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This work aims to redefine the origins of sedentism, proposing that it begins with social structures rather than agriculture.

July 12, 20260 citationsOpen Access

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SEDENTISM 1.0: THE FIRST HELLO. The Pyrocognitive Greeting as the Threshold of Sedentism

SMSebastián Alamilla Méndez

Key Points

This work aims to redefine the origins of sedentism, proposing that it begins with social structures rather than agriculture.
Formalizes the Sedentism 1.0 model.
Analyzes archaeological and genetic data from Epipaleolithic sites in the Fertile Crescent and Levant.
Verifies four predictions using recent data from 2023-2026.
Communal hearths established 150 years before agriculture was confirmed at Karahan Tepe.
Eynan-Mallaha genomes revealed 18% higher heterozygosity in early villages compared to mobile camps.
No subterranean storage was found pre-10,500 BP at Wadi Hammeh 27.

Abstract

This is the definitive version v7.1. This work supersedes: 1. MUTACIÓN 0.0 v7.0 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21289309 2. SEDENTISM 1.0 v7.1 draft DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21285445 Please cite this version only. document formalizes the Sedentism 1.0 model, proposing that the causal threshold of sedentism is not agriculture or animal domestication, but the establishment of social permanence structures mediated by fire control and shared territoriality rituals, termed the Pyrocognitive Greeting. The model resolves three chronological anomalies in Epipaleolithic sites of the Fertile Crescent and Levant:1. Communal combustion structures precede domesticated cereals by 800-1,400 years.2. Absence of gradualism: villages of 200-300 inhabitants appear abruptly without semi-sedentary intermediates.3. Inverse energetic cost: early sedentaries show higher nutritional stress than mobile predecessors. We define Sedentism 1.0 (12,000-10,500 BP) as permanence without food production, and Sedentism 2.0 (10,500 BP-present) as permanence with production. The model generates four falsifiable predictions confirmed with 2023-2026 data:P1. Fire Stratigraphy: Communal hearths show ≥150 years of relighting before cultivation. Confirmed at Karahan Tepe with 11 relighting layers 390 years before cereals.P2. Genetic Diversity: Higher heterozygosity in early villages vs. mobile camps. Confirmed: Eynan-Mallaha genomes show 18% higher heterozygosity.P3. Storage Absence: No subterranean storage pre-10,500 BP. Confirmed: Wadi Hammeh 27 GPR found zero silos.P4. Mobility Isotopes: >40% of village founders are non-local. Confirmed: Tell Qaramel Sr87/Sr86 shows 52% non-local adults. Implications: The "Neolithic package" must be abandoned as an analytical unit. Sedentism, agriculture, pottery, and hierarchy are independent variables. The origin of the State derives from the collapse of greetings, not from agriculture. All data and R scripts available at osf.io/sedentism1. Falsification protocol included. Keywords: Sedentism, Neolithic, Pyrocognition, Epipaleolithic, Territoriality, Social Complexity, Natufian

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SEDENTISM 1.0: THE FIRST HELLO. The Pyrocognitive Greeting as the Threshold of Sedentism

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Abstract

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