PPNC ADAPTATIONS IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 6th MILLENNIUM B.C.

In the central and southern Levant, the sustained PPNB subsistence strategy of combined farming and herding during the early 7th millennium (MPPNB) incurred severe damage to the ecological systems around the agricultural settlements, which eventually led to widespread abandonment of villages beginning as early as 6,500 B.C. Late 7th millennium (LPPNB) responses to cope with these local disturbances are poorly documented throughout the region. By the early 6th millennium, a restructuring of the subsistence economy into incipiently segregated farming and pastoral sectors allowed continued permanent settlement of the central and southern Levant, although the economic transformation resulted in fundamental realignments of the cultural base. This distinctive ensemble of socioeconomic and sociocultural adaptations is termed the Pre-Pottery Neolithic С (PPNC). ( RESUME - La strategie de subsistance combinant agriculture et elevage, maintenue au PPNB pendant le debut du 7e millenaire (MPPNB) dans la partie centrale et meridionale du Levant, a gravement compromis les equilibres ecologiques dans le voisinage des etablissements agricoles, ce qui a mene sans doute a l'abandon generalise des villages des 6 500 B.C. Les solutions apportees vers la fin du 7e millenaire (LPPNB) sont mal connues dans la region. Vers le debut du 6e millenaire, une restructuration de l'economie de subsistance par un debut de separation des secteurs agricole et pastoral a permis une occupation sedentaire continue du Levant central et meridional, bien que la transformation economique ait provoque des reajustements fondamentaux du cadre culturel. Cet ensemble distinct d'adaptations socio-economiques et culturelles est designe par le terme de Neolithique preceramique С (PPNC).