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On the Function of Late Acheulean Stone Tools: New Data from Three Specific Archaeological Contexts at the Lower Palaeolithic Site of Revadim, Israel

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On the Function of Late Acheulean Stone Tools: New Data from Three Specific Archaeological Contexts at the Lower Palaeolithic Site of Revadim, Israel Lithic Technology ISSN: 0197-7261 (Print) 2051-6185 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ylit20 On the Function of Late Acheulean Stone Tools: New Data From Three Specific Archaeological Contexts at the Lower Palaeolithic Site of Revadim, Israel Andrea Zupancich, Natalya Solodenko, Tamar Rosenberg-Yefet & Ran Barkai To cite this article: Andrea Zupancich, Natalya Solodenko, Tamar Rosenberg-Yefet & Ran Barkai (2018) On the Function of Late Acheulean Stone Tools: New Data From Three Specific Archaeological Contexts at the Lower Palaeolithic Site of Revadim, Israel, Lithic Technology, 43:4, 255-268, DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2018.1523098 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2018.1523098 Published online: 24 Sep 2018. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 339 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ylit20 LITHIC TECHNOLOGY 2018, VOL. 43, NO. 4, 255–268 https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2018.1523098 On the Function of Late Acheulean Stone Tools: New Data From Three Specific Archaeological Contexts at the Lower Palaeolithic Site of Revadim, Israel Andrea Zupancich a,b, Natalya Solodenkoa, Tamar Rosenberg-Yefeta and Ran Barkaia aDepartment of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; bDANTE Diet and Ancient Technology Laboratory, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy ABSTRACT KEYWORDS The Acheulean represents one of the most widespread cultural complexes spanning from Africa to Acheulean; stone tools; use Eurasia between 1.8 and 0.2 Mya. The site of Revadim, located on the southern coastal plain of wear; Revadim; Levant Israel, represent one of the rare opportunities allowing to perform detailed functional analysis of stone tool assemblages from such old contexts. This paper presents data originating from the functional analysis of three lithic assemblages coming from two areas of the site (B and C). Our results suggest that at Revadim most of the tools were used for the processing of soft materials, possibly related to butchering activities along with some tools used to process vegetal materials and bone. The evidence here presented highlight the use wear potentials of Revadim and its implication in the investigation of the range of activities performed by Levantine Acheulean early human groups. Introduction tools. Solodenko et al. (2015) identified traces related The Acheulean represents the most geographically and to hide, animal tissues and wood processing on some chronologically wide spread Lower Palaeolithic cultural stone tools unearthed from a particularly well-preserved complex (Bar-Yosef, 1994; Lepre et al., 2011; Stiles, context at Revadim (Israel), while Viallet (2015, 2016) 1979). Acheulean contexts are found both in Africa ad identified edge damage associated to percussion activi- Eurasia and are dated between 1.8 and 0.2 Mya. Com- ties at the Acheulean sites of Terra Amata and Lazaret monly associated with Homo ergaster/erectus the lithic Cave. Moreover, relevant results have been obtained assemblages are composed by flakes and flaked tools, from the analysis of two Acheulean contexts from the with bifacially flaked tools, namely handaxes or Large Italian peninsula, La Polledrara di Cecanibbio, la Ficon- Cutting Tools (LCT), representing the hallmark of this cella and Valle Giumentina (Aureli et al., 2015; Nicoud techno complex (Finkel & Barkai, 2018; Hodgson, 2015; et al., 2015; Santucci et al., 2016). Traces associated to Moncel, 1995; Moncel et al., 2015; Sharon, 2009). Numer- the working of soft or medium-hard materials were ous experimental works have been performed on the use identified on the small tool composing the lithic assem- of Acheulean tools, in particular regarding the function of blage of La Ficoncella (Aureli et al., 2015). At La Polle- bifaces and cleavers, highlighting the great potential of drara, use wear use wear analysis indicated that most these tools in butchering and wood working activities of the tools were utilized in butchering activities, with (Gingerich & Stanford, 2016; McCall, 2005; Merritt, several specimens exploited to process wood. Traces 2012). Yet, only few works focused on the application associated to butchering have been observed as well of use wear and/or residues analyses on Acheulean on some of the tools found at the site of Valle Giumen- implements (Aureli et al., 2015; Domìnguez-Rodrigo tina (Nicoud et al., 2015). This paper presents new data et al., 2001; Nicoud et al., 2015; Santucci et al., 2016; Solo- concerning use wear analysis performed on a lithic denko et al., 2015; Viallet, 2015, 2016), mainly due to the sample coming from the late Acheulean Lower Palaeo- state of preservation of the artifacts, often not allowing lithic site of Revadim. Use-wear analysis was performed detailed functional studies. However, these studies on three lithic assemblages coming from distinct archae- demonstrated that use wear and residues analyses can ological contexts at two areas of the site: Area B be performed on such old contexts, providing relevant (Localities 23 and 24) and Area C (Layer 5). The analysis and detailed results regarding the use of Acheulean performed allowed to identify edge damage and, in CONTACT Andrea Zupancich [email protected] Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; DANTE Diet and Ancient Technology Laboratory, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group 256 A. ZUPANCICH ET AL. several cases, micro wear associated to the use of the and Dama cf. are the most represented animals within tools, providing consistent data regarding their function. the faunal assemblages of the site (Agam, Marder, & The data presented in this paper provides relevant Barkai, 2014; Rabinovich et al., 2012; Solodenko et al., insights concerning the behavior of the early human 2015). groups of Revadim, an archaeological context represent- ing a rare and valuable opportunity to investigate early Area B (Localities 23 and 24) human behavior in the Levant during the Lower Palaeolithic. Area B spreads for 94m2 and its associated lithic assem- blage comprises 27.591 flint items (for details see Solo- denko et al., 2015). Two layers have been identified in Revadim this area, namely B1 and B2, the former consisting in The site of Revadim Quarry is located 40 km southeast of patches of faunal and lithic remains, while the latter is Tel Aviv, on the southern Coastal Plain of Israel (Marder characterized by a continuous distribution of flint and et al., 2011)(Figure 1). During the four years of exca- bones (Marder et al., 2011). Of particular interest is the pres- vation, four Areas, A to D, have been excavated along ence in Layer 2 of elephant remains including two elephant with several trenches (Marder et al., 2011; Rabinovich ribs, one of which exhibiting cut marks, a vertebrae plate et al., 2012). The geological sequence of Revadim has and seven tooth fragments (Marder et al., 2011; Rabinovich been dated through palaeomagnetic analyses (for et al., 2012; Solodenko et al., 2015). Localities 23 and 24 details see Marder et al., 2011), it exhibits a normal were found at the bottom of Layer B2. Both localities, polarity and suggests an age younger than 780 kya for placed next to each other at the same elevation, are the site (Marder et al., 2011). U-Th was used to date the located in the northern portion of Area B (Figure 2(a,b,c)). carbonate coating present on the flint items unearthed The assemblage of locality 23 includes 116 items and at the site, providing dates between 300 and 500 kya, locus 24 characterized by 822 items (for details see Table which allow to define a minimum age for the human 1). A number of items (5 from locality 23 and 39 from occupation of the site (Malinsky-Buller, Hovers, & locality 24, including mainly cores and tools) were sent to Marder, 2011). Both the lithic materials and the faunal the Israel Antiquities Authority for drawing purposes and remains unearthed at Revadim allowed to associate the could not be retrieved, thus, not available for this analysis. site to the Late Acheulian of the Levant (Malinsky- From the point of view of assemblage composition, several Buller et al., 2011; Marder et al., 2011). Bifaces, choppers, differences between localities 23 and 24 can be observed. scrapers, flakes and cores, along with a high frequency of The relatively small assemblage of Locality 23 is character- recycled items compose the lithic assemblage found at ized by overall large items, a considerable number of items the site, while Palaeoloxodon antiquus, Bos primigenius defined as natural flint nodules/blocks (“raw material,” n = Figure 1. Localization of the Late Acheulean site of Revadim. LITHIC TECHNOLOGY 257 Figure 2. (a) Area B Loc. 23 and 24. (b) Area B Loc. 24. (c) Loc. 23. (d) Stratigraphic sequence of Area C. 6; 5 per cent) and cores (n = 5; 22 per cent). In contrast, Locality 24, with the ratio between cores and blanks lower frequency of cores (n = 22; 7 per cent), if compared being 1:13. Despite the large proportion of cores in Locality to shaped items, are found in the lithic assemblage of 23, no core trimming elements (CTE) were recognized Table 1. Assemblage composition at Revadim Area B (Loc.23 and 24) and Area C Level 5. Area B Loc. 23 and 24 Area C Level 5 Loc.23 Loc.24 %of %of %of (CU76) (CU77) débitage débitage % of total % of total
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