The function of recycled lithic items at late Lower Paleolithic Qesem Cave, Israel: An overview of the use-wear data

Lemorini, Cristina; Venditti, Flavia; Assaf, Ella; Parush, Yoni; Barkai, Ran; Gopher, Avi

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.07.032

Cited by 61 publications

(46 citation statements)

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“…These blanks are removed from the ventral face or the lateraleventral side of the COF-FF resulting in specific and identifiable blanks, characterized by a functional regular sharp edge, a standardized morphology and areas that allow for a comfortable grip. The recycling process is a repetitive action that allowed the Qesem Cave hominins to cope with their functional needs (Lemorini et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, it is important to emphasize the Yabrudian and Amudian industries share many techno-typological features, differing from one another mainly in frequencies. The recycling of lithic artifacts at Qesem Cave is a conspicuous phenomenon, present in all lithic assemblages and all archaeological contexts at the cave, and mainly manifested in the production of small flakes or blades from a "parent" flake (Lemorini et al, 2006(Lemorini et al, , 2015Barkai and Gopher, 2013;Assaf et al, 2015;Parush et al, 2015). A study of human dental remains from Qesem indicated that the hominins who inhabited the cave were not Homo erectus but rather more similar to later modern populations (e.g., Skhul, Qafzeh) of this region while also exhibiting some Neanderthal affinities (Hershkovitz et al, 2011).…”

Section: Regional Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The blanks used for COF-FFs at Qesem appear in a variety of shapes, blank types and vary in size thus indicating that they were not intentionally fashioned in order to be transformed into COF-FFs but rather selected from the wide array of lithic products available on-(perhaps also off-) site (see Lemorini et al, 2015;Parush et al, 2015). Thus, the COF-FFs represent a production trajectory of small flakes by means of recycling.…”

Section: Analysis Of the Lithic Recycling Phenomenonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the density of COFFFs in the Amudian is significantly higher than in the Yabrudian (17.34 items per m 3 and 6.25 in the Yabrudian). Lateral double ventral items are the densest recycled items, and following a preliminary use-wear study (Lemorini et al, 2015) it could be related to the processing of plants. Regular double ventral items are also dense in both studied assemblages, suggesting frequent cutting and processing of meat in this area by using small recycled cutting tools (Lemorini et al, 2015).…”

Section: Item Densitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Amudian versus Yabrudian under the rock shelf: A study of two lithic assemblages from Qesem Cave, Israel

Parush

Gopher

Barkai

2016

Quaternary International

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Regional Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Analysis Of the Lithic Recycling Phenomenonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Item Densitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Amudian versus Yabrudian under the rock shelf: A study of two lithic assemblages from Qesem Cave, Israel

Parush

Gopher

Barkai

2016

Quaternary International

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“…In the last few years, the production of dimensionally reduced toolkits were commonly identified in Middle Palaeolithic sites in the Iberian Peninsula, western Europe, and the Levant and often related to ramification processes and Kombewa-type production (e.g., Bourguignon et al 2004;Cortés 2007;Fernández Peris 2007;Galván et al 2009;Giles Pachego et al 2012;Kuhn 1995;Romagnoli 2015). These short products had specific functional characteristics related to their short dimensions and to the highly sharpened edge and were most probably used in a variety of activities in which the accuracy of the gesture to be performed was a priority for the task to be successful (Barkai et al 2010;Lemorini et al 2015). Also in Levallois techno-complexes, even if less systematically studied, 'micro' production has been described in the Cantabrian region (Rios-Garaizar 2010;2017); in the Valencian region (Villaverde et al 2012); in France (Molés & Boutié 2009;Turq et al 2008), Switzerland (Le Tensorier 1998), Greece (Koumouzelis et al 2001); and in the Levant (Goren-Inbar 1988).…”

Section: Journal Of Lithic Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing a hypothesis about the importance of the quality of raw material on technological changes at Abric Romaní (Capellades, Spain): Some considerations using a high-resolution techno-economic perspective

Romagnoli

Bargalló

Chacón

et al. 2016

JLS

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Abstract:Technological changes have been identified in several European Middle Palaeolithic sites. Specifically, the turnover in discoid and Levallois knapping methods has traditionally been explained by raw material constraints that are usually related to foraging areas and mobility strategies of Neanderthal groups. While Levallois production requires high homogeneous blocks, predominant discoid techno-complexes have generally been interpreted as better adapted to the scarcity of high quality raw material, not only for the lowest degree of control in products morphology, but also for their multitask characteristics. Nevertheless, the impact of the quality of raw material has never been systematically studied. Furthermore, technological analyses usually consider the lithic assemblage as a whole and do not dissect assemblages to identify single events, which are units that are needed to interpret relationships between technological organisation, human mobility, economic strategies, and settlement patterns. Here, we present an application of technological analysis with a high-resolution approach to investigate, in detail, how raw material quality affected production and how Neanderthals managed the low quality of Sant Martí de Tous chert within Levallois and discoid concepts. We used Raw Material Units and refits as units of analysis with a diacritical approach. The results suggested that the Levallois organisation of the reduction sequence in layer O included a phase of selection of the block and its systematic cutting-down, as well as quite standardised productive procedures and a high fragmentation of the productive sequence within the landscape. In layer M discoid sequences showed a high internal variability as a response to raw material constraints, and most of the production was usually manufactured at the site. Data implied that factors others than the quality of raw material determined the technological turnover at Abric Romaní, suggesting that social organisation and settlement patterns have most probably played a more significant role than foraging area.

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The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene

Ben-Dor

Sirtoli

Barkai

2021

American J Phys Anthropol

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The human trophic level (HTL) during the Pleistocene and its degree of variability serve, explicitly or tacitly, as the basis of many explanations for human evolution, behavior, and culture. Previous attempts to reconstruct the HTL have relied heavily on an analogy with recent hunter-gatherer groups' diets. In addition to technological differences, recent findings of substantial ecological differences between the Pleistocene and the Anthropocene cast doubt regarding that analogy's validity. Surprisingly little systematic evolution-guided evidence served to reconstruct HTL. Here, we reconstruct the HTL during the Pleistocene by reviewing evidence for the impact of the HTL on the biological, ecological, and behavioral systems derived from various existing studies. We adapt a paleobiological and paleoecological approach, including evidence from human physiology and genetics, archaeology, paleontology, and zoology, and identified 25 sources of evidence in total. The evidence shows that the trophic level of the Homo lineage that most probably led to modern humans evolved from a low base to a high, carnivorous position during the Pleistocene, beginning with Homo habilis and peaking in Homo erectus. A reversal of that trend appears in the Upper Paleolithic, strengthening in the Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, and culminating with the advent of agriculture. We conclude that it is possible to reach a credible reconstruction of the HTL without relying on a simple analogy with recent hunter-gatherers' diets. The memory of an adaptation to a trophic level that is embedded in modern humans' biology in the form of genetics, metabolism, and morphology is a fruitful line of investigation of past HTLs, whose potential we have only started to explore.

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The function of recycled lithic items at late Lower Paleolithic Qesem Cave, Israel: An overview of the use-wear data

Cited by 61 publications

References 4 publications

Amudian versus Yabrudian under the rock shelf: A study of two lithic assemblages from Qesem Cave, Israel

Amudian versus Yabrudian under the rock shelf: A study of two lithic assemblages from Qesem Cave, Israel

Testing a hypothesis about the importance of the quality of raw material on technological changes at Abric Romaní (Capellades, Spain): Some considerations using a high-resolution techno-economic perspective

The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene

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