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Palynological archives dating from the Pleistocene–Holocene transition are scarce in the arid zone of the southern Levant. Anthracological remains (the carbonized residues of wood fuel use found in archaeological habitation sites) provide an alternative source of information about past vegetation. This paper discusses new and previously available anthracological datasets retrieved from excavated habitation sites in the southern Levant dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) period. The available evidence indicates the existence of distinct arboreal floras growing in different ecological niches, which occupied areas that today are either treeless or very sparsely wooded. The anthracological data provide independent confirmation of the hypothesis that early Holocene climate in the southern Levant was significantly moister than at present. Clear North–South and East–West precipitation and associated woodland composition gradients are evidenced. Far from deducing widespread anthropogenic degradation of the regional vegetation, it is suggested that woodland expansion in the semi-arid interiors of the Levant may be attributed to the intensive management of Pistacia woodlands for food, fuel and pasture.

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Cross-cultural archaeological and ethnographic evidence for warfare in farming societies invites us to reconsider the traditional picture of the Greek Neolithic (ca. 7000-3400 B.C.) as a period of peaceful coexistence among subsistence farmers. Archaeological correlates of intercommunal conflict in the prehistoric American Southwest and the widespread evidence for warfare in Neolithic Europe suggest that warfare is also likely to have taken place in Neolithic Greece. The well-known Neolithic record for Thessaly reveals evi dence for warfare in defensive structures, weapons, and settlement patterns. Competition for resources such as arable land, grazing rights, and water may have contributed to the causes of Greek Neolithic warfare. Did warfare exist in Neolithic Greece?1 The question is difficult to answer because early warfare, apart from Bronze Age warfare, has received rela tively little attention from Aegean prehistorians.2 It is unlikely, however, that warfare began abruptly with the Bronze Age, and we believe that it is reasonable to trace the roots of warfare back to the Neolithic period. Until recently, it was thought that warfare was negligible in prehistoric times, but new research on prehistoric warfare, along with warfare among contempo rary foragers and farmers around the world, challenges this view.3 An ever increasing number of case studies have created a consensus that prehistoric warfare was widespread in the Old World in general, and specifically in Neolithic Europe.4 Indeed, if warfare could be shown not to be present in Greek Neolithic society, in light of current research on Neolithic warfare in Europe, Greece would represent an anomalous exception. On the basis