1. Levant
    Early Epipaleolithic  Late Epipaleolithic 

2. Other regions
     Arabia  

3. Food sources

4. See also

5. References

In the prehistory of the Near East, the Epipalaeolithic ("Final Old Stone Age") is the period after the Upper Palaeolithic and before the Neolithic, between approximately 20,000 and 10,000 years Before Present (BP).^[1][2] The people of the Epipalaeolithic were nomadic hunter-gatherers that generally lived in small, seasonal camps rather than permanent villages. They made sophisticated stone tools using microliths—small, finely-produced blades that were hafted in wooden implements—which are the primary means by which archaeologists recognise and classify Epipalaeolithic sites.^[3]

The start of the Epipalaeolithic is defined by the appearance of microliths.^[2][4][5] Although this is an arbitrary boundary, the Epipalaeolithic does differ significantly from the preceding Upper Palaeolithic. Epipalaeolithic sites are more numerous, better preserved and can be accurately radiocarbon dated. The period also coincides with the gradual retreat of glacial climatic conditions between the Last Glacial Maximum and the start of the Holocene and is characterised by population growth and economic intensification.^[2] The Epipalaeolithic ended with the "Neolithic Revolution" and the onset of domestication, food production, and sedentism – although archaeologists now recognise that these trends began in the Epipalaeolithic.^[5][6]

The period may be subdivided into Early, Middle and Late Epipaleolithic: The Early Epipaleolithic corresponds to the Kebaran culture, c. 20,000 to 14,500 years ago, the Middle Epipaleolithic is the Geometric Kebaran or late phase of the Kebaran, and the Late Epipaleolithic to the Natufian, 14,500–11,500 BP.^[7] The Natufian overlaps with the incipient Neolithic Revolution, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A.

Levant

Early Epipaleolithic

Infobox archaeological culture

The Early Epipaleolithic, also known as Kebaran, lasts from 20,000 to 12,150 BP.^[7] It followed the Aurignacian or Levantine Upper Paleolithic periods throughout the Levant. By the end of the Aurignacian, gradual changes took place in stone industries. Small stone tools called microliths and retouched bladelets can be found for the first time. The microliths of this culture period differ greatly from the Aurignacian artifacts.

By 18,000 BP the climate and environment had changed, starting a period of transition. The Levant became more arid and the forest vegetation retreated, to be replaced by steppe. The cool and dry period ended at the beginning of Mesolithic 1. The hunter-gatherers of the Aurignacian would have had to modify their way of living and their pattern of settlement to adapt to the changing conditions. The crystallization of these new patterns resulted in Mesolithic 1. New types of settlements and new stone industries developed.

The inhabitants of a small Mesolithic 1 site in the Levant left little more than their chipped stone tools behind. The industry was of small tools made of bladelets struck off single-platform cores. Besides bladelets, burins and end-scrapers were found. A few bone tools and some ground stone have also been found. These so-called Mesolithic sites of Asia are far less numerous than those of the Neolithic and the archeological remains are very poor.

The type site is Kebara Cave south of Haifa.

The Kebaran was characterized by small, geometric microliths, and were thought to lack the specialized grinders and pounders found in later Near Eastern cultures.

The Kebaran is preceded by the Athlitian phase of the Antelian and followed by the proto-agrarian Natufian culture of the Epipalaeolithic. The appearance of the Kebarian culture, of microlithic type implies a significant rupture in the cultural continuity of Levantine Upper Paleolithic. The Kebaran culture, with its use of microliths, is associated with the use of the bow and arrow and the domestication of the dog.^[8] The Kebaran is also characterised by the earliest collecting of wild cereals, known due to the uncovering of grain grinding tools. It was the first step towards the Neolithic Revolution. The Kebaran people are believed to have practiced dispersal to upland environments in the summer, and aggregation in caves and rockshelters near lowland lakes in the winter. This diversity of environments may be the reason for the variety of tools found in their toolkits.

The Kebaran is generally thought to have been ancestral to the later Natufian culture that occupied much of the same range.^[9]

Late Epipaleolithic

The Late Epipaleolithic is also called the Natufian culture. This period is characterized by the early rise of agriculture that would later emerge into the Neolithic period. Radiocarbon dating places the Natufian culture between 12,500 and 9500 BCE, just before the end of the Pleistocene.^[10] This period is characterised by the beginning of agriculture.^[11] The earliest known battle occurred during the Mesolithic period at a site in Sudan known as Cemetery 117.

The Natufian culture is commonly split into two subperiods: Early Natufian (12,500–10,800 BCE) (Christopher Delage gives {{circa}} 13,000–11,500 BP uncalibrated, equivalent to {{circa}} 13,700–11,500 BCE)^[12] and Late Natufian (10,800–9500 BCE). The Late Natufian most likely occurred in tandem with the Younger Dryas. The following period is often called the Pre-Pottery Neolithic; in the Levant, unlike elsewhere, "Mesolithic pottery" is not talked of.

Other regions

Arabia

Until recently, it was thought that the Arabian peninsula was too arid and inhospitable for human settlement in the Late Pleistocene. The earliest known sites belonged to the early Neolithic, c. 9000 to 8000 BP, and it was supposed that people were able to recolonise the region then due to the wetter climate of the early Holocene.^[13][14][15]

However in 2014, archaeologists working in the southern Nefud desert discovered an Epipalaeolithic site dating to between 12,000 and 10,000 BP. The site is located in the Jubbah basin, a palaeolake which retained water in the otherwise dry conditions of the Terminal Pleistocene. The stone tools found bore a close resemblance to the Geometric Kebaran, a Levantine industry associated with the Middle Epipalaeolithic. The excavators of the site therefore proposed that northern Arabia was colonised by foragers from the Levant around 15,000 years ago. These groups may then have been cut off by the drying climate and retreated to refugia like the Jubbah palaeolake.^[16]

Food sources

The Epipaleolithic is best understood when discussing the southern Levant, as the period is well documented due to good preservation at the sites, at least of animal remains. The most prevalent animal food sources in the Levant during this period were: deer, gazelle, and ibex of various species, and smaller animals including birds, lizard, fox, tortoise, and hare. Less common were aurochs, wild equids, wild boar, wild cattle, and hartebeest.^[17] At Neve David near Haifa, 15 mammal species were found, and two reptile species. Despite then being very close to the coast, the rather small number of seashells found (7 genera) and the piercing of many, suggests these may have been collected as ornaments rather than food.^[18]

However the period seems to be marked by an increase in plant foods and a decrease in meat eating. Over 40 plant species have been found by analysing one site in the Jordan Valley, and some grains were processed and baked. Stones with evidence of grinding have been found.^[17] These were most likely the main food sources throughout the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, which introduced the widespread agricultural growing of crops.

See also

• List of archaeological periods (Levant)
• Levantine archaeology
• Caucasian Epipalaeolithic
• Mesolithic Europe

References

• Bar-Oz, Guy; Dayan, Tamar; Kaufman, Daniel, The Epipalaeolithic Faunal Sequence in Israel: A View from Neve David (PDF), Journal of Archaeological Science, 1999, 26, 67–82
• Simmons, Alan H., The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: Transforming the Human Landscape, 2007, University of Arizona Press, {{ISBN|978-0816529667}}, [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BLZbLtmEJ68C&pg=PA47 google books]
• M. H. Alimen and M. J. Steve, Historia Universal siglo XXI. Prehistoria. Siglo XXI Editores, 1970 (reviewed and corrected in 1994) (original German edition, 1966, titled Vorgeschichte). {{ISBN|84-323-0034-9}}

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