Tool Fragments from the Late Lower Paleolithic of Tabun Cave, Israel

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Acheulo-Yabrudian (A-Y) is the final manifestation of the Lower Paleolithic of the Levant. This paper reports on numerous A-Y tool fragments discovered among the small finds collected during the Jelinek excavation of Tabun Cave, Israel. Tabun is the longest stratified Paleolithic sequence in the Eastern Mediterranean and includes all three facies of the A-Y. As expected, tool fragments from the Yabrudian facies were broken scrapers and spalls from scraper edges that renewed the scraper with a single oblique blow. The Amudian facies included fragments of utilized and backed blades. Acheulean facies produced biface tips created by end-shock during manufacture or resharpening, deliberate tip removal to renew the edge of the tool, and breakage during use of the handaxe as a wedge. Microwear on tool edges is described. The implications of that wear for activities carried out at the site and for taphonomic conditions in the Tabun deposits are discussed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23548