Moore a. M. T. and Hillman C. G. the Ple

7/26/2019 Moore a. M. T. and Hillman C. G. the Ple

1/14

Society for merican rchaeology

The Pleistocene to Holocene Transition and Human Economy in Southwest Asia: The Impact ofthe Younger DryasAuthor(s): A. M. T. Moore and G. C. HillmanSource: American Antiquity, Vol. 57, No. 3 (Jul., 1992), pp. 482-494Published by: Society for American ArchaeologyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/280936.

Accessed: 18/02/2014 09:34

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Society for American Archaeologyis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to

American Antiquity.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 155.207.69.5 on Tue, 18 Feb 2014 09:34:49 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=samhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/280936?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/280936?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sam


2/14

THE PLEISTOCENE TO HOLOCENE TRANSITION

AND HUMAN ECONOMY IN SOUTHWEST ASIA:

THE

IMPACT

OF

THE

YOUNGER

DRYAS

A. M. T. Moore and G. C.

Hillman

We

present

new evidence

suggesting

that

the

Late

Glacial

worldwide

episode

of

cooling

known as

the

Younger

Dryas (ca.

11,000-10,000

B.P.)

had a

significant

impact

on

climate,

vegetation,

and human

economy

in

southwest

Asia. In the Levant

a

new

pollen

core extracted

from

Lake

Huleh and

plant

remains

from

the

early village

of

Abu

Hureyra

1

indicate that

forest gave

way

to

steppe

in

response

to

the onset

of

drier

climatic

conditions

contemporary

with the

Younger

Dryas.

Similar

effects

may

be seen in

pollen

cores

from

elsewhere

in southwest

Asia.

This alteration

in

climate

and

vegetation

obliged

the inhabitants

of

Abu

Hureyra

to

modify

their

plant

gathering,

and

led to

significant

disruptions

in

culture

and

settlement

over a wide area. We

argue

that

the stresses

induced

by

these

events

were a

contributing

factor

in the

subsequent development

of

agriculture

in southwest

Asia.

Presentamos

nuevas

evidencias

que

indican

que

el

episodio

de

enfriamiento

global

a

fines

del

periodo

glacial

conocido

como

Younger

Dryas (ca.

11,000-10,000

A.P.)

tuvo

un

significativo

impacto

en el

clima,

la

vegetaci6n

y

la

economia

humana

en el suroeste de Asia. En

el

Levante,

una nueva columna

de

polen

extraida del

Lago

Huleh

y

restos botdnicos

recuperados

en la

aldea

temprana

de Abu

Hureyra

1 indican

que

los

bosques

fueron

reemplazados por estepas

en

respuesta

a condiciones

climdticas mds secas

contempordneas

con

el

Younger

Dryas.

Consecuencias

semejantes

se observan

en columnas

de

polen

provenientes

de

otros

lugares

en

el suroeste

de Asia.

Esta

alteraci6n

en el clima

y

la

prdctica

de recolecci6n

de

plantas

produjo significativos

cambios

en la cultura

y

el asentamiento

en un

drea extensa.

Sostenemos

que

las tensiones

inducidas

por

estos hechos

contribuyeron

al

subsiguiente

desarrollo

de la

agricultura

en

el suroeste

de Asia.

The

transition

from

hunting

and

gathering

to

farming

in

southwest

Asia

coincided

with the

environmental

changes

that

marked the

close of the Pleistocene:

a worldwide increase

in

temperature

that

melted ice sheets

and caused

sea

levels to

rise,

alterations

in

atmospheric

circulation

systems,

and

shifts

in

vegetation

zones.

The climatic

amelioration

was an

uneven

process,

with

episodes

of

increased

warmth

alternating

with

reversions

to

cooler

conditions.

Our aim

in

this

paper

is to

examine

new

evidence

thatat least

one

major

episode

of

cooling,

the

Younger Dryas,

apparently

had

a

profound

effect on the

environment of southwest

Asia,

and

contributed

significantly

to

the

adjustments

in

human

adaptations

that

resulted

in

the

development

of

agriculture.

The

region

within

southwest Asia

with the

most

substantial

record of

environmental

and

cultural

change

is the Levant.

The

Younger

Dryas

climatic

episode

occurred there

during

the second

stage

of

the

Epipaleolithic,

Epipaleolithic

2

(ca.

12,500-10,000

B.P.),

one constituent

culture

of

which

was

the Natufian

in Palestine. This

stage

is

important

because

it

was the

last

period

of

hunting

and

gathering

before

the

dvent of

agriculture;

it

was

also

during

the

Epipaleolithic

2

that

the inhabitants

of some

sites

on

the

middle

Euphrates

River and

in

Palestine

adopted

a more

sedentary

mode

of

life. The

changes

in

economy

and settlement that

took

place

then

are

obviously

of

crucial

importance

for

understanding

the circumstances

in

which

agriculture

developed.

THE

YOUNGER

DRYAS

The

Younger

Dryas

was first

recognized

in

the

pollen

record

of

northern

Europe.

During

the Late

Glacial,

as the

temperature

rose and the

glaciers began

to

retreat,

the tundra

vegetation

was

replaced

by

birch and

pine

woodland;

these

trends

began

during

the

Bo6lling

nd Allerod

pollen

phases

(Iversen

A. M.

T.

Moore,

The Graduate

School,

Yale

University,

1504A

Yale

Station,

New

Haven,

CT 06520-7425

G.

C.

Hillman,

Department

of

Human

Environment,

Institute

ofArchaeology,

University

College

London,

31-

34

Gordon

Square,

London,

WC1H

OPY,

England

AmericanAntiquity, 57(3), 1992,pp. 482-494.

Copyright

?)

1992

by

the

Society

for

American

Archaeology

482

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/14

REPORTS

1954).

Then

in

the

ensuing Younger

Dryas (pollen

zone

III)

the

temperature

fell

sharply,

the

glaciers

advanced

once

more,

and the woodlands

retreated

southward,

giving way

to

open

tundra

charac-

terized

by Dryas

octopetala

from which the

name of the

episode

is

derived. This

phase

lasted

approximately

1,000

radiocarbon

years,

from

11,000

to

10,000

B.P.

(Berger 1990).1

Radiocarbon

dates for the end of the Younger Dryas are subject to uncertainty because they fall in a period during

which the calibration

curve levels

off

for at least three

centuries;

the

age

of this

event

has,

however,

been established

at

11,100 dendroyears

B.P.

(Becker

and Kromer

1986;

Becker et

al.

1991).

The

pollen

evidence

suggests

that

the

climate

turned

so cold

during

the

Younger

Dryas

that

it

approached

the conditions

of the full

glacial.

This has been confirmed

by

studies of fossil

coleoptera

in

Britain

(Coope

1977:330).

In

the

succeeding

Preboreal and Boreal

phases

the

temperature

rose once

more

and the forest

advanced

rapidly

northward.

The

precise

timing

and effects of the rises and falls

in

temperature

are still

subjects

of

discussion;

the evidence

of

fossil

coleoptera,

for

example,

while

confirming

the

oscillatory

nature

of

late

glacial

environmental

change, suggests

that the

fluctuations

in

temperature may

have

preceded

by

several centuries

the

advances and retreats of the forest

zones

(Coope

1975:167).

The Younger Dryas period of cooling was originally defined in northern Europe, but parallel

vegetation

changes

occurred

elsewhere, making

it a

worldwide

phenomenon.

We therefore

use

the

term

Younger Dryas,

not

just

for the advance

of

Dryas-dominated

tundra in

the

far

north,

but

also

for all the other

changes

in

vegetation

that were induced

by

the same climatic

episode.

It is

the one

period

of

cooling

of

sufficient

intensity

and duration to be seen

clearly

in

the

stage

1

Late

Glacial

section

in

deep-sea

cores

from

the Pacific

(Shackleton

and

Opdyke 1976).

It also

appears

as a

well-

defined

episode

in the Greenland

ice

cores

(Dansgaard

et al.

1982:Figure

1).

Studies

of

coral

reefs

off Barbados have

provided

direct

evidence

of the effect on sea levels of the

Younger Dryas

cooling.

The rise in

sea level slowed

sharply

between

11,000

and

10,500 B.P.,

and

then increased

slightly

from

10,500

to

10,000

B.P.

(Fairbanks

1989:639).

The

Younger Dryas

coincided

with

the

episode

of

major

mammal

extinctions

in

Eurasia

and North

America, lending weight

to the

hypothesis

that

such

rapid

climatic

fluctuations

contributed

to

those

events.

Haynes

(1991:447)

has

argued

that

a

brief, intense period of drought, corresponding in time to the Younger Dryas, was a factor in the

demise

of

many

species

of the

Rancho

La Brea fauna

in North America.

Given that the

Younger Dryas

episode

of

cooling

was a

worldwide

phenomenon,

its

effects should

have been felt

in southwest

Asia,

but

pollen

cores

and

sedimentological analyses

have

provided

little indication

that

it had a

significant

influence

on

the environment

there. The

main

reason

for

this is that

the

environmental

sequences

for

the different

regions

of southwest

Asia are still

very

coarsely

delineated.

Relatively

few

pollen

cores

have been

analyzed,

and

they

have not

provided

such

detailed

replicated

sequences

of

vegetation

change

as those

from northern

Europe,

North

America,

and

elsewhere.

Furthermore,

they

are

dated

with

very

few

radiocarbon

determinations.

Pollen cores

extracted

from locations

in

the

Levant,

the

Ghab

section

of the Orontes

Valley

and

Lake

Huleh,

much of which

today

is a

marsh,

for

example (Figure

1),

showed that

the forest

cover

expanded during the Late Glacial (Niklewski and van Zeist 1970; van Zeist and Bottema 1982:

Figure

14.6).

The Ghab

core

suggested

that

the

forest

expanded

quite

steadily.

The Huleh

sequence,

analyzed

by

Tsukada

and reviewed

by

van

Zeist

and

Bottema,

did

indicate

that

the

vegetation

cover

fluctuated

during

the

period

in

which the

forest

was

expanding,

but this

section

of

the

core lacked

radiocarbon dates.

A

general

increase

in

forest

cover, especially

cedar,

until

sometime

between

12,000

and

11,000

B.P.

is

again

apparent

at

Karamik

Batakhgi

in

western

Anatolia,

and the

same

could

be inferred

for

oak

forest

at

Sogot

Golii,

although

with

only

two

dates

available

in each

case,

exact correlation

is difficult

(van

Zeist and

Bottema

1982:Figures

14.4,

14.14;

van

Zeist

et

al.

1975).

A

steady

increase

in

forest

cover

could

also

be

seen

in the

cores

from

Lake

Zeribar

in

the

Zagros

Mountains,

but

there it

was

delayed

until

the

mid

Holocene

(van

Zeist and Bottema

1977:Figures

Ib and

II, 1982:Figure 14.2),

reflecting

the arrival

of trees

migrating

from forest

refuges

remote from

Zeribar.

The information available from geomorphological studies was even more sketchy. Fluctuations

in

the levels of lakes across

southwest

Asia

provided

some

information

for a

very

general

recon-

struction

of climatic

sequences (Roberts

1982),

but

they

were not detailed

enough

to

detect the

483



4/14

AMERICAN

ANTIQUITY

Figure

1.

Locations of

Lake

Huleh,

the

Ghab,

and the

prehistoric

village

of Abu

Hureyra

in

the Levant.

impact

of the

Younger Dryas

episode. Sedimentological

studies

in

the southern Levant and Sinai

yielded very

little relevant

information for the Late Glacial

(Goldberg

1981).

This

evidence,

limited

though

it

was,

seemed to

suggest

that,

as the

temperature

rose

during

the

Late

Glacial,

rainfall also

increased,

leading

to an

expansion

of forest cover

(van

Zeist and Bottema

1982).

Thus

it

appeared

that

the transition to

farming

took

place

in

quite

favorable environmental

conditions

(Moore

1985:12).

THE

NEW

EVIDENCE

Our

impression

of a

steady improvement

in

environment over much of southwest Asia from

the

Late Glacial into the early Holocene needs to be revised in the light of two new lines of evidence

that have been

obtained

in

the Levant

(Figure 1).

Firstly,

Baruch

and

Bottema

(1991)

have

recently

extracted

and

analyzed

a new

pollen

core

from

the Huleh Basin

that

provides

a more

detailed,

well-

484

[Vol.

57,

No.

3,

1992]



5/14

REPORTS

depth

-lm

^--

9 270

+

120

B.

P

GrN-17067

I

10,440

?

120

B.P

GrN-1 068

-11,540+

100 B.R

GrN-14986

|

17,140

?220

B.P

-1 .67m

G*

GrN-14463

arboreal nonorboreal

pollen

0

25 50 75 100%

Figure

2. The ratio

of

arboreal

to nonarboreal

pollen

in

the

diagram

from Lake

Huleh

(after

Baruch

and

Bottema

1991).

dated

sequence

of

vegetation change

from

the end

of the

Pleniglacial

ca.

17,000

B.P. into

the

early

Holocene

(Figure 2).

The

information most

pertinent

for our

discussion concerns the

changing

ratio

between arboreal and nonarboreal

pollen.

At the end of

the

Pleniglacial

the ratio of tree

pollen

to

grasses

and

steppe plants

was

low,

about 20

percent.

Then at

an estimated date of ca.

15,000

B.P.

the ratio of tree

pollen

increased

steadily

until it

reached

a

maximum of 75

percent

at

11,540

?

100

B.P.

(GrN-14986).

Baruch

and Bottema

suggest

that the

increase

in

tree cover was caused

by

a

marked rise

in

precipitation

because

it

happened during

the

period

of

Late

Glacial

warming.

Others such

as

El-Moslimany (1986)

reasonably argue

that such a

change

can be attributed more

specifically

to

increased

availability

of

moisture

during

the

growing

season of

spring

and

summer,

regardless of precipitation during the autumn and winter. Thereafter the forest shrank and/or thinned

rapidly

until ca.

10,650

B.P. when

the ratio

was

slightly

less than

25

percent

arboreal

pollen.

It

recovered to

nearly

50

percent

at

10,440

+

120

B.P.

(GrN-17068),

and then declined

again

over

485



6/14

AMERICAN

ANTIQUITY

the next few centuries. The same trends

may

be

detected

in

the Tsukada

core,

but are more

clearly

visible

in

the Baruch and Bottema

diagram

where

they

are more

closely

dated.

It

appears

from Baruch

and Bottema's

analysis

that the

improved

conditions for forest

growth

that

took

place

in

the

region during

the

Late Glacial were

spread

over several millennia. The

improvement thus tends to correlate with the lengthy period of climatic warming to be seen in the

Barbados coral

reefs

(Fairbanks 1989).

The most

important

observation for

us,

however,

is the

sharp

reversal

in

the arboreal-nonarboreal

pollen

ratio from ca.

11,500

to

10,650

B.P.

that Baruch

and

Bottema

believe marks the

Younger Dryas. Evidently

the cooler conditions that obtained

then

were

associated with

a

sharp

decline in

precipitation during

the

growing

season and thus

to a

substantial reduction

in

forest cover.

The

second

important

source of new evidence for environmental

change

in the Levant

during

the

Younger Dryas

is the

food-plant

remains recovered from the

early village

of Abu

Hureyra

on

the

Euphrates.

The first settlement

there,

Abu

Hureyra

1,

of

Epipaleolithic

2

cultural

affinities,

was

inhabited from ca.

11,500

to

10,000

B.P.

(Moore 1991) by

a settled

population

of hunters and

gatherers

(Hillman,

Colledge,

and Harris

1989;

Legge

and

Rowley-Conwy 1987).

Charred seeds

and

fruits recovered through systematic flotation have provided a record both of vegetation change and

human

plant exploitation

throughout

the

occupation

of this

village (Hillman,

Colledge,

and Harris

1989:Figure 14.1).

On later sites with

clear

patterns

of context-related

variation,

diachronic

change

in

plant

use can

generally

be demonstrated

only

when there are

large

numbers

of

productive samples

derived

from

equivalent

context

types

from each

phase

of

occupation (Charles

and

Hillman

1992;

Hillman

1981).

It is

possible

to use the floated

samples

from

Epipaleolithic

Abu

Hureyra

(from

39

of the 80 levels

excavated)

to

explore

diachronic

change by

virtue

of the fact that

(a)

the source

deposits

were

relatively

uniform,

and were dominated

in

most cases

by

mixed

accumulations

of

ashes

from

many years

of

fires that

incorporated

numerous

cycles

of seasonal

activities,

and

(b)

most of the float

samples

were extracted

from

very large

volumes

of these

deposits

(ranging

from

370 to

4,000

liters

in

all but three

cases),

and

each

contained

literally

thousands of identifiable

items

of

food

plants.2

The Abu Hureyra 1 sequence of occupation has been divided into three periods, of which Period

1A

(ca.

11,500-11,000 B.P.)

is

the oldest.

During

1A the

inhabitants

gathered

plant

foods

from

three

vegetation

zones,

the

moist flood

plain

of

the

Euphrates,

the

adjacent

steppe,

and

a

broad

forest-steppe

ecotone

that was

within

foraging

distance

of the site.

The

latter extended

eastward

from the

edge

of

the

oak-Rosaceae

forest that

lay

an unknown distance

to the west.

The

predominant

vegetation

of the Abu

Hureyra region

was

steppe,

just

as

it is

today.

However,

three classes

of food

plants represented

in

the remains

indicate that conditions

were

much moister

during

the

spring

and

summer

growing

seasons than

they

are

now

(Figure 3). Firstly,

remains

of fruit

stones

and seeds

of

the

hackberry

tree Celtis

tournefortii,

plum, pear,

and

medlar,

all characteristic

of

the

Mediterranean

oak-Rosaceae

forest

zone,

together

with seed remains

of

a white-flowered

asphodel Asphodelus

microcarpus,

characteristic

of the Mediterranean

zone

generally,

indicate

that the oak-Rosaceae

forest fringe must have been a great deal closer than the ca. 120 km to the west to which it could

theoretically

extend

under

natural conditions

today.

Secondly,

the

presence

of Pistacia

fruitlet remains

and the

apparent

absence of Pistacia

wood

charcoal

suggests

that,

although

this tree did not

grow

close

enough

for its

twigs

or wood

to be

gathered

as

fuel,

it

must have

grown

much closer than

it

does

today

(Hillman,

Colledge,

and

Harris

1989).3

The nearest

patches

of

Pistacia

steppe-woodland

are

now

high

on the

Jebel

Abu

Rujmein

90

km to the

south,

and

on the

Jebel

Abdul

Aziz

180

km to the east-northeast.

In Period

1

A Pistacia

probably

penetrated

the

steppe

in

the form of

lines of trees

growing

along

low wadi

terraces,

perhaps

to within a

few kilometers

of Abu

Hureyra,

just

as

it

today penetrates

the

Azraq

Desert

Basin

in

eastern

Jordan

along

the

Wadi

Butum.

The

third

source of evidence

that

Period

1A

was characterized

by

relatively

moist

springs

and/

or summers

comes from the

remains

of

wild

einkorn

wheat and

two wild

ryes.

Today

these

wild

cereals are characteristic of the ecotone between oak-Rosaceae forest and steppe, and although two

of them are able to extend

well

beyond

the

forest

fringe

on

deep,

fine-grained

soils

(Blumler

1984,

1992),

recent

surveys suggest

that

they

cannot

penetrate

steppe

as

far as the

Pistacia

steppe

woodland

486

[Vol.

57,

No.

3,

1992]



7/14

FRUIT

REES

&

HERBACEOUS

PERENNIALS

PISTACIA

OF

FOREST

FOREST-STEPPE

WILD

EREALSODAY YPICAL

OFOPENOAK OREST ND

OAKFOREST-STEPPECOTONE

PERENNIAL

USS

OFSTEPPE

AND

F

ABUHUREYRA

TRENCH

m

OCCUPATION E

E

. .

SEQUENCE

LEVELS

X

*

10,000

B.. ?

400

402

AM~

411

10

412

420

418

419

10,400

B.P

427

425

426

430

lB

449

454

455

457

1

1,000

B.P

467

468

473

1A

^

A

474

469

470

471

11,500

B.P

I

0

50

100

I I I

200

I numbers of charred seeds or fruits per 200 I1f

deposit

Figure

3.

Trends

in

the

exploitation

of wild

cereals, pulses,

and

other

open-forest

plants

by

the

inhabitants

of

Abu

occupation.

The

diagram

is based

on a small

portion

of the evidence recovered

(compare

Hillman,

Colledge,

and Harris

19

L

I



8/14

AMERICAN

ANTIQUITY

(Hillman, Colledge,

and

Harris

1989). Today,

even without

grazing

and

cultivation,

it is

unlikely

that

they

could

grow any

closer

than

100

km

to the

west and north.

However,

to

have been

gathered

by

the

people

of

Abu

Hureyra

1,

they

must have been

growing very

much

nearer than that.

This

pattern

of

gathering

persisted

throughout

Period 1A. Then

an

abrupt change

took

place.

The

inhabitants

appear

to have ceased

all

gathering

of tree

fruits

of

the

forest

or forest

fringe.

One

explanation

is that

the

fruits

were

now

out

of

range

of

foragers

from Abu

Hureyra simply

because

increasing aridity

was

preventing

fruit formation

on trees

in

the

nearest areas

of

the

forest

fringe,

and

was

thereby

inducing

the start

of a

forest

retreat.

This

explanation

is

arguably

supported by

the

ensuing

set of

changes

at the

beginning

of

Period 1B

(ca.

11,000-10,400 B.P.),

which show a

brief

episode

of

sharply

increased

exploitation

of the wild

cereals,

grains

of

feather-grass

(Stipa spp.),

and

seeds

of

asphodel (Figure

3; Hillman,

Colledge,

and Harris

1989:Figure 14.1).

This fits

the

temporary

increase

in

yields

from

forest-fringe

grasses

and other herbs

such as

asphodel

that

might

be

expected

when the trees started

dying

back

and

cast

less shade on

the herb

layer.4

However,

our evidence

for

this brief

episode early

in

1

B

comes

from two

rich

samples

and, despite

the essential

similarity

of

the

formation

processes

reflected

in

most

of the Abu

Hureyra

1

levels and the

huge

amounts

of

deposit sampled, a difference in two such samples could theoretically represent no more than aberrant

taphonomy.

Very

soon thereafter

we

see a

more

abrupt

and

unequivocal

change,

a

complete

cessation

of the

use

of

asphodel

seed,

perhaps

for

food

or

medicine,

and

a dramatic decline

in

the use

of the three

wild

cereals and at

least some

of

the

feather

grass species.

These

changes,

combined

with

declining

exploitation

of Pistacia

fruitlets,

suggest

that

advancing aridity

was now also

causing

a retreat

of

the herbaceous

plants

of the forest

fringe, following

the earlier

dieback

of

the

trees.

This

view

is

supported by

the

increased

use

of

small-seeded

legumes

such

as

the

clovers

and

medicks

(Trifolium,

Trigonella,

and

Medicago spp.),

which

require

careful

detoxification,

and

that

we

regard

as "fallback

foods,"

which would

generally

have served as

staples

only

when other

major

plant

foods

were

becoming

scarcer.

In

addition,

a

number

of these small-seeded

legumes

can

tolerate

very

arid

conditions,

and some of them

would

have continued

to

be available

in undiminished

abundance.

We

estimate

from the 12 radiocarbon dates for Period 1B that this

abrupt

change

began

about

10,600

B.P.

(Moore

1992).

These

trends

became even

more

marked

in Period 1C

(ca.

10,400-

10,000 B.P.),

when

we also

see a decline

in the use

of

valley-bottom

foods,

perhaps reflecting

reduced

overbank

flooding

as a result

of

lower levels

of

precipitation

over

the Anatolian

catchment of

the

headwaters

of

the

Euphrates.

Abu

Hureyra

is

in

a semiarid

region

where

slight changes

in

climate

can lead to

major

adjustments

in

the

composition

and extent

of

vegetation

zones

and

their

component

communities

(cf.

Davis

1986;

Webb

1986).

We

argue

that

the most

economical

explanation

of

such

a

series of

shifts

in

the

pattern

of

plant collecting

is an alteration

in

the

composition

of

plant

communities

in

the

Abu

Hureyra

catchment

brought

about

by

climatic

change. Certainly,

Abu

Hureyra

1

was inhabited

long

enough

for

the effects of

the Late

Glacial

climatic

fluctuations

to be

reflected

in

the

vegetation

record, and Periods 1B and 1C coincided with the Younger Dryas when cooler and/or more arid

conditions

prevailed

in

many regions.

Reduction

in

moisture

availability during

the

spring

and/or

summer

growing

seasons

in lowland

and

some

upland

areas of southwest

Asia

is

strongly

indicated

by

the

forest

retreat

seen

in the

pollen

cores from

Lakes

Huleh and

Zeribar,

and Karamik

Batakligi

(van

Zeist

and Bottema

1977, 1982;

van

Zeist et

al.

1975),

and this can

arguably

be

extended

to

the

Ghab as

well.

It

is

precisely

this

reduction

in the

availability

of

growing-season

moisture

that

we

see reflected

in

the

record

of

vegetation change

at Abu

Hureyra.

As

aridity

increased

in

the

Younger

Dryas,

the

forest

and

forest-steppe

ecotone

retreated

westward,

to be

replaced by

more

drought-resistant

types

of

steppe.

In

consequence,

the

availability

of

many

former

foods

was

progressively

reduced,

and

in

compensation

the

inhabitants

of

Abu

Hureyra

seem

to

have increased

their

consumption

of

other

foods

such

as the

small-seeded

legumes,

thus

allowing

them

to continue

occupation

for

several

centuries more.5 However, the population was already sedentary by Period 1A, and the constraints

on

population

growth

occasioned

by

a

mobile existence

would

probably

have

already

been

relaxed

(Hillman 1987).

The

resulting

combination

of

increasing

population

and

declining

availability

of

488

[Vol.

57,

No.

3,

1992]



9/14

REPORTS

previously preferred plant staples

in

the

vicinity

of Abu

Hureyra

may

have

imposed

increasing

stresses on the

carrying

capacity

of

the local

environment,

and so

contributed to the

temporary

abandonment of

the

settlement. When

Abu

Hureyra

was

reoccupied

a few

centuries

later,

its

new

inhabitants

were

already

farmers.

The records of Late Glacial

vegetation

change

from the

new

Huleh core and Abu

Hureyra

show

analogous

trends: an

initial

flourishing

of

forest and

forest-fringe

vegetation

reflecting

a

relative

abundance of

growing-season

moisture,

followed

by

a

sharp

reversal as drier

conditions set

in

during

the

Younger

Dryas.

Direct

comparison

of

radiocarbon

dates would

suggest

that the effects were

experienced

slightly

earlier in

the southern

Levant than farther

north. That

may

have been

so,

but

we

also need

to allow

for the

possibility

of

interlaboratory

error

when

comparing

sequences

of dates

obtained

by

different

laboratories.

Recent

studies

have

shown

that the dates

obtained

by

different

laboratories for the

same

samples

may

vary

systematically by

several

hundred

years

(Scott

et al.

1990).

In

any

case,

the

abrupt

change

in

vegetation

at

both

localities

correlates with the

worldwide

Younger

Dryas episode

of

cooling.

Having

established that

the

Younger

Dryas

had a

significant

effect on the

environment of

the

Levant, we should examine some of the other pollen cores obtained years ago to see if its impact

can

be

discerned

elsewhere in

southwest Asia. The

section of the

original

Ghab core

covering

the

Late

Glacial and

earlier

Holocene

(pollen

zone

Z)

exhibited

much the

same trends as

the new Huleh

core: a

major

expansion

of

forest

followed

by

a

decrease,

then

a modest

growth

of tree cover

once

more

(Niklewski

and van

Zeist

1970:Figure 3).

The

core

had three

radiocarbon

dates,

but

only

one

of them

related

to the

last

40,000

years.

This date

of

10,080

?

55 B.P.

(GrN-5810)

seemed

to

correspond

to the

climax of

the main

period

of

forest

expansion,

suggesting

that the

Ghab

vegetation

sequence

was

out of

phase

with the

rest of the

Levant.

Given that

the

vegetation

sequences

from

Lake

Huleh and

Abu

Hureyra

seem to

correlate

quite well,

and that

Abu

Hureyra

is

just

180

km

downwind

of the

Ghab,

the

most

likely explanation

for this

discrepancy

is

that the

radiocarbon

date,

obtained from

a

sample

of

shells,

is

discordant with

its

stratigraphic

position.

Baruch

and

Bottema

(1991)

have

also

allowed the

possibility

that

the date

may

be

in

error.

If

that is

the

case,

then the evidence from the Ghab core would indicate that the cooler conditions of the

Younger

Dryas

were

also felt in

northwest

Syria

where

they

caused a

synchronous

decline

in

tree

cover.

Away

to

the

east at

Lake

Zeribar in

the

Zagros Mountains,

the Late

Glacial

was

marked

by

an

increase in the

pollen

of

herbaceous

plants

at the

expense

of

chenopods

and

Artemisia

(van

Zeist

and

Bottema

1982:Figure 14.2),

implying

an

increase

in

moisture

during

the

growing

season.

That

trend

was

sharply

reversed

for

several

centuries after ca.

11,500

B.P.,

an

event

that

again

correlates

chronologically

with

the

Younger

Dryas.

It

implies

that

there

was a

decrease

in

moisture

during

this

period,

just

as we

have seen in

the

Levant.

A

similar

reduction

in

moisture

availability

during

the

growing

season

can

likewise

be

inferred from

the

dramatic

decline in

cedar

pollen

after ca.

11,500

B.P. at

Karamik

Batakligi in

western

Anatolia,

and

from its

continued

depression

until

the

start

of the

Holocene

(van

Zeist et al.

1975).

Another contiguous region with a good pollen record from the Pleniglacial through the Holocene

is

northern

Greece

(van

Zeist

and

Bottema

1982).

The

general

trend

in

the

published

pollen

curves

is

similar:

dry, steppic

conditions

in

the

Pleniglacial

that

persisted

into

the Late

Glacial.

Then

oak

and

pine

forest

spread

throughout

the

region

as

temperature

and

growing-season

moisture

increased.

The

initial

phase

of

tree

growth

at

Tenaghi Philippon

on the

Plain

of

Drama took

place

during

the

Late

Glacial,

and

was then

sharply

reversed at

an

estimated

date of

ca.

10,500

B.P.,

before

resuming

once

more in

the

early

Holocene

(Wijmstra

1969:523).

This

return to

dry, steppic

conditions

appears

to

correspond

approximately

to the

Younger

Dryas,

and

correlates

with the

vegetation

record

from

southwest

Asia.

These

pollen

sequences

all

suggest

that

the

colder

conditions

of the

Younger

Dryas

had a

significant

impact

on

vegetation

throughout

southwest Asia

and

also in

the

extreme

southeast

of

Europe.

Everywhere

the

Younger

Dryas

in

southwest

Asia was

accompanied

by

a

decrease in

moisture

that

caused a temporary reversion to partially steppic conditions more typical of the Pleniglacial.

It

should

also be

noted

that

the five

pollen

cores

cited

above

exhibit

synchrony

not

only

with

the

Younger

Dryas episode,

if

the

Ghab date

is

adjusted

as

proposed,

but

also with

the two

preceding

489



10/14

AMERICAN

ANTIQUITY

changes

in

vegetation

cover.

All

five

indicate a

period

of intense

aridity

from

approximately

18,000

to

15,000

B.P. This was

followed,

ca.

15,000

to

11,500 B.P.,

by

a

sharp

increase

in

growing-season

moisture

reflected

in dramatic

forest

expansion

at Lake

Huleh,

the

Ghab,

Karamik

Batakligi,

and

Tenaghi Philippon,

and

an increase

in

grasses

and

other

herbs,

at

the

expense

of the

more

arid-

tolerant Artemisia and

chenopods,

in the then

mountain-steppe

flora around Lake Zeribar.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

The new evidence has a number of

significant

implications

for

our

understanding

of human

adaptations during

the late

Epipaleolithic

in the Levant and the

subsequent adoption

of

agriculture.

The

improvement

in

the environment

that

began

in the

Late Glacial

ca.

15,000

B.P.

provided

increasingly

favorable conditions for

hunter-gatherers throughout

the

region

from late

in

Epipaleo-

lithic

1

into

early

Epipaleolithic

2. This

helps

to

explain

the florescence of such

groups,

for

example

those

labeled Geometric

Kebaran and

early

Natufian

in

the southern Levant

(Bar-Yosef

and Belfer-

Cohen

1989),

and the

Epipaleolithic

inhabitants

of

Abu

Hureyra

1A

on

the

Euphrates.

The climatic

reversal that followed profoundly altered the environment in which such groups lived. The return

of drier conditions

sharply

reduced

the extent of the forest and

caused the rich

zone

of

open

forest-

steppe along

its

edge

to

retreat

westward,

and

probably

to diminish

in

width.

Thus there was

a

sharp

reduction

in

the extent

of those zones most

favorable

for

the,

by

now

quite

numerous,

groups

of

Epipaleolithic

2

hunter-gatherers.

Those

conditions

appear

to have

lasted about a

millennium,

coincident

with the duration

of the

Younger Dryas

elsewhere.

The environment

improved

towards

the end of the

period,

on the

evidence of the new Huleh

core and that

from the

Ghab,

but

the ratio

of arboreal

pollen

never reached the

level it had attained

in

the

Late Glacial before

the onset of

the

Younger Dryas.

It has

always

seemed

anomalous

that the

pollen

cores

suggested

a

steady

improvement

of con-

ditions

from

the Late Glacial into

the

early

Holocene,

while

Leroi-Gourhan's

studies of

the

pollen

from

Epipaleolithic

2

sites

indicated that

their environs were

often

quite steppic (Darmon

and Leroi-

Gourhan 1991; Henry 1989:73; Leroi-Gourhan 1984). That anomaly is now resolved; evidently

steppe species

of

plants

increased

around those sites

during

the

eleventh

millennium

B.P. because

the

climate

became

drier.

The

decrease

in moisture

availability

set

in

during

Epipaleolithic

2

and

would

have had

a

con-

siderable

impact

on

prevailing

human

patterns

of

foraging.

It

may

have

taken several centuries

for

the

full

effects

to be

felt,

especially

on sites

in

the better-watered

zones,

but

they

would

have been

experienced by people throughout

the

Levant,

and

adjustments

in

subsistence

would

have been

necessary.

The

pattern

of

hunting

remained

the same

throughout

the

sequence

of

occupation

at Abu

Hureyra

1,

indicating

that the

deterioration

in

climate

had no

adverse effect

on

the

density

of

the

herds of

Persian

gazelle

(Gazella

subgutturosa),

a

steppe species

that was

the main

source

of meat

(Legge

and Rowley-Conwy 1987). That may have been

the case

elsewhere, although

at

other

Epipaleolithic

2 sites

in

the forest

zone the increase

in

the

proportions

of the

various

gazelle

subspecies

killed

compared

with

Epipaleolithic

1

(Moore

1982:227) may partly

reflect

the onset

of more

steppic

conditions.

We

have

seen,

however,

that

the

inhabitants

of

Abu

Hureyra apparently

modified

their

gathering

of

plants

in

response

to

the

alterations

in

the

vegetation

in

the site catchment.

Abu

Hureyra

is the

only

Levantine

site excavated

so far that was

inhabited

throughout

the

Younger Dryas,

and

is also

the

only

one

to have

yielded

a

long

sequence

of

plant

remains.

Thus we

should

not

expect

to

see such

direct

evidence

of

changes

in

subsistence

from other sites

occupied

for

shorter

lengths

of

time.

There is

much other

evidence,

however,

of

major changes

in

culture

and the

pattern

of

settlement

as

the Levantine

environment

deteriorated.

Most of

the more

substantial

sites

in

the

Natufian heartland were

inhabited

during

the earlier

stages

of

that culture.

It is on

those

sites,

Mugharet

el Wad

(Garrod 1957),

Ain

Mallaha

(Perrot

1966), Wadi Hammeh 27 (Edwards et al. 1988), and several others, that the Natufian culture has

been

found

in

its

most

developed

form.

They

were substantial sites with huts

and

other

structures,

rich

assemblages

of

bone and

ground-stone

artifacts,

and also

exquisite

naturalistic

carvings

in

bone

490

[Vol.

57,

No.

3,

1992]



11/14

REPORTS

and

stone. As Garrod

(1957:224)

noted

in

her

original

survey

of the

culture,

and Valla and

Henry

have since

reaffirmed

(Henry

1989:181;

Valla

1988:582),

most of

those elements ceased to be

made

in

the

later

Natufian,

and

occupation

on sites in

the

heartland was

disrupted.

It

now

appears

that

this

disturbance in

the

pattern

of settlement

in

the later Natufian

coincided with the

environmental

deterioration of

the

Younger

Dryas.

It would seem

that

conditions worsened

sufficiently

to

upset

the

pattern

of

subsistence

plant

gathering

at sites

in

the

Natufian heartland

and with it

the

relatively

sedentary

life of

their inhabitants.

If

supplies

of

wild

plants

and

animals were no

longer

so

abundant

close

by

those

sites

because of

environmental

deterioration,

their

inhabitants would have

been

obliged

to

modify

their

subsistence activities.

It

appears

that

heir

initial

response

was

to resume

a

more

mobile

pattern

of

hunting

and

gathering,

which

had

probably

characterized life

in

the

Plen-

iglacial.

Farther

south,

in the

Negev

and

Sinai,

there

were

quite

rapid

changes

in

culture

and the

pattern

of

settlement,

but there

was

continuity

of

occupation

(Goring-Morris

1987:436-439). Thus,

the

deterioration

in

climate

apparently

had less

impact

there.

The

transition

from

Epipaleolithic

to

Neolithic

ca.

10,000

B.P.

coincided with the

end of

the

Younger

Dryas

climatic

episode.

It

was a time of

major

readjustment

in

culture

and

patterns

of

settlement throughout the Levant. Settlements in the steppe zone were abandoned. Thus, the Azraq

Basin

and the

oasis

of El

Kum

were

deserted

(Cauvin

1981:387;

Garrard et

al.

1988),

not to be

reoccupied

for

at least a

millennium. Even

in

the

better-watered

zones

occupation

ceased

at

nearly

all

sites.

At the few

settlements like

Abu

Hureyra, Jericho,

and Beidha

that were

inhabited

both

in

the

Epipaleolithic

and

the

succeeding Neolithic,

occupation

was

briefly disrupted

at the

end of

the

Epipaleolithic.

The

new

Neolithic

pattern

of

settlement

was

based

initially

on

a

relatively

few

large

sites

in

locations with

rich

soils

and

ample

surface

water,

that is in

locations that

were

suitable for

agriculture.

Remains of

domesticated

cereals and

pulses

have been

found

at

Jericho and Tell

Aswad,

dating

from

about

10,000

B.P.

(Hopf 1983;

van

Zeist and

Bakker-Heeres

1979),

and a little

later

at Abu

Hureyra.

The

economic and

cultural

transformations

that

marked the

transition

from

Epi-

paleolithic

to

Neolithic

therefore

appear

to have

been

rapid.

COMMENTARY

The

Younger

Dryas

climatic

episode

evidently

had a

significant

impact

on

the

environment of

southwest

Asia. It

interrupted

the Late

Glacial

improvement

in

climate

and

vegetation,

and

caused

a brief

return

to

the

conditions

of the

Pleniglacial.

The

consequences

were

severe for

the

Epipaleolithic

2

peoples

of the

Levant.

Their

modes of

gathering

were

disrupted

and the

resulting

stresses

led to

widespread

dislocation in

patterns

of

settlement. It is

surely

no

coincidence that

the

transition

from

Epipaleolithic

to

Neolithic and

from

hunting

and

gathering

to

farming happened

at

about

the

same

time,

just

as

the

Younger

Dryas

had run

its

course. We

suggest

that

the

disruption

that took

place

in

Epipaleolithic

2

patterns

of

adaptation

acted as a

powerful

incentive

for

the

peoples

of

the

Levant

to

develop

new

modes of

subsistence.

The

Younger

Dryas episode

was

not the

only

factor

that led

to this result. Among other processes, the advent of sedentary life, demonstrated at Abu Hureyra

at

least,

and

population

growth

during

the

Epipaleolithic

undoubtedly

contributed to

the

outcome

(Hillman

1987;

Moore

1985:13).

Nevertheless,

it was

probably

a

significant

catalyst

in

each of

the

areas within

southwest Asia

where

cultivation is

likely

to have

begun.

Acknowledgments.

We

wish to

thank

Sytze

Bottema or

helpful

discussions

concerning

he new

Huleh

pollen

core,

and for

kindly

allowing

us

to

reproduce

here

part

of

the

pollen

diagram prepared

by

Uri

Baruch

and

Bottema.We

also

thankthe

reviewers or

American

Antiquity

and other

colleagues

who

have

offered

onstructive

comments on

earlier

draftsof

this

paper.

The

hypothesis

explored

herewas

developed

during

the

1990-1991

academic

year

when

Moore

held a

National

Endowment

for the

Humanities

Fellowship

for

University

Teachers;

the

support

of

the

National

Endowment is

gratefully

acknowledged.

REFERENCES CITED

Baruch,

U.,

and

S.

Bottema

1991

Palynological

Evidence for

Climatic

Changes

in

the

Levant

ca.

17,000-9,000

B.P. In

The

Natufian

491



12/14

AMERICANANTIQUITY

Culture in the

Levant,

edited

by

0. Bar-Yosef

and F. R.

Valla,

pp.

11-20. International

Monographs

in

Prehistory,

Ann

Arbor.

Bar-Yosef, O.,

and

A. Belfer-Cohen

1989

The

Origins

of Sedentism

and

Farming

Communities

in

the Levant.

Journal

of

World

Prehistory

3:

447-498.

Becker, B.,

and B. Kromer

1986

Extension of

the Holocene

Dendrochronology

by

the

Preboreal Pine

Series,

8800 to

10,100

BP.

In

Proceedings of

the

Twelfth

International

Radiocarbon

Conference-

Trondheim,

Norway,

edited

by

M. Stuiver

and R. S.

Kra, pp.

961-967.

Radiocarbon

28.

Becker, B.,

B.

Kromer,

and

P. Trimborn

1991 Absolute

Minimum

Age

of the

Late Glacial-Holocene

Transition

by

Radiocarbon

Calibration

and

Stable

Isotope Analyses

of a

1477-Year German

Pine

Dendrochronology.

Radiocarbon

33:174-175.

Berger,

W. H.

1990

The

Younger Dryas

Cold

Spell-A Quest

For Causes.

Palaeogeography,

Palaeoclimatology,

Palaeo-

ecology

(Global

and

Planetary Change

Section)

89:219-237.

Blumler,

M. A.

1984 Climate

and Annual

Habit.

Unpublished

Master's

thesis,

Department

of

Geography,

University

of

California,

Berkeley.

1992

Winter-Deciduous

Versus

Evergreen

Habit

in

Mediterranean

Woodlands:

A

Model.

In

Proceedings of

the

Symposium

on

California's

Oak

Woodlands

and Hardwood

Rangeland

Management,

Davis,

California.

U.S.

Department

of

Agriculture,

Pacific

Southwest

Forest and

Range

Experimentation

Station

General

Technical

Report. Berkeley,

in

press.

Cauvin,

M-C.

1981

L'Epipal&olithique

de

Syrie

d'apres

les

premieres

recherches

dans la cuvette

d'el Kowm

(1978-1979).

In

Prehistoire

du

Levant,

edited

by

J.

Cauvin and

P.

Sanlaville, pp.

375-388.

Colloques

Internationaux

du

Centre

National

de la

Recherche

Scientifique

598.

Editions

du Centre

National

de la Recherche

Scientifique,

Paris.

Charles,

M.

P.,

and

G. C.

Hillman

1992

Neolithic

Crop Husbandry

in

a

Desert

Environment:

Evidence

from

the Charred

Plant

Macro-remains

from

Jeitun

1989-1990.

In

Jeitun

Revisited:

New

Archaeological

Discoveries

and

Palaeoenvironmental

In-

vestigations,

edited

by

V.

M.

Masson

and

D. R.

Harris.

Proceedings

of the

Turkmenian

Academy

of

Sciences,

Ashkhabad.

[In

Russian

with

Tiirkmen

summary; typescript

copies

of

English

version available

from G.

C.

Hillman.]

Coope,

G.

R.

1975

Climatic

Fluctuations

in

Northwest

Europe

Since

the Last

Interglacial,

Indicated

by

Fossil

Assemblages

of

Coleoptera.

In Ice

Ages:

Ancient

and

Modern,

edited

by

A. E.

Wright

and

F.

Moseley,

pp.

153-168.

Geological

Journal

Special

Issue

No.

6. Seel House

Press,

Liverpool.

1977 Fossil

Coleopteran Assemblages

as Sensitive

Indicators

of

Climatic

Changes

During

the

Devensian

(Last)

Cold

Stage.

Philosophical

Transactions

of

the

Royal

Society of

London.

B

Biological

Sciences

280:

313-340.

Dansgaard,

W.,

H. B.

Clausen,

N.

Gundestrup,

C. U.

Hammer,

S.

F.

Johnsen,

P. M.

Kristinsdottir,

and N.

Reeh

1982

A

New Greenland

Deep

Ice Core.

Science

218:1273-1277.

Darmon, F.,

and

A. Leroi-Gourhan

1991

Analyses polliniques

de

stations

natoufiennes

au

Proche-Orient.

In The

Natufian

Culture

in

the

Levant,

edited

by

0.

Bar-Yosef

and

F. R.

Valla,

pp.

21-26.

International

Monographs

in

Prehistory,

Ann

Arbor.

Davis,

M. B.

1986

Climatic

Instability,

Time

Lags

and

Community

Disequilibrium.

In

Community

Ecology,

edited

by

J.

Diamond and T. J.

Case,

pp.

269-284.

Harper

and Row, New York.

Edwards,

P.

C.,

S.

J.

Bourke,

S.

M.

Colledge,

J.

Head,

and P. G.

Macumber

1988

Late Pleistocene

Prehistory

in

the

Wadi

al-Hammeh,

Jordan

Valley.

In The

Prehistory of

Jordan,

2

vols.,

edited

by

A. N.

Garrard

and

H. G.

Gebel, pp.

525-565.

BAR International

Series

396.

British

Archaeological

Reports,

Oxford.

El-Moslimany,

A. P.

1986

Ecology

and

Late

Quaternary

History

of the

Kurdo-Zagrosian

Oak

Forest

Near

Lake

Zeribar,

Western

Iran.

Vegetatio

68:55-63.

Fairbanks,

R. G.

1989

A

17,000-Year

Glacio-eustatic

Sea

Level

Record:

Influence

of Glacial

Melting

Rates on

the

Younger

Dryas

Event and

Deep-Ocean

Circulation.

Nature

342:637-642.

Garrard,

A.

N.,

A.

Betts,

B.

Byrd,

and

C.

Hunt

1988

Summary

of

Palaeoenvironmental

and

Prehistoric

Investigations

in

the

Azraq

Basin.

In The

Prehistory

of

Jordan,

2

vols.,

edited

by

A. N. Garrard

and

H. G.

Gebel,

pp.

311-337.

BAR

International

Series

396.

British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.

Garrod,

D. A.

E.

1957

The Natufian

Culture:

The

Life

and

Economy

of a

Mesolithic

People

in the Near

East.

Proceedings

of

the British

Academy

43:211-227.

492

[Vol.

57,

No.

3,

1992]



13/14

REPORTS

Goldberg,

P.

1981 Late

Quaternary Stratigraphy

of Israel:

An

Eclectic

View.

In Prehistoire

du

Levant,

edited

by

J.

Cauvin

and P.

Sanlaville, pp.

55-66.

Actes du

Colloque

International

598. Centre

National de

la Recherche

Scien-

tifique,

Paris.

Goring-Morris,

A. N.

1987 At the

Edge.

2

vols.

BAR

International

Series 361.

British

Archaeological

Reports,

Oxford.

Hallam,

S. J.

1989 Plant

Usage

and

Management

in

Southwest

Australian

Aboriginal

Societies.

In

Foraging

and

Farming,

edited

by

D. R. Harris

and G. C.

Hillman, pp.

136-151. Unwin

Hyman,

London.

Haynes,

C.

V.,

Jr.

1991

Geoarchaeological

and

Paleohydrological

Evidence

for a

Clovis-Age Drought

in North

America

and

Its

Bearing

on

Extinction.

Quaternary

Research 35:438-450.

Henry,

D.

0.

1989 From

Foraging

to

Agriculture.

University

of

Pennsylvania

Press,

Philadelphia.

Hillman,

G. C.

1981

Reconstructing

Crop Husbandry

Practices

from Charred

Remains

of

Crops.

In

Farming

Practice

in

British

Prehistory,

edited

by

R.

Mercer, pp.

123-162.

Edinburgh

University

Press, Edinburgh.

1987

The

Independent

Adoption

of Cereal

Cultivation in the Northern

Fertile Crescent:

An

Area-Specific

Model.

Paper

presented

at November

1987

meeting

of the

Association of Environmental

Archaeology,

Cardiff.

Hillman, G. C., S. M. Colledge, and D. R. Harris

1989 Plant-Food

Economy During

the

Epipalaeolithic

Period at Tell Abu

Hureyra,

Syria: Dietary

Diversity,

Seasonality,

and Modes

of

Exploitation.

In

Foraging

and

Farming,

edited

by

D.

R. Harris and G.

C.

Hillman, pp.

240-268.

Unwin

Hyman,

London.

Hillman,

G.

C.,

E.

Madeyska,

and

J.

G. Hather

1989 Wild Plant

Foods

and Diet at Late Palaeolithic

Wadi

Kubbaniya:

The

Evidence

from Charred

Remains.

In

Stratigraphy,

Palaeoeconomy

and

Environment, pp.

163-242

(references

in

vol.

3).

The

Prehistory

of

Wadi

Kubbaniya,

vol.

2,

assembled

by

F. Wendorf

and R.

Schild,

and edited

by

A. E. Close.

Southern

Methodist

University

Press,

Dallas.

Hopf,

M.

1983

Jericho

Plant

Remains.

In Excavations at

Jericho,

vol.

5,

by

K. M.

Kenyon

and T. A.

Holland, Appendix

B, pp.

576-621.

British

School

of

Archaeology

in

Jerusalem,

London.

Iversen,

J.

1954

The Late-Glacial

Flora

of Denmark

and Its Relation to Climate

and Soil. Dansmarks

Geologiske

Undersogelse II, 80:87-119.

Lee,

D.

1959

Freedom

and Culture.

Prentice-Hall,

Englewood

Cliffs,

New

Jersey.

Lee,

R. B.

1979

The

Kung

San.

Cambridge

University

Press, Cambridge.

Legge,

A.

J.,

and

P. A.

Rowley-Conwy

1987

Gazelle

Killing

in Stone

Age

Syria. Scientific

American

257(2):76-83.

Leroi-Gourhan,

A.

1984 L'environnement

de

Mallaha

(Eynan)

au Natoufien.

Paleorient

10:103-105.

Moore,

A.

M. T.

1982

Agricultural

Origins

in the Near East:

A

Model for

the

1980s. World

Archaeology

14:224-236.

1985 The

Development

of

Neolithic Societies

in the Near East. Advances

in

World

Archaeology

4:1-69.

1991

Abu

Hureyra

1 and the Antecedents

of

Agriculture

on the

Middle

Euphrates.

In

The

Natufian

Culture

in the

Levant,

edited

by

0.

Bar-Yosef

and F. R.

Valla, pp.

277-294. International

Monographs

in

Prehistory,

Ann Arbor.

1992 The

Impact

of Accelerator

Dating

at the

Early Village

of

Abu

Hureyra

on

the

Euphrates.

Radiocarbon

34(3),

in

press.

Niklewski, J.,

and W.

van Zeist

1970

A Late

Quaternary

Pollen

Diagram

from Northwestern

Syria.

Acta Botanica

Neerlandica

19:737-754.

Perrot,

J.

1966 Le

gisement

natoufien de

Mallaha

(Eynan),

Israel.

L'Anthropologie

70:437-484.

Roberts,

N.

1982

Lake Levels

as an Indicator

of Near Eastern

Palaeoclimates: A

Preliminary

Appraisal.

In Palaeocli-

mates,

Palaeoenvironments and

Human

Communities

in the Eastern

Mediterranean

Region

in

Later

Pre-

history,

2

vols.,

edited

by

J.

L.

Bintliff and W.

van

Zeist, pp. 235-267.

BAR International Series 133.

British

Archaeological

Reports,

Oxford.

Scott,

E.

M.,

A.

Long,

and R.

Kra

(editors)

1990

Proceedings

of

the

International

Workshop

on

Intercomparison

of Radiocarbon

Laboratories.

Radio-

carbon 32:253-397.

Shackleton,

N.

J.,

and N. D.

Opdyke

1976

Oxygen-Isotope

and

Paleomagnetic

Stratigraphy

of

Pacific Core V28-239. Late

Pliocene

to

Latest

493



14/14

AMERICANANTIQUITY

Pleistocene. In

Investigations

of

Late

Quaternary

Paleoceanography

and

Paleoclimatology,

edited

by

R. M.

Cline and

J.

D.

Hays,

pp.

449-464.

Geological

Society

of

America,

Washington,

D.C.

Shipek,

F. C.

1989 An

Example

of Intensive Plant

Husbandry:

the

Kumeyaay

of Southern California. In

Foraging

and

Farming,

edited

by

D. R.

Harris and G.

C.

Hillman, pp.

159-170. Unwin

Hyman,

London.

Valla,

F.

R.

1988 Les

premiers

s6dentaires de

Palestine. La Recherche

19:576-584.

van

Zeist, W.,

and

J.

A. H.

Bakker-Heeres

1979

Some Economic and

Ecological Aspects

of

the Plant

Husbandry

of Tell Aswad.

Paleorient

5:161-169.

van

Zeist, W.,

and S. Bottema

1977

Palynological Investigations

in

Western Iran.

Palaeohistoria

19:19-85.

van

Zeist, W.,

and S. Bottema

1982

Vegetational History

of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near

East

During

the Last

20,000

years.

In

Palaeoclimates,

Palaeoenvironments and Human Communities in the Eastern Mediterranean

Region

in

Later

Prehistory,

2

vols.,

edited

by

J.

L. Bintliffand W. van

Zeist,

pp.

277-321. BAR

International Series

133. British

Archaeological

Reports,

Oxford.

van

Zeist, W.,

H.

Woldring,

and D.

Stapert

1975 Late

Quaternary Vegetation

and Climate of Southwestern

Turkey.

Palaeohistoria 17:53-143.

Webb,

T.

III

1986

Is

Vegetation

in

Equilibrium

with

Climate? How to

Interpret

Late-Quaternary

Pollen Data.

Vegetatio

67:75-91.

Wijmstra,

T.

A.

1969

Palynology

of the First 30 Metres of a

120

m

Deep

Section in Northern Greece. Acta Botanica

Neerlandica 18:511-527.

NOTES

'

All

the radiocarbon dates

we

quote

in

this

paper

are uncalibrated.

2

The

probability

that these edible

species

of seed

actually

served as food is discussed

in

Hillman,

Colledge,

and Harris 1989.

3

The Pistacia

species

identified

here are the terebinths

P. atlantica and

P.

khinjuk,

and not the

nut-producing

P.

vera.

4

Although many Stipa species thrive in arid steppe and desert steppe, some species such as S. lagascai seem

to form their densest stands closer

to the forest

fringe.

5Whether

overexploitation

of

particular plant

foods

played

a role here is unknown.

Certainly,

ethnobotanical

studies of recent

foragers suggest

that

they

would have been

acutely

aware of the

risk,

and

correspondingly

were

careful to avoid it

(see,

for

example,

Hallam

1989:142;

Lee

1959:163-164;

Lee

1979;

Shipek 1989).

The

well-

documented

overkill of certain wild animals

by

hunter-gatherers

is

unlikely

to have

many parallels among

food-

plant species,

as

plant

utilization

strategies

can be devised

and

implemented

with much

greater

precision

(Hillman,

Madeyska,

and Hather

1989:180).

Received December

12,

1991;

accepted

February

21,

1992

494

[Vol.

57,

No.

3,

1992]

Documents

Moore a. M. T. and Hillman C. G. the Ple