Abstract
Fan (or tabular) scrapers are a diagnostic tool type in Chalcolithic Ghassulian and Early Bronze Age lithic assemblages from the southern Levant. To date, only small numbers of fan scrapers have been reported from the Late Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah culture. In this paper we present a techno-typological analysis of a fair sample of fan scrapers and fan scrapers spalls from Wadi Rabah and Early Bronze Age layers at Ein Zippori, Lower Galilee, Israel. Techno-typological similarities and differences of Wadi Rabah, Chalcolithic Ghassulian and Early Bronze Age fan scrapers from Ein Zippori and other sites in the region are presented, trends of change along time are noted, and an updated definition is proposed. Our results indicate that fan scrapers are highly efficient tools for accurate and prolonged animal butchering and hide working. The main advantage of fan scrapers is their mostly flat, thin morphology and large size that permits the creation of several relatively long working edges, various retouched angles (from sharp to abrupt), extensive resharpening, and a comfortable grasp. While fan scrapers were products of a local trajectory in Late Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah lithic industries at Ein Zippori, a standardized, off-site manufacturing of fan scrapers is evident during the Early Bronze Age.
Highlights
Two distinct groups of fan scrapers were identified according to one technological trait of flat vs. convex dorsal face
Based on the techno-typological analysis of Ein Zippori fan scrapers, together with considerations of stratigraphy, pottery analysis, and published materials, we associate most flat cortex fan scrapers' (FCFS) with the Early Bronze Age (EBA) period, and most Cortical Fan Scrapers (CFS) with Wadi Rabah (WR), in both early and late phases of it
Raw material considerations and the presence of burin scars solely on CFS lead us to associate the spalls mainly with CFS and less so with FCFS.Following our analysis of large samples of fan scrapers from WR and EBA layers of Ein Zippori and a survey of published accounts of late Pottery Neolithic (PN), Chalcolithic Ghassulian (CHG), and EBA fan scrapers, we suggest that fan scrapers can be divided into two major types
Summary
Fan (or tabular) scrapers are a diagnostic tool type in Chalcolithic Ghassulian (CHG) and Early Bronze Age (EBA) lithic assemblages from the southern Levant (e.g., Bar-Yosef et al 1977; Crowfoot-Payne 1983: 720-721; Rosen 1983; 1997: 78-79; 2013: 402; Levy & Alon 1985; Greenhut 1989; Marder et al 1995; Noy 1998; Fujii 1999; Bankirer & Marder 2003; Beit-Arieh et al 2003; van den Brink et al 2004; Blockman & Groman-Yeroslavski 2006; Rowan 2006; Milevski 2013). Typological differentiation in fan scrapers between these two periods was noted by Abe (2008) and will be discussed below. Fan scrapers have been reported from lithic assemblages of the Late Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah (WR) culture (Kaplan 1969; Gopher 1989: 119; Barkai & Gopher 2012: 837; Khalaily 2011; Khalaily & Nagorsky 2013). In this paper we present a techno-typological analysis of fan scrapers from WR and EBA layers of Ein Zippori, Lower Galilee, Israel (Milevski & Getzov 2014; Milevski et al 2014). Functional analysis of Ein Zippori fan scrapers is presented elsewhere (Yerkes et al 2016). Contextual, spatial, and symbolic aspects of Ein Zippori fan scrapers are beyond the scope of this paper, and will be dealt with separately
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