A Documentary on the Natufians and the Origins of Agriculture

Below is a great documentary on the Natufians and the origins of agriculture, right down until the spread of farming into Europe from c. 6,500–4,000 BC as Neolithic Anatolian farmers migrated into Europe.

One problem is that this documentary takes the older view that the Younger Dryas (c. 10,800–9,500 BC) drove the Natufians to adopt agriculture proper as a survival strategy. Today, however, many scholars see the Natufians of the Younger Dryas as in a transitional stage that was only moving towards agriculture, in which they merely experimented with wild plant cultivation. See my post here.

Here are the videos:





A useful chronology of the Natufians and early agricultural revolution is below:

c. 27,000–18,000 BC – Last Glacial Maximum (when the ice sheets were at their greatest extension) c. 24,500 BC; deglaciation began in the Northern Hemisphere gradually from c. 18,000 to 17,000 BC

c. 21,000 BC – earliest known gathering of wild wheat and barley in the Near East at the Upper Paleolithic site of Ohalo II

c. 20,000 BC – the site of Ohalo II on Lake Lisan in north Israel is occupied with huts

c. 18,000–17,000 BC – deglaciation began in the Northern Hemisphere

c. 18,000–c. 10,900 – the Near East changes from a treeless steppe into a forest steppe vegetation of oak, olive trees, Pistacia atlantica, almond, grasses, and wild cereals

c. 18,000–c. 8,500 BC – the Epipaleolithic (or Mesolithic) period, the era after the end of the final glaciation until the Neolithic

c. 18,000–12,500 BC – Kebarian culture of the Levant; this was followed by the Natufian culture

c. 14,000–c. 13,000 BC – the Oldest Dryas, a cold period

12,700–10,700 BC – Bølling-Allerød interstadial, the first important warm and moist period at the end of the last glacial period; in certain regions, there was a cold period called the Older Dryas during the middle of the Bølling-Allerød interstadial

c. 12,500–9,500 BC – the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture:

c. 12,500–9,500 BC – the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the Levant
10,200–8,800 BC – Khiamian period
c. 9,500–c. 8,000 BC – Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
c. 7,600–c. 6,000 BC – Pre-Pottery Neolithic B
c. 6,100–c. 5,100 BC – the Halaf culture (in south-eastern Turkey, Syria, and northern Iraq)
c. 6,500–c. 3,800 BC – the Ubaid period in Mesopotamia
c. 5,500–c. 5,000 BC – the Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period in Mesopotamia
5,500–4,800 BC – the Samarra culture in northern Mesopotamia

12,000–10,000 BC – the Natufians have the first known permanent dwellings:

12,500–10,800 BC – Early Natufian, a more sedentary phase
10,800–c. 9,500 BC – Late Natufian, a less sedentary and more mobile phase

11,500–c.10,200 BC – the Natufian site of Abu Hureyra is occupied

c. 11,000 BC – outflow of water from Lake Agassiz (which may have been the largest lake on Earth then) into the Arctic Ocean

c. 11,000–10,000 BC – rye possibly already domesticated at Abu Hureyra in modern Syria, with tilling and cultivating of wild strains of rye and einkorn at Mureybit, the earliest known domestication of crops

c. 11,000–8,000 BC – the Late Glacial or Tardiglacial, the beginning of the warm period when the Northern Hemisphere warmed substantially with significant accelerated deglaciation after the Last Glacial Maximum (c. 23,000–11,000 years ago). Human beings in refuge areas started to repopulate northern Europe and Eurasia. See the map here

10,900–9,700 BC – mini ice age called the Younger Dryas causes sharp decline in temperatures over much of the northern hemisphere. Younger Dryas was triggered by vast meltwater probably from Lake Agassiz flowing into the North Atlantic, which caused disruption to thermohaline circulation

c. 10,900–9,700 BC – the Younger Dryas probably causes problems in Natufian culture from drought; Natufians abandoned settlements and became nomadic; some Natufians may have been driven to early cultivation of cereals

10,200–8,000 BC – settlement of Mureybet, on the west bank of the Euphrates in northern Syria:

10,200–9,700 BC – Phase IA: the Natufian occupation
9,700–9,300 BC – Phases IB, IIA and IIB: Khiamian
9,300–8,600 BC – Phases IIIA and IIIB: Mureybetian
8,600–8,200 BC – phase IVA: Early PPNB
8,200–8,000 BC – phase IVB: Middle PPNB

c. 10,000 BC – Jericho is a settlement, and before that a camping ground for Natufian hunter-gatherer groups

9,700 BC–present – the Holocene epoch

from 9,700 BC – the Holocene epoch climate stability (with higher temperatures and regular rainfall) allowed the development of sustained cultivation and a reliable subsistence economy probably in northern Syria and Jordan (where wild cereal strands were more difficult to find)

c. 9,500–c. 8,000 BC – Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA):

10,200–8,800 BC – Khiamian period
c. 9,500–c. 8,000 BC – Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
c. 7,600–c. 6,000 BC – Pre-Pottery Neolithic B
c. 6,100–c. 5,100 BC – the Halaf culture (in south-eastern Turkey, Syria, and northern Iraq)
c. 6,500–c. 3,800 BC – the Ubaid period in Mesopotamia
c. 5,500–c. 5,000 BC – the Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period in Mesopotamia
5,500–4,800 BC – the Samarra culture in northern Mesopotamia

c. 9,500–c. 8,000 BC – Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA):

c. 9,500 BC – temple complex at Göbekli Tepe built
c. 9,300–c. 7,500 BC – Tell Aswad
c. 9,000–7,000 BC – Abu Hureyra
8,920–7,110 BC – Cafer Höyük
8,400–8,100 BC – Nevalı Çori
8,300–c. 7,550 BC – ’Ain Ghazal
8,200–7,400 BC – early occupation of Aşıklı Höyük
c. 7,870–5,840 BC – Tell Ghoraifé

c. 7,600–c. 6,000 BC – Pre-Pottery Neolithic B
7,500–5,700 BC – Çatalhöyük
c. 7,230–6,800 BC – Tell Ramad
7,200–6,600 BC – Çayönü
c. 7,040 BC – Hacilar in southwestern Turkey
c. 7,000 BC – Ugarit (Ras Shamra) settled
c. 6,500 BC – Can Hasan III in south Turkey

c. 9,500 BC – Pre-Pottery Neolithic A people in the southern Levant had developed small bins and larger storage silos systems for grain at Dhra’, Gilgal I, Netiv Hagdud, and Wadi Fidan 16

c. 9,500 BC – first phase of construction of the temple complex at Göbekli Tepe

9,500–7,000 BC – Göbekli Tepe in south-east Turkey is a pre-pottery Neolithic A settlement where massive T-shaped stone pillars are erected, the world’s oldest known megaliths

c. 9,300–c. 7,500 BC – Tell Aswad a settlement near modern Damascus in Syria, with walls and houses; the earliest exploitation of domesticated emmer wheat c. 9,000–8,500 BC, with pigs, sheep, goats and cattle

c. 9,000–7,000 BC – Abu Hureyra is resettled as a Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site

c. 9,000 – sedentary agriculture develops in the Near East in the Holocene:

c. 7,000 BC – agriculture in the Yangzi and Yellow River basins
7,000–4,000 – agriculture in highland New Guinea
2,500 BC – agriculture in south India
3,000–2,000 BC – agriculture in Andean South America, central Mexico and Africa
2,000–1,000 BC – north-east America

8,920–7,110 BC – settlement of Cafer Höyük, northeast of Malatya, Turkey in the Euphrates valley

c. 8,500 BC – domesticated cereals such as einkorn, emmer, and barley imported into Cyrus; wild goats and cattle may have been brought in earlier

8,400–8,100 BC – Nevalı Çori is a settlement on the middle Euphrates, southeast Turkey; Nevalı Çori had temples and monumental sculpture, and the oldest domesticated Einkorn wheat was found there

8,300–c. 7,950 BC – ’Ain Ghazal is a settlement in Jordan, with mud-brick houses; phase II settlement ends c. 7,550 BC

c. 8,300 BC – domesticated pigs present at Cafer Höyük northeast of Malatya, Turkey; pigs spread to the south Levant by 7,000–6,500 BC, and central Anatolia c. 6,500 BC

c. 8,200 BC – goats domesticated in the region from the east Taurus to the south Zagros and Iranian Plateau

8,200–7,400 BC – early occupation of Aşıklı Höyük

c. 7,870–5,840 BC – settlement of Tell Ghoraifé, east of Damascus, Syria

c. 7,600–c. 6,000 BC – Pre-Pottery Neolithic B in the Near East; this was ended by Bond climatic event 5

7,500–5,700 BC – settlement of Çatalhöyük, a large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city in southern Anatolia

c. 7,230–6,800 BC – Tell Ramad is settled, southwest of modern Damascus; Tell Ramad had various types of domesticated wheat, barley, flax and emmer wheat

7,200–6,600 BC – Çayönü, a Neolithic settlement in southeast Turkey, has cultivated emmer wheat, and domestic cattle and pigs

c. 7,040 BC – Hacilar is a settlement in southwestern Turkey

c. 7,000 BC – Neolithic Ugarit (Ras Shamra) is settled

c. 6,500 BC – Can Hasan III is an aceramic Neolithic settlement in south Turkey

c. 6,500–4,000 BC – Neolithic Anatolian farmers from northern Greece and north-western Turkey started migrate into central Europe through the Balkan route and then by the Mediterranean route to the Iberian Peninsula (see here)

c. 6,250–5,050 BC – in China, domesticated millet is farmed in northern China at Xinglonggou, Yuezhang, Dadiwan, Cishan, and several Peiligang sites

6,200 BC – Bond climatic event 5 ends Middle Eastern Neolithic B culture (see Bond event), a sudden cold period lasting 200 to 400 years causing problems to humans worldwide and migrations in search of food and water

c. 6,000 BC – Neolithic Ugarit (Ras Shamra) is a fortified city