32 i Flora Unveiled
relative plenty that the Natufian culture arose in what is now modern Israel, then composed
of woodlands dominated by oak and pistachio trees and grasslands rich in wild cereals. So
abundant were food resources in their homeland that the ancestors of the Natufians began
depending less and less on migratory herds, which necessitated a nomadic lifestyle, and
more on local herds of gazelle, equids, aurochs, deer, wild boar, wild goats, and small game.^7
Simultaneously, in addition to foraging and processing wild plant foods, they began, either
consciously or unconsciously, to manage the habitats where their food sources were growing.^8
Prior to the discovery of the Natufians, it had been assumed that the transition from migrant
hunter- gatherer societies to permanent settlements coincided with the invention of agriculture.
But the evidence of the Natufians forced a re- evaluation of this long- held belief. The subse-
quent discovery of semi- subterranean, dry- stone houses organized into villages showed that the
Natufians had begun to live in permanent settlements prior to the planting of the first gardens,
when they were still making their living by foraging. This new way of life was made possible in
part by the abundance of local wild animal and plant foods, as well as by geographical features
that greatly extended the growing season. It was the beginning of sedentism.
Natufian villages were typically located at the border between the mountains and the
plains. For example, the Natufian settlement at Jericho was a spring- fed oasis on the western
edge of the Jordan Valley, bounded by Mt. Nebo to the east and the Central Mountains to
the west. As a consequence of the wide variation in elevation up and down the mountains,
the cereals and nut crops growing there ripened and were available for harvesting at differ-
ent times throughout the year. The earliest harvests occurred at the lower elevations, and
the later harvests were at the highest elevations, thus ensuring an abundant and varied diet
of wild plant foods for much of the year. At the permanent settlement, storage pits, or in
some cases baskets, were filled with provisions, assuring the villagers’ survival over the win-
ter months. Each dwelling probably had its own storage capability as well as grinding stones
and other implements for processing food. Plant foods formed the basis of the diet and were
supplemented with meat from migratory herds and local game, which, like the Natufians,
took advantage of the sequential ripening of plant food resources at different elevations.
Temporary satellite camps were established in the mountains where the food could be
processed before transport to the main settlement. As the Natufians became increasingly
proficient at harvesting, processing, and storing wild plant foods, the populations of the
settlements increased. In fact, this new settled forager way of life functioned so well that the
Natufians planted no crops for 2,000 years, even though it is highly likely that by this time
methods for growing plants from seed were well known.
As to why the Natufians avoided planting crops, the answer is very simple: farming is hard
work. Recall that tilling the soil was considered by the writers of the Bible to be God’s curse
on Adam and Eve for eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden:
[C] ursed is the ground for thy sake;
in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
till thou return unto the ground;
since from it you were taken:
for dust you are, and to dust you will return.^9