Lithic Procurement at a Levantine Desert Refugium during the Middle Pleistocene

Summary

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

Recent excavations at Shishan Marsh 1 in the Azraq Basin, Jordan have uncovered several artifact-bearing layers that date to the late Middle Pleistocene (300-220kya; 130-120kya). A paleoecological assessment of sediments from this period indicates predominantly arid and warm conditions in the region, similar to those of the present. Hominins living under these conditions were forced to contract around a receding spring- and wadi-fed water source or refugium for subsistence. Consequently, Shishan Marsh 1 presents the opportunity to investigate lithic procurement strategies practiced by Lower/Middle Paleolithic hominins in a water-stressed environment. Chert is the dominant type of lithic material of the hand axe assemblage. A provenance study of potential raw material sources in the region and the hand axe assemblage was conducted using ICP-MS. The results indicate that local procurement was the predominantly strategy. Various wadi sectors likely operated as secondary sources as well, transporting nodules towards the refugium.

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): 25265