Portrait of a Community on the Threshold of Agriculture: The Late Natufian Zooarchaeological Assemblage from Nahal Ein Gev II, Israel

本项目采用高分辨率的动物考古学方法，在约旦河谷（以色列）的Nahal Ein Gev II更新世末端遗址重建采集者向生产者过渡的经济、社会和仪式基础。康涅狄格大学的娜塔莉·蒙罗博士将在哈佛大学的奥弗·巴-约瑟夫教授和耶路撒冷希伯来大学的利奥雷·格罗斯曼博士和安娜·贝尔弗-科恩教授的共同指导下，对以色列纳哈尔·艾因盖夫二世的发掘进行动物考古研究。Nahal Ein Gev II是一个大型的晚期纳图夫村庄遗址，大约在距今12,500-11,000 cal. BP之间，距离加利利海约2公里。该遗址位于更新世末期，地理位置优越，位于约旦河谷，农业社区在该地区首次出现，村庄的规模和持久性为研究人类经济、社区组织和仪式活动在前所未有的采集者-生产者过渡的早期阶段的相互作用提供了理想的环境。研究农业起源的社会理论方法越来越偏离经济学解释。然而，越来越多的研究表明，在这一漫长的过渡过程中，社会、仪式和经济变化是紧密结合在一起的。这项研究不是寻找经济或社会变化哪个先出现，而是试图利用动物考古记录重建并整合生态、社会和仪式条件。研究集中于六个相互关联的主题：环境重建、人类觅食策略、肉类饮食、社区内部组织和空间利用、垃圾处理实践和仪式实践。瞪羚牙釉质碳酸盐的碳氧同位素分析将为该遗址提供环境背景，而从同一牙齿中提取的锶同位素将完善人类狩猎策略、兽群流动性和遗址季节性的数据。对更新世末期社会经济学的详细重建为理解随后农业社区的兴起提供了必要的基础。该项目旨在通过以色列耶路撒冷希伯来大学和美国康涅狄格大学的教师和学生的研究交流，促进国际合作。交流旨在深化门罗与以色列项目主管之间的长期研究合作，并将其扩展到下一代美国和以色列学者。这项研究将为以色列和美国的学生提供实际的动物考古学训练，他们将从事全面的动物考古学分析。从觅食社会向农业社会的转变，即使不是人类历史上最重要的转变，也是其中之一。人类生活的各个方面都感受到了这一变化的影响。本研究旨在记录约旦河谷一个地理位置优越的定居点的基本条件和构成这种不可逆转变化的社会变革。

This project applies a high-resolution zooarchaeological approach to reconstruct the economic, social and ritual foundations of the forager-producer transition at the Terminal Pleistocene site of Nahal Ein Gev II in the Jordan Valley (Israel). Dr. Natalie Munro from the University of Connecticut will undertake zooarchaeological research in connection with the excavation of Nahal Ein Gev II, Israel by co-directors Prof. Ofer Bar-Yosef of Harvard University and Dr. Leore Grosman and Prof. Anna Belfer-Cohen of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Nahal Ein Gev II is a large Late Natufian village site occupied ca. 12,500-11,000 cal. BP and located about 2 km from the Sea of Galilee. The site's unusual temporal position at the very end of the Pleistocene, its geographic location in the productive Jordan Valley where farming communities first emerge in the region, and the large size and permanence of the village provide an ideal setting to investigate the interaction of human economy, community organization and ritual activity in the early stages of the unprecedented forager-producer transition. Social theoretical approaches to agricultural origins increasingly diverge from economic explanations. Nevertheless, research increasingly shows that social, ritual and economic change are closely integrated across this long transition. Instead of searching for which came first, economic or social change, this research seeks to reconstruct and then integrate ecological, social and ritual conditions using the zooarchaeological record. The research focuses on six interrelated themes: environmental reconstruction, human foraging strategies, the meat diet, intra-community organization and the use of space, trash disposal practices, and ritual practice. Carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of gazelle tooth enamel carbonates will provide the environmental background to the site, while strontium isotopes taken from the same teeth will refine data on human hunting strategies, herd mobility and site seasonality. A detailed reconstruction of Terminal Pleistocene socioeconomics provides an essential foundation for understanding the rise of agricultural communities that followed.This project aims to foster international collaboration through research exchanges involving faculty and students from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel and the University of Connecticut in the United States. Exchanges are designed to deepen long-standing research collaborations between Munro and the Israeli project directors and extend these to the next generation of American and Israeli scholars. The research will provide hands on zooarchaeological training for both Israeli and American students who will engage in comprehensive zooarchaeological analysis. The transition from foraging to agricultural communities marks one of, if not the foremost transformation in human history. The impact of this change was felt in all dimensions of human life. This research seeks to document the basal conditions and the societal transformations that comprise this irreversible change at one well-positioned settlement in the Jordan Valley.