Epipaleolithic Subsistence Strategies in the Levant: A Zooarchaeological Perspective

Abstract

Knowledge of the Levantine Epipaleolithic period plays a critical role in understanding the transition from nomadic hunter-gatherer foraging groups to sedentary communities on the threshold of agriculture. In this study, Bar-Oz has clarified many aspects of the relationship between Epipaleolithic foragers and their prey. The Epipaleolithic foragers all utilized similar hunting methods, as evidenced by culling patterns they used for gazelle and fallow deer. Multivariate inter-site zooarchaeological and taphonomic research from a single geographical area and ecological setting (the coastal plain of Israel) provides important records of the Epipaleolithic cultural sequence. A wide variety of data highlights uniform patterns of cultural and economic behaviors related to food procurement and processing strategies and demonstrates cultural continuity in subsistence strategies within the Levantine Epipaleolithic sequence.