ʿAin Mallaha

ʿAin Mallaha (Arabic: عين ملاحة) or Eynan (Hebrew: עינן) was an Epipalaeolithic settlement belonging to the Natufian culture, occupied circa 14,326–12,180 cal.

Kenyon describes the Natufian village as consisting of 50 circular, semi-subterranean, one-room huts, paved with flat slabs and surrounded by stone walls up to 1.2 meters (3.9 ft) high.

[10] The inhabitants appear to have subsisted on fish from nearby Lake Hula, as well as by hunting and gathering; no evidence of animal domestication or cultivation has been found,[6][11] with the conspicuous exception of dogs (see Burial customs).

[13] One of the female burials has disarranged body parts and gazelle horn-cores placed near the head, David Wengrow has used this as evidence for the deep-history animal-human composites.

[14] ʿAin Mallaha was discovered in 1954 and salvage excavations were carried out under the supervision of Jean Perrot, Monique Lechevalier and François Valla of the CNRS.

Schematic human figure made of pebbles, from ʿAin Mallaha, Early Natufian , 12000 BC.