Review Questions for Kebaran, Natufian and early Neolithic

1. Define the Kebaran and Natufian periods. When do they occur? In what part of the world? What characterizes each one in terms of way of life and associated environmental conditions? What accounts for the increased sedentism and population of the Natufian?

2. What is significant about the site of ‘Ain Mallaha? How many people lived there? What was their way of life like? Why did they make and use flint sickles, mortars, querns and net sinkers? Were they farmers? Why was their dental health not as good as that of their Kebaran ancestors?

3. Where was the earliest known domesticated plant found and what was it? What is its date? [Remember the ambiguity in the text. Go by what was said in class.]

4. When do domesticated animals and pottery appear in the Levant? What is significant about these developments? What is especially significant about the site of Hallam Çemi in eastern Turkey?

5. When was Abu Hureyra first occupied? What was the economic basis of life at that time? What was the Younger Dryas and what were its effects on the people of Abu Hureyra? How did they respond? What led to the first appearance of domesticated animals at Abu Hureyra and when did this occur? How large was the population of Abu Hureyra at its peak?

6. Abu Hureyra was abandoned at around 6000 B.C. as were many other Neolithic villages. Why? What does your text say? What evidence was presented in class that points to other important factors that led to these abandonments?

For ‘Ain Ghazal: When was it occupied? What was the function of the plaster produced by its residents? What was involved in its production? What primary factors appear to have played important roles in the eventual decline and abandonment of ‘Ain Ghazal? Hint: think about plaster production, goat herding, and the local topography.

7. Why is flotation an important technique? What is paleoethnobotany? What is a glume? A brittle glume? A brittle rachis? A tough rachis? How do these figure in the process of plant domestication in the Levant?

8. Describe the location of the site of Jericho. What may have made this location attractive to the first settlers? If the tower and wall weren’t defensive structures, what purposes might they have served? What does the construction these structures suggest about the social organization of the Jerichoans? What is the significance of the removal of skulls from some bodies at places such as ‘Ain Mallaha, Jericho and ‘Ain Ghazal?

9. What is archaeozoology? How can the age at death of animal skeletons found in an archaeological site help us to determine if hunting or herding was being practiced? What can be said about the hunting techniques of the residents of Abu Hureyra? What may have led to a shift to sheep and goat domestication? When did this shift occur?

10. What did the shift to heavy reliance on plants such as rye, barley, and wheat mean for women? Specifically, how are the effects of this shift in diet reflected in the skeletal remains of women from sites such as Abu Hureyra? What evidence suggests that farming involved more strenuous labor for everyone than did hunting and gathering in the region?

11. The settling of Cyprus in the Neolithic shouldremind you of events we have studied that occurred many thousands of years later in other places. Explain.

12. Explain why the rate of population growth is generally greater in farming populations than in hunting/gathering populations.