Natufian

Natufian is an archaeological culture of the Levant during the Late Epipaleolithic, dated roughly between 12,500 and 9,500 BCE. The name originates from a site in the Levant after which the culture was defined.

Natufian communities are characterized by semi-sedentary to sedentary settlement patterns in the Near East, with some sites featuring relatively large, circular or oval dwelling spaces and plastered floors, as well as storage pits and other features indicating planned living.

Material culture includes a microlithic toolkit of backed blades and lunates, along with ground-stone implements such as mortars and pestles and sickle blades. The economy relied on wild cereals, pulses, nuts, and other plant resources, supplemented by hunting of animals.

Natufian is often viewed as a bridge between mobile hunter-gatherers and agricultural societies in the Levant, marked by longer-term settlement, storage, and hints of domestication practices that preceded farming. The culture ends with the onset of the Early Neolithic around 10,000 BCE.