Tubers, grains, dung and wood: studying hearth contents at the early Natufian Shubayqa 1 (north-eastern Jordan)

TY - ABST

T1 - Tubers, grains, dung and wood: studying hearth contents at the early Natufian Shubayqa 1 (north-eastern Jordan)

AU - Otaegui, Amaia Arranz

AU - Richter, Tobias

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Unfortunately, very few are the Natufian sites in southwest Asia that have provided large and securely dated archaeobotanical assemblages. As a result, our knowledge regarding the exploitation of plant resources during this time period is very limited. This general paucity of data largely contrasts with the extraordinary well-preserved archaeobotanical assemblage found at the site of Shubayqa 1. This site is located in the Qa' Shubayqa area of north-eastern Jordan and is dated to the early and late phases of the Natufian. In this paper, a multi-disciplinary approach is applied to characterise the charred plant macroremains found in situ in two stone-made hearth structures dating to the early Natufian. The content of the hearths includes a large variety of plant macroremains comprising more than 45,000 rhizome tuber remains, wild plant seeds, including wild wheat and barley, dung remains and large numbers of wood charcoal. The results of the analyses highlight new practices in terms of plant food consumption and use of fuel resources during the Natufian period. The analyses reveal the importance of storage organs of wild plants in the subsistence strategies as well as the use of dung and specific wood taxa as fuel. The remains also indicate a landscape characterised by wetland vegetation in the nearby area. Overall, the study of plant macroremains at Shubayqa 1 constitutes an important contribution in order to understand the vegetation and the plant-based economy in a region and time period for which little evidence is so far available.

AB - Unfortunately, very few are the Natufian sites in southwest Asia that have provided large and securely dated archaeobotanical assemblages. As a result, our knowledge regarding the exploitation of plant resources during this time period is very limited. This general paucity of data largely contrasts with the extraordinary well-preserved archaeobotanical assemblage found at the site of Shubayqa 1. This site is located in the Qa' Shubayqa area of north-eastern Jordan and is dated to the early and late phases of the Natufian. In this paper, a multi-disciplinary approach is applied to characterise the charred plant macroremains found in situ in two stone-made hearth structures dating to the early Natufian. The content of the hearths includes a large variety of plant macroremains comprising more than 45,000 rhizome tuber remains, wild plant seeds, including wild wheat and barley, dung remains and large numbers of wood charcoal. The results of the analyses highlight new practices in terms of plant food consumption and use of fuel resources during the Natufian period. The analyses reveal the importance of storage organs of wild plants in the subsistence strategies as well as the use of dung and specific wood taxa as fuel. The remains also indicate a landscape characterised by wetland vegetation in the nearby area. Overall, the study of plant macroremains at Shubayqa 1 constitutes an important contribution in order to understand the vegetation and the plant-based economy in a region and time period for which little evidence is so far available.

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

T2 - IWGP

Y2 - 3 July 2016 through 10 July 2016

ER -