11. What do the middens tell us of Natufian life? Give examples.

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Middens are generally pits found near and in ancient villages which commonly contain contain the scraps or leftovers of the group's meal. Along with scraps from meals, middens can contain seeds or bones, also known as ecofacts. Middens found in Natufian settlements often can help archeologists by showing what was eaten and what was left behind, and even how they lived. For example, in many middens empty shells from mollusks can be found, leading archaeologists to believe that the settlement was by a lake, and that the people harvested the shellfish from it. As well as shells, archaeologists have even found entire or almost entire human skeletons. Many of the skeletons found were buried in a fetal position, a ritual that was repeated and gave archaeologists an insight on their death rituals.

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Sources

https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/12210882/2743274%202.pdf?sequence=2

http://archaeology.about.com/od/nterms/qt/natufian.htm