Origin of an Early Upper Palaeolithic obsidian burin at Ksar Akil (Lebanon): Evidence of increased connectivity ahead of the Levantine Aurignacian?

Frahm, Ellery; Tryon, Christian A.

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102060

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Previous studies showed that Cappadocian obsidian was circulated among the Near East Chataigner 1998, Binder andFrahm and Tryon 2019;Frahm and Hauck 2017), but although the obsidian technology in Central Anatolian sites was related to the obsidian sources in the region, there is currently no evidence to attest to their direct role in the circulation and distribution of Cappadocian obsidian to other regions. 5 It seems previously mentioned sites procured obsidian from other sources for their local consumption.…”

Section: Archaeological Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 97%

A New Aceramic Neolithic Site Nearby the Obsidian Sources: Preliminary Insights from Sırçalıtepe

Balcı¹,

Algül²,

Mouralis³

et al. 2021

anar

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This paper is a general assessment of the studies conducted in 2019 and 2020 at the site of Sırçalıtepe. The settlement, which is dated to the 8th mill BCE, is located in the Volcanic Cappadocia region, within the borders of the Kayırlı village in the province of Niğde. With its location, it can be characterised as the nearest site to the Göllüdağ and Nenezi Dağ obsidian sources in the region. The excavations at Sırçalıtepe were carried out in two different areas of the mound. One trench is the slope trench with documented architectural remains and finds related to daily life, and the other trench is from the top of the mound where obsidian knapping debris is present in proportions commonly seen in workshop areas. The architectural remains discovered in the slope trench involve mudbrick walls, lime plastered floors, and large ovens. However, the investigated area from the top trench with abundant cores and knapping debris reveals the difference between Sırçalıtepe and other contemporaneous sites in the region. Thus, it can be argued that Sırçalıtepe, especially with its obsidian artefacts, has the potential for revealing the relationship between the workshop and the site. Portable XRF analyses performed on a group of obsidian artefacts showed that the settlement inhabitants used Göllüdağ, Nenezi Dağ, and Acıgöl obsidian sources.

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Section: Archaeological Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 97%

A New Aceramic Neolithic Site Nearby the Obsidian Sources: Preliminary Insights from Sırçalıtepe

Balcı¹,

Algül²,

Mouralis³

et al. 2021

anar

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“…However, at sites like Sibilo School Road, hominins were traveling up to 166 km to obtain obsidian raw materials (Blegen 2017) and at Tsodilo Hills Middle Stone Age people transported silcrete over 220 km (Nash et al 2013a). In the Armenian Highlands, obsidian artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic site of Aghitu-3 Cave were manufactured on sources that ranged from 40 to over 200 km away (Frahm and Tryon, 2019). Remarkably, a burin was recovered from Ksar Akil in Lebanon that was made on obsidian sourced from Turkey which is estimated to be ~ 700 km away by foot (Frahm and Tryon, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Armenian Highlands, obsidian artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic site of Aghitu-3 Cave were manufactured on sources that ranged from 40 to over 200 km away (Frahm and Tryon, 2019). Remarkably, a burin was recovered from Ksar Akil in Lebanon that was made on obsidian sourced from Turkey which is estimated to be ~ 700 km away by foot (Frahm and Tryon, 2019). While these variations in distance traveled may have to do with raw material selection and how it is distributed across a landscape, ethnographic evidence suggests that distances up to 100 km and beyond might be indicative of social connections (Goldstein et al 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three South African silcrete sources can be identified regardless of heat treatment using solution ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS

Hirniak,

Murray,

Zipkin

2023

Preprint

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Silcrete is widely used for stone tool manufacture throughout various parts of the world and is sometimes heat-treated to improve flaking quality. Properly sourcing this raw material can provide insight into exchange networks and mobility patterns of early human populations, however, we only have a minor understanding of how heat treatment impacts the geochemistry of silcrete and how this varies between and within sources. This is particularly important in South Africa where heat-treated silcrete artifacts are common during the later Middle Stone Age. Here, we examine how heat treatment affects the geochemical composition of silcrete from three sources near the Pinnacle Point site complex in South Africa. We selected five unheated and five experimentally heat-treated silcrete samples from each source (n = 30) for solution ICP-MS analysis. We also test whether laser ablation ICP-MS is a viable method for sourcing silcrete since sample preparation for solution analyses can be challenging (i.e., use of harsh chemicals, issues digesting the sample). Our results suggest that all sources can be distinguished regardless of the treatment state and for both analytical approaches. The results of this study will help inform future provenience studies of silcrete artifacts to better understand how early humans living near Pinnacle Point interacted with the landscape.

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“…Specifically, scholars have argued that raw material transport over larger distances is a signature of modern behaviour (Bar-Yosef, 2002), corresponding to the extent of territories and social networks of human groups. Examples of such transport behaviour are known throughout the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic of Europe and the Near East (Binford, 1980;Feblot-Augustins, 1993;Bar-Yosef, 2002;Sano, 2010;Ekshtain et al, 2017;Frahm and Hauck, 2017;O'Leary et al, 2017;Caruana et al, 2019;Ditchfield and Ward, 2019;Frahm and Tryon, 2019) and some evidence is known in Central Asia (Khatsenovich et al, 2020). In addition, the studies of physical and mechanical properties of rocks can reveal the purposeful raw material selection behaviour of hominins (Domanski et al, 1994;Lerner et al, 2007;Schmidt et al, 2017;, which contributes to the debate on what structured raw material sourcing strategies can be considered to constitute modern behaviour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary results of the first lithic raw material survey in the piedmont zones of Kazakhstan

Namen¹,

Cuthbertson²,

Varis³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The study of raw materials focuses on different aspects of hominin behaviour such as mobility strategies, land-use patterns and raw material transfer. They were comprehensively studied in the Palaeolithic of Europe and Africa. However, systematic studies of raw material sourcing have not been undertaken for the Palaeolithic of Kazakhstan, such surveys being embedded in reconnaissance works aimed at discovering new Palaeolithic sites. Our study presents preliminary results of the first lithic raw material survey in Kazakhstan. The study is based on outcrop surveying, collecting and sampling of potential sources of raw materials, and on a substantial literature review. The current study distinguishes the geographic patterns of land-use and their correlation with the lithic assemblages from stratified sites. Here, we describe primary and secondary sources of raw materials, and compare them macroscopically with the assemblages of stone tools. The survey results show a heterogeneous distribution of raw materials throughout the study regions. Macroscopic observations of lithic assemblages, and data extracted from literature suggest that hominins primarily selected locally occurring raw materials. Additionally, regional difference in the utilisation of a particular type of raw material which can be observed through the macroscopic examination of the lithic collections are confirmed by survey results.

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Origin of an Early Upper Palaeolithic obsidian burin at Ksar Akil (Lebanon): Evidence of increased connectivity ahead of the Levantine Aurignacian?

Cited by 8 publications

References 82 publications

A New Aceramic Neolithic Site Nearby the Obsidian Sources: Preliminary Insights from Sırçalıtepe

A New Aceramic Neolithic Site Nearby the Obsidian Sources: Preliminary Insights from Sırçalıtepe

Three South African silcrete sources can be identified regardless of heat treatment using solution ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS

Preliminary results of the first lithic raw material survey in the piedmont zones of Kazakhstan

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