Assessing Change over Time at Kharaneh IV through the Chaîne Opératoire

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Debitage Analysis: Case Studies, Successes, and Cautionary Tales" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The multicomponent Epipaleolithic site of Kharaneh IV, located in the Azraq Basin of eastern Jordan, documents over 1,000 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. Over time, multiple Early and Middle Epipaleolithic groups congregated in this verdant landscape, perhaps coming as far as the Mediterranean and Red Seas. In this paper, we explore changes in lithic technology at the site from the Early to the Middle Epipaleolithic through the lens of one deep sounding. These changes are examined through the conceptual framework of the chaîne opératoire, where the entire production, use, and discard sequence is considered 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 Epipaleolithic illuminate the different strategies employed by the inhabitants of Kharaneh IV, and when paired with other aspects of the archaeological record, highlight changes in these communities and their adaptations to a dynamic landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Debitage Analysis: Case Studies, Successes, and Cautionary Tales   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37727.0