Early neolithic exploitation patterns in the Levant: Cultural impact on the environment

Over the ca. 4,500 years of the Neolithic period in the Near East (8,500-4,000 B.C.), the southern Levant underwent trends of development different from those that characterized the northern Levant and Greater Mesopotamia. The divergence was particularly evident in the 7th and 6th millennia B.C., for the area (including modern Jordan, Palestine/Israel, and Syria south of Damascus) experienced cataclysmic changes in settlement patterns. Recent archaeological excavations in Jordan have required a reassess ment of the developments in the southern Levant, for while major alter ations in settlement patterns did take place, it is now clear that the earlier scenario of events and explanations is oversimplified and incorrect (Fig. 1).