Adaptive Behaviors, Evolution, and Ethnicity

Abstract

In many ways the interpretations presented here of the archaeological record and its environmental contexts are based upon what are often seen as distinct—some even would argue oppositional—lines of inquiry. One thrust of the study traces the cultural history of this mountainous region along the southern edge of the Jordanian Plateau over a temporal sweep of some 70,000 years. Building upon information generated by this cultural history in the context of related natural and environmental evidence, certain ecologic patterns of the region’s prehistoric inhabitants are explored. Moreover, when examined diachronically, many of these patterns provide clues to understanding some of the cultural evolutionary trends of the region. This study thus incorporates by design a descriptive, cultural historic component and an explanatory, processual one.