Ain Mallaha, also known as Eynan, was a Natufian

Natufian culture

The Natufian culture was a Mesolithic culture that existed from 12,500 to 9,500 BC in the Levant, a region in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was unusual in that it was sedentary, or semi-sedentary, before the introduction of agriculture...

 settlement built and settled circa 10,000–8,000 BCE. The settlement is an example of hunter-gatherer sedentism

Sedentism

In evolutionary anthropology and archaeology, sedentism , is a term applied to the transition from nomadic to permanent, year-round settlement.- Requirements for permanent settlements :...

, a crucial step in the transition from foraging to farming.

The Village

The site is located in Northern Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) North of the Sea of Galilee

Sea of Galilee

The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. The lake has a total area of , and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m...

, and is in an area surrounded by hills and located by an ancient lake, Lake Huleh. At the time of its inhabitance, the area was heavily forested in oak, almond, and pistachio trees. The Natufian village was colonized in three phases. The first two phases had massive stone-built structures with smaller ones in the third phase. These phases occurred from 12,000 to 9600 B.C. The dwellings were cut into the earth, had subterranean floors, and wall that were built of drystone. Wooden posts supported the roofs, which were probably thatches with brushwood or animal hides. Hearths were located within the dwellings.
Ain Mallaha contains the earliest known archeological evidence of dog domestication: the burial of a human being with a domestic dog.

Diet

The inhabitants of Ain Mallaha were sedentary hunter gatherers; it is likely that they lived in Ain Mallaha year round, gathering food from the surrounding wild stands of edible vegetation, and hunting local game. The inhabitants used hand mortars for grinding wild nuts and grain, and stone sickles for cutting plants from wild stands. Many of these sickle stones hold "sickle gloss," indicating they had been used to cut large numbers of plant stems, most likely wild wheat and barley. The inhabitants are known to have eaten gazelle, fallow deer, wild boar, red and roe deer, hare, tortoise, reptiles, and fish.

Burial Customs

It is likely that entire families were buried in the remains of their own houses, the houses being subsequently abandoned. During excavation, Perrot found one dwelling to contain the graves of 11 men, women, and children, many of them wearing elaborate decorations made from dentalium shells. In another dwelling (131), twelve individuals were found, one buried with her hand resting on the body of a small puppy.

Excavation

Ain Mallaha was discovered in 1954 and salvage excavations were carried out under the supervision of J. Perrot, M. Lechevalier and Francois Valla of the CNRS.

External links

• Ain Mallaha at mnsu.edu