Employing an integrated approach to investigate the use of Late Lower Paleolithic flint tools found at the site of Qesem Cave (Israel), we revealed a particular trace pattern related to the employment of ashes at the site. Using a designated collection of replica items and combining use-wear and residue (morphological analysis, FTIR, SEM-EDX) analyses, we revealed the intentional use of ashes in preserving foods for delayed consumption as well as hide for delayed processing. Our interpretation, we believe is the most plausible one since we were able to delineate the specific use-wear fingerprints of the intentional use of ashes for such purposes, suggesting that our approach might be useful for the recognition of other similar functional-behavioral patterns. Lastly, in support of previous findings at Qesem Cave, our current findings present evidence for the processing of organic matters intentionally mixed with ash, leading us to suggest that the inhabitants of Qesem Cave were proficient not only in the habitual use of fire but also of its main by-product, ash. Hence, we call for a reassessment of the timeline currently assigned to hominins' utilization of ash for storing and processing vegetal foods and hide.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7505473 | PMC |
| http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0237502 | PLOS |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Exploring the lack of articular ends at the Middle Pleistocene site of Qesem Cave, Israel.
J Hum Evol
April 2024
Department of Archaeology, Tel-Aviv University, Institute of Archaeology, POB 39040, 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Biased skeletal part representation is a key element for making inferences about transport decisions, carcass procurement, and use patterns in anthropogenic accumulations. In the absence of destructive taphonomic processes, it is often assumed that the abundance of different anatomical portions represents selective transport and discard patterns of human groups. Because body parts may be transported for specific products such as meat, marrow or grease, a pattern that usually attracts attention in many archaeological sites is the low proportions of appendicular epiphyses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConnections between the Levant and the Balkans in the late Middle Pleistocene: Archaeological findings from Velika and Mala Balanica Caves (Serbia).
J Hum Evol
February 2022
Department of Anthropology, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 2E9, Canada; Department of Anthropology, University of Manitoba, 432 Fletcher Argue Building, 15 Chancellor Circle, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N, Canada.
Major changes in the technological, economic, and social behavior of Middle Pleistocene hominins occurred at the onset of the Middle Paleolithic, 400-200 ka. However, until recently it was not possible to establish when, where, and how certain forms of Middle Paleolithic behavior appeared and spread into Southeastern Europe, mainly owing to gaps in the Paleolithic record. Here we report new results of dating, material culture, and the archaeological context of finds from the Balanica Cave Complex in Sićevo (Serbia).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEstimating temperatures of heated Lower Palaeolithic flint artefacts.
Nat Hum Behav
February 2021
Kimmel Centre for Archaeological Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Production of stone artefacts using pyro-technology is known from the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic of Europe and the Levant, and the Middle Stone Age in Africa. However, determination of temperatures to which flint artefacts were exposed is impeded by the chemical and structural variability of flint. Here we combine Raman spectroscopy and machine learning to build temperature-estimation models to infer the degree of pyro-technological control effected by inhabitants of the late Lower Palaeolithic (Acheulo-Yabrudian) site of Qesem Cave, Israel.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of ash at Late Lower Paleolithic Qesem Cave, Israel-An integrated study of use-wear and residue analysis.
PLoS One
October 2020
Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Employing an integrated approach to investigate the use of Late Lower Paleolithic flint tools found at the site of Qesem Cave (Israel), we revealed a particular trace pattern related to the employment of ashes at the site. Using a designated collection of replica items and combining use-wear and residue (morphological analysis, FTIR, SEM-EDX) analyses, we revealed the intentional use of ashes in preserving foods for delayed consumption as well as hide for delayed processing. Our interpretation, we believe is the most plausible one since we were able to delineate the specific use-wear fingerprints of the intentional use of ashes for such purposes, suggesting that our approach might be useful for the recognition of other similar functional-behavioral patterns.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInterpreting the Quina and demi-Quina scrapers from Acheulo-Yabrudian Qesem Cave, Israel: Results of raw materials and functional analyses.
J Hum Evol
July 2020
Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University, P.O.B. 39040, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel; Diet and Ancient Technology Laboratory (DANTE), Sapienza Università di Roma, Via Caserta 6, 00185, Rome, Italy.
Quina scrapers are well-known components of the European Middle Paleolithic Mousterian. A similar production process was detected within the lithic assemblages of the Levantine Acheulo-Yabrudian (∼400-200 ka). This study combines the results of use-wear and raw material analyses of 75 Quina scrapers and 133 demi-Quina scrapers from the Acheulo-Yabrudian site Qesem Cave, Israel, aimed at interpreting the function of Quina and demi-Quina at Qesem Cave, the considerations affecting the lithic choices involved in their production, and the behavioral and evolutionary implications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!