12,000-year-old spindle whorls and the innovation of wheeled rotational technologies.

'The wheel and axle' revolutionized human technological history by transforming linear to rotary motion and causing parts of devices to move. While its ancient origins are commonly associated with the appearance of carts during the Bronze Age, we focus on much earlier wheel-shaped find-an exceptional assemblage of over a hundred perforated pebbles from the 12,000-year-old Natufian village of Nahal Ein-Gev II, Israel. We analyze the assemblage using 3D methodologies, incorporating novel study applications to both the pebbles and their perforations and explore the functional implications.

Automatic analysis of the continuous edges of stone tools reveals fundamental handaxe variability.

The edges of stone tools have significant technological and functional implications. The nature of these edges-their sharpness, whether they are concave or convex, and their asymmetry-reflect how they were made and how they could be used. Similarly, blunt portions of a tool's perimeter hint at how they could have been grasped or hafted and in which directions force could be applied.

The limestone spheroids of 'Ubeidiya: intentional imposition of symmetric geometry by early hominins?

Spheroids are one of the least understood lithic items yet are one of the most enduring, spanning from the Oldowan to the Middle Palaeolithic. Why and how they were made remains highly debated. We seek to address whether spheroids represent unintentional by-products of percussive tasks or if they were intentionally knapped tools with specific manufacturing goals.

Artifact3-D: New software for accurate, objective and efficient 3D analysis and documentation of archaeological artifacts.

The study of artifacts is fundamental to archaeological research. The features of individual artifacts are recorded, analyzed, and compared within and between contextual assemblages. Here we present and make available for academic-use Artifact3-D, a new software package comprised of a suite of analysis and documentation procedures for archaeological artifacts.

Kaizer Hill (Modi'in), a pre-pottery neolithic a quarry site - the terraced slopes.

The research of the Kaizer Hill site (the Hilltop and its Terraces), recognized as a Pre Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) quarry site, involved studies of the rock damage associated with the quarrying activities as well as of the recovered material remains, mostly chipped stone artifacts. We present here the results of our on-site explorations (excavations, surveys and surface-collections), focusing on the findings deriving from the Terraces. Diverse rock damage patterns were identified and described, portraying systematic rock mass-exploitation through quarrying fronts, natural rock joints and fissures enlargement, drilling and chiseling.

Toward the identification of social signatures in ceramic production - An archaeological case study.

Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size for describing a given material culture at a particular time. This analysis' long tradition has enabled archaeologists to define cultural units across time. However, going into the analysis of sub-typological variations is rarely done, although their meanings bear significant consequences on the understanding of ties between individuals and social units.

Evidence of ritual breakage of a ground stone tool at the Late Natufian site of Hilazon Tachtit cave (12,000 years ago).

Destruction of valuables is a common behavior in human history. Ethnographic data show the polysemic, but fundamentally symbolic, nature of this act. Yet, research aimed at exploring symbolic destruction in prehistoric societies has underlined the difficulties in establishing unambiguous evidence for such behaviour.

Lime plaster cover of the dead 12,000 years ago - new evidence for the origins of lime plaster technology.

The production of lime plaster is especially important as a technological development in human prehistory as it requires advanced knowledge and skills to transform rocks to a plastic yet durable material. The large-scale production of lime plaster is considered a development of farming societies during the Neolithic period around 10,000 years ago. To date, the archaeological evidence from the Middle and Late Epipalaeolithic in the southern Levant (c.

AGMT3-D: A software for 3-D landmarks-based geometric morphometric shape analysis of archaeological artifacts.

We present here a newly developed software package named Artifact GeoMorph Toolbox 3-D (AGMT3-D). It is intended to provide archaeologists with a simple and easy-to-use tool for performing 3-D landmarks-based geometric morphometric shape analysis on 3-D digital models of archaeological artifacts. It requires no prior knowledge of programming or proficiency in statistics.

Monumental megalithic burial and rock art tell a new story about the Levant Intermediate Bronze "Dark Ages".

The Intermediate Bronze Age (IB) in the Southern Levant (ca. 2350-2000 BCE) is known as the "Dark Ages," following the collapse of Early Bronze urban society and predating the establishment of the Middle Bronze cities. The absence of significant settlements and monumental building has led to the reconstruction of IB social organization as that of nomadic, tribal society inhabiting rural villages with no central governmental system.

Hunted gazelles evidence cooling, but not drying, during the Younger Dryas in the southern Levant.

The climatic downturn known globally as the Younger Dryas (YD; ∼12,900-11,500 BP) has frequently been cited as a prime mover of agricultural origins and has thus inspired enthusiastic debate over its local impact. This study presents seasonal climatic data from the southern Levant obtained from the sequential sampling of gazelle tooth carbonates from the Early and Late Natufian archaeological sites of Hayonim and Hilazon Tachtit Caves (western Galilee, Israel). Our results challenge the entrenched model that assumes that warm temperatures and high precipitation are synonymous with climatic amelioration and cold and wet conditions are combined in climatic downturns.

Landscape Alteration by Pre-Pottery Neolithic Communities in the Southern Levant - The Kaizer Hilltop Quarry, Israel.

This study focuses on Kaizer Hill, a quarry site located in the vicinity of the city of Modiin where remains of a single prehistoric cultural entity assigned to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A were discovered. A systematic survey revealed that large-scale quarrying activities have left damage markings on the bedrock of the Hilltop and its slopes. We aim to present here our findings from the Hilltop, which are concerned with the human impact on rock surfaces and the lithic artifacts retrieved during the survey.

Nahal Ein Gev II, a Late Natufian Community at the Sea of Galilee.

The Natufian culture is of great importance as a starting point to investigate the dynamics of the transition to agriculture. Given its chronological position at the threshold of the Neolithic (ca. 12,000 years ago) and its geographic setting in the productive Jordan Valley, the site of Nahal Ein Gev II (NEG II) reveals aspects of the Late Natufian adaptations and its implications for the transition to agriculture.

How can ten fingers shape a pot? Evidence for equivalent function in culturally distinct motor skills.

Behavioural variability is likely to emerge when a particular task is performed in different cultural settings, assuming that part of human motor behaviour is influenced by culture. In analysing motor behaviour it is useful to distinguish how the action is performed from the result achieved. Does cultural environment lead to specific cultural motor skills? Are there differences between cultures both in the skills themselves and in the corresponding outcomes? Here we analyse the skill of pottery wheel-throwing in French and Indian cultural environments.

The earliest matches.

Cylindrical objects made usually of fired clay but sometimes of stone were found at the Yarmukian Pottery Neolithic sites of Sha'ar HaGolan and Munhata (first half of the 8(th) millennium BP) in the Jordan Valley. Similar objects have been reported from other Near Eastern Pottery Neolithic sites. Most scholars have interpreted them as cultic objects in the shape of phalli, while others have referred to them in more general terms as "clay pestles," "clay rods," and "cylindrical clay objects.

Early evidence (ca. 12,000 B.P.) for feasting at a burial cave in Israel.

Feasting is one of humanity's most universal and unique social behaviors. Although evidence for feasting is common in the early agricultural societies of the Neolithic, evidence in pre-Neolithic contexts is more elusive. We found clear evidence for feasting on wild cattle and tortoises at Hilazon Tachtit cave, a Late Epipaleolithic (12,000 calibrated years B.

Studying post depositional damage on Acheulian bifaces using 3-D scanning.

In this study, we explore post-depositional damage observed on Acheulian bifacial tools by comparing two assemblages: a collection of archaeological handaxes which shows pronounced damage marks associated with high energy water accumulation system, and an experimental assemblage that was rolled and battered in a controlled simulation experiment. Scanning the two assemblages with a precise 3-D optical scanner and subjecting the measured surfaces to the same mathematical analysis enabled the development of quantitative measures assessing and comparing the degree of damage observed on archaeological and experimental tools. The method presented here enables the definition of morphological patterns typically resulting from battering and different from intentional controlled knapping.

A 12,000-year-old Shaman burial from the southern Levant (Israel).

The Natufians of the southern Levant (15,000-11,500 cal BP) underwent pronounced socioeconomic changes associated with the onset of sedentism and the shift from a foraging to farming lifestyle. Excavations at the 12,000-year-old Natufian cave site, Hilazon Tachtit (Israel), have revealed a grave that provides a rare opportunity to investigate the ideological shifts that must have accompanied these socioeconomic changes. The grave was constructed and specifically arranged for a petite, elderly, and disabled woman, who was accompanied by exceptional grave offerings.