Avi Gopher

TL;DR: Botanical, genetic and archeological evidence is discussed suggesting that the cradle of agriculture lay within a small region of the Fertile Crescent and began in the 7th millennium B.C.

TL;DR: Micromorphological and isotopic evidence indicates recrystallization of the wood ash and use-wear damage on blades and blade tools in conjunction with numerous cut marks on bones indicate an emphasis on butchering and prey-defleshing activities in the vicinity of fireplaces.

TL;DR: It is proposed that only traits showing a clear domesticated-wild dimorphism represent the pristine domestication episode, whereas traits showinga phenotypic continuum between wild and domesticated gene pools mostly reflect post-domestication diversification.

TL;DR: The Qesem cut marks are both more abundant and more randomly oriented than those observed in Middle and Upper Paleolithic cases in the Levant, suggesting that more (skilled and unskilled) individuals were directly involved in cutting meat from the bones atQesem Cave.

TL;DR: The transition from hunting and gathering to a food-producing economy in the Levant did not promote changes in dental health, as previously believed, and indicates that the Natufians and Neolithic people of the Levant may have differed in their ecosystem management, but not in the type of food consumed.