Provenance studies can tell us which sources of lithic raw material were used in the past, but can they tell us why? After all, many factors can have entered into a person's choice to use one source rather than another. Those factors can be grouped into two categories, the geologic/geographic characteristics of the source itself (quality, abundance, size of pieces, etc.), and the human factors (direction of travel, time available, social restrictions, etc.). This paper demonstrates how the geologic/geographic characteristics can be quantified and calculated together to give one value, the attractiveness of the source, which can then be used in a gravity model approach to predict which sources 'should' have been used more than others. Deviations from the predicted pattern point to situations where the human factors were of greater or lesser importance. The values are also used to delineate geographical areas within which particular sources would be likely to be used ('areas of influence'), which gives us a useful new way of understanding the landscape within which the prehistoric group lived.

The study of the lithic assemblages of two French sites, the Bau de l’Aubesier and Payre, contributes new knowledge of the earliest Neanderthal techno-cultural variability. In this paper we present the results of a detailed technological analysis of Early Middle Palaeolithic lithic assemblages of MIS 8 and 7 age from the two sites, which are located on opposite sides of the Rhône Valley in the south-east of France. The MIS 9–7 period is considered in Europe to be a time of new behaviours, especially concerning lithic strategies. The shift from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Early Middle Palaeolithic is “classically” defined by an increase in the number of core technologies, including standardized ones, which are stabilized in the full Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 5–3), associated with the decline of the “Acheulean” biface. Applying a common technological approach to the analysis of the two assemblages highlights their technological variability with respect to reduction systems and end products. Differences between Payre and the Bau de l’Aubesier concerning raw material procurement and faunal exploitation only partially explain this multifaceted technological variability, which in our opinion also reflects the existence of distinct technological strategies within the same restricted geographic area, which are related to distinct traditions, site uses, and/or as yet unknown parameters.

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This paper summarizes the results of recent excavations (i982-goExcavations of prehistoric cave sites during the I930S in Mt. Carmel and Galilee yielded many extremely important human remains which have contributed to the study of the origin of modern humans and to our understanding of their relationship to the European Neanderthals. Garrod's work on the Mt. Carmel caves and Neuville's on Qafzeh Cave (near Nazareth) uncovered a wealth of human remains as well as rich lithic and faunal assemblages. The lithic industries from these sites were defined as "Levalloiso-Mousterian" and were correlated with similar Middle Paleolithic industries in Europe (Garrod and Bate I937, Neuville I95I, Rust I950, Howell I 9 5 9).The dating of these assemblages, as in other Pleistocene sites of the Old World, was based largely on longdistance faunal correlations. Faunal assemblages from stratified European sites were used as a scale for establishing relative chronology in the Levant. The disappearance of archaic species and the appearance of new species reflected change through time that provided a means for establishing the relative age of sites. Biogeographical considerations and the known recent habitats of similar species were taken into account in reconstructing biozones.i. We thank the L. S. B. Leakey Foundation, the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Centre de Recherches Francais de Jerusalem, the Irene Levi-Sala CARE Archaeological Foundation (London), the Israel Prehistoric Society, and the Israel Exploration Society for their generous help in funding and administering the funds for the field and laboratory studies.We warmly thank Mario Chech, who took care of all the technical aspects of the excavations and was responsible for the production of the cast of the burial and all the preserved skeletal elements. We are grateful to R. Housely (Oxford) Historically, it was the analysis of the assemblages of microvertebrates which first indicated that there were problems with the accepted chronology. The late George Haas had noted in his report in Jelinek et al. (I973) the discrepancy between the assemblages of microvertebrates from layer C of Tabiun and those from the Qafzeh hominid-bearing deposits (layers XII-XXIV). He suggested that the archaic species present at Qafzeh were closer to the small assemblage described by Bate from Tabiun layers E (Acheulo-Yabrudian) and F (Upper Acheulian) but did not draw the necessary chronological conclusions. The meaning of these paleontological observations was clearly presented in a general overview of Near Eastern faunas prepared by Tchernov (i98i), who assigned the microvertebrates of Qafzeh to the Early Mousterian and by this indicated that they represented the oldest known Middle Paleolithic assemblage in the Levant. By combining the paleoclimatic interpretation of the depositional events responsible for the accumulation of the stratigraphic sequences in both Qafzeh and Tabiun Caves with the relative chronology offered by Tchernov for...

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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.

Macroscopic Fabric Analysis, the systematic study and description of ceramic fabrics with the aid of a handlens and other simple equipment, has grown in importance along with systematic archaeological survey. Microscopic Fabric Analysis, or ceramic petrology, is better known, but more expensive and time-consuming. Using examples drawn from Sphakia Survey material, the authors show that Macroscopic Fabric Analysis of large pottery collections with a high proportion of coarse ware sherds, when combined with targeted microscopic analysis, provides detailed, reliable information on crucial topics such as chronology, in this case from FN/EM I–Turkish; function (cooking, transport, storage, and beehives); and regional interaction. The authors also discuss issues connected with publication, including the use of electronic publications such as the Sphakia Survey website, and the rigorous comparison of individual fabrics, and they make a case for adopting standard ceramic terminology.