The Early Neolithic is one of the most substantial periods in human evolution, a period that witnessed the culmination of the Neolithization process – as human populations shifted from a mobile way of life, based on hunting and gathering, to sedentary farming communities, based on animal husbandry and plant cultivation.  

This course explores the archaeological record from the period in the southern Levant, discussing the social and economic process taking place in this important time frame. We discuss changes in social structure and make, diet, human-environment relations, death and burial customs, and of course, related archaeological and environmental theory.