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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

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.

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