Morphometric and refitting analyses of flaked stone artifacts from Tabaqat al-Bûma and al-Basatîn, northern Jordan: Sickle elements and core-reduction technology in the Late Neolithic (6th millennium BCE) in the southern Levant

Abstract

Sickle elements of the Late Neolithic (LN) in the southern Levant are noteworthy for their typological distinctiveness and variations in outline form and retouching techniques. This study presents new data on the morphometric characteristics of LN sickle elements by using lithic assemblages from two LN farmsteads (Tabaqat al-Bûma and al-Basatîn) in Wadi Ziqlab, northern Jordan. We also present refitting analyses of lithics, employing a novel application of Harris matrices, to examine production technology of blanks, i.e., core-reduction technology. The morphometric analyses indicate that LN sickle elements from the two sites are characterized by moderately elongated forms and standardized width in comparison with other tool types and blanks. However, such forms were not predetermined during the blank production as our refitting analyses indicate no systematic blade production but a more generalized core-reduction technology for a wide variety of blank forms to be used for various tool types, including scrapers, denticulates/notches, and retouched flakes. Thus, production of sickle elements in LN Wadi Ziqlab involved creating standardized rectangular shapes from a wide variety of blank forms through selection, rather than predetermination, of suitable blank forms and subsequent high degrees of retouch. The rectangular forms and the standardized width are probably related to the morphological requirements for sickle elements to be aligned neatly in a haft. The achievement of desired shapes through retouch, instead of blade production, may have been a reasonable practice in a small-scale, domestic mode of lithic production, as indicated by contextual evidence of clustered lithic debitage on one of the cobble-paved floors at al-Basatîn.