Upper Palaeolithic bone retouchers from Manot Cave (Israel): A preliminary analysis of a (yet) rare phenomenon in the Levant

REUVEN Yeshurun, JOSÉ-MIGUEL Tejero, OMRY Barzilai, ISRAEL Hershkovitz, OFER Marder

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

The use of bone fragments to retouch stone tools is presently recognised as a widespread phenomenon in the Palaeolithic of Europe, since Middle Pleistocene times. However, in the Palaeolithic record outside Europe, evidence for the use of retouchers is scarce. With the sole exception of the late Lower Palaeolithic site of Qesem Cave (Israel), virtually no retouchers have been recognised in the Levant region. Here, we present the first evidence of this type of tool documented for the early Upper Palaeolithic of Manot Cave, western Galilee, Israel. Subsequently, we discuss the absence of retouchers in other Middle and Upper Pa laeolithic sites in the Levant, and suggest that either Levantine hominins did not habitually use bone retouchers, or researchers working in the Levant have not yet identified them as such.
Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publicationThe origins of bone tool technologies
EditorsJarod M. Hutson
Pages1-9
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-947450-20-6
StatePublished - 2017

Publication series

NameRGZM – Tagungen
Volume35

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