Book
From foraging to agriculture: the Levant at the end of the Ice Age
University of Philidelphia Press • Philadelphia • Published In 1989 • Pages:
By: Henry, Donald O..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Henry takes a closer look at the archaeological data for the Epipaleolithic to describe the emergence of the Natufian tradition and to propose a new theory as to why the Natufians, who were complex foragers, began agriculture at the end of the time period. He states, 'Essentially two conditions were necessary for the development of plant cultivation: the technology for collection, processing, and storage; and the presence of potential domesticates in economically viable settings.' And it is important that '…the technology was in place before it was applied to intensive exploitation of plants…' (page 231). He also sees the Natufians turning to agriculture as one way to respond to the environmental changes that happened at the start of the Holocene. Henry examines others' theories as to the origins of agriculture to show where they do not fit the data. In support of his theory he summarizes the Mushabian Complex, the Geometric Kebaran Complex, the Natufian Complex and the Harifian Industry.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Sociocultural trends
- Production and supply
- Collecting
- Identification
- Geography
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Epipaleolithic
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2009
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Middle East
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Middle East
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Sarah Berry; 2007
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1972-1984
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 14,500 BP-10,100 BP
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Egypt, Israel, Jordon, Lebanon, Palestinian Autonomous Areas, and Syria
- NotesAdditional notes
- Donald O. Henry
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-257)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 88027848
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Neolithic period--Middle East/Agriculture, Prehistoric--Middle East/Paleoclimatology--Middle East/Middle East--Antiquities