Bidirectional Blade Production at the PPNB Site of Kfar HaHoresh: The Techno-Typological Analysis of a Workshop Dump

Abstract

This paper presents the detailed analysis of a bidirectional blade workshop dump from a pit (Locus 1007) dating to relatively late within the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) occupation of Kfar HaHoresh in Northern Israel. The contents of the pit minimally derive from 117 reduction sequences and quite probably at least twice that number. The dump includes waste products from all stages of knapping. The assemblage is described in detail, with an emphasis on the diagnostic debitage types produced by each knapping stage, and hence reflects the local blade-knapping tradition. The results contribute to understanding the character of the local bidirectional operational sequence at Kfar HaHoresh. This included the import of high quality flint nodules from specific outcrops elsewhere in the lower Galilee. In many cases the nodules were subjected to meticulous core pre-formation followed by serial blade production, core maintenance and core abandonment. Following the end of intensive knapping the waste products were carefully collected and dumped in the pit at the edge of the site, while the designated products (blades and tools) were locally distributed or cached for various reasons. The recognized lithic organization, together with the high quality of the blades and tools elsewhere on-site, is indicative of a specialized Middle/ Late PPNB lithic workshop. The pattern recognized at Kfar HaHoresh, supplemented by recent discoveries of flint outcrops and nearby PPNB workshop sites at HaSollelim and Givat Rabi East, together with the evidence for a regional blade production center at the village of Yiftahel, demonstrates the importance of this technology within the lower Galilee PPNB.