Editing Epipalaeolithic Near East (section)

== Levant ==
===Early Epipalaeolithic===
{{see|Kebaran culture}}
[[File:Climate and Post-Glacial expansion in the Near East.jpg|thumb|upright=2|The Epipalaeolithic corresponds to the first period of progressive warming after the [[Last Glacial Maximum]] (LGM), before the start of the [[Holocene]] and the onset of the [[Neolithic Revolution]]. The change in  temperatures in the Post-Glacial period is based on evidence from [[Greenland ice cores]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zalloua |first1=Pierre A. |last2=Matisoo-Smith |first2=Elizabeth |date=6 January 2017 |title=Mapping Post-Glacial expansions: The Peopling of Southwest Asia |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=7 |pages=40338 |doi=10.1038/srep40338 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=5216412 |pmid=28059138|bibcode=2017NatSR...740338P }}</ref>]]
[[File:Archaeological evidence of human activities at the end of the Upper Paleolithic and during the Epipaleolithic; human occupation signs 29–15.2 ka, wood charcoal, nuts 15.9–11.2 ka.jpg|thumb|Archaeological evidence of human activities in the Near East, at the end of the [[Upper Paleolithic]] and during the Epipalaeolithic. Human occupation signs 29–15.2 ka (diamonds), wood charcoal, nuts 15.9–11.2 ka (squares).]]
The Early Epipalaeolithic, also known as the Kebaran culture, lasted from 20,000 to 12,150&nbsp;BP.<ref name="Simmons, 47-48" /> It followed the [[Levantine Aurignacian]], formerly called the "Antelian period", throughout the [[Levant]]. By the end of the Levantine Aurignacian, gradual changes occurred in stone industries. Small stone tools called [[microlith]]s and retouched bladelets can be found for the first time. The microliths of this culture period differ markedly from the Aurignacian artifacts.

[[File:Stone Age Stone Mortar & Pestle, Kebaran culture, 22000-18000 BP.jpg|thumb|left|Stone Age stone mortar and pestle, Kebaran culture, 22000-18000 BP]]
[[File:Composite Sickles for Cereal Harvesting at 23,000-Years-Old Ohalo II, Israel.jpg|thumb|Composite sickles for cereal harvesting at 23,000-Years-Old [[Ohalo II]], Israel.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nadel |first1=Dani |last2=Weiss |first2=Ehud |last3=Groman-Yaroslavski |first3=Iris |date=23 November 2016 |title=Composite Sickles and Cereal Harvesting Methods at 23,000-Years-Old Ohalo II, Israel |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=11 |issue=11 |pages=e0167151 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0167151 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=5120854 |pmid=27880839 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2016PLoSO..1167151G }}</ref>]]
By 18,000 BP, the climate and environment had changed and a transition period had started. The Levant became more arid, and the forest vegetation retreated to be replaced by [[steppe]]s. The cool and dry period ended at the beginning of Mesolithic 1. The hunter-gatherers of the Aurignacian would have had to modify their way of living and their pattern of settlement to adapt to the changing conditions. The crystallization of these new patterns resulted in Mesolithic 1. The people developed new types of settlements and new stone industries.

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

The type site is [[Kebara Cave]] south of [[Haifa]]. The Kebaran was characterized by small, [[geometric microliths]]. The people were thought to lack the specialized grinders and pounders in later [[Near Eastern]] cultures. The Kebaran is preceded by the Athlitian phase of the Levantine Aurignacian and followed by the proto-agrarian [[Natufian culture]] of the [[Epipalaeolithic]]. The appearance of the[Kebaran culture, of microlithic type, implies a significant rupture in the cultural continuity of the local Upper Paleolithic. The Kebaran culture, with its use of microliths, is also associated with the use of the [[bow and arrow]] and the [[domestication of the dog]].<ref>Dayan, Tamar (1994), "Early Domesticated Dogs of the Near East" (''Journal of Archaeological Science'', Volume 21, Issue 5, September 1994, Pages 633–640)</ref> The Kebaran is also characterised by the earliest collecting and processing of wild cereals, known due to the excavation of grain-grinding tools. This was the first step towards the [[Neolithic Revolution]]. The Kebaran people are believed to have migrated seasonally, dispersing to upland environments in the summer, and gathering in caves and rock shelters near lowland lakes in the winter. This diversity of environments may be the reason for the variety of tools in their toolkits.

The Kebaran is generally considered ancestral to the later Natufian culture, which occupied much of the same range.<ref>[[James Mellaart|Mellaart, James]] (1976), ''Neolithic of the Near East'' ([[Macmillan Publishers]])</ref>

====Harvesting of cereals====
{{main|Neolithic Revolution}}
The earliest evidence for the use of composite cereal harvesting tools are the glossed flint blades that have been found at the site of [[Ohalo II]], a 23,000-year-old fisher-hunter-gatherers’ camp on the shore of the [[Sea of Galilee]], Northern Israel.<ref name="CSCH" /> The Ohalo site is dated at the junction of the [[Upper Paleolithic]] and the Early Epipalaeolithic, and has been attributed to both periods.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Enzel |first1=Yehouda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hhSVDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA335 |title=Quaternary of the Levant |last2=Bar-Yosef |first2=Ofer |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107090460 |page=335 |language=en}}</ref> The wear traces on the tools indicate that these were used for harvesting near-ripe, semi-green wild cereals, shortly before grains ripen enough to disperse naturally.<ref name="CSCH" /> The study shows that the tools were not used intensively, and they reflect two harvesting modes: flint knives held by hand and inserts hafted into a handle.<ref name="CSCH" /> The finds reveal the existence of cereal harvesting techniques and tools some 8000 years before the Natufian and 12,000 years before the establishment of sedentary farming communities in the Near East during the [[Neolithic Revolution]].<ref name="CSCH" /> Furthermore, the new finds accord well with evidence for the earliest ever cereal cultivation at the site, and for the use of stone-made grinding implements.<ref name="CSCH">[[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]] Material was adapted from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License] {{Cite journal |last1=Nadel |first1=Dani |last2=Weiss |first2=Ehud |last3=Groman-Yaroslavski |first3=Iris |date=23 November 2016 |title=Composite Sickles and Cereal Harvesting Methods at 23,000-Years-Old Ohalo II,Israel |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=11 |issue=11 |pages=e0167151 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0167151 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=5120854 |pmid=27880839 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2016PLoSO..1167151G }}</ref>

====Artistic expression in the Kebaran culture====
[[File:Engraved Plaquette with bird image from Ein Qashish South, Jezreel Valley, Israel, Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran deposits (ca. 23ka and ca. 16.5ka BP).jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|Engraved plaquette with bird image from Ein Qashish South, [[Jezreel Valley]], [[Northern District (Israel)|Northern District of Israel]], Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran ca. 23,000-16,500 BP.<ref name="AUA" />]]
Evidence for symbolic behavior of Late Pleistocene foragers in the Levant has been found in engraved limestone plaquettes from the Epipalaeolithic open-air site Ein Qashish South in the [[Jezreel Valley]] of the [[Northern District (Israel)|Northern District of Israel]].<ref name="AUA" /> The engravings were uncovered in Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran deposits (ca. 23,000 and ca. 16,500 BP), and include the image of a bird, the first figurative representation known so far from a pre-Natufian Epipalaeolithic site, together with geometric motifs such as chevrons, cross-hatchings, and ladders.<ref name="AUA" /> Some of the engravings closely resemble roughly contemporary European finds and may be interpreted as "systems of notations" or "artificial memory systems" related to the timing of seasonal resources and related important events for nomadic groups.<ref name="AUA" />

Similar-looking signs and patterns are well known from the context of the local Natufian, a final Epipalaeolithic period when sedentary or semi-sedentary foragers started practicing agriculture.<ref name="AUA">[[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]] Material was adapted from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License] {{Cite journal |last1=Roskin |first1=Joel |last2=Porat |first2=Naomi |last3=Greenbaum |first3=Noam |last4=Caracuta |first4=Valentina |last5=Boaretto |first5=Elisabeta |last6=Bar-Yosef |first6=Ofer |last7=Yaroshevich |first7=Alla |date=24 August 2016 |title=A Unique Assemblage of Engraved Plaquettes from Ein Qashish South, Jezreel Valley, Israel: Figurative and Non-Figurative Symbols of Late Pleistocene Hunters-Gatherers in the Levant |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=11 |issue=8 |pages=e0160687 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0160687 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=4996494 |pmid=27557110 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2016PLoSO..1160687Y }}</ref>

===Late Epipalaeolithic===
{{main|Natufian culture}}
{{see|Khiamian culture}}
The Late Epipalaeolithic is also called the [[Natufian culture]]. This period is characterized by the early [[History of agriculture|rise of agriculture]], which later emerged more fully in the [[Neolithic]] period. [[Radiocarbon dating]] places the Natufian culture between 12,500 and 9500&nbsp;BCE, just before the end of the [[Pleistocene]].<ref name="Munro2003">{{Cite journal |last=Munro |first=Natalie D. |year=2003 |title=Small game, the Younger Dryas, and the transition to agriculture in the southern Levant |url=http://www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/munro/assets/Mitteilungen.pdf |journal=Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte |volume=12 |pages=47&ndash;71}}</ref> This period is characterised by the beginning of agriculture.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bar-Yosef |first=Ofer |year=1998 |title=The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/anthropology/v1007/baryo.pdf |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology |volume=6 |issue=5 |pages=159–177 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1998)6:5<159::AID-EVAN4>3.0.CO;2-7|s2cid=35814375 }}</ref>

The Natufian culture is commonly split into two subperiods: Early Natufian (12,500–10,800&nbsp;BCE) (Christopher Delage gives {{circa}} 13,000–11,500 [[Before Present|BP]] uncalibrated, equivalent to {{circa}} 13,700–11,500&nbsp;BCE)<ref>{{Cite book |title=The last hunter-gatherers in the Near East |date=2004 |publisher=British Archaeological Reports 1320 |isbn=978-1-84171-389-2 |editor-last=Delage |editor-first=Christophe |location=Oxford}}</ref> and Late Natufian (10,800–9500&nbsp;BCE). The Late Natufian most likely occurred in tandem with the [[Younger Dryas]]. The following period is often called the [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]] and includes the [[Khiamian culture]] (9700 to 8600 BCE).

<gallery widths="200px" heights="170px" perrow="4">
File:Bovine-Rib Dagger, Natufian Culture.jpg|Bovine-rib dagger, [[HaYonim Cave]], [[Upper Galilee]]; Natufian Culture, 12500-9500 BC.
File:Eynan Epipaleolithic mortar.jpg|Stone [[Mortar and pestle|mortar]]s from [[ʿAin Mallaha]]; Natufian period, 12500-9500 BC
File:Lovers 9000BC british museum.jpg|upright|The [[Ain Sakhri figurine]], Ain Sakhri caves, [[West Bank]], near [[Bethlehem]], [[Palestine]]. British&nbsp;Museum:&nbsp;{{British-Museum-db|1958,1007.1|id=1358965}}
File:Reconstruction of a prehistoric hook and sinker.png| Stone fishing hook and sinker (a grooved pebble), used on [[Hula Valley|Lake Hula]] in the Northern District of Israel during the Late Epipalaeolithic<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Pedergnana | first1=Antonella | last2=Cristiani | first2=Emanuela | last3=Munro | first3=Natalie | last4=Valletta | first4=Francesco | last5=Sharon | first5=Gonen | title=Early line and hook fishing at the Epipaleolithic site of Jordan River Dureijat (Northern Israel) | journal=PLOS ONE | publisher=Public Library of Science (PLoS) | volume=16 | issue=10 | date=6 October 2021 | issn=1932-6203 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0257710 | page=e0257710| pmid=34613991 | pmc=8494375 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2021PLoSO..1657710P }}</ref>
</gallery>