Environment, seasonality and hunting strategies as influences on Natufian food procurement: The faunal remains from Shubayqa 1

TY - JOUR

T1 - Environment, seasonality and hunting strategies as influences on Natufian food procurement

T2 - The faunal remains from Shubayqa 1

AU - Yeomans, Lisa Marie

AU - Martin, Louise

AU - Richter, Tobias

PY - 2017/5/4

Y1 - 2017/5/4

N2 - Analysis of the faunal assemblage from Shubayqa 1 allows detailed discussion of food procurement through the sequence of occupation spanning the Early and Late Natufian. The influence of climate, season of occupation and hunting techniques on the subsistence economy is discussed. It is argued that targeted prey varied throughout the year, with mass hunting methods providing a large proportion of the meat. In the Late Natufian a decrease in passage migrant birds is interpreted as evidence for gradual drying of the environment, or less reliable rainfall from year-to-year. Availability of resources varied between the two phases of occupation, which, despite preceding the Younger Dryas, suggests that environmental conditions were changing. However, subsistence strategies were easily amended to maintain a plentiful supply of food.

AB - Analysis of the faunal assemblage from Shubayqa 1 allows detailed discussion of food procurement through the sequence of occupation spanning the Early and Late Natufian. The influence of climate, season of occupation and hunting techniques on the subsistence economy is discussed. It is argued that targeted prey varied throughout the year, with mass hunting methods providing a large proportion of the meat. In the Late Natufian a decrease in passage migrant birds is interpreted as evidence for gradual drying of the environment, or less reliable rainfall from year-to-year. Availability of resources varied between the two phases of occupation, which, despite preceding the Younger Dryas, suggests that environmental conditions were changing. However, subsistence strategies were easily amended to maintain a plentiful supply of food.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Epipalaeolithic

KW - Natufian

KW - zooarchaeology

KW - fauna

U2 - 10.1080/00758914.2017.1368820

DO - 10.1080/00758914.2017.1368820

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0075-8914

VL - 49

SP - 85

EP - 104

JO - Levant: The Journal of the Council for British Research in the Levant

JF - Levant: The Journal of the Council for British Research in the Levant

IS - 2

ER -