When flint for items of large volume is in high demand: The “Flint Depot” of prehistoric northern Israel during the Lower-Middle Paleolithic and Neolithic/Chalcolithic times

Abstract

Recent surveys revealed extensive prehistoric extraction and reduction complexes in northern Israel. These complexes were found along the outcrops of the Eocene Timrat flint-bearing formation (where the flint appears as nodules within limestone). The outcrops appear as a “strip” west of the Rift Valley – the elongated north-to-south valley that is a prominent topographical feature of the region.The survey identified three extensive Lower Paleolithic/Middle Paleolithic extraction and reduction (henceforth E&R) complexes: The Dishon to the north (Finkel et al., 2016), Mt Achbara (Finkel et al., 2018) and Sede Ilan (Barkai et al., 2006, Barkai and Gopher, 2009) to the south, distanced some 15 km one from the other. In the Dishon E&R Complex, in the same area where an earlier Paleolithic E&R complex had been located, a large Neolithic/Chalcolithic workshop for bifacial tools was found (Finkel et al., 2017).These finds substantially revise our knowledge of the scope of lithic extraction and reduction in northern Israel in both the Paleolithic and Neolithic/Chalcolithic periods, making the Eocene E&R “strip” the potential “Flint Depot” of prehistoric northern Israel. This was the case when specific flint items such as Acheulian bifaces, Levallois cores and Neolithic and Chalcolithic bifacial tools were in high demand. ICP-MS analysis of flint samples (debitage) from the three E&R complexes and of flint tools from relevant prehistoric sites in the Eastern Galilee and the nearby Hula Valley, combined with lithic analyses, suggest that flint nodules from the Eocene Timrat Formation “strip” were used extensively in Paleolithic and Neolithic/Chalcolithic times (Finkel et al., 2019).Unlike previous publications that focused on a single complex or were based on a specific method, this paper offers comprehensive insights on geographical, chrono-cultural, social and economic aspects of flint procurement; it comments on decision making procedures vis-à-vis flint procurement and illuminates methodological aspects of the research.A main observation is that these extraction and production complexes were used routinely when there was a need for large-volume items such as Lower Paleolithic handaxes, Middle Paleolithic Levallois cores and Neolithic/Chalcolithic axes/adzes, probably because they contained an abundance of large flint nodules that were homogeneous in texture.