Natufian culture in the context of "Origins of agriculture in West Asia"

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) represents the early Neolithic in the Near East, dating to c. 12,000 – c. 8,500 years ago, (10000 – 6500 BCE). It succeeds the Natufian culture of the Epipalaeolithic Near East (also called Mesolithic), as the domestication of plants and animals was in its formative stages, having possibly been induced by the Younger Dryas.

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture came to an end around the time of the 8.2-kiloyear event, a cool spell centred on 6200 BCE that lasted several hundred years. It is succeeded by the Pottery Neolithic.

The Neolithic in the Near East is a period in the prehistory of Western Asia that began with the transition from a Paleolithic to a Neolithic way of life and continued with its consolidation and expansion. It took place between the Levant and the western Zagros, including part of Anatolia, at the beginning of the Holocene, between around 10000 and 5500 BCE (Before the Common Era), or 12000–7500 BP (Before Present).

This period was marked primarily by the adoption of agriculture, particularly cereal cultivation, and the domestication of animals, gradually replacing hunting and gathering. The first elements of the Neolithic way of life emerged during the final phase of the Paleolithic, known in the Near Eastern context as the Epipaleolithic, notably during the Natufian period in the Levant (c. 14,500–10,000 BCE), which saw the development of a sedentary lifestyle. The Neolithic process in the Near East began in the 10th millennium BCE and ended around 7500/7000 BCE. This initial stage is referred to as the "pre-ceramic" Neolithic, characterized by the absence of pottery but the presence of agriculture, animal husbandry, and widespread sedentism. The subsequent phases, known as the Ceramic or Late Neolithic, lasted until around the middle of the 6th millennium BCE. These phases saw the emergence of regional cultures and the spread of the Neolithic way of life to new areas. The period concludes with the development of metallurgy, which marks the beginning of the Metal Ages.

The history of Israel covers the Southern Levant region also known as Canaan, Palestine, or the Holy Land, which is the location of modern Israel and Palestine. From prehistory, as part of the Levantine corridor, the area witnessed waves of early humans from Africa, then the emergence of Natufian culture c. 10th millennium BCE. The region entered the Bronze Age c. 2,000 BCE with the development of Canaanite civilization, before vassalization by Egypt in the Late Bronze Age. In the Iron Age, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were established, entities central to the origins of the Jews and Samaritans, as well as the Abrahamic faith tradition. This has given rise to Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, Islam, Druzism, Baha'ism, and other religious movements. The Land of Israel has seen many conflicts, come under the control of various polities and, as a result, it has hosted a variety of ethnic groups.

In the following centuries, the Assyrian, Babylonian, Achaemenid, and Macedonian empires conquered the region. The Ptolemies and the Seleucids vied for control during the Hellenistic period. With the establishment of the Hasmonean dynasty, the local Jewish population maintained independence for a century before incorporation into the Roman Republic. As a result of the Jewish–Roman wars in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, many Jews were killed, displaced or sold into slavery. Following the advent of Christianity, adopted by the Greco-Roman world under the influence of the Roman Empire, the region's demographics shifted towards newfound Christians, who replaced Jews as the majority by the 4th century. Shortly after Islam was consolidated across the Arabian Peninsula under Muhammad in the 7th century, Byzantine Christian rule over Israel was superseded in the Muslim conquest of the Levant by the Rashidun Caliphate, to later be ruled by the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphates, before being conquered by the Seljuks in the 1070s. Throughout the 12th and 13th centuries, the Land of Israel became the centre for religious wars between European Christian and Muslim armies as part of the Crusades, with the Kingdom of Jerusalem overrun by Saladin's Ayyubids late in the 12th century. The Crusaders expanded from their remaining outposts, then hang on to their decreasing territories for another century. In the 13th century, the Land of Israel became subject to Mongol conquest, though this was stopped by the Mamluk Sultanate, under whose rule it remained until the 16th century. The Mamluks were defeated by the Ottoman Empire, and the region became an Ottoman province until the early 20th century.

Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) is part of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, a Neolithic culture centered in upper Mesopotamia and the Levant, dating to c. 10,800 – c. 8,500 years ago, that is, 8800–6500 BC. It was typed by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon during her archaeological excavations at Jericho in the West Bank, territory of Palestine.

Like the earlier PPNA people, the PPNB culture developed from the Mesolithic Natufian culture. However, it shows evidence of having more northerly origins, possibly indicating an influx from the region of northeastern Anatolia.