Naama Goren-Inbar

Nuts, nut cracking, and pitted stones at Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov, Israel

The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov (Israel) has revealed a unique association of edible nuts with pitted hammers and anvils. Located in the Dead Sea rift, on the boundary between the Arabian and African plates, the site dates to the Early-Middle Pleistocene, oxygen isotope stage 19. In a series of strata, seven species of nuts, most of which can be cracked open only by a hard hammer, were uncovered. Five of the species are extant terrestrial nuts, and two are aquatic nuts now extinct in the Levant. In addition, the site yielded an assemblage of pitted hammers and anvils similar in pit morphology to those used by chimpanzees and contemporary hunter–gatherers. This is the first time, to our knowledge, that a site has offered both paleobotanical and lithic evidence of plant foods eaten by early hominins and technologies used for processing these foods. The evidence also sheds light on the structure of the community: ethnographic analogies suggest that mixedgender groups may have been active on the shores of paleoLake Hula.

Spatial Organization of Hominin Activities at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel

Home Is Where the Hearth Is One aspect of human intelligence is the ability to organize our living and working spaces. It was generally thought that this capability arose with modern humans in the past 100,000 years or so. However, Alperson-Afil et al. (p. 1677) found evidence of domestic organization 800,000 years ago at a Pleistocene hominin campsite in the Jordan Valley. Around patches of burnt debris, the remains of a wide range of plant and animal foodstuffs were found, including fruits and seeds, as well as remnants of turtles, elephants, and small rodents. Specific types of stone tools appear to have been made around the hearths, where there was also evidence of nut roasting and consumption of crabs and fish. In a more distant area there were signs of intensive flint knapping and food chopping. The spatial distribution of artifacts implies that living space was organized by use as early as 800,000 years ago. The spatial designation of discrete areas for different activities reflects formalized conceptualization of a living space. The results of spatial analyses of a Middle Pleistocene Acheulian archaeological horizon (about 750,000 years ago) at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel, indicate that hominins differentiated their activities (stone knapping, tool use, floral and faunal processing and consumption) across space. These were organized in two main areas, including multiple activities around a hearth. The diversity of human activities and the distinctive patterning with which they are organized implies advanced organizational skills of the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov hominins.

Culture and cognition in the Acheulian industry: a case study from Gesher Benot Yaʿaqov

The Acheulian presence in the Dead Sea Rift and its environs is characterized by the discontinuity of its cultural manifestations. Nevertheless, the long stratigraphic sequences of the Acheulian Technocomplex provide a unique opportunity for synergetic examination along a temporal trajectory. Hominin cognitive and cultural behaviour are studied at Gesher Benot Yaʿaqov through analyses of lithic, palaeontological and palaeobotanical assemblages, as well as the Early–Middle Pleistocene environment, ecology and climate. The study attempts to reconstruct reduction sequences of some major artefact groups at the site, which include raw material acquisition, production, technology, typology, usage and discard. Experimental archaeology illustrates artefact mobility on the palaeo-landscape. Strategies of biomass-exploitation are studied in detail, with other aspects yielding additional information on hominin subsistence and adaptive responses to their environment. The cultural marker of fire and the spatial association of selected categories of finds are integrated in the general synthesis, allowing reconstruction of the cultural and cognitive realm of Acheulian hominins. The synthesis attempts to reassess the abilities, social structure, subsistence and adaptability to the changing environment of hominins in the Levantine Corridor.

Too Small to Be True? Reevaluation of Cores on Flakes in Levantine Mousterian Assemblages

AbstractTypological and technological analyses of the cores on flakes of the Quneitra Mousterian assemblage (area A) are described. The technological and stylistic descriptions of the “truncated-faceted” and the “Nahr Ibrahim” techniques are identical to those describing cores on flakes. The particulars of the reduction process for these techniques are similar to those of the Levallois and Discoidal cores of Mousterian Levantine assemblages. It is probable that cores on flakes represent only one of many post detachment treatments (thinning, etc.) observable on flakes.

Cognition and communication in the Levantine Lower Palaeolithic

Abstract The issue of tracing the mental abilities of prehistoric hominids is overwhelming in its complexity. Not only are there different schools of thought as regards the very feasibility of such an enterprise, but we are also facing difficulties in obtaining relevant data and their interpretation. For a while it seemed as if lithic studies could contribute but little to this domain of prehistoric research. However, it seems that there is a breakthrough both in concepts and methods which enables us a glimpse into the workings of the mind of the prehistoric flint knappers. The present article discusses the findings from the technological studies of two Levantine early Acheulian assemblages. The reconstruction of the procedures undertaken by the early hominids in order to produce discrete artefact types clearly illustrates the existence of complex cognitive abilities, rather similar to those of modern humans.

The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov

Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov (GBY) is located in the southern Hula Valley, which, in turn, is located in the northernmost segment of the Dead Sea Rift, part of the Great African Rift System. This region is an integral part of the “Levantine Corridor,” a land bridge connecting Africa and Europe, through which the diffusion and biotic exchange of many organisms took place in prehistoric times. The Hula Valley has preserved data of a phenomenon of great importance in human history: archaeological evidence recording hominin diffusion/migration out of Africa and into Eurasia. The unique sedimentological and hydrological conditions prevailing in the Hula, along with extensive and intensive tectonic activity, resulted in the complex and minimal exposure of Plio-Pleistocene geological formations. One of these, the Benot Ya‘akov Formation, has revealed many unique hominin artifacts, fossil bones, and a multitude of organic remains. Its examination has significantly contributed to our understanding of the paleoecological conditions that prevailed in the region, as well as enabling a comparison between the paleoecological systems of the Early and Middle Pleistocene in Africa and the Levant, areas in which hominins were active already in very early prehistory.

The biface assemblage from Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel: illuminating patterns in “Out of Africa” dispersal

Abstract This article presents the main characteristics of a lithic assemblage, in particular, its biface component, from the Acheulean site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel. We endeavor to demonstrate that this tradition did not evolve locally, within the Levant, but was rather a result of a diffusion of ideas and/or population from Africa into the Levant during the end of the Lower/beginning of the Middle Pleistocene. The fact that other Acheulean industries present in the northern Dead Sea Rift resemble corresponding African traditions rather than each other may indicate that the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov occurrence was not an isolated event. This phenomenon may be interpreted as representing a dynamic system in which populations and/or ideas dispersed out of Africa during the Lower and Middle Pleistocene in repetitive, distinct and separate waves.

A new type of anvil in the Acheulian of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel.

We report here on the identification and characterization of thin basalt anvils, a newly discovered component of the Acheulian lithic inventory of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov (GBY). These tools are an addition to the array of percussive tools (percussors, pitted stones and anvils) made of basalt, flint and limestone. The thin anvils were selected from particularly compact, horizontally fissured zones of basalt flows. This type of fissuring produces a natural geometry of thick and thin slabs. Hominins at GBY had multiple acquisition strategies, including the selection of thick slabs for the production of giant cores and cobbles for percussors. The selection of thin slabs was carried out according to yet another independent and targeted plan. The thinness of the anvils dictated a particular range of functions. The use of the anvils is well documented on their surfaces and edges. Two main types of damage are identified: those resulting from activities carried out on the surfaces of the anvils and those resulting from unintentional forceful blows (accidents de travaille). Percussive activities that may have been associated with the thin anvils include nut cracking and the processing of meat and bones, as well as plants.

An Actualistic Study of Dorsally Plain Flakes: A Technological Note

Abstract Experimental production and modification of handaxes were carried out by D. Ben-Ami in 1995 in an attempt to achieve a better understanding of the characteristics of Acheulian biface byproducts (flakes) and the impact of the use of different types of percussors. A result of these experiments was the identification of flakes devoid of scar pattern on their dorsal face. A refitting project was then mounted with the aim of examining the role of these dorsally piain flakes within the handaxe reduction process. Refitting resultedin the identification of three different types of such flakes: those whose dorsal face derives from the ventral face of a previously detached flake (when a handaxe was made on a flake); those that were not struck deliberately, but split spontaneously from the bulbar surface of a large flake; and those whose dorsal face derives from a large scar. This article describes the results of a technological analysis of these unique flakes. The reported results may be used in cases in which refitting cannot be carried out to identify biface modification assemblages that exploited large flakes.

The plant component of an Acheulian diet at Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov, Israel

Significance Our knowledge of the diet of early hominins derives mainly from animal skeletal remains found in archaeological sites, leading to a bias toward a protein-based diet. We report on the earliest known archive of food plants found in the superimposed Acheulian sites excavated at Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov, Israel. These remains, some 780,000 y old, comprise 55 taxa, including nuts, fruits, seeds, vegetables, and plants producing underground storage organs. They reflect a varied plant diet, staple plant foods, seasonality, and hominins’ environmental knowledge and use of fire in food processing. Our results change previous notions of paleo diet and shed light on hominin abilities to adjust to new environments and exploit different flora, facilitating population diffusion, survival, and colonization beyond Africa. Diet is central for understanding hominin evolution, adaptation, and environmental exploitation, but Paleolithic plant remains are scarce. A unique macrobotanical assemblage of 55 food plant taxa from the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov, Israel includes seeds, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and plants producing underground storage organs. The food plant remains were part of a diet that also included aquatic and terrestrial fauna. This diverse assemblage, 780,000 y old, reflects a varied plant diet, staple plant foods, environmental knowledge, seasonality, and the use of fire in food processing. It provides insight into the wide spectrum of the diet of mid-Pleistocene hominins, enhancing our understanding of their adaptation from the perspective of subsistence. Our results shed light on hominin abilities to adjust to new environments, facilitating population diffusion and colonization beyond Africa. We reconstruct the major vegetal foodstuffs, while considering the possibility of some detoxification by fire. The site, located in the Levantine Corridor through which several hominin waves dispersed out of Africa, provides a unique opportunity to study mid-Pleistocene vegetal diet and is crucial for understanding subsistence aspects of hominin dispersal and the transition from an African-based to a Eurasian diet.