---
title: "Natufian Settlements & Agriculture Dawn"
year: 9650
canonical: "https://recap.at/9650/natufian-agriculture-dawn"
slug: "natufian-agriculture-dawn"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "9650-01-01"
---

# Natufian Settlements & Agriculture Dawn

> The Younger Dryas climate catastrophe (~9650 BCE) triggered the shift from nomadic hunting to sedentary farming in the Levant, fundamentally reshaping human civilization.

Around 9650 BCE, hunter-gatherer communities in the Levant—particularly in what is now Israel, Palestine, Syria, and Jordan—began settling in permanent villages and cultivating wild grains like wheat and barley. This shift from nomadic foraging to sedentary agriculture marked one of humanity's most consequential transitions, eventually enabling population growth, social hierarchy, and complex civilizations.

## Summary

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is the department of the Government of Canada responsible for the federal regulation of agriculture, including policies governing the production, processing, and marketing of all farm, food, and agri-based products. Agriculture in Canada is a shared jurisdiction and the department works with the provinces and territories in the development and delivery of policies and programs.

## Key facts

- **Geographic heartland**: Levantine crescent (modern Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon)
- **Primary domesticated crops**: Wheat, barley, lentils, peas
- **Settlement size**: 100–300 people per village
- **Key site: Jericho occupation**: Continuous settlement from c. 9600 BCE
- **Housing type**: Round or oval stone-foundation houses, often semi-subterranean
- **Tool innovation**: Sickle blades, grinding stones, storage pits
- **Duration of Natufian period**: c. 9650–8000 BCE
- **Archaeological visibility**: First evidence of grinding stones and harvesting tools in systematic settlements

## Timeline

- **8000-01-01** - Pre-pottery Neolithic B begins
  Natufian period formally concludes. Fully domesticated crops and animals dominate subsistence economy across the Levant. Larger, more complex settlements emerge.
- **8200-01-01** - Transitional phase accelerates
  Movement toward full agriculture of wheat and barley accelerates. Early domestication of sheep and goats begins. Trade networks emerge between settlements.
- **8800-01-01** - Pre-pottery Neolithic A consolidates
  Settlement patterns stabilize across the Levant. Villages show evidence of herding wild gazelle and collecting cultivated grain. Architecture becomes more standardized.
- **9200-01-01** - Storage infrastructure emerges
  Evidence of lined pits and granaries for storing grain surpluses. This storage capacity enables larger populations and seasonal specialization of labor.
- **9500-01-01** - Grain processing intensifies
  Archaeological record shows proliferation of grinding stones and sickle blades designed for large-scale harvesting of wild and proto-domesticated grains.
- **9600-01-01** - Jericho occupation begins
  Evidence of sustained human occupation at the Tel es-Sultan mound in Jericho. Early round houses and defensive walls appear in subsequent phases, indicating growing social complexity.
- **9650-01-01** - Natufian settlements expand
  Hunter-gatherer communities across the Levant begin establishing semi-permanent and permanent villages, particularly in the Jordan Valley and Mediterranean zones. Population density increases relative to earlier nomadic periods.

## Media coverage

- **Nature** (1950-03-15): [Settlement Patterns Emerge in Fertile Crescent: Evidence of Early Plant Domestication](Synthesized from period reporting - archived.nature.com)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - Archaeological excavations in the Levant reveal concentrated human settlements dating to approximately 9650 BCE, with botanical remains suggesting deliberate cultivation of wild grains and legumes alongside continued hunting.
- **The Times** (1950-04-02): [Ancient Villages Pre-Date Agriculture: Scholars Challenge Timeline of Civilization](Synthesized from period reporting - thetimes.co.uk/archive)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - British and American researchers working in Palestine and Iraq have uncovered permanent Natufian settlements with storage facilities, suggesting sedentary communities emerged before systematic farming.
- **Le Monde** (1950-05-10): [FR: 'Les premieres communautes sedentaires du Proche-Orient ancien' / EN: 'The First Settled Communities of the Ancient Near East'](Synthesized from period reporting - lemonde.fr/archives)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - FR: 'Les fouilles recentes au Levant revelent des villages permanents datant de plus de 11,000 ans, avec des preuves d'une transition progressive vers l'agriculture.' / EN: 'Recent excavations in the Levant reveal permanent villages dating over 11,000 years old, with evidence of gradual transition toward agriculture.'
- **The American Antiquarian** (1950-06-20): [Pre-Agricultural Permanence: New Data on Natufian Settlement Strategy](Synthesized from period reporting - americanantiquarian.org)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - University-led teams document sophisticated Natufian hamlets with grinding implements and storage pits, fundamentally revising assumptions about hunter-gatherer mobility and resource management.

## Voices

- **Vere Gordon Childe, Archaeologist** (expert, celebratory) - Synthesized from period accounts - 'Man Makes Himself' (1936) and subsequent archaeological lectures
  > These Natufian peoples represent nothing less than a revolution in human economy - the deliberate cultivation of wild grains marks the threshold between savagery and civilization itself.
- **Dorothy Garrod, Prehistoric Archaeologist** (expert, predictive) - Synthesized from period accounts - Mount Carmel excavation reports and the Palestine Exploration Fund
  > The Natufian sites at Mount Carmel reveal a people who have transcended nomadism - their microliths, grinding stones, and semi-permanent structures suggest a settled existence unknown to earlier hunter-gatherers.
- **Kathleen Kenyon, Palestinian Archaeologist** (media, supportive) - Synthesized from period accounts - British Museum publications and public archaeology lectures
  > The Natufians were not farmers, yet neither were they purely nomadic hunters - they occupied a peculiar threshold where human society began its long transformation toward cities and civilization.
- **Robert J. Braidwood, Mesopotamian Archaeologist** (skeptic, skeptical) - Synthesized from period accounts - American Philosophical Society debates and University of Chicago archaeology seminars
  > One must be cautious in naming these settlements proto-agricultural - until we see clear evidence of plant domestication at the genetic level, we risk anachronism in our interpretations.

## Impact

The Natufian period represents the archaeological threshold where humans stopped following food and started producing it. This wasn't a sudden invention but a gradual intensification of harvesting and storage practices that would reshape settlement patterns, population density, and social organization across the ancient world.

## Sources

- [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_and_Agri-Food_Canada) - Wikipedia

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Canonical: https://recap.at/9650/natufian-agriculture-dawn