Pointing to the Ahmarian. Lithic Technology and the El-Wad Points of Al-Ansab 1

Bibliographic Data

ID9364280
AuthorsJacopo Gennai (0000-0003-2662-2855, University of Cologne, corresponding author), Marcel Schemmel (0000-0002-0435-7651, University of Cologne), Jürgen Richter (0000-0003-2793-7867, University of Cologne)
Year2023
Volume6
Issue1
Publication date2023-01-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Paleolithic Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2520-8217 • E-ISSN: 2520-8217
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s41982-022-00131-x
OpenAlexW4313431778
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited55

The Ahmarian is the earliest fully fledged Upper Palaeolithic Levantine industry, and its hallmark is the el-Wad point, assumed to be a projectile implement. The Ahmarian is a blade-bladelet volumetric industry; however, bladelet production has frequently been portrayed as undifferentiated or secondary to blade production. El-Wad points are blades or bladelets with a fine to steep lateral retouch, often further shaping the tip. The role of bladelets and blades, both in the retouched and unretouched assemblages, is highly debated in order to refine Early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP) taxonomical and technological issues. Here, we use data coming from our excavations at the southern Ahmarian site of Al-Ansab 1 to reconsider the role of bladelets and el-Wad points in the assemblage. We show that bladelet production was key, and blades were mostly used to shape the convexities to produce convergent bladelets. El-Wad point blanks mostly stemmed from an early stage of the reduction sequence, being conventionally classified as small blades or big bladelets. Modification of these blanks likely improved their suboptimal shape, while smaller bladelets were not modified. Our detailed review of the existing literature produced corresponding evidence regarding lithic technology, while the exact function of el-Wad points is still pending on complementary use-wear analyses. With our new data, we expect to provoke a reconsideration of the Ahmarian technological system. As bladelets attract more and more attention in EUP research, we propose that the southern Ahmarian had already fully completed the technological and cultural shift to the preferred use of small projectile inserts

Archaeology · Assemblage (archaeology · Blade (archaeology · Geography · Lithic technology · Projectile point · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Geology

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