Handaxes and Cleavers on Flakes of Silicified Limestone at Nahal Barak, Southern Negev and Possible Connections to the Arabian Peninsula Acheulian

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6016579
AutoresOmry Barzilai (0000-0002-7564-392X), Maya Oron (0000-0003-0213-2325), Eli Cohen-Sasson, Gideon Ragolski, Yoav Avni
Año2023
Número49-1
Páginas9-28
Fecha de publicación2023-06-22
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPaléorient (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0153-9345 • E-ISSN: 1957-701X
EditorialOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4000/paleorient.2954
OpenAlexW4386411628
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas58

The current study reports the discovery of a new production site of handaxes and cleavers on flakes at Nahal Barak in the southern Negev Desert, Israel. The Nahal Barak site complex is located immediately below and around a conglomerate outcrop of Pliocene-Early Pleistocene age. The outcrop consists of large boulders of coarse-grained silicified limestone, originally of Middle Eocene age, that were used as giant cores for producing large flakes which in turn were modified into handaxes and cleavers. Handaxes and cleavers on large flakes made from coarse-grained raw materials are quite rare in the Levant and are currently confined to the Middle Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in the Hula Valley. Recent extensive fieldwork in western and central Arabia has revealed production sites for handaxes and cleavers on large flakes from coarse-grained materials such as andesite and rhyolite. These bifacial tools were made on large flakes, produced from giant cores by a distinctive knapping method. The technological characteristics of the Nahal Barak sites show similarities with Acheulian sites in western and central Arabia, especially with the Saffaqah sites near Dwadma where production of coarse-grained handaxes and cleavers from giant andesite cores was documented. This observation implies on cultural connections between the southern Negev region and the Arabian Peninsula during the Lower Palaeolithic period

Andesite · Archaeology · Geography · Outcrop · Peninsula · Volcanic rock · Volcano · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Geology · Paleontology