A scraper's life history: Morpho-techno-functional and use-wear analysis of Quina and demi-Quina scrapers from Qesem Cave, Israel

Lemorini, Cristina; Bourguignon, Laurence; Zupancich, Andrea; Gopher, Avi; Barkai, Ran

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.05.013

Cited by 59 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Ongoing research at the cave provides a wealth of well-preserved evidence for innovative behaviours throughout the sequence, including stone tools technology and use192021, subsistence economy2223, and site organisation2425, possibly practised by a new hominin lineage26.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early evidence of stone tool use in bone working activities at Qesem Cave, Israel

Zupancich

Nunziante-Cesaro

Blasco

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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For a long while, the controversy surrounding several bone tools coming from pre-Upper Palaeolithic contexts favoured the view of Homo sapiens as the only species of the genus Homo capable of modifying animal bones into specialised tools. However, evidence such as South African Early Stone Age modified bones, European Lower Palaeolithic flaked bone tools, along with Middle and Late Pleistocene bone retouchers, led to a re-evaluation of the conception of Homo sapiens as the exclusive manufacturer of specialised bone tools. The evidence presented herein include use wear and bone residues identified on two flint scrapers as well as a sawing mark on a fallow deer tibia, not associated with butchering activities. Dated to more than 300 kya, the evidence here presented is among the earliest related to tool-assisted bone working intended for non-dietary purposes, and contributes to the debate over the recognition of bone working as a much older behaviour than previously thought. The results of this study come from the application of a combined methodological approach, comprising use wear analysis, residue analysis, and taphonomy. This approach allowed for the retrieval of both direct and indirect evidence of tool-assisted bone working, at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Qesem Cave (Israel).

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early evidence of stone tool use in bone working activities at Qesem Cave, Israel

Zupancich

Nunziante-Cesaro

Blasco

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…Moreover, use-wear studies confirm a possible functional division between the 'contemporary' Yabrudian and Amudian of the elevations of the hearth (between ca. 555 and 590 cm below datum)(Lemorini et al, 2014a; Lemorini et al, in this volume; Zupanchich et al, in this volume)…”

mentioning

confidence: 80%

New ESR/U-series dates in Yabrudian and Amudian layers at Qesem Cave, Israel

Falguères

Richard

Tombret

et al. 2016

Quaternary International

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“…The faunal remains are dominated by fallow deer of which selected animal body parts were brought into the cave (Blasco et al 2014;Stiner et al 2009;2011). The very large lithic assemblages show a number of major trajectories, including: systematic blade production (Amudian industry); large scale production of Quina and demi-Quina scrapers (Yabrudian Industry, see Lemorini et al 2016); various recycling trajectories (Lemorini et al 2015;Parush et al 2016); a small scale production of bifaces; and the presence of spheroids . A study of flint procurement strategies ('flint' is referred here as "a sedimentary rock which forms in limestone, composed mainly of grains of quartz, SiO 2 , also called silica", see Shepherd 1972: 29), based on measuring the cosmogenic isotope 10 Be shows that some of the flint at Qesem Cave was quarried and used for specific purposes such as handaxe and scraper production (Boaretto et al 2009), while others were collected from secondary sources (Verri et al 2004).…”

Section: The Archaeology Of Qesem Cavementioning

confidence: 99%

Paleolithic aesthetics: Collecting colorful flint pebbles at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel

Assaf

2018

JLS

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This paper sheds light on the presence and significance of unusually small, colorful, unmodified, flint pebbles unearthed at Qesem Cave, a late Lower Paleolithic site in Israel. For over two million years, early humans were noticing, collecting and bringing "home" various non-utilitarian objects with aesthetic visible characteristics, in what seems to reflect a basic human trait. Archaeological findings suggest that as early as the Lower Paleolithic, prehistoric humans were also guided by considerations other than economic, cost-benefit ones. Such is the case at Qesem Cave, where seventeen pebbles that are clearly smaller than the smallest pebbles used in the lithic industry on-site were found. These objects do not show any traces of use. Based on archaeological and anthropological evidence, I suggest that the small, natural flint pebbles exhibit noticeable visual characteristics, and therefore they might have been selected and brought to the cave due to their aesthetic traits. Various materials such as animal carcasses, fire-wood and lithic materials were systematically procured and brought to the cave, indicating that the inhabitants must have been well acquainted with different sources of resources. In this light, the presence of the pebbles seems to be the result of conscious, purposeful decisions. Their presence at the cave reveals a fraction of some of the aesthetic and perceptual preferences of the early humans that inhabited Qesem Cave, and their rich cultural world.

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A scraper's life history: Morpho-techno-functional and use-wear analysis of Quina and demi-Quina scrapers from Qesem Cave, Israel

Cited by 59 publications

References 17 publications

Early evidence of stone tool use in bone working activities at Qesem Cave, Israel

Early evidence of stone tool use in bone working activities at Qesem Cave, Israel

New ESR/U-series dates in Yabrudian and Amudian layers at Qesem Cave, Israel

Paleolithic aesthetics: Collecting colorful flint pebbles at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel

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