Natufian Trade/Exchange in Basalt Implements: Evidence From Northern Israel*

Abstract

Three Natufian base camps in Israel-el-Wad, Hayonim and Eynan-have nearby basalt sources, but WAr ages indicate that their inhabitants obtained implements, made of Miocene-Pliocene and Quaternary basalts, further afield. The nearest locations, in which raw material sources representing the whole range of dated basalts occur within a relatively restricted area, are to be found east of the Jordan Valley, suggesting movement of the material some 1OOkm to el-Wad, 60 km to Hayonim and 20km to Eynan. The exact nature of these longdistance contacts and the underlying social and economic systems and mechanisms are yet to be determined.

Back to the Source—Geochemical Data from Israel for the Provenance Analyses of Basaltic Rock Artefacts and Their Implications on Previous and Future Studies

“…Potassium–argon (K–Ar) dating was introduced as an approach for determining the provenance of basalt tools by Weinstein‐Evron, Lang, Ilani, Steinitz, and Kaufman (); Weinstein‐Evron, Lang, and Ilani (); Weinstein‐Evron, Kaufman, and Bird‐David (). They studied Natufian culture tools (Late Epipalaeolithic period) from sites in the Carmel Mountains and Galilee.…”

“…However, a provenance could not be specified. Additionally, they could not determine if the artefacts were derived from different rocks of the same age (Weinstein‐Evron et al, , , ).…”

Reassessing the Emergence of Village Life in the Near East

“…This entailed widening the range and scope of trade networks, including dentalium shell beads, ochre, malachite, and notably basalt for large ground stone tools (Runnels and van Andel, 1988;Weinstein-Evron et al, 2001). Recent sourcing research has revealed that basalt for Natufian ground stone tools was most often acquired from distant sources, up to 100 km away, rather than local sources (Weinstein-Evron et al, 1999). From this it can be deduced that trade played an important role in building alliances and maintaining good relations with neighboring populations (Kaufman, 1992;Weinstein-Evron et al, 2001).…”

The function of Early Natufian grooved basalt artefacts from el-Wad Terrace, Mount Carmel, Israel: Preliminary results of a use-wear analysis

“…As such, they have been the subject of much research concerning various aspects such as typological and morphological variability, technology of production, functional studies and raw material provenance determination, thereby contributing greatly to our understanding of Natufian economic and social activities (e.g., Perrot 1966;Belfer-Cohen 1988;Wright 1991;Samzun 1994;Weinstein-Evron et al 1995;1999;2001;Dubreuil 2004;Hardy-Smith & Edwards 2004;Eitam 2008;Dubreuil & Grosman 2009;Nadel & Lengyel 2009;Valla 2009;Nadel & Rosenberg 2010;Rosenberg & Nadel 2011;Rosenberg et al 2012;Valla 2012;Edwards 2013;Edwards & Webb 2013;Hayden et al 2013;Rosenberg 2013;Rosenberg & Nadel 2014;Nadel et al 2015).…”

“…At this point we studied different wear patterns produced on compact basalt fragments collected from basaltic outcrops in the Lower Galilee, northern Israel. These basalts resemble the properties of the archaeological artefacts, and are considered as one of the possible sources of basalts worked at el-Wad Terrace (Weinstein-Evron et al 1999). In our experiments we abraded the basalt fragments against various types of materials, including basalt, limestone, travertine, coastal aeolianite ('kurkar'), wood and reeds (some of the experiments and resulting use-wear are presented in Figure 2).…”