Epipaleolithic

While flint perforators are common in the Neolithic, closely associated with drilling technology and beads-craft, high frequencies of perforators appear already at the end of the Natufian culture. The current study examines a large assemblage of flint perforators from the Late Natufian site of Nahal Ein Gev II. By characterising morphological patterns of the perforators (typology, dimensions, and breakage patterns), the analysis suggests that many of these tools were most likely hafted. We therefore consider the Late Natufian perforators as a technological innovation and discuss evidence for associated technological changes, relating it to the Neolithization processes in the Jordan Valley region.

Our knowledge about Paleolithic art has been changing substantially and new discoveries and dates are modifying some traditionally accepted considerations. In this context, the geographic spread and the end of this graphic-artistic cycle are two of the main topics of the current scientific debate. The discovery and study of rock art in Cova Eirós, located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, whose walls display geometric / stylized animals with linear interior fills, widens the territory of Paleolithic rock art in North Iberia beyond the traditional Franco-Cantabrian core. This find is framed in the successive discoveries made in the last 20 years that break with the perception of the Franco-Cantabrian region as being the core of the Paleolithic art. Moreover, the formal and stylistic features of some motifs from Cova Eirós allow to ascribe them to the final stages of the Paleolithic-style portable and rock art, classified as Style V or fini-Paleolithic; a pan-European tradition that began ~ 12,000-11,500 BP and lasted up to ~9,500-9,000 BP, in correspondence with the last hunter-gatherer groups.

The  following  paper  examines  the  climatic  and  cultural  changes  that  occurred  in  the  Eastern  Sahara during  the  Holocene.  The  evidence  is  given  from  different  areas  of  the  absolute  desert  located  on  the Abu  Muhariq  Plateau  (Djara),  in  the  Abu  Ballas  scarp-land  (Eastpans)  in  the  Great  Sand  Sea  (Regenfeld) and  in  the  Gilf  Kebir  (Wadi  el  Bakht,  Wadi  el  Akhdar).  Each  area  has  also  yielded  an independent sequence  of  occupation  patterns  during  the  Holocene  wet  phase  based  on  numerous  14C-dates  from archaeological  sites.  Although  the  wider  frame  of  climatic  and  environmental  settings  as  well  as  the predominant cultural  innovations  was  similar  in  all  studied  regions,  the  archaeological  phenomena and thereby  identified  cultural  processes  were  often  quite  different.  Pottery  played  an  important  role  during the  entire  period  of  occupation  in  the  Gilf  Kebir  and  is  therefore  the  most  important  cultural  marker in  this  area.  The Regenfeld  area  yielded  only  a  small  amount  of  ceramic  finds  from  the  later  occupation
phase, whereas the Djara region showed 'aceramic' settlement units. Plant utilisation apparently increased in  all  areas  during  the  mid-Holocene  period.  Up  to  now,  we  have  not  observed  the  introduction  of livestock  before  the  6th millennium  BC (calibrated),  while  at the  inner  Great  Sand  Sea  remains  of domesticated  animals  are  lacking.

Research on the sedentarization and intensification processes in the Epipaleolithic period of the Levant, which culminated in the Natufian Culture, often turns to the earlier Epipaleolithic cultures to discern the roots of these important developments. Specifically, the investigation of Geometric Kebaran sites in the Mediterranean southern Levant, using up-to date research methods, may enable robust comparisons between the latest pre-Natufian Epipaleolithic phase and the Natufian phase. A site that has played a key role in all discussions of the pre-Natufian Epipaleolithic is Neve David, inside the modern city of Haifa, which was investigated between 1984 and 1990 by one of us (D. Kaufman). Here we provide a summary of the previous fieldwork at the site, followed by a report on our renewed project at Neve David which commenced on September 2014. We present new studies on the geomorphology and sedimentology, accounts of the new lithic and faunal assemblages, and the first microbotanical (phytolith) data from the site. We conclude that rich Epipaleolithic layers are still preserved at Neve David, and that they are thicker and more spread than previously estimated. The renewed fieldwork at the site, in conjunction with revisiting the materials collected in the previous campaign, has significant potential to contribute to the insufficient knowledge of the pre-Natufian Epipaleolithic in the Mediterranean southern Levant.

В статье представлены результаты технологического и экспериментально-трасологического анализов персональных украшений многослойной археологической стоянки Обишир-5 – ключевого объекта позднего плейстоцена – раннего голоцена в западной части Центральной Азии. Изучаемые артефакты из раннеголоценового комплекса памятника (литологические слои 2 и 3) – три подвески овальной, подтреугольной и подпрямоугольной формы, украшение-«лабретка» и заготовка подвески – составляют наиболее раннюю и многочисленную для данного региона серию каменных шлифованных украшений. Все изделия обнаружены в надежных стратиграфических условиях, для вмещающих культурных отложений получена серия радиоуглеродных дат. В результате комплексного петрографического, экспериментально-трасологического и технологического исследования реконструированы операционные последовательности изготовления украшений. Установлено, что в эпоху раннего голоцена их делали из местного сырья – талькита и серпентинита, источник которого находился в 4,5 км от стоянки. Заготовками подвесок служили мелкие гальки, обломки и сколы с более крупных отдельностей сырья. Процесс изготовления включал обработку поверхностей изделий шлифовкой и строганием, биконическое сверление и полировку. Выдвигается предположение о существовании традиции изготовления персональных украшений из мягких пород камня в западной части Центральной Азии 10,700–8,200 кал. л.н. Сопоставление изделий рассматриваемого типа из археологических комплексов финального плейстоцена – раннего голоцена западной части Центральной Азии, Среднего и Ближнего Востока позволило считать их одним из ярких индикаторов развития этих комплексов в одном направлении.

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The stratified site of Obishir-5 is one of the most important Final Pleistocene to Early Holocene sites in western Central Asia. In the Early Holocene component (10,700–8200 cal BP) of this site (layers 2 and 3), we discovered one of the oldest and largest assemblages of soft stone ornaments known from the region. It includes 5 items: three oval, sub-triangular, and sub-rectangular pendants, one “labret”-like ornament, and one ornament blank. All specimens come from stratified and well-dated contexts. As a result of the petrographic, experimental, use-wear, and technological analysis, we reconstructed the chaîne opératoire of these artifacts. To produce them, local raw materials (talcite and serpentinite) were transported from a source located 4.5 km away from the site. Small pebbles, shatters, and spalls split from nodules were used as blanks. The surface of the blank was first prepared using grinders and burins, then biconical drilling and polishing were used to finish the artifact. Our results point to an established tradition of personal ornament production from soft stone in western Central Asia during the Early Holocene. Comparison of these nonutilitarian artifacts with those from other Final Pleistocene to Early Holocene archaeological complexes across Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Near East suggests that personal ornament manufacture may be an important hallmark of social developments across a broad geographic region.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Burton MacDonald’s Wadi Hasa Sur- vey (1979–1983) identified dozens of sites in the highlands of west- central Jordan ranging from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Aceramic Neolithic. Although most were deflated surface scatters, Middle, Upper and Epipalaeolithic open and rockshelter sites in the eastern end of the drainage associated with palaeo-Lake Hasa preserved stratigraphy and faunas rare for the region. In 1984–1993, G.A. Clark initiated a series of surveys and excavations at these and other, newly discovered sites that led to research on the early Upper Palaeolithic by Nancy Coinman and Deborah Olszewski (1998– 2000). Work by Zeljko Rezek continues at ‘Ain Difla, a Mous- terian rockshelter in the Wadi Ali (2010–). Here we summarize what we have learned from more than 30 years of research on Late Pleistocene forager adaptations to the highlands of west-central Jordan.

Recent archaeological discoveries, refinements in genetic analyses and the archaeobotanical data require a reconsideration of the nature of the emergence of sedentary farming communities in Southeastern Turkey. In the rescue excavations prompted by the Batman and Ilısu dam projects several Early Holocene sites were discovered. For the first time, new data from Körtik Tepe now provide detailed evidence of a local Epipalaeolithic origin for these permanent settlements. In this article we summarize the results and analyses of the 2010-2012 excavations as well as palaeopedological and archaeobotanical data of the Younger Dryas layers at Körtik Tepe. Human isotope studies and the archaeological data suggest a permanent occupation of the site and might point to a local primordial adoption of a sedentary lifestyle in this region as early as the 11 th millennium BC. Résumé : De nouvelles découvertes archéologiques et le développement des analyses génétiques et archéobotaniques nous amènent à préciser la nature de l'émergence des communautés sédentaires agricoles en Anatolie du Sud-Est. Les fouilles de sauvetage effectuées dans le cadre de la construction des barrages de Batman et d'Ilısu ont conduit à la découverte de plusieurs sites de l'Holocène ancien dans la haute vallée du Tigre. Pour la première fois, de nouvelles données en provenance de Körtik Tepe fournissent des indices précis pour attribuer une origine locale de l'épipaléolithique à ces habitats permanents. Cet article présente de manière synthétique les résultats des campagnes de fouilles 2010-2012 et des analyses paléopédologiques et archéobotanique des niveaux du Dryas récent de Körtik Tepe. Les analyses isotopiques sur les os humains et les données archéologiques suggèrent une occupation permanente du site qui permet d'envisager qu'un mode de vie sédentaire a été adopté dans cette région dès le 11 e millénaire avant notre ère.

Изучение сырьевых стратегий в палеолите Кавказа обнаруживает существование удаленных миграций древнего человека. Обсидиан в каменном веке был сырьем, которое высоко ценилось и транспортировалось на расстояния более 200–250 км. В Приэльбрусье, в долине р. Баксан, расположено крупное месторождение обсидиана, который поступал на СевероЗападный Кавказ в среднем и верхнем палеолите. Но в этом регионе не было известно ни одного стратифицированного памятника эпохи среднего палеолита и только в 2016 г. открыта первая пещерная стоянка Сарадж-Чуко. Отложения конца палеолита известны только в навесах Сосруко и Бадыноко. Опорным памятником для разработки вопросов хронологии и динамики культуры верхнего палеолита — мезолита Центрального Кавказа является навес Сосруко. Исследования 2017 г. позволили получить новые данные по палеолиту Приэльбрусья.

In this paper, the authors report results of a detailed technological and typological analysis of the Epipalaeolithic assemblages from three stratified sites in the North Caucasus that were excavated in recent years at a modern scientific level with application of sediment water screening, which allowed to obtain numerous microlithic artefacts. The lithic analysis of the assemblages indicates a gradual development in the knapping technology, which resulted in the first application of the pressure flaking technique in the final Epipalaeolithic, and innovations in the tool set, particularly in the assortment of geometric microliths. The authors consider the stone industry transformations at the edge of Pleistocene and Holocene in the context of cultural continuity during the final Epipalaeolithic and up to the beginning of the Holocene in the region.

The miniaturization of stone tools, as reflected through the systematic production of blade-lets and bladelet tools (microliths), characterized many industries of the Late Pleistocene, with the Levantine Epipalaeolithic serving as a well-studied example. It is commonly held that microliths were used as modular inserts in composite projectiles, while their incorporation in other tools for different tasks is generally overlooked, the latter aspect being the main focus of this paper. We present here a more inclusive approach through a case study of the Geometric Kebaran (Middle Epipalaeolithic, ca. 18,500-15,000 cal BP) site of Neve David, Mount Carmel, Israel. Recent excavations at the site exposed a variety of features, and one well-preserved shallow pit provided a large lithic assemblage with ca. 90 microliths. We studied this assemblage using both the low-and high-magnification use-wear protocols, accompanied by a range of experiments. Our results show that a) the fragmentation rate is very high in this assemblage (ca. 90%), b) most of the microliths have identifiable use-wear, c) the microliths were commonly used as inserts in composite projectiles, d) many microliths were used for functions not related to weaponry and hunting, such as wood-working, weed harvesting and meat processing. These findings strongly support the suggestion that the small insets, regardless of their specific type (trapeze, rectangle, backed/retouched blade-let), were used in a wide variety of composite tools. We argue that such a versatile approach and flexibility in the use of microliths reflect a technological advantage where a minimal set of microlithic types, produced in large numbers, could provide the required elements for weapons, as well as for a variety of cutting, processing and harvesting tools needed for mundane tasks at a large Middle Epipalaeolithic camp. PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.

Публикуются данные об открытых и исследованных авторами месторождениях каменного сырья и способах его транспортировки на стоянки в верхнем палеолите Северо-Западного Кавказа. Изучение обсидиановых изделий позволяет говорить о перемещении обсидиана из отдаленных районов Центрального и Южного Кавказа, что подтверждает межрегиональные контакты в верхнем палеолите.