Ron Shimelmitz

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.

Perforated Stars: Networks of Prestige Item Exchange and the Role of Perforated Flint Objects in the Late Chalcolithic of the Southern Levant

Within the Late Chalcolithic of the Levant, the issues of specialization, regionality, and new dimensions of social complexity are long debated. In this article, we focus on the appearance of perforated flint objects that reflect specific patterns of production and distribution, clustering in northern Israel and southern Syria. We discuss this phenomenon in the contexts of Chalcolithic craft production and intraregional exchange networks. We demonstrate that the production and circulation of these unique objects differ from those associated with any other types of prestige objects that either characterize other parts of the southern Levant or do not have clear distribution boundaries.

Dull-edged Weapons and Low-level Fighting in the Late Prehistoric Southern Levant

While duels and other types of fighting with a relatively low level of lethal risk are well known from the ethnographic record, these have been less studied from an archaeological perspective. These fights are different from ‘war’ in the lack of killing intent and they are commonly referred to as ‘ritual fighting’, thus implying the social significance of the act and not just the outcome. Our study concentrates on the Late Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods of the southern Levant from which the physical evidence of violence is relatively scarce, although conflicts are assumed to have intensified due to the increase in long-term settlements and density of population. We will argue that the three types of weapons found during these periods — maceheads, slingstones and transverse arrowheads — are characterized by dull or blunt peripheries and were intentionally designed not to cause maximal injury or inflict lethal blows. These weapons are well represented only after the hunting of wild game dramatically declined and we suggest that they represent the conduct of low-level fighting, consequently indicating the presence of rules and social organization that are essential elements for the formation of early complex societies.