The Natufian Archaeological Culture in Southwestern Asian Epipalaeolithic Context

Type:

Book Chapter

Author:

Aaron Jonas Stutz

Published:

2025

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

Abstract This chapter reviews current research on the Natufian archaeological culture of the Levant. The Natufian may be situated within the Late period of the regional Epipalaeolithic chronology, which stretches overall from c. 23,000–10,000 bc. As an archaeological culture, the Natufian is widely recognized as important because it consists of traces of the last forager societies in the Near East that entirely lacked farming neighbours. The internal chronology of the Natufian is generally divided into Early and Late components, dating to 13,000–11,500 bc and 11,500–10,000 bc, respectively. The Early Natufian component is marked by a relatively dramatic increase in the use of durable stone-foundation architecture at hamlets, seasonal campsites, and special ritual locales. These architectural features persist throughout the Late Natufian component, which begins in the centuries prior to the Younger Dryas global climatic reversal, which brought cool and dry conditions to the eastern Mediterranean, after c. 10,900 bc. Recent research confirms that the Natufian culture involved year-round settlement at some hamlet sites, but other social technologies—including ritualized memorialization of the dead, long-distance exchange, and use of specialized foraging and food-preparation gear—seem to mark an accelerating departure from Palaeolithic patterns of smaller co-resident group-size and higher residential mobility across ecological zones.

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