Patterns of Flint Raw Material Procurement and Use in the Late Neolithic Through Early Bronze Age
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-10-07

For the Neolithic period in the Levant, many studies have looked at the typology and technology of flint tools, as well as use-wear traces. However, little has been written about the raw materials themselves, nor about their geologic sources. During the Neolithic, and into the Bronze Age, dramatic changes in subsistence, site form and size and social structure occurred. These resulted, among other outcomes, in an increase in territoriality. Since territoriality directly relates to the exploitation of flint sources, lithic raw material studies can uncover patterns of land use, territorial ownership and social structure. We address this issue through the petrographic analysis of the lithic assemblages of the Neolithic to Early Bronze Age site of Ein Zippori, Israel. Using visual identifications and some thin-section analysis, we compare samples from the assemblages to geologic samples collected in the region of the site, in order to identify the types of flint used, their geologic sources, and the overall proportions of use of the types. Ein Zippori is located at an abundant source of flint, which was abundantly used, but the assemblages also contain flint from more distant sources, and there are differences in use of raw materials by tool type and through time, which indicate some selectivity in flint choices, even for flint from local sources. In addition, the non-local flints must have been obtained through a separate mechanism or mechanisms, such as trade, direct procurement, or through embedded procurement during other activities. Altogether, these results suggest that factors more complex than simple availability influenced the formation of the lithic assemblages at Ein Zippori.

Wilson 1, Aviad Agam 2 and Avi Gopher 2

1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Brunswick in Saint John, Canada
2 Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University, Israel