The development of plant food processing in the Levant: insights from use-wear analysis of Early Epipalaeolithic ground stone tools

Abstract

In recent years, the study of percussive, pounding and grinding tools has provided new insights into human evolution, more particularly regarding the development of technology enabling the processing and exploitation of plant resources. Some of these studies focus on early evidence for flour production, an activity frequently perceived as an important step in the evolution of plant exploitation. The present paper investigates plant food preparation in mobile hunter-gatherer societies from the Southern Levant. The analysis consists of a use-wear study of 18 tools recovered from Ohalo II, a 23 000-year-old site in Israel showing an exceptional level of preservation. Our sample includes a slab previously interpreted as a lower implement used for producing flour, based on the presence of cereal starch residues. The use-wear data we have obtained provide crucial information about the function of this and other percussive tools at Ohalo II, as well as on investment in tool manufacture, discard strategies and evidence for plant processing in the Late Pleistocene. The use-wear analysis indicates that the production of flour was a sporadic activity at Ohalo II, predating by thousands of years the onset of routine processing of plant foods.

The use of stone at Ohalo II, a 23,000 year old site in the Jordan Valley, Israel

“…Starch grains of wild wheat, wild barley and wild oats were retrieved from the top side of the stone, while they were rare on the bottom side and the nearby sediments (Nadel et al 2012). Use-wear analysis indicates grinding, although not intensively (Dubreuil & Nadel 2015). Another grinding slab has a saddle-like shape.…”

“…However, they could have also been made deliberately before discard. Use-wear analysis suggests the object may have been used for liquids (Dubreuil & Nadel 2015). Some scars around the broken sides may indicate deliberate breakage of the bowl.…”

“…It was carefully shaped by pecking. Use-wear study (Dubreuil & Nadel 2015) revealed signs of percussion, pounding and abrasion, most likely caused by processing hard minerals. Figure 11.…”

“…We would rather advocate a symbolic behavior of which the social context is unknown. In support, we draw upon several ethnographic studies, where such behavior may have been intended to release the spirit from an object or to express compassion for, or prevent revenge from, a deceased person (e.g., Adams 2008;Dubreuil & Nadel 2015). As shown by Wright (2014) for Holocene archaeological cases, intentional breakage of such tools during 'potlatch-type' events may be locale-specific, and their discard and breakage may be correlated with house abandonment.…”

“…Half of the specimens are irregular shapes and exhibit somewhat uncertain macroscopic use-wear signs. However, one of these implements (OHII-1a57) was studied under the microscope and showed a micropolish typical of skin processing (Dubreuil & Nadel 2015).…”