PREHISTORIC CULTURAL-ECOLOGY IN SOUTHERN JORDAN

Research in the mountains of southern Jordan resulted in the discovery of 109 archaeological sites that are from the Lower Paleolithic to th e Chalcolithic period [150 to 6 thousand years ago (ka)]. Beginning wi th the Middle Paleolithic (70 ka) two site types (long-term and epheme ral camps) are recognized. Long-term sites have larger areas, thicker deposits, higher artifact densities, and more abundant archaeological features than ephemeral sites. Their natural settings (elevation and e xposure) and associated seasonal evidence (phytolith and cementum incr ement data) indicate that long-term sites were occupied during the win ter, wet season and ephemeral sites during the warm, dry season. These differences in site use and seasonality likely reflect an adaptive st rategy of transhumance that persisted to modern Bedouin times. At the end of the Pleistocene, the onset of warmer, drier conditions induced a shift of the long-term winter camps from relatively low (800 to 1000 meters above sea level) to high (1000 to 1250 meters above sea level) elevations and largely reversed the earlier transhumant pattern.