Natufian culture: Difference between revisions

Natufian culture
	A map of the Levant with Natufian regions across present-day Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and a long arm extending into Lebanon and Syria
Geographical range	Levant, Western Asia
Period	Epipaleolithic
Dates	15,000–11,500 BP
Type site	Shuqba cave, in Wadi Natuf
Major sites	Shuqba cave, Ain Mallaha, Ein Gev, Tell Abu Hureyra
Preceded by	Kebaran, Mushabian
Followed by	Khiamian, Shepherd Neolithic, Pre-Pottery Neolithic

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Natufian culture (/nəˈtuːfiən/^[1] nə-TOO-fee-ən) is a Late Epipaleolithic archaeological culture of the Neolithic prehistoric^[2] Levant in Western Asia, dating to around 15,000 to 11,500 years ago.^[3] The culture was unusual in that it supported a sedentary or semi-sedentary population even before the introduction of agriculture. Natufian communities may be the ancestors of the builders of the first Neolithic settlements of the region, which may have been the earliest in the world. Some evidence suggests deliberate cultivation of cereals, specifically rye, by the Natufian culture at Tell Abu Hureyra, the site of earliest evidence of agriculture in the world.^[2] The world's oldest known evidence of the production of bread-like foodstuff has been found at Shubayqa 1, a 14,400-year-old site in Jordan's northeastern desert, 4,000 years before the emergence of agriculture in Southwest Asia.^[4] In addition, the oldest known evidence of possible beer-brewing, dating to approximately 13,000 BC, was found in Raqefet Cave on Mount Carmel, although the beer-related residues may simply be a result of a spontaneous fermentation.^[5]^[6]

Generally, though, Natufians exploited wild cereals and hunted animals, notably gazelles.^[7] Archaeogenetic analysis has revealed derivation of later (Neolithic to Bronze Age) Levantines primarily from Natufians, besides substantial admixture from Chalcholithic Anatolians.^[8]

Dorothy Garrod coined the term Natufian based on her excavations at the Shuqba cave (Wadi an-Natuf) near the town of Shuqba.

Discovery

The Natufian culture was discovered by British archaeologist Dorothy Garrod during her excavations of Shuqba cave in the Judaean Hills, on the West Bank of the Jordan River.^[9]^[10] Prior to the 1930s, the majority of archaeological work taking place in British Palestine was biblical archaeology focused on historic periods, and little was known about the region's prehistory.

In 1928, Garrod was invited by the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (BSAJ) to excavate Shuqba cave, where prehistoric stone tools had been discovered by Père Mallon four years earlier. She discovered a layer sandwiched between the Upper Palaeolithic and Bronze Age deposits characterised by the presence of microliths. She identified this with the Mesolithic, a transitional period between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic which was well-represented in Europe but had not yet been found in the Near East. A year later, when she discovered similar material at el-Wad Terrace, Garrod suggested the name "the Natufian culture", after Wadi an-Natuf that ran close to Shuqba.

Over the next two decades Garrod found Natufian material at several of her pioneering excavations in the Mount Carmel region, including el-Wad, Kebara and Tabun, as did the French archaeologist René Neuville, firmly establishing the Natufian culture in the regional prehistoric chronology. As early as 1931, both Garrod and Neuville drew attention to the presence of stone sickles in Natufian assemblages and the possibility that this represented a very early agriculture.^[10]

Dating

Radiocarbon dating places the Natufian culture at an epoch from the terminal Pleistocene to the very beginning of the Holocene, a time period between 12,500 and 9,500 BC.^[12]

The period is commonly split into two subperiods: Early Natufian (12,000–10,800 BC) and Late Natufian (10,800–9,500 BC). The Late Natufian most likely occurred in tandem with the Younger Dryas (10,800 to 9,500 BC). The Levant hosts more than a hundred kinds of cereals, fruits, nuts, and other edible parts of plants, and the flora of the Levant during the Natufian period was not the dry, barren, and thorny landscape of today, but rather woodland.^[9]

Precursors and associated cultures

The Natufian developed in the same region as the earlier Kebaran culture. It is generally seen as a successor, which evolved out of elements within that preceding culture. There were also other industries in the region, such as the Mushabian culture of the Negev and the Sinai Peninsula, which are sometimes distinguished from the Kebaran culture or believed to have been involved in the evolution of the Natufian culture.

More generally there has been discussion of the similarities of these cultures with those found in coastal North Africa. Graeme Barker notes there are: "similarities in the respective archaeological records of the Natufian culture of the Levant and of contemporary foragers in coastal North Africa across the late Pleistocene and early Holocene boundary".^[13] According to Isabelle De Groote and Louise Humphrey, Natufians practiced the Iberomaurusian and Capsian custom of sometimes extracting their maxillary central incisors (upper front teeth).^[14]

Ofer Bar-Yosef has argued that there are signs of influences coming from North Africa to the Levant, citing the microburin technique and "microlithic forms such as arched backed bladelets and La Mouillah points."^[15] But recent research has shown that the presence of arched backed bladelets, La Mouillah points, and the use of the microburin technique was already apparent in the Nebekian industry of the Eastern Levant.^[16] And Maher et al. state that, "Many technological nuances that have often been always highlighted as significant during the Natufian were already present during the Early and Middle EP [Epipalaeolithic] and do not, in most cases, represent a radical departure in knowledge, tradition, or behavior."^[17]

Authors such as Christopher Ehret have built upon the little evidence available to develop scenarios of intensive usage of plants having built up first in North Africa, as a precursor to the development of true farming in the Fertile Crescent, but such suggestions are considered highly speculative until more North African archaeological evidence can be gathered.^[18]^[19] In fact, Weiss et al. have shown that the earliest known intensive usage of plants was in the Levant 23,000 years ago at the Ohalo II site.^[20]^[21]^[22]

Anthropologist C. Loring Brace (1993) cross-analysed the craniometric traits of Natufian specimens with those of various ancient and modern groups from the Near East, Africa and Europe. The Late Pleistocene Epipalaeolithic Natufian sample was described as problematic due to its small size (consisting of only three males and one female), as well as the lack of a comparative sample from the Natufians' putative descendants in the Neolithic Near East. Brace observed that the Natufian fossils lay between those of the Niger–Congo-speaking series included and the other samples (Near East, Europe), which he suggested may point to a Sub-Saharan influence in their constitution.^[23] Subsequent ancient DNA analysis of Natufian skeletal remains by Lazaridis et al. (2016) found that the specimens instead were a mix of 50% Basal Eurasian ancestral component (see Archaeogenetics) and 50% West-Eurasian Unknown Hunter Gatherer (UHG) population related to European Western Hunter-Gatherers.^[24]

Natufians have also been described by anthropologists as a Proto-Mediterranean population.^[25]^[26]

According to Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen, "It seems that certain preadaptive traits, developed already by the Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran populations within the Mediterranean park forest, played an important role in the emergence of the new socioeconomic system known as the Natufian culture."^[27]

Settlements

Settlements occur mostly in Israel and Palestine. This could be deemed the core zone of the Natufian culture, but Israel is a place that has been excavated more frequently than other places hence the greater number of sites.^[28] During the years more sites have been found outside the core zone of Israel and Palestine stretching into what now is Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula and the Negev desert.^[28] The settlements in the Natufian culture were larger and more permanent than in preceding ones. Some Natufian sites had stone built architecture; Ain Mallaha is an example of round stone structures.^[29] Cave sites are also seen frequently during the Natufian culture. El Wad is a Natufian cave site with occupation in the front part of the cave also called the terrace.^[30] Some Natufian sites were located in forest/steppe areas and others near inland mountains. The Natufian settlements appear to be the first to exhibit evidence of food storage; not all Natufian sites have storage facilities, but they have been identified at certain sites.^[31] Natufians are also suggested to have visited Cyprus, requiring travel over significant distances of water.^[32]

Material culture

Lithics

The Natufian had a microlithic industry centered on short blades and bladelets. The microburin technique was used. Geometric microliths include lunates, trapezes, and triangles. There are backed blades as well. A special type of retouch (Helwan retouch) is characteristic for the early Natufian. In the late Natufian, the Harif-point, a typical arrowhead made from a regular blade, became common in the Negev. Some scholars^[who?] use it to define a separate culture, the Harifian.

Sickle blades also appear for the first time in the Natufian lithic industry. The characteristic sickle-gloss shows that they were used to cut the silica-rich stems of cereals, indirectly suggesting the existence of incipient agriculture. Shaft straighteners made of ground stone indicate the practice of archery. There are heavy ground-stone bowl mortars as well.

Art

The Ain Sakhri lovers, a carved stone object held at the British Museum, is the oldest known depiction of a couple having sex. It was found in the Ain Sakhri cave in the Judean desert.^[33]

Burials

Natufian grave goods are typically made of shell, teeth (of red deer), bones, and stone. There are pendants, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and belt-ornaments as well.

In 2008, the 12,400–12,000 cal BC grave of an apparently significant Natufian female was discovered in a ceremonial pit in the Hilazon Tachtit cave in northern Israel.^[34] Media reports referred to this person as a "shaman".^[35] The burial contained the remains of at least three aurochs and 86 tortoises, all of which are thought to have been brought to the site during a funeral feast. The body was surrounded by tortoise shells, the pelvis of a leopard, forearm of a boar, a wingtip of a golden eagle, and skull of a beech marten.^[36]^[37]

Long-distance exchange

At Ain Mallaha (in Northern Israel), Anatolian obsidian and shellfish from the Nile valley have been found. The source of malachite beads is still unknown. Epipaleolithic Natufians carried parthenocarpic figs from Africa to the southeastern corner of the Fertile Crescent, c. 10,000 BC.^[38]

Other finds

There was a rich bone industry, including harpoons and fish hooks. Stone and bone were worked into pendants and other ornaments. There are a few human figurines made of limestone (El-Wad, Ain Mallaha, Ain Sakhri), but the favorite subject of representative art seems to have been animals. Ostrich-shell containers have been found in the Negev.

In 2018, the world's oldest brewery was found, with the residue of 13,000-year-old beer, in a prehistoric cave near Haifa in Israel when researchers were looking for clues into what plant foods the Natufian people were eating. This is 8,000 years earlier than experts previously thought beer was invented.^[39]

A study published in 2019 shows an advanced knowledge of lime plaster production at a Natufian cemetery in Nahal Ein Gev II site in the Upper Jordan Valley dated to 12 thousand (calibrated) years before present [k cal BP]. Production of plaster of this quality was previously thought to have been achieved some 2,000 years later.^[40]

Subsistence

The Natufian people lived by hunting and gathering. The preservation of plant remains is poor because of the soil conditions, but at some sites such as Tell Abu Hureyra substantial amounts of plant remains discovered through flotation have been excavated.^[41] However wild cereals like legumes, almonds, acorns and pistachios have been collected throughout most of the Levant. Animal bones show that mountain and goitered gazelles (Gazella gazella and Gazella subgutturosa) were the main prey.

Additionally, deer, aurochs and wild boar were hunted in the steppe, as well as onagers and caprids (ibex). Waterfowl and freshwater fish formed part of the diet in the Jordan river valley. Animal bones from Salibiya I (12,300 – 10,800 cal BP) have been interpreted as evidence for communal hunts with nets, however, the radiocarbon dates are far too old compared to the cultural remains of this settlement, indicating contamination of the samples.^[42]

Development of agriculture

A pita-like bread has been found from 12,500 BC attributed to Natufians. This bread is made of wild cereal seeds and papyrus cousin tubers, ground into flour.^[43]

According to one theory,^[35] it was a sudden change in climate, the Younger Dryas event (c. 10,800 to 9500 BC), which inspired the development of agriculture. The Younger Dryas was a 1,000-year-long interruption in the higher temperatures prevailing since the Last Glacial Maximum, which produced a sudden drought in the Levant. This would have endangered the wild cereals, which could no longer compete with dryland scrub, but upon which the population had become dependent to sustain a relatively large sedentary population. By artificially clearing scrub and planting seeds obtained from elsewhere, they began to practice agriculture. However, this theory of the origin of agriculture is controversial in the scientific community.^[44]

Grinding tool from Gilgal, Natufian culture, 12,500–9500 BC
Basalt sharpening stones, Eynan and Nahal Oren, Natufian Culture, 12,500–9500 BC
Bovine-rib dagger, HaYonim Cave, Natufian Culture, 12,500–9500 BC
Stone mortars from Eynan, Natufian period, 12,500–9500 BC
Stone mortar from Eynan, Natufian period, 12,500–9500 BC
Limestone and basalt mortars, Eynan, Early Natufian, c. 12,000 BC

Domesticated dog

At the Natufian site of Ain Mallaha in Israel, dated to 12,000 BC, the remains of an elderly human and a four-to-five-month-old puppy were found buried together.^[45] At another Natufian site at the cave of Hayonim, humans were found buried with two canids.^[45]

Archaeogenetics

Ancient DNA analysis of Natufian skeletal remains found that the Natufian ancestry could be modelled as a mix of about 50% Basal Eurasian ancestry, and 50% from a West-Eurasian Unknown Hunter Gatherer (UHG) population, which was related to European Western Hunter-Gatherers.^[24] Vallini et al. (2024) modeled the amount of Basal Eurasian ancestry among Natufians at roughly 15%, with the remainder being associated with West Eurasian sources.^[47]

The Natufian population also displays ancestral ties to Paleolithic Taforalt samples, the makers of the Epipaleolithic Iberomaurusian culture of the Maghreb, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture of the Levant, the Early Neolithic Ifri N'Amr Ou Moussa and the Late Neolithic Kelif el Boroud culture of North Africa, with samples associated with these early cultures all sharing a common genomic component dubbed the "Natufian component", which diverged from other West Eurasian lineages ~26,000 years ago, and is most closely linked to the Arabian lineage. Possible bidirectional geneflow events between these groups has also been suggested, with particular evidence for affinity between the Natufians and Iberomaurusians.^[48]^[49]

Contact between Natufians and other Neolithic Levantines, Caucasus hunter-gatherers (CHG), Anatolian and Iranian farmers is believed^[who?] to have decreased genetic variability among later populations in the Middle East.^{[citation needed]} Migrations from the Near-East also occurred towards Africa, and the West Eurasian-like ancestry among populations in the Horn of Africa being best represented by the Levant Neolithic, and may be associated with the spread of Afroasiatic languages.^{[citation needed]} Lazaridis et al. (2016) did not find a greater genetic affinity between Natufians and sub-Saharan Africans than that existing between sub-Saharan Africans and other ancient populations of Western Eurasia, and also stated that the ancestry of a primitive population from North Africa could not be tested because modern North Africans are largely descended from late migrant populations from Eurasia.^[50] However, Daniel Shriner (2018), using modern populations as a reference, found 28% autosomal African ancestry in Natufian samples, with 21.2% related to North Africa and 6.8% related to Omotic-speaking populations in southern Ethiopia, which reveals a plausible source for haplogroup E in Natufians; still according to Shriner, the Natufian samples had 61.2% ancestry related to Arabs and 10.8% ancestry related to West Asians.^[51]

As summarized by Rosa Fregel, a later preprint from Lazaridis et al. (2018) has contested Loosdrecht's conclusion and argues for a minor sub-Saharan African component in Natufians, stating "that [the Iberomaurusians of] Taforalt can be better modeled as a mixture of a Dzudzuana component and a sub-Saharan African component" (or an ancient and now-extinct North African component that diverged prior to the Out-of-Africa migration) and "also argue that (...) the Taforalt people (...) contributed to the genetic composition of Natufians and not the other way around", , which, according to Lazaridis et al., would be consistent with morphological and archaeological studies that indicate a dissemination of morphological characteristics and artifacts from North Africa to the Near East, as well as explaining the presence of Y-chromosome haplogroup E in Natufians and Levantine farmers. Fregel summarizes that "More evidence will be needed to determine the specific origin of the North African Upper Paleolithic populations".^[52]^[53]

In their 2017 paper, Ranajit Das, Paul Wexler, Mehdi Pirooznia and Eran Elhaik analyzed the Lazaridis et al. (2016) study concluding that the Natufians, together with one Neolithic Levantine sample, clustered in the proximity to modern Palestinians and Bedouins, and also "marginally overlapped" with Yemenite Jews.^[54] Ferreira et al. (2021) and Almarri et al. (2021) found that ancient Natufians cluster with modern Arabian groups, such as Saudi Arabians and Yemenis, which derive most of their ancestry from local Natufian-like hunter-gatherer peoples and have less Neolithic Anatolian ancestry than Levantines.^[55]^[56] Sirak et al. (2024) found that medieval Socotra (the Soqotri people), similar to modern Saudis, Yemenis and Bedouins, have a majority component that is "maximized in Late Pleistocene (Epipaleolithic) Natufian hunter–gatherers from the Levant".^[57]

Language

Alexander Militarev, Vitaly Shevoroshkin and others have linked the Natufian culture to the proto-Afroasiatic language,^[58]^[59] which they in turn believe has a Levantine origin. Some scholars, for example Christopher Ehret, Roger Blench and others, contend that the Afroasiatic Urheimat is to be found in North Africa or Northeast Africa, probably in the area of Egypt, the Sahara, Horn of Africa or Sudan.^[60]^[61]^[62]^[63] Within this group, Ehret, who like Militarev believes Afroasiatic may already have been in existence in the Natufian period, would associate Natufians only with the Near Eastern Proto-Semitic branch of Afroasiatic.^[64]

John Bengston documented that archeological and physical anthropological evidence showed Natufians are closely related to modern Semitic-speaking people from the Levant. Under his hypothesis, Afro-Asiatic branches originated in North Africa proper (Egypt), and the age of these languages can be dated to the periods of the Natufian culture around ~12,000 years ago. He postulated this based on the biological discontinuity between Pleistocene and Holocene North Africa, where there was population replacement and admixture in this region involving external migrants from northern areas, who were the ancestral Afro-Asiatic speakers.^[65]

Sites

The Natufian culture has been documented at dozens of sites. Around 90 have been excavated, including:^[66]

Aammiq 2
Tell Abu Hureyra
Abu Salem
Abu Usba
Ain Choaab
Ain Mallaha (Eynan)
Ain Rahub
Ain Sakhri
Ala Safat
Antelias Cave
Azraq 18 (Ain Saratan)
Baaz
Bawwab al Ghazal
Beidha
Dederiyeh
Dibsi Faraj
El Khiam
El Kowm I
El Wad
Erq el Ahmar
Fazael IV & VI
Gilgal II
Givat Hayil I
Har Harif K7
Hatoula
Hayonim Cave and Hayonim Terrace
Hilazon Tachtit
Hof Shahaf
Huzuq Musa
Iraq ed Dubb
Iraq el Barud
Iraq ez Zigan
J202
J203
J406a
J614
Jayroud 1–3 & 9
Jebel Saaidé II
Jeftelik
Jericho
Kaus Kozah
Kebara
Kefar Vitkin 3
Khallat Anaza (BDS 1407)
Khirbat Janba
Kosak Shamali
Maaleh Ramon East
Maaleh Ramon West
Moghr el Ahwal
Mureybet
Mushabi IV & XIX
Nachcharini Cave
Nahal Ein Gev II
Nahal Hadera I and Nahal Hadera IV (Hefsibah)
Nahal Oren
Nahal Sekher 23
Nahal Sekher VI
Nahr el Homr 2
Qarassa 3
Ramat Harif (G8)
Raqefet Cave
Rosh Horesha
Rosh Zin
Sabra 1
Saflulim
Salibiya 1
Salibiya 9
Sands of Beirut
Shluhat Harif
Shubayqa 1
Shubayqa 6
Shukhbah Cave
Shunera VI
Shunera VII
Tabaqa (WHS 895)^[67]
Taibé
TBAS 102
TBAS 212
Tor at Tariq (WHS 1065)
Tugra I
Upper Besor 6
Wadi Hammeh 27
Wadi Jilat 22
Wadi Judayid (J2)
Wadi Mataha
Yabrud 3
Yutil al Hasa (WHS 784)

References

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^ ^a ^b Moore, Andrew M. T.; Hillman, Gordon C.; Legge, Anthony J. (2000), Village on the Euphrates: From Foraging to Farming at Abu Hureyra, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-510806-4
^ Grosman, Leore (2013). "The Natufian Chronological Scheme – New Insights and their Implications". In Bar-Yosef, Ofer; Valla, François R. (eds.). Natufian Foragers in the Levant: Terminal Pleistocene Social Changes in Western Asia (1 ed.). New York: Berghahn Books. pp. 622–627. doi:10.2307/j.ctv8bt33h. ISBN 978-1-879621-45-9. JSTOR j.ctv8bt33h.
^ Arranz-Otaegui, Amaia; Gonzalez Carretero, Lara; Ramsey, Monica N.; Fuller, Dorian Q.; Richter, Tobias (31 July 2018). "Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (31): 7925–7930. Bibcode:2018PNAS..115.7925A. doi:10.1073/pnas.1801071115. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 6077754. PMID 30012614.
^ Liu, Li; Wang, Jiajing; Rosenberg, Danny; Zhao, Hao; Lengyel, György; Nadel, Dani (1 October 2018). "Fermented beverage and food storage in 13,000 y-old stone mortars at Raqefet Cave, Israel: Investigating Natufian ritual feasting". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 21: 783–793. Bibcode:2018JArSR..21..783L. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.08.008. ISSN 2352-409X. S2CID 165595175.
^ Eitam, David (2019). "'Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of [beer]!' (R.L. Stevenson) no beer but rather cereal-Food. Commentary: Liu et al. 2018". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 28: 101913. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101913. S2CID 198454176.
^ Kottak, Conrad P. (2005), Window on Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Anthropology, Boston: McGraw-Hill, pp. 155–156, ISBN 978-0-07-289028-0
^ Lazaridis, Iosif; Nadel, Dani; Rollefson, Gary; Merrett, Deborah C.; Rohland, Nadin; Mallick, Swapan; Fernandes, Daniel; Novak, Mario; Gamarra, Beatriz; Sirak, Kendra; Connell, Sarah; Stewardson, Kristin; Harney, Eadaoin; Fu, Qiaomei; Gonzalez-Fortes, Gloria; Jones, Eppie R.; Roodenberg, Songül Alpaslan; Lengyel, György; Bocquentin, Fanny; Gasparian, Boris; Monge, Janet M.; Gregg, Michael; Eshed, Vered; Mizrahi, Ahuva-Sivan; Meiklejohn, Christopher; Gerritsen, Fokke; Bejenaru, Luminita; Blüher, Matthias; Campbell, Archie; Cavalleri, Gianpiero; Comas, David; Froguel, Philippe; Gilbert, Edmund; Kerr, Shona M.; Kovacs, Peter; Krause, Johannes; McGettigan, Darren; Merrigan, Michael; Merriwether, D. Andrew; O'Reilly, Seamus; Richards, Martin B.; Semino, Ornella; Shamoon-Pour, Michel; Stefanescu, Gheorghe; Stumvoll, Michael; Tönjes, Anke; Torroni, Antonio; Wilson, James F.; Yengo, Loic; Hovhannisyan, Nelli A.; Patterson, Nick; Pinhasi, Ron; Reich, David (2016). "Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East" (PDF). Nature. 536 (7617): 419–424. Bibcode:2016Natur.536..419L. doi:10.1038/nature19310. PMC 5003663. PMID 27459054. Fig. 4. "Our data document continuity across the transition between hunter– gatherers and farmers, separately in the southern Levant and in the southern Caucasus–Iran highlands. The qualitative evidence for this is that PCA, ADMIXTURE, and outgroup f3 analysis cluster Levantine hunter–gatherers (Natufians) with Levantine farmers, and Iranian and CHG with Iranian farmers (Fig. 1b and Extended Data Figs 1, 3). We confirm this in the Levant by showing that its early farmers share significantly more alleles with Natufians than with the early farmers of Iran" Epipaleolithic Natufians were substantially derived from the Basal Eurasian lineage. "We used qpAdm (ref. 7) to estimate Basal Eurasian ancestry in each Test population. We obtained the highest estimates in the earliest populations from both Iran (66±13% in the likely Mesolithic sample, 48±6% in Neolithic samples), and the Levant (44±8% in Epipalaeolithic Natufians) (Fig. 2), showing that Basal Eurasian ancestry was widespread across the ancient Near East. [...] The idea of Natufians as a vector for the movement of Basal Eurasian ancestry into the Near East is also not supported by our data, as the Basal Eurasian ancestry in the Natufians (44±8%) is consistent with stemming from the same population as that in the Neolithic and Mesolithic populations of Iran, and is not greater than in those populations (Supplementary Information, section 4). Further insight into the origins and legacy of the Natufians could come from comparison to Natufians from additional sites, and to ancient DNA from North Africa."
^ ^a ^b Bar-Yosef, Ofer (1998), "The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture" (PDF), Evolutionary Anthropology, 6 (5): 159–177, doi:10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1998)6:5<159::AID-EVAN4>3.0.CO;2-7, S2CID 35814375
^ ^a ^b Boyd, Brian (1999). "'Twisting the kaleidoscope': Dorothy Garrod and the 'Natufian Culture'". In Davies, William; Charles, Ruth (eds.). Dorothy Garrod and the progress of the Palaeolithic. Oxford: Oxbow. pp. 209–223. ISBN 978-1-78570-519-9.
^ Zalloua, Pierre A.; Matisoo-Smith, Elizabeth (6 January 2017). "Mapping Post-Glacial expansions: The Peopling of Southwest Asia". Scientific Reports. 7: 40338. Bibcode:2017NatSR...740338P. doi:10.1038/srep40338. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5216412. PMID 28059138.
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^ Maher, Tobias; Richter, Lisa A.; Stock, Jay T. (2012). "The Pre-Natufian Epipaleolithic: Long-Term Behavioral Trends in the Levant". Evolutionary Anthropology. 21 (2): 69–81. doi:10.1002/evan.21307. PMID 22499441. S2CID 32252766.
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^ Bellwood P (2005) Blackwell, Oxford. Page 97
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External links

Epi-Palaeolithic (European Mesolithic) Natufian Culture of Israel (The History of the Ancient Near East)
Cultural Complexity (Hierarchical Societies [Socio-Economic-Political Inequalities]) in Mesopotamia: An Outline, archived from the original on 8 October 2016, retrieved 2 June 2002
The genetic structure of the world's first farmers, Lazaridis et al, 2016

[1] "Natufian". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)

[Moore2000-2] Moore, Andrew M. T.; Hillman, Gordon C.; Legge, Anthony J. (2000), Village on the Euphrates: From Foraging to Farming at Abu Hureyra, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-510806-4

[3] Grosman, Leore (2013). "The Natufian Chronological Scheme – New Insights and their Implications". In Bar-Yosef, Ofer; Valla, François R. (eds.). Natufian Foragers in the Levant: Terminal Pleistocene Social Changes in Western Asia (1 ed.). New York: Berghahn Books. pp. 622–627. doi:10.2307/j.ctv8bt33h. ISBN 978-1-879621-45-9. JSTOR j.ctv8bt33h.

[4] Arranz-Otaegui, Amaia; Gonzalez Carretero, Lara; Ramsey, Monica N.; Fuller, Dorian Q.; Richter, Tobias (31 July 2018). "Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (31): 7925–7930. Bibcode:2018PNAS..115.7925A. doi:10.1073/pnas.1801071115. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 6077754. PMID 30012614.

[5] Liu, Li; Wang, Jiajing; Rosenberg, Danny; Zhao, Hao; Lengyel, György; Nadel, Dani (1 October 2018). "Fermented beverage and food storage in 13,000 y-old stone mortars at Raqefet Cave, Israel: Investigating Natufian ritual feasting". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 21: 783–793. Bibcode:2018JArSR..21..783L. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.08.008. ISSN 2352-409X. S2CID 165595175.

[6] Eitam, David (2019). "'Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of [beer]!' (R.L. Stevenson) no beer but rather cereal-Food. Commentary: Liu et al. 2018". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 28: 101913. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101913. S2CID 198454176.

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[8] Lazaridis, Iosif; Nadel, Dani; Rollefson, Gary; Merrett, Deborah C.; Rohland, Nadin; Mallick, Swapan; Fernandes, Daniel; Novak, Mario; Gamarra, Beatriz; Sirak, Kendra; Connell, Sarah; Stewardson, Kristin; Harney, Eadaoin; Fu, Qiaomei; Gonzalez-Fortes, Gloria; Jones, Eppie R.; Roodenberg, Songül Alpaslan; Lengyel, György; Bocquentin, Fanny; Gasparian, Boris; Monge, Janet M.; Gregg, Michael; Eshed, Vered; Mizrahi, Ahuva-Sivan; Meiklejohn, Christopher; Gerritsen, Fokke; Bejenaru, Luminita; Blüher, Matthias; Campbell, Archie; Cavalleri, Gianpiero; Comas, David; Froguel, Philippe; Gilbert, Edmund; Kerr, Shona M.; Kovacs, Peter; Krause, Johannes; McGettigan, Darren; Merrigan, Michael; Merriwether, D. Andrew; O'Reilly, Seamus; Richards, Martin B.; Semino, Ornella; Shamoon-Pour, Michel; Stefanescu, Gheorghe; Stumvoll, Michael; Tönjes, Anke; Torroni, Antonio; Wilson, James F.; Yengo, Loic; Hovhannisyan, Nelli A.; Patterson, Nick; Pinhasi, Ron; Reich, David (2016). "Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East" (PDF). Nature. 536 (7617): 419–424. Bibcode:2016Natur.536..419L. doi:10.1038/nature19310. PMC 5003663. PMID 27459054. Fig. 4. "Our data document continuity across the transition between hunter– gatherers and farmers, separately in the southern Levant and in the southern Caucasus–Iran highlands. The qualitative evidence for this is that PCA, ADMIXTURE, and outgroup f3 analysis cluster Levantine hunter–gatherers (Natufians) with Levantine farmers, and Iranian and CHG with Iranian farmers (Fig. 1b and Extended Data Figs 1, 3). We confirm this in the Levant by showing that its early farmers share significantly more alleles with Natufians than with the early farmers of Iran" Epipaleolithic Natufians were substantially derived from the Basal Eurasian lineage. "We used qpAdm (ref. 7) to estimate Basal Eurasian ancestry in each Test population. We obtained the highest estimates in the earliest populations from both Iran (66±13% in the likely Mesolithic sample, 48±6% in Neolithic samples), and the Levant (44±8% in Epipalaeolithic Natufians) (Fig. 2), showing that Basal Eurasian ancestry was widespread across the ancient Near East. [...] The idea of Natufians as a vector for the movement of Basal Eurasian ancestry into the Near East is also not supported by our data, as the Basal Eurasian ancestry in the Natufians (44±8%) is consistent with stemming from the same population as that in the Neolithic and Mesolithic populations of Iran, and is not greater than in those populations (Supplementary Information, section 4). Further insight into the origins and legacy of the Natufians could come from comparison to Natufians from additional sites, and to ancient DNA from North Africa."

[Bar-Yosef_159-9] Bar-Yosef, Ofer (1998), "The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture" (PDF), Evolutionary Anthropology, 6 (5): 159–177, doi:10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1998)6:5<159::AID-EVAN4>3.0.CO;2-7, S2CID 35814375

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[11] Zalloua, Pierre A.; Matisoo-Smith, Elizabeth (6 January 2017). "Mapping Post-Glacial expansions: The Peopling of Southwest Asia". Scientific Reports. 7: 40338. Bibcode:2017NatSR...740338P. doi:10.1038/srep40338. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5216412. PMID 28059138.

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[17] Maher, Tobias; Richter, Lisa A.; Stock, Jay T. (2012). "The Pre-Natufian Epipaleolithic: Long-Term Behavioral Trends in the Levant". Evolutionary Anthropology. 21 (2): 69–81. doi:10.1002/evan.21307. PMID 22499441. S2CID 32252766.

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[20] Weiss, E; Kislev, ME; Simchoni, O; Nadel, D; Tschauner, H (2008). "Plant-food preparation area on an Upper Paleolithic brush hut floor at Ohalo II, Israel". Journal of Archaeological Science. 35 (8): 2400–2414. Bibcode:2008JArSc..35.2400W. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.03.012.

[21] Nadel, D; Piperno, DR; Holst, I; Snir, A; Weiss, E (2012). "New evidence for the processing of wild cereal grains at Ohalo II, a 23 000-year-old campsite on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel". Antiquity. 86 (334): 990–1003. doi:10.1017/s0003598x00048201. S2CID 162019976.

[22] Weiss, Ehud; Wetterstrom, Wilma; Nadel, Dani; Bar-Yosef, Ofer (29 June 2004). "The broad spectrum revisited: Evidence from plant remains". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 101 (26): 9551–9555. Bibcode:2004PNAS..101.9551W. doi:10.1073/pnas.0402362101. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 470712. PMID 15210984.

[23] Brace, C. Loring; et al. (2006). "The questionable contribution of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age to European craniofacial form". PNAS. 103 (1): 242–247. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103..242B. doi:10.1073/pnas.0509801102. PMC 1325007. PMID 16371462. The Natufian sample from Israel is also problematic because it is so small, being constituted of three males and one female from the Late Pleistocene Epipalaeolithic (34) of Israel, and there was no usable Neolithic sample for the Near East... the small Natufian sample falls between the Niger-Congo group and the other samples used. Fig. 2 shows the plot produced by the first two canonical variates, but the same thing happens when canonical variates 1 and 3 (not shown here) are used. This placement suggests that there may have been a Sub-Saharan African element in the make-up of the Natufians (the putative ancestors of the subsequent Neolithic)

[Lazaridis2016-24] Lazaridis, Iosif; et al. (17 June 2016). "The genetic structure of the world's first farmers". bioRxiv 10.1101/059311. – Table S6.1 – Y-chromosome haplogroups

[25] Simmons, Alan H. (2011). The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: Transforming the Human Landscape. University of Arizona Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-8165-2966-7.

[26] Fitzhugh, Ben; Habu, Junko (2012). Beyond Foraging and Collecting: Evolutionary Change in Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 132. ISBN 978-1-4615-0543-3.

[27] Bar-Yosef, Ofer; Belfer-Cohen, Anna (1989). "The Origins of Sedentism and Farming Communities in the Levant". Journal of World Prehistory. 3 (4): 447–498. doi:10.1007/bf00975111. S2CID 162966796.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Short description|Archaeological culture of the Levant, dating to around 15,000 to 11,500 years ago}}
+{{Short description|Archaeological culture of the Levant – 15,000 to 11,500 years ago}}
-{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
 {{Infobox archaeological culture
 |name        = Natufian culture
 |map         =
 {{multiple image|perrow=1|total_width=310|caption_align=center
  | align   = center
  | border  = none
  |direction= horizontal
  |image1   = NatufianSpread.svg
  |caption1 = A map of the Levant with Natufian regions across present-day Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and a long arm extending into Lebanon and Syria
 }}
@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 |majorsites  = Shuqba cave, [[Ain Mallaha]], [[Ein Gev]], [[Tell Abu Hureyra]]
 |precededby  = [[Kebaran]], [[Mushabian culture|Mushabian]]
-|followedby  = [[Neolithic]]: [[Khiamian]], [[Shepherd Neolithic]]
+|followedby  = [[Khiamian]], [[Shepherd Neolithic]], [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]]}}
-}}
-'''Natufian culture''' ({{IPAc-en|n|ə|ˈ|t|uː|f|i|ə|n}}<ref>{{Cite OED | Natufian}}</ref>) is a Late [[Epipaleolithic (Levant)|Epipaleolithic]] [[archaeological culture]] of the [[Neolithic]] [[Prehistory|prehistoric]]<ref name="Moore2000"/> [[Levant]] in [[Western Asia]], dating to around 15,000 to 11,500 years ago.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grosman|first=Leore|title=Natufian Foragers in the Levant: Terminal Pleistocene Social Changes in Western Asia|publisher=[[Berghahn Books]]|year=2013|isbn=978-1-879621-45-9|editor-last=Bar-Yosef|editor-first=Ofer|edition=1|location=New York|pages=622–627|chapter=The Natufian Chronological Scheme – New Insights and their Implications|doi=10.2307/j.ctv8bt33h|jstor=j.ctv8bt33h|editor-last2=Valla|editor-first2=François R.|chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv8bt33h|via=JSTOR}}</ref> The culture was unusual in that it supported a [[Sedentism|sedentary]] or semi-sedentary population even before the introduction of [[agriculture]]. Natufian communities may be the ancestors of the builders of the first Neolithic settlements of the region, which may have been the earliest in the world. Some evidence suggests deliberate cultivation of [[cereal]]s, specifically [[rye]], by the Natufian culture at [[Tell Abu Hureyra]], the site of earliest evidence of agriculture in the world.<ref name="Moore2000">{{Citation |title= Village on the Euphrates: From Foraging to Farming at Abu Hureyra |last1= Moore |first1= Andrew M. T. |author-link1= Andrew M.T. Moore |last2= Hillman|first2= Gordon C.|author-link2= Gordon Hillman|last3= Legge|first3= Anthony J. |author-link3= Anthony Legge|year= 2000 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location= Oxford |isbn= 978-0-19-510806-4 }}</ref> The world's oldest known evidence of the production of bread-like foodstuff has been found at Shubayqa 1, a 14,400-year-old site in [[Jordan|Jordan's]] northeastern desert, 4,000 years before the [[Origins of agriculture in West Asia|emergence of agriculture in Southwest Asia]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Arranz-Otaegui |first1=Amaia |last2=Gonzalez Carretero |first2=Lara |last3=Ramsey |first3=Monica N. |last4=Fuller |first4=Dorian Q. |last5=Richter |first5=Tobias |date=31 July 2018 |title=Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=115 |issue=31 |pages=7925–7930 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1801071115 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=6077754 |pmid=30012614|bibcode=2018PNAS..115.7925A |doi-access=free }}</ref> In addition, the oldest known evidence of possible [[beer|beer-brewing]], dating to approximately 13,000 [[Before Present|BP]], was found in [[Raqefet Cave]] on [[Mount Carmel]], although the beer-related residues may simply be a result of a spontaneous [[fermentation]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Li |last2=Wang |first2=Jiajing |last3=Rosenberg |first3=Danny |last4=Zhao |first4=Hao |last5=Lengyel |first5=György |last6=Nadel |first6=Dani |date=1 October 2018 |title=Fermented beverage and food storage in 13,000 y-old stone mortars at Raqefet Cave, Israel: Investigating Natufian ritual feasting |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X18303468 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |language=en |volume=21 |pages=783–793 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.08.008 |bibcode=2018JArSR..21..783L |s2cid=165595175 |issn=2352-409X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eitam |first=David |date=2019|title='Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of [beer]!' (R.L. Stevenson) no beer but rather cereal-Food. Commentary: Liu et al. 2018 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2352409X18307259 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |language=en |volume=28 |page=101913 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101913|s2cid=198454176 }}</ref>
+'''Natufian culture''' ({{IPAc-en|n|ə|ˈ|t|uː|f|i|ə|n}}<ref>{{Cite OED | Natufian}}</ref> {{respell|nə-TOO-fee-ən}}) is a Late [[Epipaleolithic (Levant)|Epipaleolithic]] [[archaeological culture]] of the [[Neolithic]] [[Prehistory|prehistoric]]<ref name="Moore2000"/> [[Levant]] in [[Western Asia]], dating to around 15,000 to 11,500 years ago.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grosman|first=Leore|title=Natufian Foragers in the Levant: Terminal Pleistocene Social Changes in Western Asia|publisher=[[Berghahn Books]]|year=2013|isbn=978-1-879621-45-9|editor-last=Bar-Yosef|editor-first=Ofer|edition=1|location=New York|pages=622–627|chapter=The Natufian Chronological Scheme – New Insights and their Implications|doi=10.2307/j.ctv8bt33h|jstor=j.ctv8bt33h|editor-last2=Valla|editor-first2=François R.|chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv8bt33h}}</ref> The culture was unusual in that it supported a [[Sedentism|sedentary]] or semi-sedentary population even before the introduction of [[agriculture]]. Natufian communities may be the ancestors of the builders of the first Neolithic settlements of the region, which may have been the earliest in the world. Some evidence suggests deliberate cultivation of [[cereal]]s, specifically [[rye]], by the Natufian culture at [[Tell Abu Hureyra]], the site of earliest evidence of agriculture in the world.<ref name="Moore2000">{{Citation |title= Village on the Euphrates: From Foraging to Farming at Abu Hureyra |last1= Moore |first1= Andrew M. T. |author-link1= Andrew M.T. Moore |last2= Hillman|first2= Gordon C.|author-link2= Gordon Hillman|last3= Legge|first3= Anthony J. |author-link3= Anthony Legge|year= 2000 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location= Oxford |isbn= 978-0-19-510806-4 }}</ref> The world's oldest known evidence of the production of bread-like foodstuff has been found at Shubayqa 1, a 14,400-year-old site in [[Jordan|Jordan's]] northeastern desert, 4,000 years before the [[Origins of agriculture in West Asia|emergence of agriculture in Southwest Asia]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Arranz-Otaegui |first1=Amaia |last2=Gonzalez Carretero |first2=Lara |last3=Ramsey |first3=Monica N. |last4=Fuller |first4=Dorian Q. |last5=Richter |first5=Tobias |date=31 July 2018 |title=Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=115 |issue=31 |pages=7925–7930 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1801071115 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=6077754 |pmid=30012614|bibcode=2018PNAS..115.7925A |doi-access=free }}</ref> In addition, the oldest known evidence of possible [[beer|beer-brewing]], dating to approximately 13,000 BC, was found in [[Raqefet Cave]] on [[Mount Carmel]], although the beer-related residues may simply be a result of a spontaneous [[fermentation]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Li |last2=Wang |first2=Jiajing |last3=Rosenberg |first3=Danny |last4=Zhao |first4=Hao |last5=Lengyel |first5=György |last6=Nadel |first6=Dani |date=1 October 2018 |title=Fermented beverage and food storage in 13,000 y-old stone mortars at Raqefet Cave, Israel: Investigating Natufian ritual feasting |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X18303468 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |language=en |volume=21 |pages=783–793 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.08.008 |bibcode=2018JArSR..21..783L |s2cid=165595175 |issn=2352-409X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eitam |first=David |date=2019|title='Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of [beer]!' (R.L. Stevenson) no beer but rather cereal-Food. Commentary: Liu et al. 2018 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2352409X18307259 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |language=en |volume=28 |page=101913 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101913|s2cid=198454176 }}</ref>
 Generally, though, Natufians exploited wild cereals and hunted animals, notably [[gazelle]]s.<ref name=Kottak2005/> [[Archaeogenetics|Archaeogenetic analysis]] has revealed derivation of later (Neolithic to Bronze Age) Levantines primarily from Natufians, besides substantial admixture from Chalcholithic [[Anatolian Neolithic Farmers|Anatolians]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lazaridis |first1=Iosif |last2=Nadel |first2=Dani |last3=Rollefson |first3=Gary |last4=Merrett |first4=Deborah C. |last5=Rohland |first5=Nadin |last6=Mallick |first6=Swapan |last7=Fernandes |first7=Daniel |last8=Novak |first8=Mario |last9=Gamarra |first9=Beatriz |last10=Sirak |first10=Kendra |last11=Connell |first11=Sarah |last12=Stewardson |first12=Kristin |last13=Harney |first13=Eadaoin |last14=Fu |first14=Qiaomei |last15=Gonzalez-Fortes |first15=Gloria |last16=Jones |first16=Eppie R. |last17=Roodenberg |first17=Songül Alpaslan |last18=Lengyel |first18=György |last19=Bocquentin |first19=Fanny |last20=Gasparian |first20=Boris |last21=Monge |first21=Janet M. |last22=Gregg |first22=Michael |last23=Eshed |first23=Vered |last24=Mizrahi |first24=Ahuva-Sivan |last25=Meiklejohn |first25=Christopher |last26=Gerritsen |first26=Fokke |last27=Bejenaru |first27=Luminita |last28=Blüher |first28=Matthias |last29=Campbell |first29=Archie |last30=Cavalleri |first30=Gianpiero |last31=Comas |first31=David |last32=Froguel |first32=Philippe |last33=Gilbert |first33=Edmund |last34=Kerr |first34=Shona M. |last35=Kovacs |first35=Peter |last36=Krause |first36=Johannes |last37=McGettigan |first37=Darren |last38=Merrigan |first38=Michael |last39=Merriwether |first39=D. Andrew |last40=O'Reilly |first40=Seamus |last41=Richards |first41=Martin B. |last42=Semino |first42=Ornella |last43=Shamoon-Pour |first43=Michel |last44=Stefanescu |first44=Gheorghe |last45=Stumvoll |first45=Michael |last46=Tönjes |first46=Anke |last47=Torroni |first47=Antonio |last48=Wilson |first48=James F. |last49=Yengo |first49=Loic |last50=Hovhannisyan |first50=Nelli A. |last51=Patterson |first51=Nick |last52=Pinhasi |first52=Ron |last53=Reich |first53=David |title=Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East |journal=Nature |date=2016 |volume=536 |issue=7617 |pages=419–424 |doi=10.1038/nature19310|pmid=27459054 |pmc=5003663 |url=http://genetics.med.harvard.edu/reichlab/Reich_Lab/Publications_files/nature19310-s4.pdf|bibcode=2016Natur.536..419L }} Fig. 4.
 "Our data document continuity across the transition between hunter– gatherers and farmers, separately in the southern Levant and in the southern Caucasus–Iran highlands. The qualitative evidence for this is that PCA, ADMIXTURE, and outgroup f3 analysis cluster Levantine hunter–gatherers (Natufians) with Levantine farmers, and Iranian and CHG with Iranian farmers (Fig. 1b and Extended Data Figs 1, 3). We confirm this in the Levant by showing that its early farmers share significantly more alleles with Natufians than with the early farmers of Iran"
 Epipaleolithic Natufians were substantially derived from the [[Non-African (genetic lineage)|Basal Eurasian]] lineage.
 "We used ''qpAdm'' (ref. 7) to estimate Basal Eurasian ancestry in each Test population. We obtained the highest estimates in the earliest populations from both Iran (66±13% in the likely Mesolithic sample, 48±6% in Neolithic samples), and the
 Levant (44±8% in Epipalaeolithic Natufians) (Fig. 2), showing that Basal Eurasian ancestry was widespread across the ancient Near East. [...]  The idea of Natufians as a vector for the movement of Basal Eurasian ancestry into the Near East is also not supported by our data, as the Basal Eurasian ancestry in the Natufians (44±8%) is consistent with stemming from the same population as that in the Neolithic and Mesolithic populations of Iran, and is not greater than in those populations
@@ Line 35: / Line 34: @@
 == Discovery ==
 [[File:Dorothy Garrod (centre) 1928 Natufian culture discovery.jpg|200px|thumb|upright|Dorothy Garrod (centre) discovered the Natufian culture in 1928]]
 The Natufian culture was discovered by British archaeologist [[Dorothy Garrod]] during her excavations of [[Shuqba cave]] in the [[Judean Hills|Judaean Hills]], on the West Bank of the Jordan River.<ref name="Bar-Yosef 159" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Dorothy Garrod and the progress of the Palaeolithic|last=Boyd|first=Brian|publisher=Oxbow|year=1999|isbn=978-1-78570-519-9|editor-last=Davies|editor-first=William|location=Oxford|pages=209–223|chapter='Twisting the kaleidoscope': Dorothy Garrod and the 'Natufian Culture'|editor-last2=Charles|editor-first2=Ruth}}</ref> Prior to the 1930s, the majority of archaeological work taking place in [[Palestine (region)|British Palestine]] was [[biblical archaeology]] focused on historic periods, and little was known about the region's prehistory.
 In 1928, Garrod was invited by the [[British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem]] (BSAJ) to excavate Shuqba cave, where prehistoric stone tools had been discovered by [[Alexis Mallon|Père Mallon]] four years earlier. She discovered a layer sandwiched between the [[Upper Paleolithic|Upper Palaeolithic]] and [[Bronze Age]] deposits characterised by the presence of [[microlith]]s. She identified this with the [[Mesolithic]], a transitional period between the [[Paleolithic|Palaeolithic]] and the [[Neolithic]] which was well-represented in [[Europe]] but had not yet been found in the [[Middle East|Near East]]. A year later, when she discovered similar material at [[el-Wad Terrace]], Garrod suggested the name "the Natufian culture", after [[Wadi an-Natuf]] that ran close to Shuqba.
 Over the next two decades Garrod found Natufian material at several of her pioneering excavations in the [[Mount Carmel]] region, including el-Wad, [[Kebara Cave|Kebara]] and [[Tabun Cave|Tabun]], as did the French archaeologist [[René Neuville]], firmly establishing the Natufian culture in the regional prehistoric chronology. As early as 1931, both Garrod and Neuville drew attention to the presence of stone [[sickle]]s in Natufian assemblages and the possibility that this represented a very early agriculture.<ref name=":0" />
@@ Line 62: / Line 61: @@
 Anthropologist [[C. Loring Brace]] (1993) cross-analysed the craniometric traits of Natufian specimens with those of various ancient and modern groups from the Near East, Africa and Europe. The Late Pleistocene Epipalaeolithic Natufian sample was described as problematic due to its small size (consisting of only three males and one female), as well as the lack of a comparative sample from the Natufians' putative descendants in the Neolithic Near East. Brace observed that the Natufian fossils lay between those of the [[Niger–Congo languages|Niger–Congo-speaking]] series included and the other samples (Near East, Europe), which he suggested may point to a Sub-Saharan influence in their constitution.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Brace, C. Loring|display-authors=etal |title=The questionable contribution of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age to European craniofacial form |journal=PNAS |date=2006 |volume=103 |issue=1 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0509801102|pmid=16371462 |quote=The Natufian sample from Israel is also problematic because it is so small, being constituted of three males and one female from the Late Pleistocene Epipalaeolithic (34) of Israel, and there was no usable Neolithic sample for the Near East... the small Natufian sample falls between the Niger-Congo group and the other samples used. Fig. 2 shows the plot produced by the first two canonical variates, but the same thing happens when canonical variates 1 and 3 (not shown here) are used. This placement suggests that there may have been a Sub-Saharan African element in the make-up of the Natufians (the putative ancestors of the subsequent Neolithic) |pages=242–247|pmc=1325007 |bibcode=2006PNAS..103..242B |doi-access=free }}</ref> Subsequent [[ancient DNA]] analysis of Natufian skeletal remains by Lazaridis et al. (2016) found that the specimens instead were a mix of 50% Basal Eurasian ancestral component (see [[Natufian culture#Archaeogenetics|Archaeogenetics]]) and 50% West-Eurasian Unknown Hunter Gatherer (UHG) population related to European [[Western Hunter-Gatherers]].<ref name="Lazaridis2016">{{cite bioRxiv |last=Lazaridis |display-authors=et al.|first=Iosif|date=17 June 2016|title=The genetic structure of the world's first farmers|biorxiv=10.1101/059311}} – [http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/suppl/2016/06/16/059311.DC1/059311-1.pdf Table S6.1 – Y-chromosome haplogroups]</ref>
-Natufians have also been described by anthropologists as a Proto-Mediterranean population.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simmons |first=Alan H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BLZbLtmEJ68C |title=The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: Transforming the Human Landscape |date=2011-04-15 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=978-0-8165-2966-7 |pages=72 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fitzhugh |first1=Ben |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AqsqBgAAQBAJ |title=Beyond Foraging and Collecting: Evolutionary Change in Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems |last2=Habu |first2=Junko |date=2012-12-06 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-1-4615-0543-3 |pages=132 |language=en}}</ref>
+Natufians have also been described by anthropologists as a Proto-Mediterranean population.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simmons |first=Alan H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BLZbLtmEJ68C |title=The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: Transforming the Human Landscape |year=2011 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=978-0-8165-2966-7 |page=72 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fitzhugh |first1=Ben |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AqsqBgAAQBAJ |title=Beyond Foraging and Collecting: Evolutionary Change in Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems |last2=Habu |first2=Junko |year=2012 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-1-4615-0543-3 |page=132 |language=en}}</ref>
 According to Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen, "It seems that certain preadaptive traits, developed already by the Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran populations within the Mediterranean park forest, played an important role in the emergence of the new socioeconomic system known as the Natufian culture."<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Bar-Yosef | first1 = Ofer | last2 = Belfer-Cohen | first2 = Anna | year = 1989 | title = The Origins of Sedentism and Farming Communities in the Levant | journal = Journal of World Prehistory | volume = 3 | issue = 4| pages = 447–498 | doi=10.1007/bf00975111| s2cid = 162966796 }}</ref>
 ==Settlements==
 [[File:Şanlıurfa Müzesi barınak.jpg|thumb|left|[[Epipalaeolithic Near East]] temporary tents ([[Şanlıurfa Museum]])]]
-Settlements occur mostly in Israel and Palestine. This could be deemed the core zone of the Natufian culture, but Israel is a place that has been excavated more frequently than other places hence the greater number of sites.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite journal |last=Belfer-Cohen |first=Anna |date=1991 |title=The Natufian in the Levant |journal=Annual Review of Anthropology |volume=20 |pages=167–186 |doi=10.1146/annurev.an.20.100191.001123 |jstor=2155798 |issn=0084-6570}}</ref> During the years more sites have been found outside the core zone of Israel and Palestine stretching into what now is [[Syria]], [[Lebanon]], [[Jordan]], the [[Sinai Peninsula]] and the [[Negev]] desert.<ref name="auto1"/> The settlements in the Natufian culture were larger and more permanent than in preceding ones. Some Natufian sites had stone built architecture; [[Ain Mallaha]] is an example of round stone structures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Byrd |first=Brian F. |date=1 June 1989 |title=The Natufian: Settlement variability and economic adaptations in the Levant at the end of the Pleistocene |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |language=en |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=159–197 |doi=10.1007/BF00975760 |s2cid=162302031 |issn=1573-7802}}</ref> Cave sites are also seen frequently during the Natufian culture. [[El Wad]] is a Natufian cave site with occupation in the front part of the cave also called the terrace.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Weinstein-Evron |first1=Mina |last2=Yeshurun |first2=Reuven |last3=Ashkenazy |first3=Hila |last4=Chasan |first4=Rivka |last5=Rosenberg |first5=Danny |last6=Bachrach |first6=Noga |last7=Boaretto |first7=Elisabetta |last8=Caracuta |first8=Valentina |last9=Kaufman |first9=Daniel |last10=וינשטיין-עברון |first10=מינה |last11=ישורון |first11=ראובן |last12=אשכנזי |first12=הילה |last13=חזן |first13=רבקה |last14=רוזנברג |first14=דני |last15=בכרך |first15=נגה |date=2018 |title=After 80 Years – Deeper in the Natufian Layers of el-Wad Terrace, Mount Carmel, Israel / לאחר שמונים שנה: סיכום עונות החפירה 2012-2007 בשכבות הנאטופיות של טרסת מערת הנחל (אל-ואד), הכרמל, ישראל |journal=Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society / מתקופת האבן |volume=48 |pages=5–61 |jstor=26579622 |issn=0334-3839}}</ref> Some Natufian sites were located in forest/steppe areas and others near inland mountains. The Natufian settlements appear to be the first to exhibit evidence of food storage; not all Natufian sites have storage facilities, but they have been identified at certain sites.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boyd |first=Brian |date=1 June 2006 |title=On 'sedentism' in the Later Epipalaeolithic (Natufian) Levant |journal=World Archaeology |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=164–178 |doi=10.1080/00438240600688398 |s2cid=143734829 |issn=0043-8243}}</ref> Natufians are also suggested to have visited [[Cyprus]], requiring travel over significant distances of water.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tsakalos |first1=Evangelos |last2=Efstratiou |first2=Nikos |last3=Bassiakos |first3=Yannis |last4=Kazantzaki |first4=Maria |last5=Filippaki |first5=Eleni |date=2021-08-01 |title=Early Cypriot Prehistory: On the Traces of the Last Hunters and Gatherers on the Island—Preliminary Results of Luminescence Dating |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/716100 |journal=Current Anthropology |language=en |volume=62 |issue=4 |pages=412–425 |doi=10.1086/716100 |issn=0011-3204}}</ref>
+Settlements occur mostly in Israel and Palestine. This could be deemed the core zone of the Natufian culture, but Israel is a place that has been excavated more frequently than other places hence the greater number of sites.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite journal |last=Belfer-Cohen |first=Anna |date=1991 |title=The Natufian in the Levant |journal=Annual Review of Anthropology |volume=20 |pages=167–186 |doi=10.1146/annurev.an.20.100191.001123 |jstor=2155798 |issn=0084-6570}}</ref> During the years more sites have been found outside the core zone of Israel and Palestine stretching into what now is [[Syria]], [[Lebanon]], [[Jordan]], the [[Sinai Peninsula]] and the [[Negev]] desert.<ref name="auto1"/> The settlements in the Natufian culture were larger and more permanent than in preceding ones. Some Natufian sites had stone built architecture; [[Ain Mallaha]] is an example of round stone structures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Byrd |first=Brian F. |date=1 June 1989 |title=The Natufian: Settlement variability and economic adaptations in the Levant at the end of the Pleistocene |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |language=en |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=159–197 |doi=10.1007/BF00975760 |s2cid=162302031 |issn=1573-7802}}</ref> Cave sites are also seen frequently during the Natufian culture. [[El Wad]] is a Natufian cave site with occupation in the front part of the cave also called the terrace.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Weinstein-Evron |first1=Mina |last2=Yeshurun |first2=Reuven |last3=Ashkenazy |first3=Hila |last4=Chasan |first4=Rivka |last5=Rosenberg |first5=Danny |last6=Bachrach |first6=Noga |last7=Boaretto |first7=Elisabetta |last8=Caracuta |first8=Valentina |last9=Kaufman |first9=Daniel |last10=וינשטיין-עברון |first10=מינה |last11=ישורון |first11=ראובן |last12=אשכנזי |first12=הילה |last13=חזן |first13=רבקה |last14=רוזנברג |first14=דני |last15=בכרך |first15=נגה |date=2018 |title=After 80 Years – Deeper in the Natufian Layers of el-Wad Terrace, Mount Carmel, Israel / לאחר שמונים שנה: סיכום עונות החפירה 2012–2007 בשכבות הנאטופיות של טרסת מערת הנחל (אל-ואד), הכרמל, ישראל |journal=Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society / מתקופת האבן |volume=48 |pages=5–61 |jstor=26579622 |issn=0334-3839}}</ref> Some Natufian sites were located in forest/steppe areas and others near inland mountains. The Natufian settlements appear to be the first to exhibit evidence of food storage; not all Natufian sites have storage facilities, but they have been identified at certain sites.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boyd |first=Brian |date=1 June 2006 |title=On 'sedentism' in the Later Epipalaeolithic (Natufian) Levant |journal=World Archaeology |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=164–178 |doi=10.1080/00438240600688398 |s2cid=143734829 |issn=0043-8243}}</ref> Natufians are also suggested to have visited [[Cyprus]], requiring travel over significant distances of water.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tsakalos |first1=Evangelos |last2=Efstratiou |first2=Nikos |last3=Bassiakos |first3=Yannis |last4=Kazantzaki |first4=Maria |last5=Filippaki |first5=Eleni |date=1 August 2021 |title=Early Cypriot Prehistory: On the Traces of the Last Hunters and Gatherers on the Island—Preliminary Results of Luminescence Dating |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/716100 |journal=Current Anthropology |language=en |volume=62 |issue=4 |pages=412–425 |doi=10.1086/716100 |issn=0011-3204}}</ref>
 [[File:Natufian-SupportingWall-Elwad.jpg|thumb|Remains of a wall of a Natufian house]]
@@ Line 114: / Line 113: @@
 <gallery widths="180" heights="150" perrow="4">
 File:Israel Museum Stone Age Artifact.jpg|Grinding tool from [[Gilgal I|Gilgal]], Natufian culture, 12,500–9500 BC
 File:Basalt Sharpening Stones, Natufian Culture.jpg|Basalt sharpening stones, [[Eynan]] and [[Nahal Oren (archaeological site)|Nahal Oren]], Natufian Culture, 12,500–9500 BC
 File:Bovine-Rib Dagger, Natufian Culture.jpg|Bovine-rib dagger, [[HaYonim Cave]], Natufian Culture, 12,500–9500 BC
 File:Stone Mortars from Eynan, Natufian period.jpg|Stone mortars from [[Eynan]], Natufian period, 12,500–9500 BC
@@ Line 129: / Line 128: @@
 [[File:Ancient West-Eurasian PCA.jpg|thumb|250px|Principal component analysis of ancient West-Eurasian populations, including the Natufians. Natufians cluster together with modern Middle Eastern populations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Feldman |first1=Michal |last2=Fernández-Domínguez |first2=Eva |last3=Reynolds |first3=Luke |last4=Baird |first4=Douglas |last5=Pearson |first5=Jessica |last6=Hershkovitz |first6=Israel |last7=May |first7=Hila |last8=Goring-Morris |first8=Nigel |last9=Benz |first9=Marion |last10=Gresky |first10=Julia |last11=Bianco |first11=Raffaela A. |last12=Fairbairn |first12=Andrew |last13=Mustafaoğlu |first13=Gökhan |last14=Stockhammer |first14=Philipp W. |last15=Posth |first15=Cosimo |date=19 March 2019 |title=Late Pleistocene human genome suggests a local origin for the first farmers of central Anatolia |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |page=1218 |doi=10.1038/s41467-019-09209-7 |pmid=30890703 |bibcode=2019NatCo..10.1218F |s2cid=256633173 |issn=2041-1723|pmc=6425003 }}</ref>]]
+[[Ancient DNA]] analysis of Natufian skeletal remains found that the Natufian ancestry could be modelled as a mix of about 50% [[Basal Eurasian]] ancestry, and 50% from a West-Eurasian Unknown Hunter Gatherer (UHG) population, which was related to European [[Western Hunter-Gatherers]].<ref name="Lazaridis2016"/> Vallini et al. (2024) modeled the amount of Basal Eurasian ancestry among Natufians at roughly 15%, with the remainder being associated with West Eurasian sources.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Vallini |first1=Leonardo |last2=Zampieri |first2=Carlo |last3=Shoaee |first3=Mohamed Javad |last4=Bortolini |first4=Eugenio |last5=Marciani |first5=Giulia |last6=Aneli |first6=Serena |last7=Pievani |first7=Telmo |last8=Benazzi |first8=Stefano |last9=Barausse |first9=Alberto |last10=Mezzavilla |first10=Massimo |last11=Petraglia |first11=Michael D. |last12=Pagani |first12=Luca |date=25 March 2024 |title=The Persian plateau served as hub for Homo sapiens after the main out of Africa dispersal |journal=Nature Communications |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1882 |doi=10.1038/s41467-024-46161-7 |issn=2041-1723 |pmid=38528002 |pmc=10963722 |bibcode=2024NatCo..15.1882V |quote=supplementary data 1-15; 11}}</ref>
-The population associated with the Natufian culture formed genetically by the merger of a West Eurasian-like population, sharing deep ancestry with [[Western Hunter-Gatherers]] of [[Europe]], and [[Basal Eurasians]] of local [[Arab peninsula|Arabian]] origin.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}
-Vallini et al. (2024) modeled the amount of Basal Eurasian ancestry among Natufians at roughly 15%, with the remainder being associated with West Eurasian sources.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Vallini |first1=Leonardo |last2=Zampieri |first2=Carlo |last3=Shoaee |first3=Mohamed Javad |last4=Bortolini |first4=Eugenio |last5=Marciani |first5=Giulia |last6=Aneli |first6=Serena |last7=Pievani |first7=Telmo |last8=Benazzi |first8=Stefano |last9=Barausse |first9=Alberto |last10=Mezzavilla |first10=Massimo |last11=Petraglia |first11=Michael D. |last12=Pagani |first12=Luca |date=2024-03-25 |title=The Persian plateau served as hub for Homo sapiens after the main out of Africa dispersal |journal=Nature Communications |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1882 |doi=10.1038/s41467-024-46161-7 |issn=2041-1723 |pmid=38528002 |pmc=10963722 |bibcode=2024NatCo..15.1882V |quote=supplementary data 1-15; 11}}</ref>
 The Natufian population also displays ancestral ties to Paleolithic [[Taforalt]] samples, the makers of the Epipaleolithic [[Iberomaurusian]] culture of the [[Maghreb]], the Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture of the Levant, the Early Neolithic [[Ifri N'Amr Ou Moussa]] and the Late Neolithic Kelif el Boroud culture of North Africa, with samples associated with these early cultures all sharing a common genomic component dubbed the "Natufian component", which diverged from other West Eurasian lineages ~26,000 years ago, and is most closely linked to the Arabian lineage. Possible bidirectional geneflow events between these groups has also been suggested, with particular evidence for affinity between the Natufians and Iberomaurusians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fregel |first1=Rosa |last2=Méndez |first2=Fernando L. |last3=Bokbot |first3=Youssef |last4=Martín-Socas |first4=Dimas |last5=Camalich-Massieu |first5=María D. |last6=Santana |first6=Jonathan |last7=Morales |first7=Jacob |last8=Ávila-Arcos |first8=María C. |last9=Underhill |first9=Peter A. |last10=Shapiro |first10=Beth |last11=Wojcik |first11=Genevieve |last12=Rasmussen |first12=Morten |last13=Soares |first13=André E. R. |last14=Kapp |first14=Joshua |last15=Sockell |first15=Alexandra |date=26 June 2018 |title=Ancient genomes from North Africa evidence prehistoric migrations to the Maghreb from both the Levant and Europe |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=115 |issue=26 |pages=6774–6779 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1800851115 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=6042094 |pmid=29895688|bibcode=2018PNAS..115.6774F }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=van de Loosdrecht |first1=Marieke |last2=Bouzouggar |first2=Abdeljalil |last3=Humphrey |first3=Louise |last4=Posth |first4=Cosimo |last5=Barton |first5=Nick |last6=Aximu-Petri |first6=Ayinuer |last7=Nickel |first7=Birgit |last8=Nagel |first8=Sarah |last9=Talbi |first9=El Hassan |last10=El Hajraoui |first10=Mohammed Abdeljalil |last11=Amzazi |first11=Saaïd |last12=Hublin |first12=Jean-Jacques |last13=Pääbo |first13=Svante |last14=Schiffels |first14=Stephan |last15=Meyer |first15=Matthias |date=4 May 2018 |title=Pleistocene North African genomes link Near Eastern and sub-Saharan African human populations |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aar8380 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=360 |issue=6388 |pages=548–552 |doi=10.1126/science.aar8380 |pmid=29545507 |bibcode=2018Sci...360..548V |issn=0036-8075}}</ref>
-Contact between Natufians and other Neolithic Levantines, [[Caucasus hunter-gatherer|Caucasus hunter-gatherers]] (CHG), [[Anatolian Neolithic|Anatolian]] and Iranian farmers is believed{{Who|date=July 2024}} to have decreased genetic variability among later populations in the Middle East.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} Migrations from the Near-East also occurred towards Africa, and the West Eurasian-like ancestry among populations in the [[Horn of Africa]] being best represented by the Levant Neolithic, and may be associated with the spread of Afroasiatic languages.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}
+Contact between Natufians and other Neolithic Levantines, [[Caucasus hunter-gatherer]]s (CHG), [[Anatolian Neolithic|Anatolian]] and Iranian farmers is believed{{Who|date=July 2024}} to have decreased genetic variability among later populations in the Middle East.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} Migrations from the Near-East also occurred towards Africa, and the West Eurasian-like ancestry among populations in the [[Horn of Africa]] being best represented by the Levant Neolithic, and may be associated with the spread of Afroasiatic languages.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}
-Lazaridis et al.  (2016) did not find a greater genetic affinity between Natufians and sub-Saharan Africans than that existing between sub-Saharan Africans and other ancient populations of Western Eurasia, and also stated that the ancestry of a primitive population from North Africa could not be tested because modern North Africans are largely descended from late migrant populations from Eurasia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lazaridis |first1=Iosif |last2=Nadel |first2=Dani |last3=Rollefson |first3=Gary |last4=Merrett |first4=Deborah C. |last5=Rohland |first5=Nadin |last6=Mallick |first6=Swapan |last7=Fernandes |first7=Daniel |last8=Novak |first8=Mario |last9=Gamarra |first9=Beatriz |last10=Sirak |first10=Kendra |last11=Connell |first11=Sarah |last12=Stewardson |first12=Kristin |last13=Harney |first13=Eadaoin |last14=Fu |first14=Qiaomei |last15=Gonzalez-Fortes |first15=Gloria |date=25 July 2016 |title=Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=536 |issue=7617 |pages=419–424 |doi=10.1038/nature19310 |issn=1476-4687 |pmc=5003663 |pmid=27459054|bibcode=2016Natur.536..419L }}</ref> However, Daniel Shriner (2018), using modern populations as a reference, found 28% autosomal African ancestry in Natufian samples, with 21.2% related to North Africa and 6.8% related to Omotic-speaking populations in southern Ethiopia, which reveals a plausible source for haplogroup E in Natufians; still according to Shriner, the Natufian samples had 61.2% ancestry related to Arabs and 10.8% ancestry related to West Asians. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shriner |first=Daniel |date=2018 |title=Re-analysis of Whole Genome Sequence Data From 279 Ancient Eurasians Reveals Substantial Ancestral Heterogeneity |journal=Frontiers in Genetics |volume=9 |page=268 |doi=10.3389/fgene.2018.00268 |doi-access=free |issn=1664-8021 |pmc=6062619 |pmid=30079081}}</ref>
+Lazaridis et al.  (2016) did not find a greater genetic affinity between Natufians and sub-Saharan Africans than that existing between sub-Saharan Africans and other ancient populations of Western Eurasia, and also stated that the ancestry of a primitive population from North Africa could not be tested because modern North Africans are largely descended from late migrant populations from Eurasia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lazaridis |first1=Iosif |last2=Nadel |first2=Dani |last3=Rollefson |first3=Gary |last4=Merrett |first4=Deborah C. |last5=Rohland |first5=Nadin |last6=Mallick |first6=Swapan |last7=Fernandes |first7=Daniel |last8=Novak |first8=Mario |last9=Gamarra |first9=Beatriz |last10=Sirak |first10=Kendra |last11=Connell |first11=Sarah |last12=Stewardson |first12=Kristin |last13=Harney |first13=Eadaoin |last14=Fu |first14=Qiaomei |last15=Gonzalez-Fortes |first15=Gloria |date=25 July 2016 |title=Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=536 |issue=7617 |pages=419–424 |doi=10.1038/nature19310 |issn=1476-4687 |pmc=5003663 |pmid=27459054|bibcode=2016Natur.536..419L }}</ref> However, Daniel Shriner (2018), using modern populations as a reference, found 28% autosomal African ancestry in Natufian samples, with 21.2% related to North Africa and 6.8% related to [[Omotic languages|Omotic-speaking]] populations in southern Ethiopia, which reveals a plausible source for [[Haplogroup E-M215|haplogroup E]] in Natufians; still according to Shriner, the Natufian samples had 61.2% ancestry related to Arabs and 10.8% ancestry related to West Asians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shriner |first=Daniel |date=2018 |title=Re-analysis of Whole Genome Sequence Data From 279 Ancient Eurasians Reveals Substantial Ancestral Heterogeneity |journal=Frontiers in Genetics |volume=9 |page=268 |doi=10.3389/fgene.2018.00268 |doi-access=free |issn=1664-8021 |pmc=6062619 |pmid=30079081}}</ref>
-As summarized by Rosa Fregel, a later preprint from Lazaridis et al. (2018) has contested Loosdrecht's conclusion and argues for a minor sub-Saharan African component in Natufians, stating "that [the Iberomaurusians of] Taforalt can be better modeled as a mixture of a Dzudzuana component and a sub-Saharan African component" (or an ancient and now-extinct North African component that diverged prior to the Out-of-Africa migration) and "also argue that (...) the Taforalt people (...) contributed to the genetic composition of Natufians and not the other way around", , which, according to Lazaridis et al., would be consistent with morphological and archaeological studies that indicate a dissemination of morphological characteristics and artifacts from North Africa to the Near East, as well as explaining the presence of Y-chromosome haplogroup E in Natufians and Levantine farmers. Fregel summarizes that "More evidence will be needed to determine the specific origin of the North African Upper Paleolithic populations".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fregel |first=Rosa |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004500228/BP000019.xml |title=Paleogenomics of the Neolithic Transition in North Africa |date=17 November 2021 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-50022-8 |language=en |quote=However, a preprint from Lazaridis et al. (2018) has contested this conclusion based on new evidence from Paleolithic samples from the Dzudzuana site in Georgia (25,000 years BCE). When these samples are considered in the analysis, Taforalt can be better modeled as a mixture of a Dzudzuana component and a sub-Saharan African component. They also argue that it is the Taforalt people who contributed to the genetic composition of Natufians and not the other way around. More evidence will be needed to determine the specific origin of the North African Upper Paleolithic populations, but the presence of an ancestral U6 lineage in the Dzudzuana people is consistent with this population being related to the back migration to Africa.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite bioRxiv |last1=Lazaridis |first1=Iosif |last2=Belfer-Cohen |first2=Anna |last3=Mallick |first3=Swapan |last4=Patterson |first4=Nick |last5=Cheronet |first5=Olivia |last6=Rohland |first6=Nadin |last7=Bar-Oz |first7=Guy |last8=Bar-Yosef |first8=Ofer |last9=Jakeli |first9=Nino |last10=Kvavadze |first10=Eliso |last11=Lordkipanidze |first11=David |last12=Matzkevich |first12=Zinovi |last13=Meshveliani |first13=Tengiz |last14=Culleton |first14=Brendan J. |last15=Kennett |first15=Douglas J. |date=21 September 2018 |title=Paleolithic DNA from the Caucasus reveals core of West Eurasian ancestry |biorxiv=10.1101/423079 |quote=Moreover, our model predicts that West Africans (represented by Yoruba) had 12.5±1.1% ancestry from a Taforalt related group rather than Taforalt having ancestry from an unknown Sub-Saharan African source; this may have mediated the limited Neanderthal admixture present in West Africans. An advantage of our model is that it allows for a local North African component in the ancestry of Taforalt, rather than deriving them exclusively from Levantine and Sub-Saharan sources. ... and Taforalt, can all be modeled as a mixture of Dzudzuana and additional ‘Deep’ ancestry that may represent an even earlier split than the Basal Eurasians.}}</ref>
+As summarized by Rosa Fregel, a later preprint from Lazaridis et al. (2018) has contested Loosdrecht's conclusion and argues for a minor sub-Saharan African component in Natufians, stating "that [the Iberomaurusians of] Taforalt can be better modeled as a mixture of a Dzudzuana component and a sub-Saharan African component" (or an ancient and now-extinct North African component that diverged prior to the Out-of-Africa migration) and "also argue that (...) the Taforalt people (...) contributed to the genetic composition of Natufians and not the other way around", , which, according to Lazaridis et al., would be consistent with morphological and archaeological studies that indicate a dissemination of morphological characteristics and artifacts from North Africa to the Near East, as well as explaining the presence of Y-chromosome haplogroup E in Natufians and Levantine farmers. Fregel summarizes that "More evidence will be needed to determine the specific origin of the North African Upper Paleolithic populations".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fregel |first=Rosa |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004500228/BP000019.xml |title=Paleogenomics of the Neolithic Transition in North Africa |date= 2021 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-50022-8 |language=en |quote=However, a preprint from Lazaridis et al. (2018) has contested this conclusion based on new evidence from Paleolithic samples from the Dzudzuana site in Georgia (25,000 years BCE). When these samples are considered in the analysis, Taforalt can be better modeled as a mixture of a Dzudzuana component and a sub-Saharan African component. They also argue that it is the Taforalt people who contributed to the genetic composition of Natufians and not the other way around. More evidence will be needed to determine the specific origin of the North African Upper Paleolithic populations, but the presence of an ancestral U6 lineage in the Dzudzuana people is consistent with this population being related to the back migration to Africa.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite bioRxiv |last1=Lazaridis |first1=Iosif |last2=Belfer-Cohen |first2=Anna |last3=Mallick |first3=Swapan |last4=Patterson |first4=Nick |last5=Cheronet |first5=Olivia |last6=Rohland |first6=Nadin |last7=Bar-Oz |first7=Guy |last8=Bar-Yosef |first8=Ofer |last9=Jakeli |first9=Nino |last10=Kvavadze |first10=Eliso |last11=Lordkipanidze |first11=David |last12=Matzkevich |first12=Zinovi |last13=Meshveliani |first13=Tengiz |last14=Culleton |first14=Brendan J. |last15=Kennett |first15=Douglas J. |date=21 September 2018 |title=Paleolithic DNA from the Caucasus reveals core of West Eurasian ancestry |biorxiv=10.1101/423079 |quote=Moreover, our model predicts that West Africans (represented by Yoruba) had 12.5±1.1% ancestry from a Taforalt related group rather than Taforalt having ancestry from an unknown Sub-Saharan African source; this may have mediated the limited Neanderthal admixture present in West Africans. An advantage of our model is that it allows for a local North African component in the ancestry of Taforalt, rather than deriving them exclusively from Levantine and Sub-Saharan sources. ... and Taforalt, can all be modeled as a mixture of Dzudzuana and additional 'Deep' ancestry that may represent an even earlier split than the Basal Eurasians.}}</ref>
-In their 2017 paper, [[Ranajit Das]], [[Paul Wexler (linguist)|Paul Wexler]], [[Mehdi Pirooznia]] and [[Eran Elhaik]] analyzed the Lazaridis et al. (2016) study concluding that the Natufians, together with one Neolithic Levantine sample, clustered in the proximity to modern [[Palestinians]] and [[Bedouin|Bedouins]], and also "marginally overlapped" with [[Yemenite Jews]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Das |first1=Ranajit |last2=Wexler |first2=Paul |last3=Pirooznia |first3=Mehdi |last4=Elhaik |first4=Eran |date=2017-06-21 |title=The Origins of Ashkenaz, Ashkenazic Jews, and Yiddish |journal=Frontiers in Genetics |volume=8 |page=87 |doi=10.3389/fgene.2017.00087 |doi-access=free |issn=1664-8021 |pmc=5478715 |pmid=28680441}}</ref> Ferreira et al. (2021) and Almarri et al. (2021) found that ancient Natufians cluster with modern Arabian groups, such as [[Saudi Arabians]] and [[Yemenis]], which derive most of their ancestry from local Natufian-like hunter-gatherer peoples and have less Neolithic Anatolian ancestry than Levantines.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ferreira |first1=Joana C |last2=Alshamali |first2=Farida |last3=Montinaro |first3=Francesco |last4=Cavadas |first4=Bruno |last5=Torroni |first5=Antonio |last6=Pereira |first6=Luisa |last7=Raveane |first7=Alessandro |last8=Fernandes |first8=Veronica |date=4 September 2021 |title=Projecting Ancient Ancestry in Modern-Day Arabians and Iranians: A Key Role of the Past Exposed Arabo-Persian Gulf on Human Migrations |journal=Genome Biology and Evolution |volume=13 |issue=9 |pages=evab194 |doi=10.1093/gbe/evab194 |issn=1759-6653 |pmc=8435661 |pmid=34480555 |quote=Modern Saudi Arabian and Yemeni samples clustered tightly, overlapping with the three Natufian samples, and were close to the Levant Pre-Pottery Neolithic B and C (PPNB and PPNC) and Levant Bronze Age samples.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Almarri |first1=Mohamed A. |last2=Haber |first2=Marc |last3=Lootah |first3=Reem A. |last4=Hallast |first4=Pille |display-authors=3 |date=2021 |title=The genomic history of the Middle East |journal=Cell |volume=184 |issue=18 |pages=4612–4625 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2021.07.013 |pmid=34352227 |pmc=8445022 }}</ref> Sirak et al. (2024) found that medieval [[Socotra]] (the [[Soqotri people]]), similar to modern Saudis, Yemenis and Bedouins, have a majority component that is "maximized in Late Pleistocene (Epipaleolithic) Natufian hunter–gatherers from the Levant".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sirak |first1=Kendra |last2=Jansen Van Rensburg |first2=Julian |last3=Brielle |first3=Esther |last4=Chen |first4=Bowen |last5=Lazaridis |first5=Iosif |last6=Ringbauer |first6=Harald |last7=Mah |first7=Matthew |last8=Mallick |first8=Swapan |last9=Micco |first9=Adam |last10=Rohland |first10=Nadin |last11=Callan |first11=Kimberly |last12=Curtis |first12=Elizabeth |last13=Kearns |first13=Aisling |last14=Lawson |first14=Ann Marie |last15=Workman |first15=J. Noah |date=8 February 2024 |title=Medieval DNA from Soqotra points to Eurasian origins of an isolated population at the crossroads of Africa and Arabia |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |volume=8 |issue=4 |language=en |pages=817–829 |doi=10.1038/s41559-024-02322-x |pmid=38332026 |issn=2397-334X|pmc=11009077 |bibcode=2024NatEE...8..817S }}</ref>
+In their 2017 paper, [[Ranajit Das]], [[Paul Wexler (linguist)|Paul Wexler]], [[Mehdi Pirooznia]] and [[Eran Elhaik]] analyzed the Lazaridis et al. (2016) study concluding that the Natufians, together with one Neolithic Levantine sample, clustered in the proximity to modern [[Palestinians]] and [[Bedouin]]s, and also "marginally overlapped" with [[Yemenite Jews]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Das |first1=Ranajit |last2=Wexler |first2=Paul |last3=Pirooznia |first3=Mehdi |last4=Elhaik |first4=Eran |date=21 June 2017 |title=The Origins of Ashkenaz, Ashkenazic Jews, and Yiddish |journal=Frontiers in Genetics |volume=8 |page=87 |doi=10.3389/fgene.2017.00087 |doi-access=free |issn=1664-8021 |pmc=5478715 |pmid=28680441}}</ref> Ferreira et al. (2021) and Almarri et al. (2021) found that ancient Natufians cluster with modern Arabian groups, such as [[Saudi Arabians]] and [[Yemenis]], which derive most of their ancestry from local Natufian-like hunter-gatherer peoples and have less Neolithic Anatolian ancestry than Levantines.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ferreira |first1=Joana C |last2=Alshamali |first2=Farida |last3=Montinaro |first3=Francesco |last4=Cavadas |first4=Bruno |last5=Torroni |first5=Antonio |last6=Pereira |first6=Luisa |last7=Raveane |first7=Alessandro |last8=Fernandes |first8=Veronica |date=4 September 2021 |title=Projecting Ancient Ancestry in Modern-Day Arabians and Iranians: A Key Role of the Past Exposed Arabo-Persian Gulf on Human Migrations |journal=Genome Biology and Evolution |volume=13 |issue=9 |pages=evab194 |doi=10.1093/gbe/evab194 |issn=1759-6653 |pmc=8435661 |pmid=34480555 |quote=Modern Saudi Arabian and Yemeni samples clustered tightly, overlapping with the three Natufian samples, and were close to the Levant Pre-Pottery Neolithic B and C (PPNB and PPNC) and Levant Bronze Age samples.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Almarri |first1=Mohamed A. |last2=Haber |first2=Marc |last3=Lootah |first3=Reem A. |last4=Hallast |first4=Pille |display-authors=3 |date=2021 |title=The genomic history of the Middle East |journal=Cell |volume=184 |issue=18 |pages=4612–4625 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2021.07.013 |pmid=34352227 |pmc=8445022 }}</ref> Sirak et al. (2024) found that medieval [[Socotra]] (the [[Soqotri people]]), similar to modern Saudis, Yemenis and Bedouins, have a majority component that is "maximized in Late Pleistocene (Epipaleolithic) Natufian hunter–gatherers from the Levant".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sirak |first1=Kendra |last2=Jansen Van Rensburg |first2=Julian |last3=Brielle |first3=Esther |last4=Chen |first4=Bowen |last5=Lazaridis |first5=Iosif |last6=Ringbauer |first6=Harald |last7=Mah |first7=Matthew |last8=Mallick |first8=Swapan |last9=Micco |first9=Adam |last10=Rohland |first10=Nadin |last11=Callan |first11=Kimberly |last12=Curtis |first12=Elizabeth |last13=Kearns |first13=Aisling |last14=Lawson |first14=Ann Marie |last15=Workman |first15=J. Noah |date=8 February 2024 |title=Medieval DNA from Soqotra points to Eurasian origins of an isolated population at the crossroads of Africa and Arabia |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |volume=8 |issue=4 |language=en |pages=817–829 |doi=10.1038/s41559-024-02322-x |pmid=38332026 |issn=2397-334X|pmc=11009077 |bibcode=2024NatEE...8..817S }}</ref>
 ==Language==
-[[Alexander Militarev]],  [[Vitaly Shevoroshkin]] and others have linked the Natufian culture to the [[proto-Afroasiatic language]],<ref>{{cite book |author=Winfried Nöth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y4_It_sAuMYC&pg=PA293 |title=Origins of Semiosis: Sign Evolution in Nature and Culture |year=1994 |isbn=978-3-11-087750-2 |page=293| publisher=Walter de Gruyter }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Roger Blench, Matthew Spriggs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NUvnqjutFmoC&pg=PT70 |title=Archaeology and Language IV: Language Change and Cultural Transformation |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-134-81623-1 |page=70| publisher=Routledge }}</ref> which they in turn believe has a Levantine origin. Some scholars, for example [[Christopher Ehret]], [[Roger Blench]] and others, contend that the [[Afroasiatic Urheimat]] is to be found in [[North Africa]] or [[Northeast Africa]], probably in the area of [[Egypt]], the [[Sahara]],  [[Horn of Africa]] or [[Sudan]].<ref name="blench2006">Blench R (2006) Archaeology, Language, and the African Past, Rowman Altamira, {{ISBN|0-7591-0466-2}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7591-0466-2}}, https://books.google.com/books?doi=esFy3Po57A8C</ref><ref name="Ehret2004">{{cite journal |last1=Ehret |first1=Christopher |last2=Keita |first2=S. O. Y. |last3=Newman |first3=Paul |date=2004 |title=The Origins of Afroasiatic |journal=Science |volume=306 |issue=5702 |pages=1680.3–1680 |doi=10.1126/science.306.5702.1680c |pmid=15576591 |s2cid=8057990}}</ref><ref name="bernal1987">{{Cite book |last=Bernal |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFLm_M_OdK4C |title=Black Athena: The linguistic evidence |date=1987 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-3655-2 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="bender1997">Bender ML (1997), Upside Down Afrasian, Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 50, pp. 19–34</ref><ref name="militarev2005">Militarev A (2005) Once more about glottochronology and comparative method: the Omotic-Afrasian case, Аспекты компаративистики – 1 (Aspects of comparative linguistics – 1). FS S. Starostin. Orientalia et Classica II (Moscow), p. 339-408. http://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/fleming.pdf</ref> Within this group, Ehret, who like Militarev believes Afroasiatic may already have been in existence in the Natufian period, would associate Natufians only with the [[Near East]]ern [[Proto-Semitic language|Proto-Semitic]] branch of Afroasiatic.
+[[Alexander Militarev]], [[Vitaly Shevoroshkin]] and others have linked the Natufian culture to the [[proto-Afroasiatic language]],<ref>{{cite book |author=Winfried Nöth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y4_It_sAuMYC&pg=PA293 |title=Origins of Semiosis: Sign Evolution in Nature and Culture |year=1994 |isbn=978-3-11-087750-2 |page=293| publisher=Walter de Gruyter }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Roger Blench, Matthew Spriggs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NUvnqjutFmoC&pg=PT70 |title=Archaeology and Language IV: Language Change and Cultural Transformation |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-134-81623-1 |page=70| publisher=Routledge }}</ref> which they in turn believe has a Levantine origin. Some scholars, for example [[Christopher Ehret]], [[Roger Blench]] and others, contend that the [[Afroasiatic Urheimat]] is to be found in [[North Africa]] or [[Northeast Africa]], probably in the area of [[Egypt]], the [[Sahara]], [[Horn of Africa]] or [[Sudan]].<ref name="blench2006">Blench R (2006) Archaeology, Language, and the African Past, Rowman Altamira,  {{ISBN|978-0-7591-0466-2}}, https://books.google.com/books?doi=esFy3Po57A8C</ref><ref name="Ehret2004">{{cite journal |last1=Ehret |first1=Christopher |last2=Keita |first2=S. O. Y. |last3=Newman |first3=Paul |date=2004 |title=The Origins of Afroasiatic |journal=Science |volume=306 |issue=5702 |pages=1680.3–1680 |doi=10.1126/science.306.5702.1680c |pmid=15576591 |s2cid=8057990}}</ref><ref name="bernal1987">{{Cite book |last=Bernal |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFLm_M_OdK4C |title=Black Athena: The linguistic evidence |date=1987 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-3655-2 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="bender1997">Bender ML (1997), Upside Down Afrasian, Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 50, pp. 19–34</ref> Within this group, Ehret, who like Militarev believes Afroasiatic may already have been in existence in the Natufian period, would associate Natufians only with the [[Near East]]ern [[Proto-Semitic language|Proto-Semitic]] branch of Afroasiatic.<ref name="militarev2005">Militarev A (2005) Once more about glottochronology and comparative method: the Omotic-Afrasian case, Аспекты компаративистики – 1 (Aspects of comparative linguistics – 1). FS S. Starostin. Orientalia et Classica II (Moscow), p. 339-408. http://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/fleming.pdf</ref>
+[[John Bengtson|John Bengston]] documented that archeological and physical anthropological evidence showed Natufians are closely related to modern Semitic-speaking people from the Levant. Under his hypothesis, Afro-Asiatic branches originated in North Africa proper (Egypt), and the age of these languages can be dated to the periods of the Natufian culture around ~12,000 years ago. He postulated this based on the biological discontinuity between Pleistocene and Holocene North Africa, where there was population replacement and admixture in this region involving external migrants from northern areas, who were the ancestral Afro-Asiatic speakers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bengtson |first=John D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xxcdjUGfx40C |title=In Hot Pursuit of Language in Prehistory: Essays in the Four Fields of Anthropology : in Honor of Harold Crane Fleming |date=2008 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |isbn=978-90-272-3252-6 |pages=20–22 |language=en}}</ref>
 ==Sites==
@@ Line 239: / Line 239: @@
 ==See also==
 {{Portal|Asia}}
+* [[Afroasiatic Urheimat]]
 * [[Prehistory of the Levant]]
 * [[Proto-Afroasiatic language]]
-* [[Afroasiatic Urheimat]]
 ==References==
 {{Reflist|30em|refs=
-<ref name="Barker">Barker G (2002) Transitions to farming and pastoralism in North Africa, in Bellwood P, Renfrew C (2002), ''Examining the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis'', pp 151–161.</ref>
+<ref name="Barker">Barker G (2002) Transitions to farming and pastoralism in North Africa, in Bellwood P, Renfrew C (2002), ''Examining the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis'', pp. 151–161.</ref>
-<ref name="Bar-Yosef 29">Bar-Yosef O (1987) Pleistocene connections between Africa and SouthWest Asia: an archaeological perspective. ''The African Archaeological Review''; Chapter 5, pg 29–38</ref>
+<ref name="Bar-Yosef 29">Bar-Yosef O (1987) Pleistocene connections between Africa and SouthWest Asia: an archaeological perspective. ''The African Archaeological Review''; Chapter 5, pp. 29–38</ref>
-<!-- <ref name="Bar-Yosef 114">Ofer Bar-Yosef, The Natufian culture and the Early Neolithic: Social and economic trends in Southwestern Asia, chapter 10 in Peter Bellwood and Colin Renfrew (eds.), ''Examining the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis'' (2002), p.114.</ref> -->
+<!-- <ref name="Bar-Yosef 114">Ofer Bar-Yosef, The Natufian culture and the Early Neolithic: Social and economic trends in Southwestern Asia, chapter 10 in Peter Bellwood and Colin Renfrew (eds.), ''Examining the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis'' (2002), p. 114.</ref> -->
 <ref name="Bar-Yosef 159">{{citation
@@ Line 266: / Line 266: @@
 </ref>
-<ref name="BBC AinSak">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/vNEwNR8rSzGPSwSn3yeJwA|title=BBC - A History of the World - Object: Ain Sakhri lovers figurine|website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>
+<ref name="BBC AinSak">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/vNEwNR8rSzGPSwSn3yeJwA|title=BBC – A History of the World – Object: Ain Sakhri lovers figurine|website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>
 <ref name="Bellwood">Bellwood P (2005) Blackwell, Oxford. Page 97</ref>
@@ Line 392: / Line 392: @@
 }}
-*[http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/06/16/059311.full.pdf The genetic structure of the world's first farmers, Lazaridis et al, 2016]
+* [http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/06/16/059311.full.pdf The genetic structure of the world's first farmers, Lazaridis et al, 2016]
 {{Epipalaeolithic Southwest Asia}}

v t e Prehistoric Asia
Paleolithic	Dmanisi hominins Japanese Paleolithic Java Man List of Paleolithic sites in China Natufian culture Paleolithic Mesopotamia Peking Man Riwat Sangiran Soanian Solo Man South Asian Stone Age Ubeidiya Xiaochangliang
Neolithic	Fertile Crescent Early Neolithic settlements Khiamian culture Trialetian culture Nemrikian culture Zarzian culture Neolithic China Neolithic Tibet Neolithic Korea Neolithic Revolution Neolithic South Asia Ohalo Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (Mesopotamia) Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (Mesopotamia)
Chalcolithic	Daimabad Halaf culture Uruk period
Bronze Age	Andronovo culture Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex Bronze Age Anatolia Bronze Age Caucasus Bronze Age China Bronze Age India Bronze Age Korea Bronze Age Levant List of Bronze Age sites in China Seima-Turbino phenomenon
Archaeological periods Time periods

The Paleolithic
↑ Pliocene (before Homo)
Lower Paleolithic (c. 3.3 Ma – 300 ka) Lomekwi (3.3 Ma) Oldowan (2.6–1.7 Ma) Acheulean (1.76–0.13 Ma) Madrasian (1.5 Ma) Soanian (500–130 ka) Clactonian (424–400 ka) Mugharan (400–220 ka)
Middle Paleolithic (c. 300–50 ka) Mousterian (160–40 ka) Aterian (145–20 ka) Micoquien (130–70 ka) Sangoan (130–10 ka)
Upper Paleolithic (c. 50–12 ka) Initial Upper Paleolithic Fertile Crescent: Emiran (50–40 ka) Ahmarian (46–42 ka) Baradostian (36–18 ka) Aurignacian (35–29 ka) Zarzian (20–10 ka) Kebaran (18–12.5 ka) Trialetian (16–8 ka) Natufian (14.5–11.5 ka) Khiamian (12.2–10.8 ka) Europe: Bohunician (48–40 ka) Châtelperronian (44.5–36 ka) Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (43–32 ka) Aurignacian (43–26 ka) Szeletian (41,000-37,000) Périgordian (35–20 ka) Gravettian (33–24 ka) Pavlovian (29–25 ka) Solutrean (22–17 ka) Epigravettian (20–10 ka) Magdalenian (17–12 ka) Hamburg (15.5–13.1 ka) Federmesser (14–12.8 ka) Azilian (14–10 ka) Ahrensburg (13–12 ka) Swiderian (11–8 ka) Africa: Khormusan (42–18 ka) Iberomaurusian (25–11 ka) Mushabian Halfan (22–14 ka) Qadan (15—11 ka) Sebilian (15–11 ka) Eburran (15–5 ka) Magosian (10–8 ka) Siberia: Mal'ta–Buret' (24–15 ka) Afontova Gora (21–12 ka}
↓ Mesolithic
v t e