Functional minimalism versus ethnicity in explaining lithic patterns in the Levantine Epipalaeolithic

Abstract

The relationship between raw material availability, economizing behaviours and technological procedures undoubtedly influenced the configurations of Levantine Epipalaeolithic assemblages, as has been well recognized for over 20 years (Bar-Yosef 1970; Henry 1973). Other 'functional factors' have also been examined — environmental settings, settlement mobility and provisioning strategies. While each factor has been shown to have influenced the specific configurations of Epipalaeolithic assemblages, none (other than broad environmental settings) has been shown to account for the large-scale patterned variability that distinguishes the three major taxa, the Geometric Kebaran, Natufian, and Mushabian complexes. This is why most prehistorians working in the region hold that ethnicity, at some scale, provides the most robust explanation for the patterned variability observed and for the temporal and geographic distributions at the taxonomic level of 'complex'.