Prehistoric Cultural Ecology and Evolution: Insights from Southern Jordan

by Donald O. Henry

Overview

Offering the most comprehensive study of southern Jordan, this illuminating account presents detailed data from over a hundred archaeological sites stretching from the Lower Paleotlithic to the Chalcolithic periods. The author uses archaeological and paleoenvironmental evidence to reconstruct synchronic and evolutionary aspects of the cultural ecology of the prehistoric inhabitants of southern Jordan. This study exemplifies that cultural historic and processual approaches are integral to examining prehistoric cultural ecology. Numerous artifact illustrations as well as tables and appendixes containing primary data are included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306450488
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	08/31/1995
Series:	Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology
Edition description:	1995
Pages:	466
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.39(d)

Table of Contents

1 • Introduction and Overview: Evolutionary Ecology and Archaeology.- 2 • Late Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology of the Area in the Vicinity of Ras en Naqb.- 3 • Cultural-Historic Framework.- 4 • The Lower Paleolithic Site of Wadi Qalkha.- 5 • The Middle Paleolithic Sites.- 6 • Lithic Microwear Analysis of Tor Faraj Rockshelter.- 7 • Late Levantine Mousterian Patterns of Adaptation and Cognition.- 8 • The Upper Paleolithic Sites.- 9 • The Qalkhan Occupations.- 10 • The Hamran Sites.- 11 • The Madamaghan Sites.- 12 • The Natufian Sites and the Emergence of Complex Foraging.- 13 • Cultural Evolution and Interaction during the Epipaleolithic.- 14 • An Early Neolithic Hunting Camp: Jebel Queisa.- 15 • The Timnian and Pastoral Nomadism in the Chakolithic.- 16 • Pollen Analysis: Environmental and Climatic Implications.- 17 • Shells from the Wadi Hisma Sites.- 18 • Cementum Increment Analysis of Teeth from Wadi Judayid (J2) and Tor Hamar (J431): Estimations of Site Seasonality.- 19 • Preliminary Analysis of Phytoliths from Prehistoric Sites in Southern Jordan.- 20 • The Tor Hamar Fauna.- 21 • Adaptive Behaviors, Evolution, and Ethnicity.- References.- Series Publications.

Editorial Reviews

‘Essential for specialists in the very early Near East, and is important and valuable for anyone interested in cultural ecology.'
Choice

From the Publisher

Describes a research effort in which archaeological and paleoenvironmental evidence were used to reconstruct synchronic and evolutionary aspects of the cultural ecology of the prehistoric inhabitants of southern Jordan. The findings encompass a temporal sweep of some 70,000 years and cover excavation sites situated in four elevationally distinct study areas, revealing prehistoric occupations related to different seasons and settlement modes. The study's biogeographic viewpoint allows for a long-term comparison of the adaptive strategies employed by populations based in the Mediterranean woodlands and those centered in the steppe-desert zone. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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