Tracing Cultural Connections in the Levantine Upper Paleolithic: The Case of the Levantine Aurignacian

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Variability within the Aurignacian: New Research Outlooks" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since its first definition in the early twentieth century, the Levantine Aurignacian has been closely associated with the Aurignacian technocomplex of Western Europe, based on close similarities in the guiding fossils retrieved from both regions. Their distinction compared to the local archaeological record further stressed this association. Therefore, the Levantine Aurignacian is considered one of the earliest clear indications of the diffusions of small groups, traditions, and ideas from Europe to the Levant. However, many aspects remained vague, such as the correlation to a specific phase in West European Aurignacian, and what happened to these traditions after arriving in the Levant. This paper presents a study based primarily on the comparative analyses of flint industries that tested the theory of a local adaptation of the Levantine Aurignacian and its potential development into Levantine cultural entities (Arkov-Divshon and Atlitian). Considered together with other components of the material culture such as bone, antler, and shell artifacts, and with high-resolution radiocarbon dating, we suggest low plausibility for this scenario. In addition, we correlate the Levantine Aurignacian with the late Early/Middle Aurignacian of West Europe, suggesting that the dispersal into the Levant occurred shortly before the establishment of the Late Aurignacian insudtries there.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Variability within the Aurignacian: New Research Outlooks

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51626