Technological homogeneity within the Arabian Nubian Complex: Comparing chert and quartzite assemblages from central and southern Arabia
Keywords:
Nubian technology, raw material, Arabian Peninsula, Afro-Arabian Nubian Complex, Middle Paleolithic, Middle Stone Age
Abstract
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.
References
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Crassard, R. 2009, Middle Paleolithic in Arabia: The view from the Hadramawt region, Yemen. In: The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia. Paleoenvironments, Prehistory and Genetics (Petraglia, M.D., & Rose, J.I., Eds.), Springer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht: p. 151-168. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-2719-1_12
Crassard, R., & Hilbert, Y.H. 2013, A Nubian Complex site from central Arabia: Implications for Levallois taxonomy and human dispersals during the Upper Pleistocene. PLoS ONE, 8: e69221. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069221
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Delagnes, A., Crassard, R., Beltran, P. & Stizia, L., 2013, Cultural and human dynamics in southern Arabia at the end of the Middle Paleolithic. Quaternary International, 300: 234-243. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2012.12.012
Dibble, H. L., & Whittaker, J. 1981, New experimental evidence on the relation between percussion flaking and flake variation. Journal of Archaeological Science, 6: 283-296. doi:10.1016/0305-4403(81)90004-2
d’Errico, F. & Banks, W.E., 2013, Identifying Mechanisms behind Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age Cultural Trajectories. Current Anthropology, 54(8): 371-387. doi:10.1086/673388
Goder-Goldberger, M., Gudenko, N. & Hovers, E. 2016, “Diffusion with modifications”: Nubian assemblages in the central Negev highlands of Israel and their implications for Middle Paleolithic inter-regional interactions. Quaternary International, 408: 121-139. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.02.008
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Hilbert, Y.H., Crassard, R., Charloux, G., & Loreto, R. in press, Nubian technology in northern Arabia: Impact on interregional variability of Middle Paleolithic industries. Quaternary International. (Available online 20 December 2015) doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.047
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Luedke, B. 1992, An Archaeologist’s guide to chert and flint. Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, 172 p.
Marks A. 1988, The curation of stone tools during the Upper Pleistocene: A view from the Central Negev, Israel. In: Upper Pleistocene Prehistory of Western Eurasia (Dibble, H., & Montet-White, A., Eds.), University Museum Press, Philadelphia: p. 87-94.
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Müller, S., & Warth, M. 1985, Kieselsäure-Wanderung in südwestdeutschen Sedimenten und die Bildung lokaler Silexwerkstoffe der Seitzeitkulturen. Archeologisscher Verein Mitteilungsblatt, 9: 4-23. (in German) (“ Siliceousoxide migration in southern German sediments and the formation of local flint raw materials of stone age cultures”)
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Olszewski, D.I., Dibble, H.L., McPherron, S.P., Schurmans, U., Chiotti, L. & Smith, J. 2010, Nubian Complex Strategies in the Egyptian High Desert. Journal of Human Evolution, 59: 188-201. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.06.001
Petraglia, M.D., 2011. Trailblazers across Arabia. Nature, 470: 50-51. doi:10.1038/470050a
Petraglia, M.D., Alsharekh, A., Breeze, P., Clarkson, C., Crassard, R., Drake, N.A., Groucutt, H.S., Jennings, R., Parker, A.G., Parton, A., Roberts, R.G., Shipton, C., Matheson, C., al-Omari, A. & Veall, M.A., 2012, Hominin Dispersal into the Nefud Desert and Middle Palaeolithic Settlement along the Jubbah Palaeolake, Northern Arabia. PLoS ONE, 7(1) e49840. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049840
Platel, J.P., Roger, J., Peters, T.J., Mercolli, I., Kramers, J.D., & Le Métour, J. 1992, Geological Map of Salalah, Explanatory Notes. Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals, Muscat.
Powers, R.W., Ramirez, L.F., Redmond, C.D., & Elberg, E.L. 1966, Geology of the Arabian Peninsula. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 560: 1-147.
Richter, J., Hauck, T., Vogelsang, R., Widlok, T., Le Tensorer, J.-M. & Schmid, P., 2012, Contextual areas” of early Homo sapiens and their significance for human dispersal from Africa into Eurasia between 200 ka and 70 ka. Quaternary International, 274: 5-24. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2012.04.017
Rose, J.I. & Hilbert, Y.H. 2014, New prehistoric sites in the southern Rub’ al-Khali desert, Oman. Antiquity: Project Gallery, 88. URL: http://journal.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/rose341
Rose, J.I. & Marks, A.E. 2014, “Out of Arabia” and the Middle-Upper Palaeo¬lithic transition in the southern Levant. Quartär, 61: 49-85. doi:10.7485/QU61_03
Rose, J.I. & Petraglia M.D. 2009, Tracking the Origin and Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia. In: The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia. Paleoenvironments, Prehistory and Genetics (Petraglia, M.D., & Rose, J.I., Eds.), Springer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht: p. 1-12.
Rose, J.I., Usik, V.I., Marks, A.E., Hilbert, Y.H., Galletti, C.S., Parton, A., Geiling, J.M., Černý, V., Morley, M.W., & Roberts, R.G. 2011, The Nubian Complex of Dhofar, Oman: An African Middle Stone Age Industry in Southern Arabia. PLoS ONE, 6(11): e28239. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028239
Rottländer, R.C.A. 1989, Verwiterungs erscheinungen an Silices und Knochen. Verwitterungserscheinungen an Keramik, Silices und Knochen Vol. 2, Tübinger Beiträge zur Archäometrie Vol. 3, Archeologica Venatoria, Tübingen, 176 p. (in German) (“Deterioration phenomena on flint and ceramics. Deterioration of ceramics, flints and bones”)
Schiettecatte, J., al-Ghazzi, A., Charloux, G., Crassard, R., Hilbert, Y.H., Monchot, H., Mouton, M., & Siméon, P. 2013, Al-Kharj oasis through time: First results of archaeological fieldwork in the province of Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 43: 285-308.
Tryon, C.A. & Faith, J.T. 2013, Variability in the Middle Stone Age of Eastern Africa. Current Anthropology, 54(8): 234-254. doi:10.1086/673752
Usik, V.I., Rose, J.I., Hilbert, Y.H., Van Peer, P., & Marks, A.E. 2013, Nubian Complex reduction strategies in Dhofar, southern Oman. Quaternary International, 300: 244-266. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2012.08.2111
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Published
15-Sep-2016
How to Cite
Hilbert, Y., Crassard, R., Rose, J., Geiling, J., & Usik, V. (2016). Technological homogeneity within the Arabian Nubian Complex: Comparing chert and quartzite assemblages from central and southern Arabia. Journal of Lithic Studies, 3(2), 411-437. https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.v3i2.1420
Issue
Section
ISKM 2015 - Barcelona - Research Articles
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