh ca. <30 ka). The former is associated with early UP central European populations (e.g., Mladec). The latter closely resembles the Cro-Magnon type. This suggests population movements in and out of the southern Levant during the UP period. The late Pleistocene-early Holocene (Natufian-Neolithic) transition to a food producing economy in the southern Levant indicate that: (a) demographic characteristics (e.g., life expectancy) did not change much; (b) there is no indication for a major shift in dietary components (i.e. in food-preparation techniques and in non-dietary usage of teeth; (c) reduction in health but no clear indication that this reflects animal husbandry (domestic-origin hypothesis), but rather was probably due to anthropogenic modification of the environment; (d) physical load (stress) was similar for both Natufian and Neolithic populations despite evidence for reduction in mobility in the Neolithic.
Type
Chapter
Information
Quaternary of the Levant
Environments, Climate Change, and Humans
 , pp. 611 - 620
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

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