A new analysis of 154 Natufian clay artefacts from three sites in present-day Israel suggests that figurative clay modelling was established thousands of years before farming societies emerged.
Key facts at a glance
A larger archive hidden in familiar collections
Archaeologists have identified 154 figurative clay artefacts from three Natufian sites in present-day Israel. The study, published in PLOS ONE on November 11, 2026, re-examined collections that included tens of thousands of small pieces of heated clay and sediment. Many had previously been associated mainly with mineral pigments. A closer examination revealed objects that researchers interpret as parts of a much older tradition of making figures from clay.
The assemblage consists of 15 recognisable figurines and 139 cylindrical fragments thought to be parts of figurative objects, including bodies and appendages. The distinction is important. The 139 pieces are not 139 complete statues, and their interpretation depends on shape, surface marks and comparison with more complete examples. Together, however, the objects provide a much broader record than the two Natufian clay figurines previously known in the regional archaeological literature.
Three sites preserve the evidence
The artefacts came from el-Wad Terrace on Mount Carmel, Hayonim Terrace in Galilee and Eynan-Mallaha in the Upper Jordan Valley. These locations are part of a wider archaeological landscape associated with Natufian communities in the southern Levant. Comparing material from multiple settlements allows researchers to ask whether a technique was isolated to one household or place, or whether similar forms appeared across a broader social network.
The repeated presence of figurative clay objects at more than one site strengthens the argument that the finds represent a tradition rather than a single unusual deposit. It does not mean that every Natufian group made the same objects or shared one uniform symbolic system. Archaeological evidence is uneven, and preservation depends on local geology, later disturbance and the history of excavation. The three-site assemblage expands the known record, but it cannot represent every community that lived in the region.
The Natufian world before farming
The Natufian culture flourished approximately 15,000 to 11,650 calibrated years before present, during the Epipalaeolithic period. Communities in the southern Levant relied on hunting, fishing and gathering, while some were adopting increasingly settled or semi-settled ways of life. This transition is significant because it occurred before the full development of agriculture and the village-based Neolithic societies that later transformed the region.
The new evidence challenges a simple sequence in which sophisticated clay figurines appear only after people become farmers. The researchers argue that figurative clay modelling was already part of symbolic practice among some communities that were still hunter-gatherers. That does not mean agriculture played no role in later craft traditions. It means the roots of one kind of material expression were present earlier, during a period when people were already experimenting with longer-term settlement, shared spaces and new ways of organising daily life.
Birds dominate the recognisable figures
Eleven of the 15 recognisable figurines depict birds. Researchers suggest that some may represent waterfowl such as ducks, geese or swans, while others could show birds of prey. Several objects have cylindrical necks and downward-facing heads. The team proposes that these poses may correspond to courtship displays observed in waterfowl, although the identification of a particular species or behaviour remains an interpretation rather than a certainty.
The prominence of birds is notable because it indicates that the makers selected and stylised forms from the natural world. A small clay figure does not need to be a realistic model to communicate an idea. Shape, posture and repeated features can make an object recognisable to people who share the same visual references. The bird figures may have carried meanings connected with seasonal observation, social identity, stories or ritual practice, but the surviving material does not reveal which explanation is correct.
Fragments preserve more than broken objects
The 139 cylindrical fragments are central to the study because they may represent body parts, limbs or appendages that became detached from larger figures. Their shapes and surface treatments were compared with the complete examples. Some fragments were interpreted as possible components of animal representations, including hoofed animals. One may depict a mountain gazelle, while small impressions suggest that perishable materials could have been inserted to represent horns or antlers.
If the interpretation is correct, the objects were not necessarily made from clay alone. A twig or other plant material could have been used as an additional element, creating a composite figure with parts that would not survive equally well in the archaeological record. Organic materials decay far more readily than fired or heated clay. That means the surviving clay may be only the durable remainder of a more complex object, and the absence of a wooden horn today does not prove that it was never there.
Human figures offer clues about making and learning
Two anthropomorphic figurines were identified at Eynan-Mallaha. One depicts the upper part of a human body with modelled arms. Another represents a stylised face that may have been decorated with materials such as grasses, fibres, hair or feathers. These interpretations suggest that Natufian makers experimented with human forms as well as animals, although the objects are stylised and should not be treated as literal portraits.
Microscopic examination revealed fingerprints, palm impressions and fingertip depressions. The researchers interpret some of these traces as evidence that both adults and children took part in making the objects. One especially striking figurine carries overlapping fingerprints that the team reads as an adult or young adult woman’s print covered by a child’s. That sequence could record a shared act of shaping wet clay. It is rare material evidence of learning through participation, but it cannot tell us the exact relationship between the two makers.
Colour and surface treatment were deliberate choices
Traces of colour were found on many of the artefacts. Ten of the 11 bird figurines showed traces of red colouring. One Early Natufian example had an iron-rich clay coating known as an engobe. The researchers suggest that it may have been applied and smoothed by hand, with a diagonal uncoloured line possibly created using a plant fibre as a stencil during the coating process.
These details matter because they show that the objects were not simply lumps of clay shaped into rough outlines. The makers appear to have manipulated surfaces, applied colour and used different techniques to create visual contrasts. The study describes the engobe example as the earliest known evidence of this colouring technique in the region. That claim is based on the current archaeological record; future discoveries or revised dating could change the picture. Still, the find demonstrates that colour technology was part of the figurative process long before later ceramic traditions.
Heating does not automatically mean deliberate firing
All of the examined clay objects had been heated, but the researchers do not yet know why. Some may have been intentionally fired. Others could have been warmed near domestic fires or accidentally burned after they were discarded or buried. This distinction is important because deliberate firing implies a controlled production step, while accidental heating would tell a different story about the objects’ use and the environments in which they were preserved.
Further analysis of the clay’s heating history may help estimate the temperatures the objects experienced and distinguish different kinds of thermal exposure. The results could clarify whether Natufian makers intentionally hardened their figures or whether the objects became durable through ordinary activities around hearths. Until that work is complete, it would be inaccurate to describe every object as a fired ceramic figurine. The safer conclusion is that the clay was heated, and the cause remains an active research question.
Why the discovery changes the timeline
Before this study, only two clay figurines had been identified in the Natufian record, and figurative clay use in Southwest Asia was generally associated with later Neolithic societies. The new assemblage moves an established tradition of clay figurative modelling into an earlier period. It suggests that symbolic expression and craft experimentation developed among communities before farming became the dominant basis of life.
The result adds nuance to debates about the Neolithic transition. Agriculture is often discussed through domestication, settlement, food storage and new technologies. But cultural change also involves images, stories, teaching, shared symbols and the materials people use to express them. The figurines show that some of those practices were already developing among hunter-gatherers. They do not prove that the Neolithic was inevitable or that all later innovations came from Natufian communities. They show that the symbolic history of the region is older and more varied than the previous clay record suggested.
What the figurines cannot tell us
A figure shaped like a bird does not automatically identify a deity, a clan emblem or a ritual object. The researchers can examine its form, pigments, manufacturing traces and archaeological context, but the makers left no written explanation. It is tempting to assign modern meanings to ancient objects, yet a responsible interpretation must leave room for uncertainty. A figurine could have been used in storytelling, teaching, play, social exchange or ceremonial activity, and several functions may have overlapped.
The fingerprints are particularly evocative, but they cannot reveal the full social relationship between the people who handled the clay. Nor can the presence of children’s marks prove a formal apprenticeship system. It demonstrates participation and contact during manufacture. Archaeologists can reconstruct sequences of gestures more confidently than they can reconstruct the beliefs behind them. The study’s strength lies in showing that figurative clay work existed and involved multiple generations, not in claiming to know exactly what every object meant.
The next questions for archaeology
Researchers can now investigate whether the 139 fragments belong to additional figurines, whether similar objects exist in other Natufian collections and how the techniques changed across the period. More detailed analysis of pigments, clay composition and heating histories could help identify where materials came from and whether makers followed shared recipes. Comparisons with bone and stone figurines may also reveal whether clay was chosen for particular forms or because it was readily available.
The discovery also encourages museums and archaeological collections to revisit material previously classified as undiagnostic fragments. Small pieces can preserve information about manufacturing methods, surface treatment and human contact that larger objects sometimes obscure. The new study does not close the debate over the origins of symbolic art in Southwest Asia. It gives researchers a larger and more detailed body of evidence with which to ask better questions about how communities learned, made and shared objects before agriculture.
Frequently asked questions
How many Natufian figurative clay objects were identified?
Researchers identified 154 objects: 15 recognisable figurines and 139 probable fragments.
How old are the objects?
They come from Natufian contexts dated to approximately 15,000–11,650 years ago.
Do the fingerprints prove children helped make the figurines?
The researchers interpret overlapping adult and child fingerprints as evidence that children and adults participated in making some objects, although the exact relationship is unknown.
Sources and further reading
- PLOS ONE research paper, November 11, 2026
- PLOS / Phys.org research summary, November 11, 2026
- Heritage Daily, November 11, 2026
Featured photograph is illustrative and is not a documentary image of the reported event. Photographer and Unsplash licence details are recorded in the media-library caption and description.
