New insights into the pre-Natufian Epipalaeolithic from the Ein Gev IV Nizzanan site (upper Jordan Valley)

The renewed excavation of the Ein Gev IV Epipalaeolithic (Nizzanan) site, in the Upper Jordan Valley, provides a novel insight into the long-durée process that, in hindsight, set the stage for the pivotal changes attested during the Late Epiplaeolithic Natufian and subsequent pre-Pottery Neolithic cultural entities. Based on the analysis of the archaeological deposit, the lithic assemblage, and a series of new radiometric dates it is possible to suggest that Ein Gev IV might have been occupied for a large part of the year as a residential site, embedded in a tight social network that included other Nizzanan sites in Transjordan and the Negev. The new data highlight the complexity of the pre-Natufian Epipalaeolithic population dynamics, and advocate for a paradigm shift, loosening the rigid separation between Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic cultural entities and focusing on how social and environmental factors might have affected the development and transmission of innovations between interconnected local populations over the whole pre-Natufian Epipalaeolithic period. • The diversity of the archaeological assemblages and a possible permanent structure suggest that Ein Gev IV was a residential site. • The typological composition of the microlith assemblage allows attributing the site occupation to the Nizzanan cultural entity. • Cultural continuity among Trans-Jordan and Negev Nizzanan assemblages suggests a geographically extensive, yet tight social network. • Radiocarbon dates from an in-situ layer suggest that EG IV occupation might post-date the generally accepted end of the Nizzanan. • The pre-Natufian evolutionary path was affected by changes in the natural landscape and in the interaction networks between local populations.