#epipaleolithic

[dobescrusher2]

Little painting study of the Venus of Monruz

[tyrannoninja]

This is another reconstruction I did of a Natufian woman from the prehistoric Levant circa 15-11,500 years ago. This time, I used as my reference a photo of an actual Natufian skull, which I obtained from the following publication:

Hershkovitz, I., & Arensburg, B. (2017). Human Fossils from the Upper Palaeolithic through the Early Holocene. In Y. Enzel & O. Bar-Yosef (Eds.), Quaternary of the Levant: Environments, Climate Change, and Humans (pp. 611-620). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316106754.068

[archaeologyinbulgaria]

Invaluable Magura Cave with Prehistoric Drawings Vandalized with Scrawls in Northwest Bulgaria

Invaluable Magura Cave with Prehistoric Drawings Vandalized with Scrawls in Northwest Bulgaria

Three boys or young men appear to have scribbled their names inside the Magura Cave in Northwest Bulgaria, right next to prehistoric drawings depicting hunting scenes from several thousand years ago. Photo: Andrey Shurelov, Facebook

The Magura Cave in Northwest Bulgaria featuring invaluable prehistoric cave drawings from as early as 8,000 – 6,000 BC, a candidate for inclusion in the UNESCO World…

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[ultralaser]

As the team analyzed the crumbs further, they found out that the Natufians were sophisticated cooks. Their flour was made from two different types of ingredients — wild wheat called einkorn and the roots of club-rush tubers, a type of a flowering plant. That particular combination allowed them to make pliable elastic dough that could be pressed onto the walls of their fireplace pits, much like flatbreads are baked today in tandoori ovens — and baked to perfection. Besides the einkorn and tubers, the team also found traces of barley and oats. The Natufians may have had rather developed taste buds, too. They liked to toss some spices and condiments into their dishes, particularly mustard seeds. "We found a lot of wild mustard seeds, not in the bread but in the overall assemblage," says Gonzalez Carretero. But, she adds, mustard seeds had also been found in some bread remains excavated from other sites, so it's possible that Natufians sprinkled a few on their own pastries. So far, the team has analyzed only 25 breadcrumbs with about 600 more to go, so they think chances are good that some charred pieces with mustard seeds might turn up. Arranz-Otaegui thinks it's possible. "The seeds have [a] very particular taste, so why not use them?" Exactly how delicious was this special Natufian treat? It's hard to tell. Modern-day bread recipes don't include ancient wheat or roots of tuberous plants. But Arranz-Otaegui does want to find out how the Epipaleolithic bread played on the palate. She has been gathering the einkorn seeds, as well as peeling and grinding the tubers. She plans to partner up with a skilled chef and baker to reconstruct the exact mixture in correct proportions. It will be the oldest bread recipe ever created by mankind.

14,000-Year-Old Piece Of Bread Rewrites The History Of Baking And Farming

[tyrannoninja]

Throwback Thursday has returned, so here’s a piece I did back in January of 2018...

This woman would be a shaman from the Natufian culture, which occupied the Levantine region of the Middle East between 12,500-10,000 years ago. They would have lived as hunter-gatherers, but they appear to have settled down and built permanent villages instead of roaming the land as nomads, and they most probably were among the forerunners to the region’s earliest farmers. 

The woman’s “headband” is actually made of dentalium shells strung together, and the beads of her necklace would have been fashioned from bones and animal teeth; both are based on Natufian jewelry recovered from the site of El Wad in what is now Israel.