Adrian Nigel Goring-Morris

Hebrew University of Jerusalem | HUJI · Institute of Archaeology

The Levantine Epi-Palaeolithic (ca 23,000–9,650 cal. BC) is chronologically subdivided into Early, Middle and Late phases. Various paradigms (culture history, functional, etc.) have been proposed to explain the lithic variability present within and between the phases. We follow the culture history paradigm in believing that techno-typological varia...

It is assumed that the Levantine inter-group networks that enabled the transfer of knowledge and innovation throughout the region are a distinguishing characteristic of the Near Eastern Neolithic. However, careful examination of the archaeological record indicates that long-distance networks among hunter-gatherer groups can be identified much prior...

Regional variation in the historic development of agricultural societies in South-west Asia is increasingly apparent. Recent investigations at the wetland site of Balıklı (c. 8300–7900 BC) provide new insights into the initial processes of sedentism in Central Anatolia and the interaction of early communities within local and larger-scale networks....

The Middle Epipalaeolithic Ramonian culture, endemic to the Negev-Sinai desert, incorporates highland occupations alongside lowland dune-associated localities. The lowland sites, dominated by microlithic tools, have been hypothesized to be prime hunting settings. Here we investigate this hypothesis based on the data from Mizpor Ashalim - a new Ramo...

Regional variation in the historic development of agricultural societies in South-west Asia is increasingly apparent. Recent investigations at the wetland site of Balıklı ( c . 8300–7900 BC) provide new insights into the initial processes of sedentism in Central Anatolia and the interaction of early communities within local and larger-scale network...

The Early Epipaleolithic (EEP) of the Southern Levant, roughly dated to 25-18 ka BP, is characterized by microlithic industries with highly variable synchronic and geographic techno-typological characteristics, the chronology of which remains poorly understood. Here, we present the results from excavations at Idan VII, a well-preserved site amongs...

With the onset of the Near Eastern Neolithic during the 12th millennium cal BP, and thereafter, one can observe growing sedentary tendencies, as well a significant increase in populations and community sizes, all reflected in the Neolithic demographic transition. At that time (and even somewhat earlier in certain areas) a notable tendency for withi...

People tend to belong to multiple social circles, which construct and reflect a person’s social identity. Group affiliation is embodied and may be expressed by personal adornment. Personal adornment in general has multiple functions in human societies, among them the assimilation and transmission of different aspects of personal and collective, soc...

Networking during the early stages of the Levantine Neolithic appears to have been encouraged by increasing demands for exotics, i.e. non-local commodities. The actual exchange of merchandise stimulated also transmission of knowledge, i.e. innovations. Together these were instrumental in affecting the social fabric of society. It appears that speci...

Upper Palaeolithic (late) in the arid part of Southern Levant

Volcanic Cappadocia is a unique region in Anatolia, having a diverse geology that has provided prehistoric communities with a variety of raw material sources, including obsidian, basalt and tufa, as well as water resources in the catchment area of the Melendiz River and its tributaries. However, data on the presence of local prehistoric communities...

The development of agro-pastoral communities in the southern Levant is associated with a diversity of dietary and food practices, as indicated by the variability found between sites in the specific and relative representation of plant and animal species. The ground stone tools (GST), commonly employed to reduce a matter into smaller particles, are...

The Neolithic agricultural revolution (NAR) was manifested in the cultivation and domestication of wild plants in different regions of the “Fertile Crescent” around the 11th millennium BP. In spite of many years of research, the key drivers and the underlying conditions that made the Neolithic agricultural revolution possible are still debated. Pre...

Shells found at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site of Yiftahel reflect various aspects of the cultic, social, and economic life at the site. Taxonomically, the assemblage is typical to sites in the Mediterranean climatic zone, dominated by Mediterranean bivalves with several local gastropods and a few specimens originating from the Red Sea. This comp...

The Neolithic agricultural revolution (NAR) is related to the early domestication of crop plants and the establishment of a sedentary-agrarian lifestyle in the Fertile Crescent during the early Holocene. Albeit many years of research, the key drivers of the Neolithic agricultural revolution and the underlying conditions that made it possible are st...

This paper examines the nature of initial neolithisation indications during the terminal Pleistocene and earliest Holocene in the Southern Levant. This interval corresponds to a period of significant and geographically variable environmental changes in the region. Various lines of evidence are provided to demonstrate the long durée (~15 000 years)...

The Lithic Technologies of the Epipaleolithic Hunter-Gatherers in the Negev, Israel: Implications from Refitting Studies. In the course of intensive systematic surveys and excavations in the western Negev Desert, Israel, dozens of Upper Paleolithic (ca. 46-23 ka cal BP) and Epipaleolithic (23-11.5 ka cal BP) sites were investigated. Traditional lit...

The Negev Desert, an arid region of the southern Levant, was only occasionally suited for human occupation in prehistory. Archaeological sites are especially abundant in the Epipaleolithic periods, likely due to changes in the availability and distribution of water resources. We consider how hunter-gatherers adapted to this sometimes marginal regio...

The edge angle of lithic tools is an important source of information on the intended function and the manufacturing technology of these artifacts. Yet, previously proposed procedures, both traditional and computer-based, can be flawed by ambiguity in the artifact positioning and in the choice of the points or surfaces defining the angle. A novel me...

The emergence of the Upper Palaeolithic in Southwest Asia is considered a unique phenomenon in relation to other parts of the Old World. Besides the local circumstances that are particular to each region, this is the only region outside Africa with the clear presence of modern humans producing Middle Palaeolithic industries. Still, it seems that al...

The second half of the seventh millennium BC saw the demise of the previously affluent and dynamic Neolithic way of life. The period is marked by significant social and economic transformations of local communities, as manifested in a new spatial organization, patterns of architecture, burial practices, and in chipped stone and pottery manufacture....

A riddle arises at the Epipaleolithic and Neolithic sites that dot the lower Jordan Valley. The area has no water resources yet it has long been a focus of inquiry into the transition from mobile hunter-gatherer to sedentary agriculture-based cultures. How then is there such clear evidence of life here, and particularly at such a critical moment in...

Typo-technological and stylistic analysis of sickle blades from six Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (hereafter PPNB) assemblages in Galilee are described from the perspectives of chronology, function and posited agricultural developments. The assemblages derive from four sites, including Kfar HaHoresh (hereafter KHH) with a sequence spanning Early, Middle...

Anatolia was home to some of the earliest farming communities. It has been long debated whether a migration of farming groups introduced agriculture to central Anatolia. Here, we report the first genome-wide data from a 15,000-year-old Anatolian hunter-gatherer and from seven Anatolian and Levantine early farmers. We find high genetic continuity (~...

Excavations at Nahal Neqarot rock-shelter (NQR) in the central Negev were conducted with a view to investigate the initial interpretation upon discovery that the site contained both in situ Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic components (Belfer-Cohen et al. 1991, 1993). The rock-shelter appeared to provide a unique opportunity to investigate con...

Kayacan N., N. Goring-Morris, G. Duru, Z. F. Taşkiran, & B. Yucel. 2019. Aksaray Yüzey Araştirmasi 2016 ve 2017 Yılı Çalişmaları: İlk Yereleşik Topluluklar (Surveys in Aksaray 2016 and 2017: First Local Communities). Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantısı 36 195-206.

The Social Archaeology of the Levant - edited by Assaf Yasur-Landau December 2018

The site of Har Qeren 15 is a small tabular scraper quarry and campsite attributable to the Timnian culture complex, 6th–3rd millennium Cal BCE, perhaps in the earlier part of the span. Analyses of the lithic materials and their spatial distribution offer a picture of non-intensive production reflecting the production of tabular scrapers and ad hoc...

Anatolia was home to some of the earliest farming communities. It has been long debated whether a migration of farming groups introduced agriculture to central Anatolia. Here, we report the first genome-wide data from a 15,000 year-old Anatolian hunter-gatherer and from seven Anatolian and Levantine early farmers. We find high genetic continuity be...

Presentation given in the UISPP conference, Paris 2018 Session: XIII-2. Prehistoric Personal Adornment in Social and Economic Context. Clair Heckel and Solange Rigaud.

At the end of the Pleistocene (25,000-15,000 BP), there is a shift to more arid conditions in the Negev and the Sinai corresponding to the Last Glacial Maximum. For the Nile Valley and the Levant, the lowering of the Mediterranean sea level, the expansion of the Sahara and the desiccation of some major eastern African lakes had important consequenc...

There is a general consensus that the Ahmarian techno-complex represents an endemic Upper Palaeolithic entity that emerged in south-western Asia. Its entrenchment in the region is apparent over a long chronological span and a wide geographic range, as is most especially apparent in the Levant. Notwithstanding diachronic and synchronic variability,...

With the advance of sedentism during the late Epipalaeolithic Natufian the sense of territoriality was amplified. Archaeological evidence testifies to an increase in group identity and processes of intensifying self-identity can be observed at the community level. Still, groups were bound to share a viable gene pool through different social mechani...

Aurochs played a prominent role in mortuary and feasting practices during the Neolithic transition in south-west Asia, although evidence of these practices is diverse and regionally varied. This article considers a new concentration of aurochs bones from the southern Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Kfar HaHoresh, situating it in a regional...

It is widely agreed that a pivotal shift from wild animal hunting to herd animal management, at least of goats, began in the southern Levant by the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (10,000–9,500 cal. BP) when evidence of ritual activities flourished in the region. As our knowledge of this critical change grows, sites that represent different f...