ANT 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Tell Abu Hureyra, Pit-House, Natufian Culture
10 Dec 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Tell: a mound composed of mud bricks and refuse, accumulated as a result of human activity. Gazelles killed in great numbers during spring migration. Pit dwellings dug into original ground surface, evident. Local vegetation around the site appears to have changed from moist, woodland steppe to dry treeless steppe. Excavators believe that the natufian inhabitants practiced plant husbandry of wild cereals before changes in the glume and rachis brought about by domestication were evident. Two tons of animal bone, antler, and shell found in the site. Importance of this community documented by the quantity and variety of exotic materials that arrived there through trade and exchange. Ancestor of modern corn was native to southern or western mexico. Botanists and archaeologists have puzzled over the ancestry of maize. Whereas in the domesticated varieties the edible seeds tend to remain fastened on the plant, the wild varieties of corn have shattering inflorescences (the flowering part of a plant)
