Dissertation Research: Seasonality and Human Evolution in the Southern Levant

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Under the direction of Dr. Ofer Bar-Yosef, Mr. Daniel Lieberman, a graduate student in Anthropology at Harvard University, will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. His goal is to determine the seasons in which prehistoric "Natufian" sites were occupied and to accomplish this he will combine analysis of archaeological faunal remains with controlled experimentation. The Natufian period (12,500 to 10,500 bp) immediately precedes the development of agriculture and therefore it is likely that adaptions which occurred during this earlier time set the process in motion. Archaeologists have postulated that the Natufians were the first people in the region to settle and occupy single sites year round and that this factor plays a major role. A large body of prior research indicates that cementum - a tissue which attaches the tooth root of mammals to the bone is deposited continuously over the life of an animal. It often appears as alternating lighter and darker bands which are correlated to season of the year. However, the mechanisms which underlay the apparent relationship are not well understood and it is unknown whether changes are related to factors such as seasonal variation in diet hardness, diet quality or reproductive status. In order to apply this technique in a meaningful way to the large series of gazelle remains recovered from many Natufian sites, Mr. Lieberman will conduct controlled studies on goats in which diet hardness and quality is varied and effect on cementum growth noted. He will also study goats and sheep with known reproductive histories. On this basis, he will then examine archaeological materials. This research is important for several reasons. It will shed increased insight into the process which led to the domestication of plants and animals - one of the most fundamental "revolutions" in human history. Secondly, it will assist in the development of an analytic technique which may be used by many scientists for a wide variety of purposes. Finally, it will further the training of an extremely promising scientist.