Jacques Cauvin

Jacques Cauvin (1930 – 26 December 2001) was a French archaeologist who specialised in the prehistory of the Levant and Near East.

Biography Cauvin started his work in France at Oullins Caves and Chazelles Caves (near Saint-André-de-Cruzières) In 1978, Cauvin was asked by the Turkish government to launch a new rescue campaign on the Euphrates at Cafer Hoyuk that ended in 1986 due to flooding of the area. His work on these various important sites and the materials collected have highlighted the steps in humanity's development through the late Natufian to the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB).

He remained a researcher at the CNRS throughout his career, successively as Research Fellow in 1957, "Chargé" in 1966, Master in 1977, Director in 1983 then Director Emeritus in 1995. He taught in Paris from 1978 to 1982 and Lyon from 1977 to 1982 in the form of courses or seminars directing Master's degree programs. Cauvin was regarded as an objective thinker, prolific author, charismatic team leader, and one of the great French experts on prehistory.

The Revolution of the Symbols

Jacques Cauvin wrote with an impressive breadth and variety in a multitude of books, articles in scientific journals, collaborations with scientists, and other agencies. He discussed the involvement of humans in domestication of cereals during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) stage and supported ideas of diffusionism from the northern Levant into Anatolia at the end of the PPNB. Evidence supports his suggestion about the importation of animal husbandry and plant cultivation from the northern Levant. His theories regarding the diffusion of sedentism have been much challenged from recent evidence in Turkey, however.