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"Start the revolution without me": The tale of the "Neolithic Revolution" in the Southern Levant The transition from foraging and hunting to farming is regarded as a rapid event in human evolution. No doubt that it was the most significant cultural process in human history, something that forever changed the face of humanity (culturally and biologically). The 'point of no return' is believed to be crossed, in the Levant, ca. 9 millennia ago and the old lifestyle, priorly practiced for thousands of years, was then totally abandoned. The people who made this dramatic shift in the Levant are known as the Natufian (10, 500-8,300 BC), who planted the seeds of change, and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) (ca. 8,300-ca. 5,500 BC) people, who established the first farming communities. The plethora of excavations in the last 20 years, and recent archaeological syntheses significantly enhance our understanding of the mechanisms and processes, whereby the transition from foraging to food production could have occurred. |
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Our study was carried out on the remains of 404 Natufian and 246 Pre-Pottery
Neolithic individuals housed at Tel Aviv University - one of the best recorded
skeletal collections of a human population at the advent of agriculture.The
major outcomes of the anthropological research were: A. No major shift in
dietary components is evident in transition from the Natufian to the Neolithic
as far as this can be traced from the skeletal and dental study. The differences
observed suggest that the Natufians and Neolithic people of the Levant may have
differed in their ecosystem management (i.e., gathering vs. growing cereals or
pulses), but in general consumed similar types of food. Changes in
food-preparation techniques and non-dietary usage of teeth explain much of the
variation in tooth condition in populations before and after the agricultural
revolution in the southern Levant. Furthermore, the increase, albeit slight, in
enamel hypoplasia in the PPN may suggest more frequent episodes of malnutrition
or deficiency in vitamins A or D. B. No major shift in population structure and
demography from the Natufian to the Neolithic was noticed. It seems that the
balance of fertility and mortality was inevitably approximately maintained from
the Natufian into the Neolithic period. We did not succeed in tracing evidence
for a Pre-Pottery Neolithic mortality crisis. The transition to agriculture in
the southern Levant did not promote a rapid population growth. An increase in
health risk factors during the Neolithic, mainly of infectious diseases, could
partially neutralize fertility factors (i.e., birth intervals) which could
promote a rapid population growth. C. The anthropological data do not offer
supportive evidence for the practice of selective infanticide in the Natufian,
nor for dramatic reduction in birth spacing during the PPN. In fact, no
mortality crisis is evident and birthrate may have increased but not
dramatically. D. There is a reduction in health status along time from the
Natufian to the Neolithic period. Nevertheless, there are no clear evidence to
suggest that the increasing presence of inflammatory diseases from Natufian to
Neolithic period reflects changes in animal husbandry (domestic-origin
hypothesis) but rather the change is seems to be due to anthropogenic
modification of the environment. E. Physical load (stress) was similar for both
Natufian and Neolithic populations, nevertheless the pattern was different,
suggesting different occupational stress.
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This project attempts to quantify the changes in activity patterns of early farming populations in the Levant through the Musculoskeletal Stress Markers (MSM) of the upper limb as seen in skeletal remains. The transition to an agricultural way of life resulted in higher loads on the upper limb in Neolithic populations compared to the Natufian hunter-gatherer populations that preceded them. The MSM pattern for males and females indicate a gender-based division of labor both in the Natufian and the Neolithic. It may also suggest that people in the Neolithic period were engaged in different (new) activities and occupations compared to the Natufian.
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This project presents the demographic changes that followed the transition from a hunting-gathering way of life (Natufian) to an agricultural, food producing economy (Neolithic) in the southern Levant. The study is based on 217 Natufian (10,500-8,300 BC) skeletons and 262 Neolithic (8,300-5,500 BC) skeletons. Age and sex identification were carried out and life tables constructed. A five-parameter competing hazard model developed by Siler (1979) was used to smooth life table data. No indication of increased mortality with the advent of agriculture was noted. On the contrary, both life expectancy at birth (24.6 vs. 25.5 years) and adults’ mean age at death (31.2 vs. 32.1 years) increased slightly from the Natufian to the Neolithic period (assuming stationary populations). Yet, the transition to agriculture affected males and females differently: mean age at death in the Natufian was higher for adult females compared to adult males, while in the Neolithic, it was the reverse. One interpretation given to the distribution of female ages at death is that with the onset of the Neolithic period, maternal mortality increased as a result of a concomitant increase in fertility. If the adoption of agriculture in the Levant increased the rate of population growth at the beginning of the Neolithic, expectation of life may have increased dramatically.
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Tooth Wear and Dental Pathology at the Advent of Agriculture Differences in the patterns of diet and subsistence through the analysis of
dental pathology and tooth wear have been studied in skeletal populations of
Natufian hunter-gatherers (10,500-8,300 BC) and Neolithic populations
(8,300-5,500 BC non cal.), from the southern Levant. Teeth from 1160 Natufians
and 804 Neolithic peolple were examined for rate of attrition, caries, ante-mortem tooth
loss, calculus, periapical lesions, and periodontal process. While the Natufian
people manifest a higher rate of dental attrition and periodontal disease (36.4%
vs. 19%), Neolithic people show a higher rate of calculus. Both populations
manifested low and similar rates of caries (6.4% vs. 6.7%), periapical lesions
(not over 1.5%) and ante-mortem tooth loss (3.7% vs. 4.5%). Molar wear pattern
in the Neolithic is different than in the Natufian. The current study shows that
the dental picture obtained from the two populations is multi-factorial in
nature and not exclusively of dietary origin: i.e., the higher rate and unique
pattern of attrition seen in the Natufian could result from a greater
consumption of fibrous plants, the use of pestles and mortars (which introduce
large quantities of stone-dust to the food), and/or the use of teeth as a “third
hand”. The two major conclusions of this study are: a) The transition from
hunting and gathering to food producing economy in the Levant did not promote
changes in dental health, as previously believed. This generally indicates that
the Natufians and Neolithic people of the Levant may have differed in their
ecosystem management (i.e. gathering vs. growing grains) but not in the type of
food consumed, and b) Changes in food preparation techniques and non-dietary
usage of the teeth explain much of variations in teeth condition in pre and
post-revolution populations.
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