Bone Tools as the Paraphernalia of Ritual Activities: a case study from Hilazon Tachtit Cave (original) (raw)

A small bone-tool assemblage was found at the Natufian burial site of Hilazon Tachtit, Israel. This site served as a locus for funerary rituals, enabling us to consider the role of bone tools within a unique ritual context. The bone tool assemblage comprises 65 pieces; mostly modified fragments and tools, but also a few blanks and manufacture waste. The assemblage is typical of the Natufian, in that pointed implements are dominant and gazelle long bones are the most common raw material. The preferred method of manufacture is shaving. Given the nature of Hilazon Tachtit, it is likely that the bone tools were used in burial related activities. Importantly, the tools were mostly manufactured off-site, and were brought on-site intentionally. A few may have belonged to or have been given to the buried individuals at death. It is possible that the site of Hilazon Tachtit or the burial activities practiced therein held such special meaning that after their use, the tools were no longer considered fit for mundane, everyday tasks and were thus ritually abandoned among the trash from the funeral feast. The disposal of ritual detritus in this way may be a harbinger to the appearance of hoards or burials of ritually significant objects in the southern Levant during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.

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