Flint Procurement and Exploitation Strategies in the Late Lower Paleolithic Levant: A View from Acheulo-Yabrudian Qesem Cave (Israel)

Flint Procurement and Exploitation Strategies in the Late Lower Paleolithic Levant examines twelve lithic assemblages from Qesem Cave. Potential flint sources were located, petrographic thin sections of archaeological and geologic samples were studied, and a geochemical analysis was performed. The results show that flint from local Turonian sources was often brought to the cave, forming most of the identified flint. Flint from non-Turonian geologic origins was also used in noteworthy proportions, in specific typotechnological categories. The availability of desired flints around the cave, highly suitable for the production of the commonly-used blades, as well as for the production of other tools, probably played a role in the decision to settle there. The notable proportions of non-Turonian flint types, a pattern that repeats itself through time, demonstrate consistency in accessing sources containing non-local flint, implying the existence of knowledge transmission mechanisms concerning the distribution of sources and the suitability of specific flint types for the production of specific blanks/tools.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures ; List of Tables ; Acknowledgments ; Introduction ; Introduction ; The archaeological contexts ; The Acheulo-Yabrudian cultural complex ; Qesem Cave ; Geological background ; Archaeological raw material studies ; Materials and Methods ; Materials ; Methods ; The Blind Test Evaluation ; Blind test evaluation of consistency in macroscopic lithic raw material sorting ; The rationale behind the blind test ; The blind test – materials and methods ; Blind test results ; The significance of the blind test ; Conclusions and implication of the blind test ; Data Analysis ; Results ; The potential flint sources ; Petrographic data ; Geochemical analysis ; The assignment of the QC flint types to potential geologic origins ; Data analysis ; Discussion and Conclusions ; Appendix ; The QC flint types ; The QC groups of flint types ; The identified potential flint sources ; References

About the Author :
Aviad Agam is a researcher at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He specializes in lithic technology, strategies of lithic procurement and exploitation during Paleolithic and Neolithic times, the use of fire among early humans, and human-proboscidea relations during prehistory. He is a team member of projects at the Acheulo-Yabrudian site Qesem Cave (Israel, 420,000-200,000 years before the present day) and the Late Acheulian sites Revadim and Jaljulia (both in Israel, ~500,000 years before the present day).

Review :
'...this book is another important piece of the puzzle in our effort to reconstruct the lithic landscape of the southern Levant and, with its abundant illustrations, it therefore is an important reference work.' – Christophe Delage (2023): Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies Volume 11, Issue 1