An Amudian Oddity: A Giant Biface from Late Lower Palaeolithic Qesem Cave

Abstract

The paper reports the discovery of an extraordinary flint implement-a large biface-and discusses its significance in the context of Qesem Cave in particular and the late Lower Palaeolithic Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex of the Levant in general. We contend that this unusually large biface was discarded in an unfinished and unused state, most probably due to a collapse event that took place at the cave some 280,000 years ago.

Memory Scrapers: Readymade Concepts and Techniques as Reflected in Collecting and Recycling Patinated Lower Palaeolithic Items at Qesem Cave, Israel

“…Aside from unmodified flint materials, ‘old’ flaked patinated flint items were also surface-collected for recycling (Efrati et al 2019; Lemorini et al 2016), as were ‘old’ handaxes and spheroids. All are believed to have been collected from older archaeological Acheulian sites (Agam et al 2019; Barkai et al 2013; Barkai & Gopher 2016). Thus, it is well evidenced that the inhabitants of Qesem Cave were highly acquainted with the different resources available both in the cave area and farther afield, and were able to locate and transport large quantities of rock, animal body parts, firewood and most probably other essentials to the cave (Barkai et al 2018).…”

Hand grip diversity and frequency during the use of Lower Palaeolithic stone cutting-tools

“…Although highly variable, the extremes of the replica assemblage conform with rare examples from the archaeological record (e.g. Barkai et al, 2013), and were utilized to push the ranges of grip variation observed. This tool-form variation allowed assessment of the influence of multiple morphological attributes on grip choice.…”

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

“…The surroundings of Qesem Cave provide a variety of natural flint types that were procured by and used for the production of various tool types: flat quadrate slabs suitable for the production of laminar items following Amudian strategies that reach a maximum of 15 cm in length ( Figure 8) (Shimelmitz et al 2011); large-sized nodules for scrapers production (the scrapers themselves measure, on average, 60 mm long, 40 mm wide, 14.5 mm thick and weigh 40 g, reflecting the large size of the nodules selected for their production, Barkai et al 2013); and cobbles and pebbles in different shapes and sizes for the production of flake and laminar blanks (Shimelmitz et al 2011). A sample of over 1000 cores yielded from different assemblages originating from all parts of stratigraphic sequence of the cave (Assaf 2018 unpublished manuscript) reflects varied exploitation degrees -most of them to a high degree, weighing less than 50 g. It is important to note, however, that tested flint nodules imported to the cave weigh, on average, 140 g (while the small pebbles described in this paper weigh, on average 49 g), implying that at least some of the original raw materials used for shaping cores were significantly larger than the cores found at the cave (at the last phase of their life history).…”