2022-09-07 BB - It’s All Going According to Plan ... Chaîne Opératoire of Kharaneh IV
Channel: Archaeological Research Facility, UC Berkeley
Date: 13/09/2022

It’s All Going According to Plan: An Investigation of the Chaîne Opératoire of Kharaneh IV
Speaker: Lisa Maher, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, UC Berkeley
ARF Brownbag | September 7 | 12:10-1 p.m. 
Sponsor: Archaeological Research Facility
Abstract: The multi-component Epipalaeolithic site of Kharaneh IV, located in the Azraq Basin of eastern Jordan, documents just over 1000 years of occupation by hunter-gatherer groups during the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Multiple lines of geomorphological, faunal, and archaeobotanical evidence indicate that the environs around the site were well-watered, lushly vegetated, and rich in a wide variety of animal species, clearly drawing human populations to the area. Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic groups congregated repeatedly and for prolonged periods in this verdant landscape, perhaps coming as far as the Mediterranean and Red Seas. Focusing on lithic technology, we explore some of the strategies of these eastern Jordanian groups that resulted in particular patterns of settlement, subsistence and interaction, including the re-occupation of Kharaneh IV. This paper will discuss changes in lithic technology at the site from the Early to the Middle Epipalaeolithic. These changes will be examined through the conceptual framework of the chaîne opératoire; where the entire production, use and discard sequence is considered as integral to understanding how stone tools were developed and maintained at such a unique aggregation site. Changes in the chaîne opératoire from the Early to the Middle Epipalaeolithic illuminate the different strategies employed by the inhabitants of Kharaneh IV, and when paired with other aspects of material culture, highlight changes in these communities over time and their adaptations to a dynamic landscape unlike that of today.