The Middle East (28,577 – 7,822 BCE) Upper Pleistocene II — Bølling–Allerød Abundance, Younger Dryas Stress, Early Holocene Recovery

Geographic and Environmental Context

• Anchors: the Tigris–Euphrates alluvium and marshes; the Zagros (Luristan, Fars), Alborz, Caucasus (Armenia–Georgia–Azerbaijan); northern Syrian plains and Cilicia; Khuzestan and Fars lowlands; the Arabian/Persian Gulf littoral (al-Ahsa–Qatar–Bahrain–UAE–northern Oman); northeastern Cyprus and the Lebanon coastal elbow (north).

Climate & Environment

• Bølling–Allerød (c. 14.7–12.9 ka): rainfall rose; gallery woodlands expanded along Tigris–Euphrates and Zagros springs.

• Younger Dryas (12.9–11.7 ka): cooler–drier snapback; steppe patches widened.

• Early Holocene: stabilizing warmth; perennial springs recharged; Gulf shoreline advanced landward.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Broad-spectrum foraging intensified (gazelle–onager–boar–fish–mollusks; seeds, acorns, pistachio/almond); semi-recurrent springhead hamlets in Zagros and Upper Mesopotamia (preludes to later Epipaleolithic “Natufian-like” economies outside our zone).

• Seasonal coastal foraging at northeastern Cyprus and the Gulf rim.

Technology & Material Culture

• Microlithic toolkits diversified; grinding stones and mortars for seeds/nuts; bone harpoons/fish gorges in marshy reaches.

• Hafting resins, compound points; early basketry inferred.

Corridors

• Zagros spring belts (Luristan–Kurdistan) and Upper Mesopotamian flanks; Caucasus piedmont fans; Gulf shelf retreat reshaped coastal access.

Symbolism & Ritual

• Persistent ochre burials; ritual deposits at springs; engraved motifs (caprids, equids).

Adaptation & Resilience

• Diet breadth + storage (dried meat/fish, nut pastes) buffered Younger Dryas shocks; flexible camp scheduling maintained returns.

Transition

Early Holocene stability primed semi-sedentary river–spring villages and the seed economies that will underpin later plant management.

(7,821 – 6,094 BCE) Early Holocene — Semi-Sedentary Spring Villages & Seed Processing

Climate & Environment

• Thermal optimum onset: marsh–riparian mosaics in Lower Mesopotamia; wooded Zagros; productive Caucasus belts; Gulf continued transgression.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Semi-sedentary hamlets on springheads/low terraces (Zagros–Upper Mesopotamia) combined hunting with seed–nut processing; wetland fishing/waterfowling in Tigris–Euphrates backwaters.

• Early caprine management likely began on Zagros slopes (wild → managed herds).

Technology & Material Culture

• Ground-stone mortars/querns proliferated; larger storage pits; microliths persisted; incipient pottery appears on the northern Iranian/Caspian periphery by late in the epoch.

Corridors

• Zagros passes (Kermanshah–Khuzestan) linked uplands to Khuzestan plains; Karkheh–Karun marshes tied to the Upper Gulf.

Symbolism

• House-based ritual (hearths, ancestor interments); stone slab markers; continued ochre.

Adaptation

• Storage + proximity to springs anchored overwintering; mixed wetland–upland rounds hedged variability.

Transition

These lifeways foreshadow Neolithic cultivation/herding communities across the Zagros and Upper Mesopotamia.