Rethinking Emireh Cave: The lithic technology perspectives (original) (raw)
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"Out of Arabia" and the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in the southern Levant
Quartär, 2014
Beginning some 50 thousand years ago, a technological transition spread across the Near East and into Eurasia, in the most general terms characterized by a shift from preferential, prepared core reduction systems to the serial production of elongated points via opposed platform cores. The earliest known occurrence of such a technological shift is the Emiran Industry, whose oldest manifestations are found in the southern Levant. The cultural and demographic source(s) of this industry, however, remain unresolved. Looking to archaeogenetic research, the emerging picture indicates a major dispersal of our species out of Africa between 100 and 50 thousand years ago. Ancient DNA evidence points to low levels of admixture between Neanderthal and pioneering modern human populations in the Near East. These propositions underscore the significance of the Emiran and beg a reassessment of its origins. In this paper, we ask whether the Emiran was a local development, a cultural/demographic replacement, or the fusion of indigenous and exogenous lithic traditions. Our analysis considers the techno-typological features of the Emiran in relation to late Middle Palaeolithic and contemporaneous assemblages from adjacent territories in northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, in order to identify overlapping cultural features and potential antecedents. Parsi- monious with the archaeogenetic scenario of admixture, the Emiran seems to represent a fusion of local southern Levantine Mousterian tool types with the Afro-Arabian Nubian Levallois reduction strategy. We propose that Emiran technology is primarily rooted in the Early Nubian Complex of the Nile Valley, which spread onto the Arabian Peninsula during the Last Interglacial and developed at the interface of northern Arabia and the southern Levant between 100 and 50 thousand years ago.
The Keoue Cave, located in Lebanon, is a Middle Paleolithic site excavated by a University of Tokyo team in 1970. Studies in the subsequent decades assigned its lithic assemblages to the Levantine Mousterian industry of Tabun-B type, dated from the late Middle Paleolithic. Interestingly, those studies revealed the existence of a chamfered piece and a couple of Emireh point pieces in the assemblage from the latest layer, which are the hallmarks of the Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) of the Levant. Their association with a Tabun-B type assemblage at the Keoue Cave is, if tested, intriguing in regard to the interpretation of the processes of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition. However, this issue has not been studied to date. In this paper, the occurrence of the IUP elements at the Keoue Cave is examined from stratigraphic and techno-typological viewpoints. Results confirmed the presence of at least one typical chamfered piece and one typical Emireh point, but revealed that those elements were derived from a secondary stratigraphic context. Therefore, the evidence from this cave cannot be used to verify the association of either the chamfered piece or Emireh point with the Tabun-B type industry; alternatively, the possibility that an IUP occupation layer once existed at the Keoue Cave is suggested. Despite the uncertainty in the stratigraphic context, the IUP elements' occurrence at the Keoue Cave is an important addition to our currently small dataset that will aid in understanding the chrono-spatial variability of the IUP cultural processes in the Levant.
Settlement and mobility patterns can be deduced from studies of lithic technology and the raw materials found on-site. This study focuses on raw material procurement and inferred aspects of mobility in two stratigraphic layers of Qafzeh Cave (XIX and XIII) dated ~100,000 – 90,000 ka and associated with modern humans, and two stratigraphic layers of Amud Cave (B4 and B1) dated to 68 - 55 ka from Israel, linked with Neanderthals. The lithic assemblages in both sites are made exclusively on flint and occur as many different visual raw material types, distinguished by their colors and textures. An ArcGIS model is used to create a topography-sensitive predictive model for Daily Exploitation Territories (DET) around each site. This model was used to designate local vs. nonlocal outcrops. By linking the visual data with geochemical information (ICP-MS, ICP-AES), using a battery of statistical methods (e.g., ANOVA, Principle Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis) to establish the relationship between the two types of observations, the analysis shows that in both sites local materials are most abundant and were brought to the cave to ‘provision the place’. Additionally, distant raw materials, some from a distance of over >60 km, were brought to the caves in particular typo-technological forms, suggesting ‘provisioning of individuals’. Distant raw materials are more pronounce in Amud Cave, suggesting relativelylong-distance transport and high mobility. We discuss the implications of these observations in the context of reconstructing territoriality and mobility patterns of Levantine MP groups.
The end of the Lower Paleolithic in the Levant is marked by the emergence of a new techno-complex known as Acheulo-Yabrudian (350e250 ka BP). Stratigraphically placed at the transition between the Acheulian and Mousterian techno-complexes, the Acheulo-Yabrudian is crucial for the understanding of biological, cultural and behavioral evolution from the Lower to the Middle Paleolithic in the Levant. Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, is one of the rare Levantine sites in which both the Acheulo-Yabrudian and Early Mousterian are present, allowing direct comparison between the two industries. Here we present the analysis of an Acheulo-Yabrudian lithic assemblage from the site and discuss its place within Levantine technological and cultural frameworks. Three technological systems were identified in Misliya Acheulo-Yabrudian assemblage: 1) Bifacial shaping. 2) Production of thin flakes from hierarchical-surfaces cores e The hierarchical-surfaces cores exhibit some of the criteria of the Levallois concept but lack the major characteristics of the Levallois, namely the preparation of the flaking surface and predetermination. The thin-flake production phenomenon has not been previously discussed in relation to the Acheulo-Yabrudian. The large quantities of simple thin flakes at Misliya Cave indicate their relative importance in hominin subsistence strategies. 3) Production of large and thick, often cortical, flakes from unprepared cores e The flakes were used for manufacturing handaxes or large scrapers by Quina or semi-Quina retouch. The two former systems are well-known from the Upper Acheulian assemblages in the Levant, suggesting regional continuity, while the production of Quina scrapers seems to be a major technological innovation of the Acheulo-Yabrudian. The three Acheulo-Yabrudian technological systems described above were not identified in the Early Middle Paleolithic assemblages of Misliya Cave. Moreover, Levallois and laminar technologies, and production of retouched points that mark the emergence of the Middle Paleolithic in the Levant, are absent from the Acheulo-Yabrudian of Misliya Cave, further supporting the view that a marked technological break in the region occurred ca. 250 ka ago with the onset of the Middle Paleolithic.
The Early Middle Palaeolithic lithic industry of Dederiyeh Cave, Northwest Syria
2022
The Lower-to-Middle Paleolithic transition of the Levant has attracted much attention, particularly because the early Middle Paleolithic is the period when the earliest anatomically modern humans fossils known to date in Eurasia have been attested in that part of Asia . The associated lithic assemblages are a significant source of information for investigating the cultural landscape of this important transition. This paper presents a new dataset from the 2003–2009 excavations at Dederiyeh Cave, northwest of Syria. A techno-typological analysis of the lithic industry reveals a common practice of blade blank production, which corroborates the other known early Middle Paleolithic assemblages of the Levant. However, its strong emphasis on Levallois core reduction and sidescraper manufacturing is noteworthy. The significance of this finding deserves further research from multiple viewpoints, including the functional and spatio-temporal variability of hominin activities in this period. It will be also important to interpret the techno-typological diagnostics of the early Middle Paleolithic assemblage of Dederiyeh considering its geographic
Archaeological Research in Asia, 2022
The Early Middle Palaeolithic (EMP) in the Levant presents a unique phenomenon, diverse forms of blade production dominate the technological organization. Contrary to the discontinuous presence of blade production across Eurasia, both before and after the EMP, blades and their by-products were, between 250 and 160,000 years ago, the main "behavioral package" in the Levant region. The EMP lithic assemblages comprised of several techno-typological traits, the use of Levallois, Laminar, and cores on flakes reduction strategies. Furthermore, it seems that within each single reduction sequence there is versatility, changes which occur between technological concepts allows prolongation of the core's utility and enhanced control of blank production. Here, we reassess the assemblages of Abou-Sif, excavated between 1928-1934, and among the first EMP sites excavated and analysed in the region. These lithic assemblages, despite biased collection methods, will contribute to the understanding of the EMP technological organization. These results not only highlight the techno-typological diversity in the mode of production but also reflect the narrow variation that is shared among all known EMP sites. The possible social and demographic implications of this low-diversity within a cohesive geographical and chronological framework will be discussed with regards to the previous Late Lower and later Middle Paleolithic records in the Levant.
Journal of Human Evolution, 2019
For more than a century, prehistoric research has focused on cave sites and rock shelters, mostly because of good preservation of organic remains associated with stratified anthropogenic layers. Manot Cave in the Western Galilee, Israel offers the possibility of studying prehistoric assemblages in pristine condition because of the collapse of the cave entrance some 30 thousand years ago. Nine years of excavations have uncovered an Early Upper Paleolithic archaeological sequence. Area C, situated at the bottom of the talus, was exposed to fast and slow depositional and postdepositional processes affecting sediment accumulation. The central part of area C was selected for this study, as it was least disturbed. Following a technotypological analysis, and taking postdepositional processes into consideration, the assemblages were defined and assigned to the Levantine Aurignacian, and Ahmarian traditions. The two archaeological horizons are separated by a mixed horizon within which indicative artifacts of both traditions alternately appear. The Ahmarian assemblage, dated to 46e42 ka cal BP, fits within the northern Med-iterranean Ahmarian sites, which technotypologically differs from and is currently dated earlier than the southern desert region Ahmarian sites. The main technotypological characteristics of the assemblage from the Levantine Aurignacian Horizon, dated to 38e34 ka cal BP, are comparable to those from Manot Cave area E layers V-VI, and Ksâr 'Akil levels VII-VIII. Yet, several technotypological elements seem more compatible with the unnamed assemblage from Ksâr 'Akil levels XI-XIII and possibly layer IX from area E.
The end of the Lower Paleolithic in the Levant: U-series dates from Qesem Cave
2003
Israel is part of a geographical 'out of Africa' corridor for human dispersals. An important event in these dispersals was the possible arrival of anatomically modern humans in the Levant during the late Middle Pleistocene 1-3 . In the Levant the Lower Palaeolithic ends with the Acheulo-Yabrudian complex, characterized by technological developments 4,5 , including the introduction of technological innovations such as the systematic production of blades and the disappearance of hand-axes. These reflect new human perceptions and capabilities in lithic technology and tool function 6 . Qesem Cave, discovered in 2000, has a rich, well-preserved Acheulo-Yabrudian deposit holding great promise for providing new insights into the period. Here we report the dates of this deposit obtained by uranium isotopic series on associated speleothems and their implications. The results shed light on the temporal range of the Acheulo-Yabrudian and the end of the Lower Palaeolithic, suggesting a long cultural phase between the Lower Palaeolithic Acheulian and the Middle Palaeolithic Mousterian phases, starting before 382 kyr ago and ending at about 200 kyr ago.