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ISRAEL: Wedding reception. Thanksgiving. Natufian burial ceremony. Archaeologists found what they believe is the earliest clear evidence for feasting. A concentration of butchered tortoises and wild cattle at a mortuary site suggest that the Natufians 12,000 years ago celebrated the burial of the dead with large communal meals. The behavior marks a critical turning point in human culture, as the Natufians began the transition from the isolation and wariness of a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to the interdependence and sedentism of an agricultural community.
