Dissertation Research: Economic Strategies and Human Interaction in the Levantine Early Neolithic

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Under the direction of Dr. Ofer Bar-Yosef, Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University, Mr. Ian Kuijt will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. Mr. Kuijt will build upon preliminary excavations conducted at the early Neolithic site of 'Iraq ed-Dubb which is located northwest of Ajlun, Jordan and situated in an extensively forested region 550 meters above sea level. Previous work indicates that this cave site was occupied ca. 10,000 years ago and that it contains an oval stone structures with multiple mud floors, indicating repeated occupation. Mr. Kuijt and his colleagues will conduct one season of research which combines continued excavations inside the cave with limited survey and excavations outside of it and in front of neighboring caves. Within the cave wide horizontal exposure will delineate and excavate two of the stone structures (the third has already been exposed). Floral and faunal materials will be collected and analyzed and these will provide information on both basic subsistence and season of occupation. Lithic materials will be examined to determine sources of origin and to reconstruct how the inhabitants moved over the landscape. The early Neolithic in the Near East dates to ca. 10,000 years ago and marks the first domestication of plants and animals in the Old World. Intensive archaeological attention has been focussed on the low lying areas within the Jordan Valley where this process, in part at least, appears to have taken place. Little is known however how such sites fit into a broader regional context and whether, for example, these first agriculturalists relied completely on new food crops or whether they incorporated them into a broader seasonal round which included hunting and gathering. If the former is the case then it is unclear how lowland agriculturalists interacted with hunting and gathering populations from higher elevations. In this context, the site of 'Iraq ed-Dubb is both important and unique because of its location in just such a highland area. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide archaeological data from an unknown area/period which will be of interest to a wide group of scientists. It will increase our understanding of how complex agriculturally based societies emerged and will assist in the training of an extremely promising young scientist.