The “when”, the “where” and the “why” of the Neolithic revolution in the Levant

An accumulation of data concerning the domestication of plants and the refinement of research questions in the last decade have enabled us a new look at the Neolithic Revolution and Neolithization processes in the Levant. This paper raises some points concerning the “When” and “Where” of plant domestication and suggests that the origins of plant domestication were in a welldefined region in southeast Turkey and north Syria. It presents a view on the process of Neolithization in the Levant and offers some comments concerning the background and motivations behind the Neolithic Revolution.Naraščanje količine podatkov o udomačitvi rastlin in vedno bolj natančna vprašanja raziskovalcev so v zadnjem desetletju omogočili, da na novo ovrednotimo neolitsko revolucijo in proces neolitizacije v Levantu. V članku izpostavljamo nekatere vidike “časa” in “kraja” udomačitve rastlin ter menimo, da je bil izvor udomačitve rastlin na jasno omejenem območju jugovzhodne Turčije in severne Sirije. Predstavimo pogled na proces neolitizacije v Levantu in nekoliko pojasnimo družbeno okolje in motive za neolitsko revolucijo

Use-wear analysis of an Amudian laminar assemblage from the Acheuleo-Yabrudian of Qesem Cave, Israel

In this paper the results of use-wear analysis of an Amudian lithic assemblage recently discovered at Qesem Cave, Israel, arc presented. Although very old. this assemblage maintains well-preserved traces of use that indicate that butchering activities and plants collecting were carried out at the site. Cut marks on faunal remains confirm the observations obtained by use-wear analysis. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Early evidence of stone tool use in bone working activities at Qesem Cave, Israel

For a long while, the controversy surrounding several bone tools coming from pre-Upper Palaeolithic contexts favoured the view of Homo sapiens as the only species of the genus Homo capable of modifying animal bones into specialised tools. However, evidence such as South African Early Stone Age modified bones, European Lower Palaeolithic flaked bone tools, along with Middle and Late Pleistocene bone retouchers, led to a re-evaluation of the conception of Homo sapiens as the exclusive manufacturer of specialised bone tools. The evidence presented herein include use wear and bone residues identified on two flint scrapers as well as a sawing mark on a fallow deer tibia, not associated with butchering activities. Dated to more than 300 kya, the evidence here presented is among the earliest related to tool-assisted bone working intended for non-dietary purposes, and contributes to the debate over the recognition of bone working as a much older behaviour than previously thought. The results of this study come from the application of a combined methodological approach, comprising use wear analysis, residue analysis, and taphonomy. This approach allowed for the retrieval of both direct and indirect evidence of tool-assisted bone working, at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Qesem Cave (Israel)

The use of fan scrapers: Microwear evidence from Late Pottery Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, Ein Zippori, Israel

The results of a microwear analysis of samples of fan scrapers and fan scrapers spalls from late Pottery Neolithic (PN) and Early Bronze Age (EBA) occupation layers at Ein Zippori, Lower Galilee, Israel are presented. The goal of the microwear analysis was to determine the function of the fan scrapers and compare the visible usewear on the scrapers found in late PN and EBA lithic assemblages. The results indicate that during both periods most of the fan scrapers were used to skin and butcher animals, while some were also used for hide processing and bone working. The working edges of the fan scrapers had sharp, moderate, or steep edge-angles, and different edges were used for different tasks. Edges with microwear from scraping meat, bone, and hides (including some hides that may have been treated with abrasives) had steep edge-angles, while there were moderate or sharp edge-angles on the edges of fan scrapers used for cutting. Two sub-types of fan scrapers were identified, flat cortex fan scrapers (FCFS), and cortical fan scrapers (CFS) with convex dorsal faces. The CFS were abundant in PN contexts, while the FCFS were more common in EBA layers. However both of the sub-types had similar microwear traces

Microwear analysis of small recycled flakes and recycling products from the Ein-Zippori site, Lower Galilee, Israel

A microwear analysis of recycled lithic artefacts from late Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah and Early Bronze Age layers at Ein-Zippori, Israel included cores-on-flakes (COFs) which are discarded blanks made into cores, and the flakes detached from them. COFs may have microwear traces that formed before they were recycled. The focus here is on how blanks removed from recycled COFs were used. Discarded flakes were not used as cores to produce small blanks at Ein-Zippori because lithic raw material was scarce, but were COFs recycled so that small tools could be produced for specific tasks? Visible wear traces were present on 19 of 44 blanks produced from COFs. Microwear traces were similar to use wear Lemorini et al. (2015) observed on much older Lower Paleolithic recycled flakes from Qesem Cave, Israel. Most flakes struck from COFs had been used to cut and scrape meat and fresh hide (42%, n=8), but four were used to work wood (21%) and four others were used to cut, scrape, or whittle bone and wood (21%), and two were used for butchering and wood working (11%). One flake only had generic weak microwear traces (5%). These were expedient flake tools, made and used in an ad hoc fashion. Specific blanks do not seem to have been used for distinct tasks

A techno-typological analysis of fan (tabular) scrapers from Ein Zippori, Israel

Fan (or tabular) scrapers are a diagnostic  tool type in Chalcolithic Ghassulian and Early Bronze Age lithic assemblages from  the southern Levant. To date, only small numbers of fan scrapers have been reported from the Late Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah culture. In this paper we present a techno-typological analysis of a fair sample of fan scrapers and fan scrapers spalls from Wadi Rabah and Early Bronze Age layers at Ein Zippori, Lower Galilee, Israel. Techno-typological similarities and differences of Wadi Rabah, Chalcolithic Ghassulian and Early Bronze Age fan scrapers from Ein Zippori and other sites in the region are presented, trends of change along time are noted, and an updated definition is proposed. Our results indicate that fan scrapers are highly efficient tools for accurate and prolonged animal butchering and hide working. The main advantage of fan scrapers is their mostly flat, thin morphology and large size that permits the creation of several relatively long working edges, various retouched angles (from sharp to abrupt), extensive resharpening, and a comfortable grasp. While fan scrapers were products of a local trajectory in Late Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah lithic industries at Ein Zippori, a standardized, off-site manufacturing of fan scrapers is evident during the Early Bronze Age

Shaped stone balls were used for bone marrow extraction at Lower Paleolithic Qesem Cave, Israel

The presence of shaped stone balls at early Paleolithic sites has attracted scholarly attention since the pioneering work of the Leakeys in Olduvai, Tanzania. Despite the persistent presence of these items in the archaeological record over a period of two million years, their function is still debated. We present new results from Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave on the use of these implements as percussion tools. Use-wear and abundant bone and fat residues found on ten shaped stone balls indicate crushing of fresh bones by thrusting percussion and provide direct evidence for the use of these items to access bone marrow of animal prey at this site. Two experiments conducted to investigate and verify functional aspects proved Qesem Cave shaped stone balls are efficient for bone processing and provide a comfortable grip and useful active areas for repeated use. Notably, the patina observed on the analyzed items precedes their use at the cave, indicating that they were collected by Qesem inhabitants, most probably from older Lower Paleolithic Acheulian sites. Thus, our results refer only to the final phases of the life of the items, and we cannot attest to their original function. As bone marrow played a central role in human nutrition in the Lower Paleolithic, and our experimental results show that the morphology and characteristics of shaped stone ball replicas are well-suited for the extraction of bone marrow, we suggest that these features might have been the reason for their collection and use at Qesem Cave. These results shed light on the function of shaped stone balls and are consistent with the significance of animal fat in the caloric intake of Middle Pleistocene humans as shown by the archeozoological evidence at Qesem Cave and possibly beyondWe acknowledge funding received for this project through the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant Project HIDDEN FOODS, G.A. no. 639286 to EC). CL is grateful to MAECI (Italian Ministry for the Foreign Affairs) for its funding support to this project. EA is grateful to the Azrieli Foundation for the award of an Azrieli Fellowship. This study was funded by the grant UT 41/4-1 “Cultural and biological transformations in the Late Middle Pleistocene (420- 200 ka ago) at Qesem Cave, Israel: In search for a post-Homo erectus lineage in the Levantine corridor” (A. Gopher, R. Barkai, Th. Uthmeier) of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). The Qesem Cave excavation project was previously supported by the Israel Science Foundation, the CARE Archaeological Foundation, the Leakey Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Dan David Foundation, and the German Research Foundatio

Neolithic Arrowheads of the Levant : Results and Implications of a Seriation Analysis

A multi-dimensional seriation analysis of arrowhead assemblages from Neolithic sites in the Levant is presented. An attempt is made to correlate the relative dating obtained by seriation with stratigraphie evidence and available C-14 dates. The implications of the analysis for the study of diffusion processes and sub-regional contacts is also discussed.Une analyse multidimensionnelle des assemblages de pointes de flèches de sites Néolithiques du Levant est présentée. Une tentative de corrélation des datations relatives obtenues par la stratigraphie et des datations С14 disponibles est faite. Les implications de l'analyse pour l'étude des processus de diffusion et les contacts sub-régionaux sont aussi discutées.Gopher Avi. Neolithic Arrowheads of the Levant : Results and Implications of a Seriation Analysis. In: Paléorient, 1989, vol. 15, n°1. pp. 43-56

Sixth-fifth millennia B.C. settlements in the Coastal Plain, Israel.

- The paper, restricted to the Coastal Plain of Israel, presents a reconstruction of settlement history in this region emphasizing continuity albeit the meagre data available. The region is shortly described geographically and the data concerning the chronostratigraphy of the 6th-5lh mill. B.C. sites presented including available C-14 dates (uncalibrated). Aspects of site nature, economy, lithics, burial and art objects are summarised. A reconstruction of the coastal plain sequence including an early PPNC unit followed by the Yarmukian, Lodian (Jericho IX) and the Wadi Raba cultures, is offered. This is integrated into the wider framework of the southern Levant during the 6th-5th millennia B.C.RÉSUMÉ. - En dépit du peu d'information dont on dispose, une reconstitution de l'histoire du peuplement de la plaine côtière aux 6e -5e millénaires av. J.C. est présentée, qui met l'accent sur la continuité de l'occupation. Suit une description géographique, avec les données chronostratigraphiques et les dates Cl 4 (non calibrées) des sites dont on présente également la nature, l'économie, l'industrie Hthique, les sépultures et les objets d'art. Enfin, la séquence de la plaine côtière, impliquant un faciès du PPNC ancien, suivi par le Yarmoukien et le Lodien {Jéricho IX), est intégrée dans le cadre du Levant sud aux 6 -5L millénaires av. J.C.Gopher Avi. Sixth-fifth millennia B.C. settlements in the Coastal Plain, Israel.. In: Paléorient, 1993, vol. 19, n°1. pp. 55-63