PALÉ0R1ENT, vol. 17/1 - 1991

OF MICE AND MEN. BIOLOGICAL MARKERS FOR LONG-TERM SEDENTISM; A REPLY

E. TCHERNOV

tebrates, the well-known

Introduction

A substantial change in the size and duration of human habitation took place in the Natufian period in the Southern Levant. Anthropological and biological evidence show that during this period relatively large human communities occupied large size sites as long-term bases, long enough to cause bio-evolutionary changes in several animal species, and may be considered as an early stage of sedentism. The shift from ephemeral and/or seasonal occupation to prolonged habitation of relatively large communities, had a far-reaching and profound impact on the proximate biotic environment :

1. Due to the necessity of a sedentary community to exploit its resources within a geographically limited area, its subsistence became ever more restricted, enforcing the people to become more specialized in using the biotic parameters, resulting in an extremely «broad spectrum exploitation», including small-sized mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, as well as large pulmonates.

2. A sudden appearance of large quantities of typical obligatory commensal species of birds and mammals, some of which underwent a rapid in situ speciation, like Passer domesticus (Ploceidae, Passeriformes), Mus domesticus (Muridae, Rodentia) and dogs. This is probably due to the predation/com- petition-free habitat created by man, and the constant supply of food and protected nesting, roosting and breeding sites, causing a significant decrease in

cies diversity within and around the anthropogenic habitat.

3. Cultural control of wild populations of gazelles (G. Gazella, Bovidae, Artiodactyla), expressed by the highly selective culling of males (80% in Hayonim Cave; 76% in Hayonim Terrace; 70% in Eynan; 60% in the latest Natufian of Ha- toula), resulted in phenotypic deformation of body proportion and sizes, mainly toward a drastic disproportional allometric size diminution, and a highly skewed curve of the population structure.

The main cause for obtaining these unique human-animal interactions on an evolutionary scale was a constant long-term anthropogenic pressure on the environment around a relatively small and limited area (1).

The adoption of a sedentary way of life, and the over-exploited habitats around, enforced those people to shift into completely different methods of environmental exploitation, expressed by a more detailed understanding of its components ; better knowledge of plant and animal behavior; a shift into a far more specialized dietary system, based on a wide spectrum of plants and animals ; capability of culling (and hence genetically manipulating) natural populations; and necessity for food storage. This is why the Natufian culture "occupies a special place in the evolution of human societies in the Near east,

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