Frequency and production technology of bladelets in Late Middle Paleolithic, Initial Upper Paleolithic, and Early Upper Paleolithic (Ahmarian) assemblages in Jebel Qalkha, Southern Jordan

Abstract

Bladelets and microliths have been recognized as key parts of the late prehistoric cultural dynamics on a global scale and recently discussed in relation to the range expansion of Homo sapiens in the late Pleistocene. This paper focuses on some of the current issues on bladelet technology in the Levant, including 1) the occurrences of bladelets in the Late Middle Paleolithic (LMP) and Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) and 2) evolutionary reasons for the development of the UP bladelet technology.To discuss the first issue, we examine frequencies and production technology of bladelets in the LMP, IUP, and Early Upper Paleolithic (Ahmarian) assemblages from the Jebel Qalkha area, southern Jordan. We then discuss the results in light of relevant data from other sites in the Levant. A clear increase in bladelets coincides with the Ahmarian, as already known, but we suggest that the unified production of blades and bladelets in the Ahmarian most likely derived from the IUP which provided a technological basis, on which the miniaturization of blades/bladelets was achieved in the Ahmarian through the changes in platform preparation technique. We also examine bladelet production in the LMP that shares some technological elements with the IUP bladelet production. However, they fundamentally differ from each other in the relationship of the bladelet production to the main flaking system of the whole assemblages.To examine the second issue, we evaluate performance characteristics of bladelets from a viewpoint of changing mobility patterns from the LMP to the Ahmarian and suggest that the settlement/procurement patterns since the IUP provided conditions, in which the miniaturization of blade blanks became beneficial. The employment of bladelet technology is likely to have facilitated the transportability of tools/blanks and the efficient consumption of raw material, highlighting flexible implementations in response to variable conditions of raw material availability, mobility, and provisioning strategies. The bladelet technology was increasingly employed from the IUP to the Ahmarian probably as a versatile strategy in raw material economy, which was advantageous under variable mobility patterns and thus kept its popularity for a long time until the Epipaleolithic.