title: A unique human-fox burial from a pre-Natufian cemetery in the Levant (Jordan).
abstract: New human burials from northern Jordan provide important insights into the appearance of cemeteries and the nature of human-animal relationships within mortuary contexts during the Epipalaeolithic period (c. 23,000-11,600 cal BP) in the Levant, reinforcing a socio-ideological relationship that goes beyond predator-prey. Previous work suggests that archaeological features indicative of social complexity occur suddenly during the latest Epipalaeolithic phase, the Natufian (c. 14,500-11,600 cal BP). These features include sedentism, cemeteries, architecture, food production, including animal domestication, and burials with elaborate mortuary treatments. Our findings from the pre-Natufian (Middle Epipalaeolithic) cemetery of 'Uyun al-Hammam demonstrate that joint human-animal mortuary practices appear earlier in the Epipalaeolithic. We describe the earliest human-fox burial in the Near East, where the remains of dogs have been found associated with human burials at a number of Natufian sites. This is the first time that a fox has been documented in association with human interments pre-dating the Natufian and with a particular suite of grave goods. Analysis of the human and animal bones and their associated artefacts provides critical data on the nature and timing of these newly-developing relationships between people and animals prior to the appearance of domesticated dogs in the Natufian.
authors.affiliation: Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. l.maher@human-evol.cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Lisa A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Maher
authors.forename: Jay T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Stock
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Finney
authors.forename: James J N
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Heywood
authors.forename: Preston T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Miracle
authors.forename: Edward B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Banning
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D002048:Burial / Q000379:methods*; D055699:Cemeteries; D004285:Dogs; D005589:Foxes; D006801:Humans; D007597:Jordan; D057805:Pets