THE NATUFIAN CULTURE IN THE LEVANT, THRESHOLD TO THE ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE

The aim of this paper is to provide the reader with an updated descrip tion of the archeological evidence for the origins of agriculture in t he Near East. Specifically, I will address the question of why the eme rgence of farming communities in the Near East was an inevitable outco me of a series of social and economic circumstances that caused the Na tufian culture to be considered the threshold for this major evolution ary change.(1-4) The importance of such an understanding has global im plications. Currently, updated archeological information points to two other centers of early cultivation, central Mexico and the middle Yan gtze River in China, that led to the emergence of complex civilization s.(4) However, the best-recorded sequence from foraging to farming is found in the Near East. Its presence warns against the approach of vie wing all three evolutionary sequences as identical in terms of primary conditions, economic and social motivations and activities, and the r esulting cultural, social, and ideological changes.