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

Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference abstract for conferenceResearch

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.
Original languageEnglish
Publication date2016
Publication statusPublished - 2016
EventIWGP - Paris
Duration: 3 Jul 201610 Jul 2016

Conference

ConferenceIWGP
LocationParis
Period03/07/201610/07/2016

ID: 165532885