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Abstract:Fan (or tabular) scrapers are a diagnostic tool type in Chalcolithic Ghassulian and Early Bronze Age lithic assemblages from the southern Levant. To date, only small numbers of fan scrapers have been reported from the Late Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah culture. In this paper we present a technotypological analysis of a fair sample of fan scrapers and fan scrapers spalls from Wadi Rabah and Early Bronze Age layers at Ein Zippori, Lower Galilee, Israel. Techno-typological similarities and differences of Wadi Rabah, Chalcolithic Ghassulian and Early Bronze Age fan scrapers from Ein Zippori and other sites in the region are presented, trends of change along time are noted, and an updated definition is proposed. Our results indicate that fan scrapers are highly efficient tools for accurate and prolonged animal butchering and hide working. The main advantage of fan scrapers is their mostly flat, thin morphology and large size that permits the creation of several relatively long working edges, various retouched angles (from sharp to abrupt), extensive resharpening, and a comfortable grasp. While fan scrapers were products of a local trajectory in Late Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah lithic industries at Ein Zippori, a standardized, off-site manufacturing of fan scrapers is evident during the Early Bronze Age.

Abstract:The results of a microwear analysis of samples of fan scrapers and fan scrapers spalls from late Pottery Neolithic (PN) and Early Bronze Age (EBA) occupation layers at Ein Zippori, Lower Galilee, Israel are presented. The goal of the microwear analysis was to determine the function of the fan scrapers and compare the visible usewear on the scrapers found in late PN and EBA lithic assemblages. The results indicate that during both periods most of the fan scrapers were used to skin and butcher animals, while some were also used for hide processing and bone working. The working edges of the fan scrapers had sharp, moderate, or steep edge-angles, and different edges were used for different tasks. Edges with microwear from scraping meat, bone, and hides (including some hides that may have been treated with abrasives) had steep edge-angles, while there were moderate or sharp edge-angles on the edges of fan scrapers used for cutting. Two sub-types of fan scrapers were identified, flat cortex fan scrapers (FCFS), and cortical fan scrapers (CFS) with convex dorsal faces. The CFS were abundant in PN contexts, while the FCFS were more common in EBA layers. However both of the sub-types had similar microwear traces.

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