Shacks and Scraps: Understanding Middle Epipaleolithic Site Structure in the Southern Levant through Taphonomic Analysis of Faunal Refuse

Summary

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

We explored the spatial organization of the Middle Epipaleolithic site of Neve David (Mt. Carmel, Israel) through macro and micro contextual taphonomy of ungulate bones. The Epipaleolithic (23,000-11,500 cal BP) of the southern Levant is renowned for its cultural diversity, culminating with the complex hunter-gather Natufian culture. Emerging research from earlier Epipaleolithic sites suggest complex behavior began prior to the Natufian and this assumption should be reevaluated against preceding evidence. The site of Neve David is an exceptional case study to understand pre-Natufian site structure, due to its high density and diversity of finds, in situ activity areas, and stone architectural features. Our study incorporates micro and macro zooarchaeological techniques to characterize differential preservation and distribution of bones from various localities. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) assisted in assessing the preservation of bone, augmented by conventional taphonomic analyses. FTIR results revealed no evidence of differential bone mineral or collagen preservation from each intra-site locality. Contextual taphonomy showed increased activity in one context, associated with higher frequencies of burned specimens. These macro and micro observations allowed for a more nuanced understanding of bone assemblage formation and site organization, contributing to our knowledge of pre-Natufian site structure.

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): 25463