The site of Salibiya I, located in Israel, was inhabited by Natufian peoples at approximately 9,500 B.C. Excavations conducted there in 1987 by Dr. Crabtree and her colleagues yielded a stratified sequence of at least eight distinct Natufian layers which were rich in both lithic and faunal remains. Dr. Crabtree will analyze the later materials. She will identify the animal species present in the Salibiya I faunal assemblage and estimate their relative abundances. For abundant species, such as gazelle, she will also determine ages at death. The data will be examined to discern possible changes through time, and comparisons will be made with other Natufian sites. The research will examine three questions. First, what was the range of animal species hunted by the Natufians at Salibiya I and to what extend did they specialize in gazelle hunting? Second, to what degree were the Natufians exerting hunting pressure on gazelles and how might this have affected other subsistence activities? Third, can one discern regional and chronological variations in Natufian hunting practices? This research is important because of the light it may shed on the origins of the domestication of plants and animals. The Natufians, although they were hunters and gatherers and not herders of domestic animals, lived at a time just prior to when this occurred. Their society shows signs of the increasing complexity which accompanies domestication in other parts of the world, and archaeologists have posited that the processes which led to the Neolithic revolution elsewhere were also at work here. They argue that these Natufians tried to treat gazelles as domestic animals but failed because the species is not amenable. Thus, this may provide a unique instance in which the process failed. Through this study archaeologists may gain insight into the processes which lead to complex societies such as our own.
