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Map of Levant showing location of Moghr el-Ahwal and other Epipalaeolithic sites referred to in the text.
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Relative to other regions of the Levant, our knowledge of the adaptations of Epipalaeolithic hunter-gatherers to the late Pleistocene environments of the coastal mountains of the central and northern Levant are extremely limited. However, recently excavations at two adjacent caves at Moghr el-Ahwal in the Qadisha Valley of northern Lebanon have pro...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... prey profiles at Moghr el-Ahwal Cave 2 during Phase C (Natufian) demonstrate the continued impor- tance of goat but emphasise the increasing significance of small prey. This is also the case when data from Caves 3 and 2 are combined for Phases D-D/C and Phase C. A trend away from goats towards deer, largely roe deer, seems to have taken place by Phase C and the presence of small/medium fast prey, mostly hare, squirrel and small carnivores, is main- tained. This latter trend is also apparent at the well- watered site of Natufian Saaidé II, which lies on the central-western flanks of the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon at c. 1050 m altitude, overlooking land divid- ing the headwaters of the Orontes and Litani rivers (Figs 1, 2); here, fast small prey are as abundant as goats (Churcher ...
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... not included in Fig. 7, a preliminary report on the fauna from Dederiyeh Cave, which is located on a craggy hillside overlooking the broad and fertile Afrin valley of north-west Syria, is of some interest (Fig. 1). Excavation of Mousterian and Natufian levels revealed faunal profiles that were period specific. During the Mousterian goats made ...
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... comparison, the faunal assemblage from the late Epipalaeolithic (cf. Natufian) levels of Direkli Cave, which lies to the north of the Levantine Corridor at 850 m in the Anti-Taurus mountains of Turkey (Figs 1, 7), is included. Here, high peaks around the cave were ideal for hunting wild goat, which makes up the majority of prey recovered, while the forests and valleys below the cave yielded smaller numbers of deer and small/medium fast game ( Arbuckle and Erek ...
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... c. 63% of hunted animals, cervids c. 23% while small fast game were very infrequent. In contrast, by the Natufian goats were largely replaced by red deer, aurochs and wild boar, with significant small game including foxes, wild cats, hares, hedgehogs and many tortoises (Gourichon 2008;Griggo 2004). It is also of interest to compare the Lebanese localities with contemporary sites located in the warmer, drier, hill country of Galilee and Mount Carmel in the southern Levant (northern Israel); where geographic and climatic conditions favoured gazelle rather than goat as the major hunted species. They include Hayonim Cave, located in a south- facing cliff overlooking the Wadi Meged which cuts through the lower Galilee hills about 12 km east of the present Mediterranean shoreline (Stiner 2005), and Meged rockshelter which is located about 1 km to the north-east ( Kuhn et al. 2004). The third site examined is el Wad Cave and Terrace which is located at the western foot of Mount Carmel, 40 km to the south-west of Hayonim, adjacent to the coastal plain ( Bar-Oz et al. 2004;Munro 2004) (Fig. ...
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... with a period prior to the Epipalaeolithic in the moist and mountainous northern Levant, faunal remains from the site of Üçag ˘izli Cave ( Kuhn et al. 2009) are considered. This cave site lies on the steep, rocky coastline of the Hatay region of south-central Turkey, just a few kilometres south of the Orontes river delta (Fig. 1). When occupied during the initial Upper Palaeolithic and Ahmarian (at a period of lower sea level) the cave would have been a little further from the shore, but within easier reach of the resources of the Orontes delta (Mentzer 2011). At Üçag ˘izli, wild goat and deer were equally dominant during the initial Upper Palaeolithic but with a notable presence of wild boar (in large ungulate cat- egory on Fig. 7). This faunal profile is commensurate with crags and forests on hill slopes together with wooded, well-watered, coastal/delta environments. By the Ahmarian the prey profile had shifted such that fallow deer were the principal hunted target. Kuhn et al. (2009) have related this change in hunting pattern to oscillating temperature variations during the OIS 3 period, changes that would have affected moisture, vegetation and woodland at all ...
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... to the Kebaran, the two sites of Jiita II and Ksar Akil lie 45 km south of Moghr el-Ahwal in central Lebanon (Figs 1, 2). Jiita II is a large rock shelter currently located in a craggy, steep-sided, 1987; 1989). Bd = greatest distal breadth: GLI = greatest lateral length. wooded valley, c. 5 km inland from the narrow coastal plain. Here, goats dominated the hunted assemblage, with fallow deer accounting for c. 20% of the remain- der (Clutton-Brock pers. comm.). This pattern is similar to that found in Phases F-E/D and D-D/C of Moghr el-Ahwal Cave 3 (radiocarbon dated to Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran), although even in these early phases fast small game formed a significant component. A rather different scenario is seen at the Kebaran site of Ksar Akil (Kersten 1989;, which is also situated in a steep-sided valley, but close to its outlet on to the coastal plain. Here, the faunal distribution is similar to that seen in the Ahmarian levels at Üçag ˘izli, with fallow and some roe deer accounting for the majority of prey. Both sites are significantly closer to the resources of the coastal plain and at a slightly greater distance from the craggy environments favoured by wild goat than Jiita II and Moghr ...
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... coastal mountains of northern Lebanon rise steeply from the narrow Mediterranean shoreline and, as a result of high winter rainfall, have extensive woodland and forest cover on the slopes, dissected by deep craggy ravines with perennial streams. From the last glacial maximum through to the early Holocene, these areas supported diverse wildlife that was exploited by bands of Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic hunter-gatherers. However, systematic excavation aimed at exploring the everyday lives of these commu- nities has been limited, not least due to the conflict in Lebanon between 1975 and1990. The majority of our knowledge of the Epipalaeolithic stems from exca- vations in the 1960s and 1970s in Early Epipalaeolithic Kebaran levels at Ksar Akil and Jiita II (Hours 1973;1992;Tixier 1970;Tixier and Inizan 1981;Yazbeck 2004) and from the analysis of pre- viously excavated material from Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran phases at Abri Bergy ( Copeland and Waechter 1968). Each of these sites is located just north of Beirut (Figs 1 and 2). Records of the Late Epipalaeolithic Natufian in Lebanon derive largely from excavations at Saaidé II on the western flanks of the Bekaa Valley (Copeland 1991;Garrard and Yazbeck 2013;Schroeder ...
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Citations
... The analysis of the fauna from the same phases at Cave 3 Area C (Edwards et al. 2017) does, however, show a transition through the sequence between Phases F and C, with evidence suggesting an expansion of forest in the latest phase, which has been linked to the Bølling and Allerød interstadials, which are contemporary with the Early Natufian. This is witnessed both in an increase in the hunting of deer, but also changes in the micro-mammal assemblage. ...
... Most notable amongst these was a group of three adjacent caves in an elevated rock crag near to the village of Moghr el-Ahwal (Fig. 1). The excavation of two of these caves exposed layers of occupation spanning various phases of the Epipalaeolithic and the Neolithic, and a diversity of finds including flaked and ground stone industries, bone tools, shell beads and quantities of animal bones (Edwards et al. 2017; Garrard and Yazbeck 2008;. Of particular note was the discovery of human remains in various depositional contexts and it is these that form the major focus of the current paper. ...
... Lebanon are beginning to address some of these issues, and one important aspect is the burial record. Prior to considering these burials and their wider context, it is interesting to note that the majority of human remains were recovered from Cave 2, which is much smaller than Cave 3, and, owing to its low ceiling, less suitable for long-term occupation by large groups (Edwards et al. 2017). Alongside any occupation, it seems likely that this cave may have been used not only as a cache and workshop in certain periods, but also for the burial of human remains. ...
Archaeological human remains and their funerary contexts provide valuable insights into social and ideological lives as well as the origins, health and activities of past communities. In the southern Levant extensive cemeteries from the Late Epipalaeolithic (Natufian) and Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) have been recognized, although burials from earlier periods are sparse. Elsewhere in the Levant the record from the whole Epipalaeolithic is poor. Excavations at two adjacent caves at Moghr el-Ahwal in the Qadisha Valley of northern Lebanon have provided a window into human lives and mortuary practices from an otherwise poorly known region. This includes material from contexts with radiocarbon dates ranging from the late Kebaran, Geometric Kebaran and Natufian (c. 19–13.8 ka cal BP), as well as directly dated skeletal material from the mid to late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (c. 9.9–9.5 ka cal BP). Although this forested mountain area may have been isolated from other regions in the Levant, the burial practices show links to the wider area.
This paper describes analyses of avifauna from Levantine Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene sites at contrasting scales. Firstly, we present avian osteological data from a sequence of occupation at Shubayqa, in northeast Jordan, illustrating changing human-bird-environment interactions over 4000 years offering interpretations of environmental change on avifaunal communities and nature of multi-species relationships at this wetland environment. Secondly, we compare published avifaunal assemblages to investigate the nature of bird-human relationships across a broader temporal and geographical span. During the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene our species gradually transitioned to an agricultural mode of subsistence. Whilst explanations of long-term human behavioural dynamics are frequently sought, disparity between correlation and causation obscures interpretation of trajectories in the human past. People hunted birds for subsistence but extensive evidence for the symbolic importance of birds suggests complex relationships between species. Avifaunal evidence, therefore, presents insights into two commonly suggested primary causes for the shift from hunter-foragers to agriculturalists – resource pressure and symbolic expression. Here we argue that actions of humans gradually modified the landscape and ecological system but this was not a reactionary response to resource stress. Nevertheless, this resulted in the productivity of the landscape increasing and allowed further intensification. Feathers and talons of birds were used for millennia preceding the shift to agriculture and the increase in bird hunting towards the end of the Pleistocene cannot be explained by the increased role of birds in the symbolic realm.
Redaktion: Claudia Nickel, Marie Reiter (RGZM) Satz: Dieter Imhäuser, Hofheim a. T. Umschlaggestaltung: Claudia Nickel (RGZM) unter Verwendung eines Fotos von Alan Keohane Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.
