The Palaeolithic Sequence of Ksar ‘Akil, Lebanon (Chapter 30) - Quaternary of the Levant (original) (raw)

Summary

The Ksar Akil rockshelter, is located 10 km northeast of Beirut adjacent to the coastal plain in the foothills of the Lebanon Mountain range. During the 1930s and 1940s, 37 thick geological levels were identified, containing a succession of Epipalaeolithic, Upper Palaeolithic, and Middle Palaeolithic horizons from the rockshelter’s surface and extending ~23 ms down to bedrock. The Upper Palaeolithic levels have been extensively studied by numerous scholars and represent Atlitian, Levantine Aurignacian (sensu stricto), Northern Ahmarian, and Initial Upper Palaeolithic occupations. An anatomically modern child (Egbert, Ksar Akil 1), discovered in the Northern Ahmarian levels, is 40,850–39,200 or 41,050–38,300 cal BP (1σ or 2σ, respectively). Another human specimen recovered in the Initial Upper Palaeolithic levels, Ethelruda (Ksar Akil 2), is 42,400–41,750 or 42,850–41,550 cal BP (1σ or 2σ, respectively).

References

Azoury, I. 1986. Ksar Akil Lebanon: A Technological and Typological Ana-lysis of the Transitional and Early Upper Paleolithic Levels of Ksar Akil and Abu Halka, Vol. I: Levels XXV – XII. Oxford: BAR Inter-national Series 289 (Parts I and II).Google Scholar

Bar-Yosef, O. 1970. The Epi-Paleolithic Cultures of Palestine. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Google Scholar

Bergman, C.A. 1981. Point types in the Upper Palaeolithic Sequence at Ksar ‘Akil, Lebanon. In Préhistoire du Levant, ed. Cauvin, J., and Sanla-ville, P.. Paris: CNRS, pp. 319–30.Google Scholar

Bergman, C.A. 1987. Ksar Akil, Lebanon: A Technological and Typological Analysis of the Later Paleolithic Levels of Ksar Akil, Vol. II: Levels XIII–VI. Oxford: BAR International Series 329.Google Scholar

Bergman, C.A. 1988. Synthese. In Préhistoire du Levant II: Processus des changements culturels, ed. Aurenche, O, Cauvin, M.-C & Sanla-ville, P. Paléorient 14: 223–7.Google Scholar

Bergman, C.A. 2003. Twisted débitage and the Levantine Aurignacian problem. In More than Meets the Eye: Studies on Upper Palaeolithic Diversity in the Near East, ed. Goring-Morris, A.N. & Belfer-Cohen, A.. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 185–95.Google Scholar

Bergman, C.A. & Goring-Morris, A.N. 1987. Conference: The Levantine Aurignacian with special reference to Ksar Akil, Lebanon. March 27–28, 1987, Institute of Archaeology, London. Paléorient 13: 142–7.Google Scholar

Bergman, C.A. & Stringer, C.B. 1989. Fifty years after: Egbert, an Early Upper Paleolithic juvenile from Ksar Akil, Lebanon. Paléorient 15: 99–111.Google Scholar

Besançon, J., Copeland, L. & Hours, F. 1977. Tableaux de Préhistoire Libanais. Paléorient 3: 5–45.Google Scholar

Copeland, L. 1986. Introduction to Volume I. In Ksar Akil, Lebanon. A Technological and Typological Analysis of the Transitional and Early Upper Paleolithic Levels of Ksar Akil and Abu Halka, Vol. I: Levels XXV–XII, ed. Bergman, C. & Copeland, L.. Oxford: BAR International Series 289(ii).Google Scholar

Copeland, L. & Yazbeck, C. 2002. Inventory of Stone Age sites in Lebanon. New and revised, Part III. Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph 55: 121–325.Google Scholar

Day, A.E. 1926a. The rock shelter of Ksar near the Cave of Antilyas. Palestine Exploration Fund 58: 158–60.Google Scholar

Day, A.E. 1926b. The rock shelter of Ksar Akil. Al-Kulliyyah 12: 91–7.Google Scholar

Douka, K. 2013. Exploring ‘the great wilderness of prehistory,’ the chronology of the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic transition in the northern Levant. Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 22: 11–40.Google Scholar

Douka, K., Bergman, C.A., Hedges, R.E.M., Wesselingh, F.P. & Higham, T.F.G. 2013. Chronology of Ksar Akil (Lebanon) and implications for the colonization of Europe by anatomically modern humans. PLoS ONE 8: e72931.Google Scholar

Ewing, J.F. 1947. Preliminary note on the excavations at the Paleolithic site of Ksar Akil, Republic of Lebanon. Antiquity 21: 186–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Ghazi, H. 2013. Contribution à la connaissance de l'Aurignacien du Levant: analyse typo-technologique des industries lithiques de la séquence de Yabroud II (Syrie). Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Bordeaux.Google Scholar

Goring-Morris, N. & Belfer-Cohen, A. 2006. A hard look at the ‘Levantine Aurignacian’: How real is the taxon? In Towards a Definition of the Aurignacian, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. & Zilhão, J.. Proceedings of the Symposium held in Lisbon, Portugal, June 25–30, 2002. Trabalhos de Arqueologia 45. Lisbon: Instituto Português de Arqueologia, pp. 297–314.Google Scholar

Goring-Morris, N., Hovers, E. & Belfer-Cohen, A. 2009. The dynamics of Pleistocene and Early Holocene settlement patterns and human adaptations in the Levant: An overview. In Transitions in Prehistory: Essays in Honor of Ofer Bar-Yosef, ed. Shea, J.J. & Lieberman, D.E.. Harvard University, The American School of Prehistoric Research Monograph Series. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 185–252.Google Scholar

Kuhn, S., Stiner, M.C., Kerry, K. & Gulec, E. 2003. The Early Upper Palaeolithic at Üçağızlı Cave (Hatay, Turkey): some preliminary results. In More than Meets the Eye: Studies on Upper Palaeolithic Diversity in the Near East, ed. Goring-Morris, A.N. & Belfer-Cohen, A.. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 106–17.Google Scholar

Kuhn, S., Stiner, M., Güleç, E. et al. 2009. The early Upper Paleolithic occupations at Üçağızlı Cave (Hatay, Turkey). Journal of Human Evolution 56: 87–113.Google Scholar

Leder, D. 2014. Technological and Typological Change at the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Boundary in Lebanon. Universitätsforschungen zur Prähistorischen Archäologie. Bonn: Verlag Dr Rudolf Habelt.Google Scholar

Marks, A.E. & Volkman, P. 1986. The Mousterian of Ksar Akil: Levels XXVIA through XXVIIIB. Paléorient 12: 5–20.Google Scholar

Meignen, L. & Bar-Yosef, O. 1992. Middle Palaeolithic variability in Kebara Cave (Mount Carmel, Israël). In The Evolution and Dispersal of Modern Humans in Asia, ed. Akazawa, T., Aoki, K. & Kimura, T.. Tokyo: Hokushen-Sha, pp. 129–48.Google Scholar

Mellars, P. & Tixier, J. 1989. Radiocarbon-accelerator dating of Ksar Aqil (Lebanon) and the chronology of the Upper Paleolithic sequence in the Middle East. Antiquity 63: 761–8.Google Scholar

Murphy, J.W. 1938. The method of pre-historic excavations at Ksar ‘Akil. Anthropology Series, Boston College Graduate School 3: 211–75.Google Scholar

Murphy, J.W. 1939. Ksar ‘Akil, Boston College expedition. Anthropology Series, Boston College Graduate School 3: 211–17.Google Scholar

Newcomer, M.H. 1974. Study and replication of bone tools from Ksar Akil (Lebanon). World Archaeology 6: 138–53.Google Scholar

Ohnuma, K. 1988. Ksar Akil, Lebanon: A Technological Study of the Earlier Upper Palaeolithic Levels of Ksar Akil. Volume II: Levels XXV–XIV, with contributions by Bergman, C.A. and Newcomer, M.H.. Oxford: BAR International Series 426.Google Scholar

Ohnuma, K. & Bergman, C.A. 1990. A technological analysis of the Upper Palaeolithic Levels (XXV–VI) of Ksar Akil, Lebanon. In The Emergence of Modern Humans: An Archaeological Perspective, ed. Mellars, P.. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 91–138.Google Scholar

Pagli, M. 2013. Variabilité du Moustérien au Proche-Orient. Approche géographique des dynamiques de changement en milieu méditerranéen et en milieu steppique. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Université Paris Ouest, Nanterre.Google Scholar

Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A. et al. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55: 1869–87.Google Scholar

Tixier, J. 1970. L'abri sous roche de Ksar Aqil. La campagne de fouilles 1969. Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth 23: 173–91.Google Scholar

Tixier, J. & Inizan, M.-L. 1981. Ksar Aqil, stratigraphie et ensembles lithiques dans le Paléolithique Supérieur. Fouilles 1969–1975. In Préhistoire du Levant, ed. Cauvin, J. & Sanlaville, P.. Paris: CNRS, pp. 353–67.Google Scholar

Van der Plicht, J., van der Wijk, A. & Bartstra, G.J. 1989. Uranium and thor-ium in fossil bones: activity ratios and dating. Applied Geochemistry 4: 339–42.Google Scholar

Williams, J.K. 2003. Examining the Boundaries of the Levantine Aurignacian. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Southern Methodist University, Dallas.Google Scholar

Williams, J.K. 2006. The Levantine Aurignacian: A closer look. In Towards a Definition of the Aurignacian, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. & Zilhão, J.. Proceedings of the Symposium held in Lisbon, Portugal, June 25–30, 2002. Trabalhos de Arqueologia 45. Lisbon: Instituto Português de Arqueologia, pp. 317–52.Google Scholar

Williams, J.K. & Bergman, C.A. 2011. Upper Paleolithic Levels XIII–VI (A and B) from the 1937–1938 and 1947–1948 Boston College excavations and the Levantine Aurignacian at Ksar Akil, Lebanon. Paléorient 36: 117–61.Google Scholar