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34 - Eynan (Ain Mallaha)

from Part III: - Archaeology of Human Evolution

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

Eynan (Ain Mallaha), in the Upper Jordan Valley, is one of the main Natufian sites. In the history of Neolithic research, Eynan holds a special place as the site where sedentism before agriculture was first evidenced. Occupied from the 15th millennium to the 12th millennium cal. BP, it has revealed three main stages of semi-subterranean rounded buildings associated with a large number of burials. Most of the buildings are understood as houses that become smaller and smaller as time goes. During the Early stage single burials, some with personal adornments are typically associated with floors. Later on, burial pits dug in fills and accommodating several individuals become the rule. A return to single graves related to house floors but devoid of ornaments is observed during the Final stage. Huge amount of flint tools, grinding and pounding stones, as well as worked bones were recovered. Faunal and vegetal (phytoliths) remains suggest a broad-spectrum economy based on hunting, fishing and diverse gathering. The long stratigraphy has also played an important role in establishing subdivisions in the Natufian period.

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