Human-bird interactions in the Levant during the Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene: Multi-scalar analysis of avifaunal remains

Abstract This paper describes analyses of avifauna from Levantine Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene sites at contrasting scales. Firstly, we present avian osteological data from a sequence of occupation at Shubayqa, in northeast Jordan, illustrating changing human-bird-environment interactions over 4000 years offering interpretations of environmental change on avifaunal communities and nature of multi-species relationships at this wetland environment. Secondly, we compare published avifaunal assemblages to investigate the nature of bird-human relationships across a broader temporal and geographical span. During the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene our species gradually transitioned to an agricultural mode of subsistence. Whilst explanations of long-term human behavioural dynamics are frequently sought, disparity between correlation and causation obscures interpretation of trajectories in the human past. People hunted birds for subsistence but extensive evidence for the symbolic importance of birds suggests complex relationships between species. Avifaunal evidence, therefore, presents insights into two commonly suggested primary causes for the shift from hunter-foragers to agriculturalists – resource pressure and symbolic expression. Here we argue that actions of humans gradually modified the landscape and ecological system but this was not a reactionary response to resource stress. Nevertheless, this resulted in the productivity of the landscape increasing and allowed further intensification. Feathers and talons of birds were used for millennia preceding the shift to agriculture and the increase in bird hunting towards the end of the Pleistocene cannot be explained by the increased role of birds in the symbolic realm.