The Natufian culture was a late Epipalaeolithic archaeological culture of the Levant (West Asia), dating roughly from about 15,000- 11,500 years before present (cal BP), or approximately 13,000- 9,500 BCE.

It is named after Wadi en- Natuf (near Shuqba Cave in the West Bank), where British archaeologist Dorothy Garrod first identified it in 1928 during excavations.

Key Characteristics

The Natufians are especially notable as one of the earliest known societies to develop sedentary or semi-sedentary lifestyles while still relying primarily on hunting and gathering, before full agriculture. They are widely viewed as a transitional culture that set the stage for the Neolithic Revolution and the world’s earliest farming villages.⁠

• Chronology: Commonly divided into Early Natufian (roughly 15,000/13,000- 13,000/11,500 cal BP) and Late Natufian (ending around 11,500 cal BP). The Late phase overlapped with the cooler, drier Younger Dryas climatic period.⁠
• Geography: Centered in the Levant, modern- day Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon, and parts of Syria (with some extension toward the Euphrates). Key zones included the Mediterranean woodland hills, the Jordan Valley, and adjacent steppe areas.
• Subsistence: Intensive hunting (especially gazelle) and gathering of wild plants, particularly cereals (wild barley, wheat, rye), nuts, legumes, and other seeds. They used flint sickle blades (often with characteristic sheen from plant cutting) set in bone or wood handles, plus abundant ground- stone tools (mortars, pestles, grinding slabs) for processing plants. Evidence includes early bread- like remains (e.g., at Shubayqa 1 in Jordan, ~14,400 years ago) and possible fermented cereal residues (e.g., at Raqefet Cave). Some sites show possible low-level cultivation or intensive management of wild cereals, though full domestication came later. Dogs appear as the earliest domesticates.⁠
• Settlement and Architecture: Semi- sedentary base camps and hamlets with circular or oval semi-subterranean dwellings featuring stone foundations, hearths, postholes, and sometimes storage features. Larger open- air sites (such as ʿAin Mallaha (Eynan), el-Wad, and Wadi Hammeh 27) show repeated, long- term occupation. Caves and rock shelters were also used.⁠
• Technology and Material Culture: Geometric microliths (especially lunates) are diagnostic. Rich bone- tool assemblages (including sickles), personal ornaments (shell beads, especially dentalium), and art (carved bone and stone figures, abstract designs, and rare figurative pieces such as the “Ain Sakhri Lovers”). Long- distance exchange of materials occurred.
• Burial Practices and Social Life: Cemeteries within or near settlements, often with personal ornaments. Some evidence of secondary burial, skull treatment, and possible social differentiation. Ritual and symbolic behavior intensified, including possible feasting.

Significance and Major Sites

The Natufian marks a shift toward greater sedentism, intensified plant use, more complex social organization, and ritual investment. These changes occurred among the last purely foraging societies in the region before farming communities appeared. Successors include the Harifian (in the south) and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPNA).⁠

Important sites include:

• Shuqba Cave (type site)
• ʿAin Mallaha (Eynan)
• el-Wad, Hayonim, and Raqefet Cave (Mount Carmel area)
• Beidha
• Tell Abu Hureyra
• Wadi Hammeh 27 (an Early Natufian open- air settlement near Pella, Jordan, with substantial architecture and recent finds of foundational burials)⁠

In short, the Natufians represent a pivotal “threshold” culture in human prehistory, bridging mobile Paleolithic foragers and the settled agricultural societies of the Neolithic Near East.

Wadi Hammeh 27 is indeed a significant Late Epipalaeolithic archaeological site near Pella (Tabaqat Fahl) in the Jordan Valley, Jordan. It preserves remains of a substantial Early Natufian settlement dating roughly to 14,500- 14,000 years ago (cal BP).

Key points that match and expand on the description:

• It belongs to the Early Natufian phase of the Natufian culture (part of the broader Epipalaeolithic sequence in the Levant).
• Excavations (notably by Phillip Edwards and others) uncovered evidence of a relatively large, semi-sedentary community, including multiple structures, hearths, and dense concentrations of cultural material.
• Finds typically include ground- stone tools (mortars, pestles), microliths, bone tools, ornaments, and abundant faunal and botanical remains that illuminate early steps toward sedentism and intensive plant use in the region.
• The site sits in the Wadi al- Hammeh drainage and is one of the better- preserved Early Natufian open- air settlements known from Jordan.

Wadi Hammeh 27 chronology

Wadi Hammeh 27 is firmly dated to the Early Natufian period. The settlement was occupied for a relatively short span of roughly 500 years.

Key dating summary

• Overall range: Approximately 12,500- 12,000 cal BC (or about 14,500- 14,000 years ago / cal BP).
  This places it firmly in the Early Natufian, before the onset of the Younger Dryas.⁠
• Radiocarbon evidence (main AMS dates from carbonized seeds and other organic material):
  • Classic dates from Phase 1 (uppermost occupation):
    • OxA-393: 11,920 ± 150 BP
    • OxA-507: 11,950 ± 160 BP
    • OxA-394: 12,200 ± 160 BP
      These calibrate to roughly 12,000- 11,500 cal BC (with broader ranges possible).⁠
  • Newer AMS dates from Phase 4 (foundational layers and burials, published in recent work):
    • Around 12,290- 12,438 BP, calibrating to approximately 12,700- 12,200 cal BC.
      These support an initial foundation of the burial ground and earliest occupation near 12,500 BCE.

Stratigraphic phases

The site has four main occupation phases (from lowest to highest):

• Phase 4 (basal): Foundational burials established on travertine/bedrock (~12,500 BCE). Houses were later built directly over these graves. No further burials occurred after this phase.
• Phases 3- 2: Intermediate architectural phases with continued occupation and commemorative features over the original graves.
• Phase 1 (uppermost): Final substantial occupation with large oval stone dwellings, ending around 12,000 cal BC.

The entire sequence represents continuous or repeated use of the same location as a substantial “base camp” for several centuries, after which the site was abandoned. Sedimentation continued in the wadi after abandonment (e.g., Melanopsis shell date of ~11,100 BP).

In short, Wadi Hammeh 27 is one of the best-dated and earliest large open- air Early Natufian settlements in the southern Levant, spanning the later part of the Bølling– Allerød warming phase.

Wadi Hammeh 27 Climate Timeline

Wadi Hammeh 27 (Early Natufian, ~12,500- 12,000 cal BC / ~14,500- 14,000 cal BP) was occupied entirely during the later part of the Bølling- Allerød interstadial, a relatively warm and moist climatic phase that followed the Last Glacial Maximum. The site was abandoned before the full onset of the colder Younger Dryas.

Timeline (calibrated years)

Period	Approximate Dates	Climate Conditions	Relation to Wadi Hammeh 27
Late Glacial Maximum & early deglaciation	Before ~14,700 cal BP	Cold and relatively dry	Pre- occupation
Bølling- Allerød interstadial (warming)	~14,700- 12,900 cal BP	Warmer and wetter than preceding glacial conditions; expanded Mediterranean woodlands, higher lake levels in the region, increased plant productivity (wild cereals, oak, pistachio, etc.)	Full occupation of the site (~12,500–12,000 cal BC). Favorable conditions supported semi- sedentary base-camp life with substantial architecture, intensive plant harvesting (wild barley, etc.), and rich resource base. Local environment was moister than today, possibly with a nearby freshwater lake or high-water table.
Onset of Younger Dryas	~12,900- 12,700 cal BP	Rapid cooling begins (globally colder; in the Levant often cooler, with debated degree of drying)	Site occupation ends around or just before this transition (~12,000 cal BC). No clear evidence of occupation continuing into the full Younger Dryas.
Younger Dryas	~12,900- 11,500 cal BP	Cooler (and in many reconstructions drier or with altered seasonality)	Post- abandonment. The site was no longer occupied.
Early Holocene warming	After ~11,500 cal BP	Rapid return to warmer and wetter conditions	Long after the site was abandoned

Local environmental notes for the site

• During occupation the surrounding landscape was more humid than the modern arid Jordan Valley, supporting oak woodland elements, wild cereals (especially barley), pistachios, lentils, and other edible plants.
• The site sat in a spring- fed wadi system. Some researchers suggest it may have overlooked a temporary freshwater lake (sometimes called “Damya Lake”) or experienced elevated water levels related to the late stages of Lake Lisan.
• After abandonment (~12,000 cal BC), regional lake levels continued to change, and the wadi eventually incised as base levels dropped following the final drying of Lake Lisan around 11,000 BP.

In short, Wadi Hammeh 27 flourished under the relatively benign, resource -rich conditions of the late Bølling- Allerød warming and was deserted before the climatic stress of the Younger Dryas fully set in. This places it among the classic Early Natufian settlements that benefited from the post- glacial climatic amelioration.

The Natufian culture (roughly 15,000- 11,500 cal BP) developed and changed against a backdrop of major late Pleistocene climate oscillations in the Levant. Climate strongly influenced settlement patterns, mobility, resource use, and ultimately the path toward agriculture, though the exact mechanisms and degree of impact remain debated.

Climatic Context

The Natufian spanned the transition from the end of the Last Glacial Maximum into the early Holocene, encompassing:

• Bølling- Allerød interstadial (roughly 14,700- 12,900 cal BP): A warmer and generally wetter phase that supported expanded Mediterranean woodlands (oak- pistachio forests) and abundant wild plant resources, including cereals. This period largely coincides with the Early Natufian.⁠
• Younger Dryas (YD) (roughly 12,900- 11,500 cal BP): A sharp, globally recognized return to colder conditions lasting about 1,200- 1,500 years (somewhat longer or differently expressed in the Levant). The Late Natufian largely overlaps with this event.⁠
• Onset of the Holocene: Rapid warming and wetter conditions after ~11,500 cal BP, coinciding with the end of the Natufian and the rise of the Pre- Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA).

Paleoclimate reconstructions (from pollen, speleothems, lake levels, charcoal, and isotopic data from gazelle teeth) show the Early Natufian flourished under relatively favorable conditions: higher precipitation (sometimes exceeding modern levels in places) and temperatures closer to or slightly below present- day values, fostering productive woodlands and cereal stands.

During the Younger Dryas, conditions became cooler (especially during the growing season). Traditional models emphasized strong drying and contraction of woodlands, but more recent isotopic evidence from gazelle tooth enamel indicates cooling without significant aridification in the southern Levant, water availability for plants remained similar or even higher than in the preceding phase. Seasonal contrasts may have been reduced, with potential effects on cereal productivity and harvest timing.

Climate Impacts on Natufian Culture

Early Natufian (warmer and wetter phase):

Favorable climate supported greater sedentism. Larger base camps and hamlets with durable stone architecture (e.g., Wadi Hammeh 27, ʿAin Mallaha) appeared, along with intensified plant processing (sickles, ground stone tools) and denser occupation. Resource abundance in Mediterranean woodlands and the Jordan Valley enabled semi- permanent settlements.

Late Natufian (Younger Dryas):

Cooler conditions are linked to shifts toward greater residential mobility, smaller or more dispersed sites in some areas, changes in burial practices, and possible intensification or broadening of diets (more small game, birds, or alternative plants). Some groups may have moved toward more climatically buffered zones such as the Jordan Valley, where wild cereals remained more productive. Site distributions show expansion into certain steppe or desert- margin areas.⁠

Not all researchers see the YD as a severe crisis that forced agriculture. Some argue Late Natufians successfully adapted through increased mobility and demographic adjustments rather than immediate cultivation. Continuity of occupation exists in many regions, and the Levant may have served as a refugium.⁠

Link to the origins of agriculture:

A long- standing hypothesis holds that YD stress on wild cereal stands (reduced productivity or reliability due to cooler temperatures) pressured sedentary populations, who had become dependent on these resources, to begin more intensive management or early cultivation. This is thought to have contributed to the emergence of farming in the subsequent PPNA after the climate improved. Other views emphasize that Natufians remained successful foragers throughout the YD and that agriculture arose more gradually under improving early Holocene conditions, or through a combination of social, demographic, and environmental factors.

Summary of Key Dynamics

Climate acted as an important but not sole driver.

The warm and wet Bølling- Allerød facilitated the Early Natufian florescence of sedentism and plant intensification.

The cooler Younger Dryas prompted adaptive responses (greater mobility in some areas, possible settlement shifts) without fully collapsing the culture.

The rapid post- YD warming then coincided with the transition to Neolithic farming villages. Regional variation was significant, Mediterranean core areas, the Jordan Valley, and peripheral steppes responded differently, and ongoing research continues to refine local climate reconstructions and their precise cultural correlations.