Avraham Ronen

Holocene sea-level changes based on submerged archaeological sites off the northern Carmel coast in Israel

Abstract A series of submerged archaeological sites found on the continental shelf between Haifa and Atlit indicate a continuous marine transgression between 8000 and 1500 yr B.P. The sites are embedded in the upper part of a marshy clay that fills the trough between the coastal aeolianite (kurkar) ridge and a ridge now submerged some 1000 to 1500 m to the west. The submerged prehistoric sites belong to two main chronological units: Prepottery Neolithic B (8000 yr B.P.) and late Neolithic (ca. 6500 yr B.P.); these were found at depths of 12 to 8 m and 5 to 0 m, respectively. Bronze Age and Byzantine anchors were found at depths of 5 to 3 m and 4 to 1.8 m, respectively. As the archaeological materials are firmly dated, we can reconstruct the rate of marine transgression from 8000 yr B.P. to the present and the eastward movement of settlements through time as related to the transgression.

Magnetostratigraphy of the Evron Member--implications for the age of the Middle Acheulian site of Evron Quarry.

The Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel The Geophysical Institute of Israel, P.O.Box 182, Lod 71100, Israel The Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem 95501, Israel The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, The University of Haifa, Haifa 31095, Israel Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel

Confirmation of a near 400 ka age for the Yabrudian industry at Tabun Cave, Israel

Abstract The important Lower and Middle Palaeolithic site of Tabun has been previously dated using ESR, U-series and TL. ESR ages throughout the site are substantially younger than TL dates, although these methods have been shown to agree at other sites in Israel and elsewhere. All previous ESR dates have been obtained on museum specimens using only attached sediments for dosimetry. Here we report the first ESR and U-series analyses of a tooth found in situ in an area equivalent to the lowest part of layer Ed. We obtain a combined ESR/U-series age of 387+49−36ka, in good agreement with a TL age of 340±33 ka for similar levels, and substantially older than an ESR/U-series age using attached or nearby sediment for dosimetry. We conclude that the most likely explanation for the previous shorter ESR chronology was the use of inappropriate gamma dose rates based on sediments attached to teeth.

Stone tool production and utilization by bonobo-chimpanzees (Pan paniscus)

Using direct percussion, language-competent bonobo-chimpanzees Kanzi and Pan-Banisha produced a significantly wider variety of flint tool types than hitherto reported, and used them task-specifically to break wooden logs or to dig underground for food retrieval. For log breaking, small flakes were rotated drill-like or used as scrapers, whereas thick cortical flakes were used as axes or wedges, leaving consistent wear patterns along the glued slits, the weakest areas of the log. For digging underground, a variety of modified stone tools, as well as unmodified flint nodules, were used as shovels. Such tool production and utilization competencies reported here in Pan indicate that present-day Pan exhibits Homo-like technological competencies.

L’industrie microlithique du Paléolithique inférieur de Bizat Ruhama, Israël

Bizat Ruhama is a lower Palaeolithic site in the southern coastal plain of Israel. The site was recently dated to ca. 1ma. In terms of lithic industry, Bizat Ruhama is a unique phenomenon amongst the Lower Palaeolithic sites in the Levant. The lithic assemblage of the site is characterized by the production of small (ca. 25mm) tools, flakes and cores. An in-depth technotypological study was made in attempt to reconstruct the production mode of these artifacts. The results presented here reveal a well-developed cognitive production process, which includes selection of special-sized raw material, production of desired blanks and their subsequent shaping into tools. The implications of

Domestic Fire as Evidence for Language

Human characteristics seem to have emerged gradually from the ape grade. The great apes have the preadaptations that parallel, in embryonic form, those of the human lineage—manipulating objects with hands, binocular color vision, cause-and-effect-oriented cognitive abilities—but they did not evolve along the hominid line (Tooby and DeVore 1987:211). ‘Ape-grade’ problem solving is not sharply distinguished from that of early hominids (Parker and Milbrath 1993:323). Lateralization, a precondition for human speech (Lancaster 1975:68–9) was attained very early, as seen by handedness in Oldowan tool making (Toth 1985). The human ability to manufacture and use tools, social complexity, the capacity to process information, and language are all linked and increased simultaneously since the initial divergence of hominids from the apes. Cooperative efforts of small human groups would have been an important factor in this trend (Gibson 1993). The key word in the evolution of human cognition and language is representation (Donald 1991:3), attained at the stage of “Homo depictor” (Hacking 1983). Thus human language is a symbolic representation of reality. Accordingly, the use of language in prehistory, untraceable on its own, was sought through symboling behavior which could perhaps be traced in the archaeological record. As we shall see, however, identifying clues for symbolic behavior prior to the Upper Paleolithic is problematic. A different approach will therefore be taken here: the attempt to identify the oldest activity reflected in the archaeological record which could not have been performed without language. Symboling behavior was sought in acts which involve the dual presence of signifier/signified, or a model. Art is the clearest symbol because an art object by definition represents something other than itself, be it the immediate subject model or a more abstract notion. All scholars seem to concur, then, that a fully evolved human language must have existed in the Upper Paleolithic (Marshack 1976; Goodenough 1981; Chase 1991). Art objects claimed to be older than the Upper Paleolithic (e.g., the Acheulean figurine in

Predetermined Flake Production at the Lower/Middle Paleolithic Boundary: Yabrudian Scraper-Blank Technology

While predetermined débitage technologies are recognized beginning with the middle Acheulian, the Middle Paleolithic is usually associated with a sharp increase in their use. A study of scraper-blank technology from three Yabrudian assemblages retrieved from the early part of the Acheulo-Yabrudian complex of Tabun Cave (ca. 415–320 kyr) demonstrates a calculated and preplanned production, even if it does not show the same complexity and elaboration as in the Levallois technology. These scraper dominated assemblages show an organization of production based on an intensive use of predetermination blank technology already in place at the end of the Lower Paleolithic of the Levant. These results provide a novel perspective on the differences and similarities between the Lower and Middle Paleolithic industries. We suggest that there was a change in the paradigm in the way hominins exploited stone tools: in many Middle Paleolithic assemblages the potential of the stone tools for hafting was a central feature, in the Lower Paleolithic ergonometric considerations of manual prehension were central to the design of blanks and tools.

Gaining Lithic Expertise in the Epi-Palaeolithic

(2003). Gaining Lithic Expertise in the Epi-Palaeolithic. Lithic Technology: Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 107-112.

Middle Palaeolithic Flint Mines in Mount Carmel: An Alternative Interpretation

Numerous heaps of limestone fragments mingled with occasional Middle Palaeolithic flint artifacts were found on Mount Carmel. They were interpreted as Middle Palaeolithic quarries for the extraction of fresh flint nodules and as flint knapping workshops (Nadel et al. 2011). This interpretation is questioned here due to the virtual absence of concentrations of knapping residues – nodules, cores, flakes and fragments, among the limestone heaps. An alternative interpretation of the limestone heaps is offered here, namely that they were in all likelihood raw material prepared for lime production during the last centuries.

Atlit-Yam: A Unique 9000 Year Old Prehistoric Village Submerged off the Carmel Coast, Israel – The SPLASHCOS Field School (2011)

The site of Atlit-Yam is one of the best preserved and most thoroughly investigated submerged prehistoric settlements in the world, with a wealth of finds of material culture and organic remains characteristic of a Pre-Pottery Neolithic village based on a mixed economy of farming and fishing 9000 years ago. Stone-lined water wells were also found, providing a precise measure of sea-level position when the site was in use, as well as a megalithic structure and human burials. Eventually the site was abandoned in the face of progressive sea-level rise, and later Neolithic settlements, were occupied at a higher level, and are now submerged closer to the shore. SPLASHCOS funding to support a Training School, allowed renewed investigations in 2011, providing an unusual opportunity for early stage researchers to gain experience and training on a submerged prehistoric settlement which also resulted in the discovery of some new features. This chapter provides a summary of the finds recovered from Atlit-Yam, the evidence for sea-level change, and a detailed description of the methods used in underwater survey and excavation.