Nubian Technology Research Articles

Nubian Levallois Technology During MIS 5: Refitted Lithic Sequences and OSL Ages of Dimona South, Israel, and Their Broader Implications

The site of Dimona South is a knapping locality in the Negev desert of Israel, situated at the raw material source. A test excavation followed by a salvage excavation conducted during 2020 revealed a partly buried archaeological layer that was exposed over an area of ~ 40 m2 and yielded a well-preserved lithic assemblage. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages of sediments within and above the archaeological layer fall within MIS 5. With a lithic assemblage dominated by Nubian Levallois technology, this site provides a rare opportunity for analysis of a well-dated, in situ Nubian assemblage. A refitting study in combination with an attribute analysis of the whole assemblage allowed the reconstruction of the Nubian reduction sequence. Our analyses indicate that a specifically pre-planned Nubian point production system existed at the site. It is characterized by the early preparation of an acute distal ridge and its careful maintenance throughout the reduction process until the cores were exhausted. These characteristics stand out from most Levantine Middle Paleolithic assemblages.The discovery of Dimona South allows us to revisit some of the technological issues at the heart of debates about Levallois Nubian technology that could not be addressed from analyses of partial surface assemblages. These new data from a secure and dated context are crucial to the inter-site and regional technological comparisons, informing our views of the Nubian technology and its role in the Middle Paleolithic world of eastern Africa, Arabia and the Levant.

Nubian Levallois reduction strategies in the Tankwa Karoo, South Africa.

The Middle Stone Age record in southern Africa is recognising increasing diversity in lithic technologies as research expands beyond the coastal-montane zone. New research in the arid Tankwa Karoo region of the South African interior has revealed a rich surface artefact record including a novel method of point production, recognised as Nubian Levallois technology in Late Pleistocene North Africa, Arabia and the Levant. We analyse 121 Nubian cores and associated points from the surface site Tweefontein against the strict criteria which are used to define Nubian technology elsewhere. The co-occurrence of typically post-Howiesons Poort unifacial points suggests an MIS 3 age. We propose that the occurrence of this distinctive technology at numerous localities in the Tankwa Karoo region reflects an environment-specific adaptation in line with technological regionalisation seen more widely in MIS 3. The arid setting of these assemblages in the Tankwa Karoo compares with the desert context of Nubian technology globally, consistent with convergent evolution in our case. The South African evidence contributes an alternative perspective on Nubian technology removed from the ‘dispersal’ or ‘diffusion’ scenarios of the debate surrounding its origin and spread within and out of Africa.

The first evidence of Middle Palaeolithic Nubian technology in north-central Oman

Since 2012, the French Mission in Oman has discovered several Palaeolithic sites in the south-eastern foothills of the Sufrat Dishshah (a hill of the Sufrat Valley/Wādī al-Сufrāt), in the Adam region of north-central Oman. These sites are attributed to the Lower through to the Late Palaeolithic (Bonilauri et al. 2015). The 2016 field season was dedicated to further investigation of the previously identified sites of the Sufrat Dishshah area. A number of additional artefacts were located and studied on site; four artefacts—two bifaces and two Nubian cores—were retained for further study. These finds have particular importance for the understanding of Middle Palaeolithic variability and cultural diffusion in Oman, and they represent one of the most significant results of the 2016 Adam expedition.

Technological homogeneity within the Arabian Nubian Complex: Comparing chert and quartzite assemblages from central and southern Arabia

Nubian Levallois technology is the defining characteristic of the Middle Paleolithic or Middle Stone Age technocomplex known as the Nubian Complex. Until recently, this technocomplex was found exclusively in northeastern Africa; however, archaeological surveys conducted across the Arabian Peninsula in the last decade have expanded the known distribution of this technological phenomenon. Since 2009, researchers from separate archaeological missions have mapped sites yielding Nubian cores and debitage, and by extension Nubian technology, in the southern, central and northernmost parts of the Arabia Peninsula. Nubian Complex artifacts in central and southern Arabia were made using different raw materials: in Al-Kharj (central Saudi Arabia) Middle Paleolithic industries were made exclusively on quartzite, while in Dhofar (southern Oman) chert was the only knappable material available for use. Given these differences, we sought to examine the influence of raw material variability on core morphology and size. Contrary to initial hypothesis, this study finds that the differences recorded are not a function of raw material properties. In both areas, Nubian cores were reduced using the same technological systems producing a set of preferential blanks. Rather, the recorded differences from raw material constrains were primarily due to knapping accidents, which occur in higher proportions at quartzite-based assemblages from Al-Kharj (specifically the siret fracture) compared with the chert assemblages from Dhofar. In sum, we argue that raw material had little effect on Nubian Levallois core technology and was not a constraint on Nubian Complex artisans.

“Diffusion with modifications”: Nubian assemblages in the central Negev highlands of Israel and their implications for Middle Paleolithic inter-regional interactions

Nubian Levallois cores, now known from sites in eastern Africa, the Nile Valley and Arabia, have been used as a material culture marker for Upper Pleistocene dispersals of hominins out of Africa. The Levantine corridor, being the only land route connecting Africa to Eurasia, has been viewed as a possible dispersal route. We report here on lithic assemblages from the Negev highlands of Israel that contain both Levallois centripetal and Nubian-type cores. Wetter conditions over the Sahara and Negev deserts during MIS 6a–5e provided a generally continuous environmental corridor into the Levant that enabled the dispersal of hominin groups bearing the Nubian variant of prepared core technologies. The Negev assemblages draw renewed attention to the place of the Levant as one of the dispersal routes out of Africa during the Late Pleistocene and could suggest that processes of human dispersals and cultural diffusion resulted in the spread of Nubian technology across eastern Africa, the western Sahara and the Nile Valley, the southern Levant and Arabia.

Nubian technology in northern Arabia: Impact on interregional variability of Middle Paleolithic industries

Since 2013, the authors have conducted archaeological surveys across the Al-Jawf province in northern Saudi Arabia. In the past two seasons, 48 sites were mapped and characterized by the presence of Levallois technology and, therefore, attributed to the Middle Paleolithic of Arabia. Preferential Levallois reduction using different methods of dorsal core preparation have been found at these sites. The technological variability includes Nubian Levallois methods, preferential Levallois with centripetal preparation, as well as recurrent centripetal reduction methods. In Arabia, sites with Nubian Levallois reduction are known from southern Oman, eastern Yemen, and central Saudi Arabia, while in Africa this reduction method has been identified across much of the northeastern continent. Preferential Levallois with centripetal preparation and recurrent centripetal Levallois methods have been found across Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Outside of Arabia, these methods have been found in many regions across the Old World. In this paper, we present the results from technological analyses on the Middle Paleolithic assemblages from the newly discovered Al-Jawf sites. The technological data are used to place these sites into a wider regional framework, assessing whether connections with known lithic industries from across the Near East and northeastern Africa can be surmised.

A Nubian Complex Site from Central Arabia: Implications for Levallois Taxonomy and Human Dispersals during the Upper Pleistocene

Archaeological survey undertaken in central Saudi Arabia has revealed 29 surface sites attributed to the Arabian Middle Paleolithic based on the presence of Levallois blank production methods. Technological analyses on cores retrieved from Al-Kharj 22 have revealed specific reduction modalities used to produce flakes with predetermined shapes. The identified modalities, which are anchored within the greater Levallois concept of core convexity preparation and exploitation, correspond with those utilized during the Middle Stone Age Nubian Complex of northeast Africa and southern Arabia. The discovery of Nubian technology at the Al-Kharj 22 site represents the first appearance of this blank production method in central Arabia. Here we demonstrate how a rigorous use of technological and taxonomic analysis may enable intra-regional comparisons across the Arabian Peninsula. The discovery of Al-Kharj 22 increases the complexity of the Arabian Middle Paleolithic archaeological record and suggests new dynamics of population movements between the southern and central regions of the Peninsula. This study also addresses the dichotomy within Nubian core typology (Types 1 and 2), which was originally defined for African assemblages.