About 10,000 years ago, a Neolithic culture in the southern Levant known as the Natufians became some of the first nomadic hunter-gatherers to transition towards agriculture. But even before this monumental lifestyle shift, members of the prehistoric community were already crafting symbolic figures from clay. What’s more, archaeologists say more than 150 recently discovered artifacts dating back 11,500 to 15,000 years ago are likely the earliest examples of their kind ever found in the Middle East. Their findings, published today in the journal PLOS One, suggest that even children sometimes…
