Direct luminescence chronology of the Epipaleolithic Kebaran site of Nahal Hadera V, Israel

Abstract

We report direct luminescence ages for the culture-bearing sediments of the Kebaran site of Nahal Hadera V (NHV) in the coastal plain of Israel. Although the site contains, in addition to rich lithic deposits, plentiful mammalian bone, it has proved to be undatable using radiocarbon dating, in spite of the fact that the cultural context places the time of occupation well within the range of radiocarbon dating. In contrast, luminescence dating of the site sediments proved successful. Luminescence ages were determined using the single aliquot additive-dose (SAA) method, applied to sand-sized quartz extracts to determine past equivalent doses (D e ). Dose rates (R) were calculated using thick source alpha counting for the uranium (U) and thorium (Th) concentrations and x-ray fluorescence analysis for the potassium (K 2 0) concentration. Of the five samples collected at the site, four represent cultural and subcultural deposits and the fifth represents the geological substrate for the archaeological deposit, a quartzrich, carbonate-cemented dune sand known as aeolianite or kurkar. The luminescence age of the kurkar is 42.7 Ϯ 6.3 ka. Human occupation of the site occurred between 21.3 ka and 14.0 ka ago, during the Last Glacial Maximum. ᭧

Gazelle bone fat processing in the Levantine Epipalaeolithic

“…Nahal Hadera V is an open-air site with deep cultural deposits containing artifacts characteristic of the Kebaran phase. Direct luminescence dating of sand from the site suggests that human occupation occurred between 21 and 14 cal kya [40]. The site preserved high densities of artifacts including lithic and groundstone tools.…”

Mapping Post-Glacial expansions: The Peopling of Southwest Asia

“…Climate change impacts on population mobility and cultural developments have been hotly debated2. Aridity restricted larger human populations to refugia sited around the Mediterranean3, the Black Sea4, and possibly the southern Arabian Peninsula5, that were distinguished by tool cultures in the archaeological record67, during the Last Glacial Period (LGP) ending some 12 ka. Post-glacial warming, and later, agriculture, allowed expansions of these populations within SW Asia8.…”

Ein Qedem 2. A Kebaran site in Nahal Galim, Mount Carmel, Israel

“…Kebaran sites are known in, and on the fringes of, the Carmel Range (including the coastal plain) at sites such as Haifa 1 and probably Haifa 2 (Olami 1984.21-24;, Nahal Oren (Bar-Yosef 1970.33-41;Noy et al 1973;Stekelis, Yizraely 1963), Sefunim (Ronen 1984), Raqefet Cave (Lengyel 2009Nadel et al 2008), andKebara (BarYosef 1970;Bar-Yosef et al 1992;Turville-Peter 1932), and at more distant locations such as Ma'agan Michael (Prausnitz 1969), the Nahal Hadera sites complex (Godfrey-Smith et al 2003;Gophna et al 1973;Ronen, Kaufman 1976;Ronen et al 1975;Saxon et al 1978;Shimelmitz 2002), and other occurrences on the Mediterranean Coastal Plain and the Carmel Range (see Bar-Yosef 1970;1991;Olami 1984). EQ2 is thus one of several other Kebaran occurrences in this area of the southern Levant.…”