Seasonality of the Final Natufian occupation at Eynan/Ain Mallaha (Israel): an approach combining dental ageing, mesowear and microwear
Résumé
The Final Natufian level Ib from Eynan/Ain Mallaha provided a large and diversified assemblage of ungulates used here to study
the seasonality of game procurement. The objective of this study was to evaluate the advantage of combining two methods, dental
eruption and wear, and tooth microwear. Tooth microwear results allowed us to confirm the seasonality of procurement of red
and roe deer and to narrow down its duration for the gazelle and the fallow deer. Game procurement occurred throughout the year
for the roe deer. Red deer were hunted in spring and summer, and gazelle in late autumn–early winter. This approach allowed us
to improve the accuracy of seasonality estimates and to increase sample size by using the entire population (young and adult
individuals) for each species. The few individuals that were analysed with the two methods also permitted us to characterize the
diet of the population at the time of death.