E Assaf
Biographic Data
| ID | 37923 |
|---|---|
| NAME | E Assaf |
| GIVEN NAMES | E |
| FAMILY NAME | Assaf |
| SIGNATURE | ASSAF E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Tel Aviv University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0489-7436 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 276 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
What Once Was Shall Be Again: Palaeolithic Bifaces at the Neolithic Site of Giv'at Rabi East
Giv'at Rabi East is a Pre‐Pottery Neolithic B site located in northern Israel, interpreted as a flint workshop. One area has been spatially identified as a ‘biface locality’; it is characterized by the presence of finished axes and preforms alongside débitage. Interestingly, Acheulean bifaces have also been recovered from this area. Aside from these, no other diagnostic Lower Palaeolithic artefacts have been identified, and the integrity of the N…
Skills and technological innovations in the Middle Palaeolithic Levant: The Levallois approach at Givat Rabi East
The Levallois method is a hallmark of Middle Palaeolithic technology, reflecting complex cognitive and technical behaviours. This study analyses the Levallois assemblage from Givat Rabi East (GRE), an open-air site in the Levant, to investigate technological adaptability and cultural transmission. Detailed analysis of cores, products, and core trimming elements reveals distinct reduction strategies and evidence of apprenticeship. The analysis rev…
Additive Partitioning of Shannon Diversity in Palaeolithic Zooarchaeology: A Case Study from Qesem Cave
Understanding how faunal diversity is internally organized remains a central but still underdeveloped issue in Palaeolithic zooarchaeology. This paper proposes additive partitioning of Shannon diversity to the published faunal datasets from Qesem Cave (Israel) to determine whether assemblage diversity is structured mainly by contrasts among predefined analytical groups or by heterogeneity retained within them. In practical terms, total Shannon di…
Child in Time: Children as Liminal Agents in Upper Paleolithic Decorated Caves
Among the multiple zoomorphic and geometric images that dominate Upper Paleolithic decorated cave walls in Europe, some intriguing human hand stencils and finger flutings stand out. Dozens of these marks are attributed to toddlers and children aged 2–12. Accompanied by older group members, they entered these deep, oxygen-depleted and sensory-deprived spaces, climbing and crawling in dark, wet, difficult-to-navigate environments where one might ea…
Technological Reconstruction of Lower Paleolithic Shaped Stone Balls: Experimental and Archaeological Insights
The use of shaped stone balls to extract marrow: A matter of skill? Experimental- traceological approach
Technological skills associated with the Paleolithic culture have been explored extensively in recent years, with regard to the production of stone tools. Aspects of skill related to the use of these tools, however, have yet to be comprehensively explored. In this paper, we use a combined experimental-traceological approach to explore aspects of skill in the use of Lower Paleolithic (LP) shaped stone balls (SSBs) as percussion tools for marrow ex…
Set in Stone: Human–Horse Relations as Embodied in Shaped Stone Balls
The enigmatic presence of uniquely shaped, spherical stones attracted the attention of archaeologists at Oldowan sites in Africa as early as a century ago. Shaped stone balls (SSBs) are among the oldest implements used by humans. For nearly 2 million years, they accompanied ancient humans as a stable cultural anchor throughout the Lower Paleolithic period and beyond. These tools reflect techno-cultural processes and Lower Paleolithic human percep…
Exploring the lack of articular ends at the Middle Pleistocene site of Qesem Cave, Israel
Biased skeletal part representation is a key element for making inferences about transport decisions, carcass procurement, and use patterns in anthropogenic accumulations. In the absence of destructive taphonomic processes, it is often assumed that the abundance of different anatomical portions represents selective transport and discard patterns of human groups. Because body parts may be transported for specific products such as meat, marrow or g…
Lower Paleolithic Shaped Stone Balls—What Is Next? Some Cultural–Cognitive Questions
Shaped stone balls (SSBs) were an integral part of human culture across the Old World for nearly 2 million years. They are one of the oldest implements made and used by humans. In this significant era, which was characterised by biological and cultural transformations, these round implements were a stable hallmark throughout the Lower Paleolithic period and beyond. However, while much research progress has been made in other stone tool categories…
Learning by Doing: Investigating Skill Through Techno-Functional Study of Recycled Lithic Items from Qesem Cave (Israel)
Raw material selectivity in Lower Paleolithic shaped stone ball production: Experimental Research
Dawn of a new day: The role of children in the assimilation of new technologies throughout the Lower Paleolithic
Throughout the generations: Learning processes and knowledge transmission mechanisms as reflected in lithic assemblages of the terminal Lower Paleolithic Levant
Beyond Tools and Function: The Selection of Materials and the Ontology of Hunter-Gatherers. Ethnographic Evidences and Implications for Palaeolithic Archaeology
In this paper we discuss the universal selection of exceptional materials for tool making in prehistory. The interpretation suggested in the literature for these non-standard materials is usually limited to a general statement, considering possible aesthetic values or a general, mostly unexplained, symbolic meaning. We discuss the implications of viewing these materials as active agents and living vital beings in Palaeolithic archaeology as attes…
Paleolithic aesthetics: Collecting colorful flint pebbles at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel
This paper sheds light on the presence and significance of unusually small, colorful, unmodified, flint pebbles unearthed at Qesem Cave, a late Lower Paleolithic site in Israel. For over two million years, early humans were noticing, collecting and bringing "home" various non-utilitarian objects with aesthetic visible characteristics, in what seems to reflect a basic human trait. Archaeological findings suggest that as early as the Lower Paleolit…
Core sharing: The transmission of knowledge of stone tool knapping in the Lower Palaeolithic, Qesem Cave (Israel)
This study presents evidence of possible early human collaboration – the sharing of procured stone and of knowledge of lithic technology in the Middle Pleistocene at Qesem Cave (Israel). The results of a techno-typological analysis of lithic cores used for knapping stone tools reveal that some cores were shared among several knappers, both experienced and less experienced ones, c 400 ka years ago. This ‘core sharing’ provided inexperienced knappe…
Another Side of the Amudian Industry at Qesem Cave, Israel: The Southern Area Lithic Assemblage
This paper describes the techno-typological affinities of a specific Acheulo-Yabrudian lithic assemblage dated to over 300 ka years ago from Qesem Cave, a middle Pleistocene site in central Israel. Aspects of blade production, knapping trajectories, and lithic recycling are examined in detail, demonstrating that this assemblage, notwithstanding its initial attribution to the blade-dominated Amudian industry, has some specific characteristics diff…
Spatial aspects as seen from a density analysis of lithics at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave: Preliminary results and observations
Knowledge transmission and apprentice flint-knappers in the Acheulo-Yabrudian: A case study from Qesem Cave, Israel
The function of recycled lithic items at late Lower Paleolithic Qesem Cave, Israel: An overview of the use-wear data
Looking for sharp edges: Modes of flint recycling at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel
Intra-site variability in lithic recycling at Qesem Cave, Israel
Looking for sharp edges: Modes of flint recycling at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel
The function of recycled lithic items at late Lower Paleolithic Qesem Cave, Israel: An overview of the use-wear data
Knowledge transmission and apprentice flint-knappers in the Acheulo-Yabrudian: A case study from Qesem Cave, Israel
Intra-site variability in lithic recycling at Qesem Cave, Israel
Spatial aspects as seen from a density analysis of lithics at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave: Preliminary results and observations
Raw material selectivity in Lower Paleolithic shaped stone ball production: Experimental Research
Throughout the generations: Learning processes and knowledge transmission mechanisms as reflected in lithic assemblages of the terminal Lower Paleolithic Levant
Paleolithic aesthetics: Collecting colorful flint pebbles at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel
This paper sheds light on the presence and significance of unusually small, colorful, unmodified, flint pebbles unearthed at Qesem Cave, a late Lower Paleolithic site in Israel. For over two million years, early humans were noticing, collecting and bringing "home" various non-utilitarian objects with aesthetic visible characteristics, in what seems to reflect a basic human trait. Archaeological findings suggest that as early as the Lower Paleolit…
Beyond Tools and Function: The Selection of Materials and the Ontology of Hunter-Gatherers. Ethnographic Evidences and Implications for Palaeolithic Archaeology
In this paper we discuss the universal selection of exceptional materials for tool making in prehistory. The interpretation suggested in the literature for these non-standard materials is usually limited to a general statement, considering possible aesthetic values or a general, mostly unexplained, symbolic meaning. We discuss the implications of viewing these materials as active agents and living vital beings in Palaeolithic archaeology as attes…
Exploring the lack of articular ends at the Middle Pleistocene site of Qesem Cave, Israel
Biased skeletal part representation is a key element for making inferences about transport decisions, carcass procurement, and use patterns in anthropogenic accumulations. In the absence of destructive taphonomic processes, it is often assumed that the abundance of different anatomical portions represents selective transport and discard patterns of human groups. Because body parts may be transported for specific products such as meat, marrow or g…
Set in Stone: Human–Horse Relations as Embodied in Shaped Stone Balls
The enigmatic presence of uniquely shaped, spherical stones attracted the attention of archaeologists at Oldowan sites in Africa as early as a century ago. Shaped stone balls (SSBs) are among the oldest implements used by humans. For nearly 2 million years, they accompanied ancient humans as a stable cultural anchor throughout the Lower Paleolithic period and beyond. These tools reflect techno-cultural processes and Lower Paleolithic human percep…
The use of shaped stone balls to extract marrow: A matter of skill? Experimental- traceological approach
Technological skills associated with the Paleolithic culture have been explored extensively in recent years, with regard to the production of stone tools. Aspects of skill related to the use of these tools, however, have yet to be comprehensively explored. In this paper, we use a combined experimental-traceological approach to explore aspects of skill in the use of Lower Paleolithic (LP) shaped stone balls (SSBs) as percussion tools for marrow ex…
Another Side of the Amudian Industry at Qesem Cave, Israel: The Southern Area Lithic Assemblage
This paper describes the techno-typological affinities of a specific Acheulo-Yabrudian lithic assemblage dated to over 300 ka years ago from Qesem Cave, a middle Pleistocene site in central Israel. Aspects of blade production, knapping trajectories, and lithic recycling are examined in detail, demonstrating that this assemblage, notwithstanding its initial attribution to the blade-dominated Amudian industry, has some specific characteristics diff…
Learning by Doing: Investigating Skill Through Techno-Functional Study of Recycled Lithic Items from Qesem Cave (Israel)
The function of recycled lithic items at late Lower Paleolithic Qesem Cave, Israel: An overview of the use-wear data
Looking for sharp edges: Modes of flint recycling at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel
Intra-site variability in lithic recycling at Qesem Cave, Israel
Spatial aspects as seen from a density analysis of lithics at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave: Preliminary results and observations
Knowledge transmission and apprentice flint-knappers in the Acheulo-Yabrudian: A case study from Qesem Cave, Israel
Core sharing: The transmission of knowledge of stone tool knapping in the Lower Palaeolithic, Qesem Cave (Israel)
This study presents evidence of possible early human collaboration – the sharing of procured stone and of knowledge of lithic technology in the Middle Pleistocene at Qesem Cave (Israel). The results of a techno-typological analysis of lithic cores used for knapping stone tools reveal that some cores were shared among several knappers, both experienced and less experienced ones, c 400 ka years ago. This ‘core sharing’ provided inexperienced knappe…
Another Side of the Amudian Industry at Qesem Cave, Israel: The Southern Area Lithic Assemblage
This paper describes the techno-typological affinities of a specific Acheulo-Yabrudian lithic assemblage dated to over 300 ka years ago from Qesem Cave, a middle Pleistocene site in central Israel. Aspects of blade production, knapping trajectories, and lithic recycling are examined in detail, demonstrating that this assemblage, notwithstanding its initial attribution to the blade-dominated Amudian industry, has some specific characteristics diff…
Paleolithic aesthetics: Collecting colorful flint pebbles at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel
This paper sheds light on the presence and significance of unusually small, colorful, unmodified, flint pebbles unearthed at Qesem Cave, a late Lower Paleolithic site in Israel. For over two million years, early humans were noticing, collecting and bringing "home" various non-utilitarian objects with aesthetic visible characteristics, in what seems to reflect a basic human trait. Archaeological findings suggest that as early as the Lower Paleolit…
Dawn of a new day: The role of children in the assimilation of new technologies throughout the Lower Paleolithic
Throughout the generations: Learning processes and knowledge transmission mechanisms as reflected in lithic assemblages of the terminal Lower Paleolithic Levant
Beyond Tools and Function: The Selection of Materials and the Ontology of Hunter-Gatherers. Ethnographic Evidences and Implications for Palaeolithic Archaeology
In this paper we discuss the universal selection of exceptional materials for tool making in prehistory. The interpretation suggested in the literature for these non-standard materials is usually limited to a general statement, considering possible aesthetic values or a general, mostly unexplained, symbolic meaning. We discuss the implications of viewing these materials as active agents and living vital beings in Palaeolithic archaeology as attes…
Learning by Doing: Investigating Skill Through Techno-Functional Study of Recycled Lithic Items from Qesem Cave (Israel)
Raw material selectivity in Lower Paleolithic shaped stone ball production: Experimental Research
Lower Paleolithic Shaped Stone Balls—What Is Next? Some Cultural–Cognitive Questions
Shaped stone balls (SSBs) were an integral part of human culture across the Old World for nearly 2 million years. They are one of the oldest implements made and used by humans. In this significant era, which was characterised by biological and cultural transformations, these round implements were a stable hallmark throughout the Lower Paleolithic period and beyond. However, while much research progress has been made in other stone tool categories…
Set in Stone: Human–Horse Relations as Embodied in Shaped Stone Balls
The enigmatic presence of uniquely shaped, spherical stones attracted the attention of archaeologists at Oldowan sites in Africa as early as a century ago. Shaped stone balls (SSBs) are among the oldest implements used by humans. For nearly 2 million years, they accompanied ancient humans as a stable cultural anchor throughout the Lower Paleolithic period and beyond. These tools reflect techno-cultural processes and Lower Paleolithic human percep…
Exploring the lack of articular ends at the Middle Pleistocene site of Qesem Cave, Israel
Biased skeletal part representation is a key element for making inferences about transport decisions, carcass procurement, and use patterns in anthropogenic accumulations. In the absence of destructive taphonomic processes, it is often assumed that the abundance of different anatomical portions represents selective transport and discard patterns of human groups. Because body parts may be transported for specific products such as meat, marrow or g…
Child in Time: Children as Liminal Agents in Upper Paleolithic Decorated Caves
Among the multiple zoomorphic and geometric images that dominate Upper Paleolithic decorated cave walls in Europe, some intriguing human hand stencils and finger flutings stand out. Dozens of these marks are attributed to toddlers and children aged 2–12. Accompanied by older group members, they entered these deep, oxygen-depleted and sensory-deprived spaces, climbing and crawling in dark, wet, difficult-to-navigate environments where one might ea…
Technological Reconstruction of Lower Paleolithic Shaped Stone Balls: Experimental and Archaeological Insights
The use of shaped stone balls to extract marrow: A matter of skill? Experimental- traceological approach
Technological skills associated with the Paleolithic culture have been explored extensively in recent years, with regard to the production of stone tools. Aspects of skill related to the use of these tools, however, have yet to be comprehensively explored. In this paper, we use a combined experimental-traceological approach to explore aspects of skill in the use of Lower Paleolithic (LP) shaped stone balls (SSBs) as percussion tools for marrow ex…
What Once Was Shall Be Again: Palaeolithic Bifaces at the Neolithic Site of Giv'at Rabi East
Giv'at Rabi East is a Pre‐Pottery Neolithic B site located in northern Israel, interpreted as a flint workshop. One area has been spatially identified as a ‘biface locality’; it is characterized by the presence of finished axes and preforms alongside débitage. Interestingly, Acheulean bifaces have also been recovered from this area. Aside from these, no other diagnostic Lower Palaeolithic artefacts have been identified, and the integrity of the N…
Skills and technological innovations in the Middle Palaeolithic Levant: The Levallois approach at Givat Rabi East
The Levallois method is a hallmark of Middle Palaeolithic technology, reflecting complex cognitive and technical behaviours. This study analyses the Levallois assemblage from Givat Rabi East (GRE), an open-air site in the Levant, to investigate technological adaptability and cultural transmission. Detailed analysis of cores, products, and core trimming elements reveals distinct reduction strategies and evidence of apprenticeship. The analysis rev…
Additive Partitioning of Shannon Diversity in Palaeolithic Zooarchaeology: A Case Study from Qesem Cave
Understanding how faunal diversity is internally organized remains a central but still underdeveloped issue in Palaeolithic zooarchaeology. This paper proposes additive partitioning of Shannon diversity to the published faunal datasets from Qesem Cave (Israel) to determine whether assemblage diversity is structured mainly by contrasts among predefined analytical groups or by heterogeneity retained within them. In practical terms, total Shannon di…
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (21 works) · Archaeology (17 works) · Geography (16 works) · Cave (13 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (12 works) · Stone tool (11 works) · Geology (9 works) · Lithic technology (8 works) · Pleistocene (8 works) · Upper Paleolithic (7 works)