Author, as appears in the article.: Martin-Viveros, JI; Oron, M; Ollé, A; Chacón, MG; Sharon, G
Department: Història i Història de l'Art
URV's Author/s: Chacón Navarro, María Gema / Escorihuela Martí, Laura / Ollé Cañellas, Andreu
Abstract: Much of what is known about human behavior and subsistence strategies in the Levantine Middle Paleolithic comes from long sequences from caves and rock shelters. In this context, studies of stone tool function have traditionally focused on determining the use of Levallois points and triangular elements, either as projectiles or, more rarely, multipurpose knives. Little is known about such tool use and hafting in Middle Paleolithic open-air sites in the Levant through the systematic application of micro-wear analysis. Here we report the results of a low and high-power study performed on the lithic assemblage of the Late Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Nahal Mahanayeem Outlet (NMO, Israel). Most pointed items, including Levallois and non-Levallois points, were used as butchering knives, many of them while hafted; to a much lesser extent they were also used for hide, bone, and wood/plant processing activities. Blades and flakes were mostly handheld and used as butchering knives, with hide, bone, antler, and wood/plant-processing tasks being rare. Hafted artifacts include morphologies and activities for which hafting is not required, indicating that NMO inhabitants possessed varied hafting expertise. Wood/plant processing tools, some of which were hafted, attest that manufacture and maintenance tasks were planned well in advance of game procurement at the site. These results attest to early evidence of hafted butchering knives and hafted plant processing tools for a Late Middle Paleolithic open-air site in the Levant, and support previous interpretations of NMO as a short-term task-specific location focused on animal processing activities, mostly butchery.
Thematic Areas: Zootecnia / recursos pesqueiros Saúde coletiva Química Psicología Odontología Nutrição Multidisciplinary sciences Multidisciplinary Medicina veterinaria Medicina iii Medicina ii Medicina i Materiais Matemática / probabilidade e estatística Letras / linguística Interdisciplinar Geografía Geociências Farmacia Engenharias iv Engenharias iii Engenharias ii Enfermagem Educação física Educação Economia Ciências biológicas iii Ciências biológicas ii Ciências biológicas i Ciências ambientais Ciências agrárias i Ciência de alimentos Ciência da computação Biotecnología Biodiversidade Astronomia / física
licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
Author's mail: mariagema.chacon@urv.cat andreu.olle@urv.cat laura.escorihuela@urv.cat laura.escorihuela@urv.cat
Author identifier: 0000-0002-8643-5536 0000-0002-6350-2396 0000-0002-6350-2396
Record's date: 2024-08-03
Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Link to the original source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-27321-5
Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
Papper original source: Scientific Reports. 13 (1): 112-
APA: Martin-Viveros, JI; Oron, M; Ollé, A; Chacón, MG; Sharon, G (2023). Butchering knives and hafting at the Late Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Nahal Mahanayeem Outlet (NMO), Israel. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 112-. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-27321-5
Article's DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-27321-5
Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Journal publication year: 2023
Publication Type: Journal Publications