A grid-like incised pattern inside a Natufian bedrock mortar, Raqefet Cave, Israel
Keywords:
Natufian, incised patterns, bedrock mortars, ground stone tools, Raqefet Cave
Abstract
[Report]
Bedrock features are a hallmark of the Natufian (ca. 15,000-11,500 cal BP) in the southern Levant and beyond and they include a large variety of types, from deep variants to shallow ones and from narrow mortars to wide basins. They are usually interpreted as food preparation facilities, associated with Natufian intensification of cereal and acorn consumption. However, inside the shaft of one deep narrow Natufian mortar at the entrance to Raqefet Cave (Mt. Carmel, Israel), we found a set of grid-like incisions accompanied by irregular lines. This pattern is similar in the general impression and the details of execution to incised stone slabs and objects found in other Natufian sites. As in several other Natufian objects, the incised patterns were hardly visible at the time, due to their light appearance and concealed location. The engraving act and symbolic meaning of the contents were likely more important than the display of the results. Furthermore, the Raqefet mortar was incorporated in a structured complex that also included a slab pavement and a boulder mortar. Thus, the complex motif, the specific feature it was carved on (inside a deep mortar), the associated features, and the location at the entrance to a burial cave all suggest an elaborate ceremonial and symbolic system.References
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Bocquentin, F. 2003, Pratiques funéraires, paramètres biologiques et identités culturelles au Natoufien: une analyse archéo-anthropologique. Doctoral Thesis in Biologic Anthropology, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, 631p. (in French) (“Funeral practices, biologic parameters and cultural identities during the Natufian: an archaeo-anthropologic analysis”).
Boyd, B. 2006, On “sedentism” in the Later Epipaleolithic (Natufian) Levant. World Archaeology, 38(2): 164-178. doi:10.1080/00438240600688398
Byrd, B.F. 1989, The Natufian: Settlement variability and economic adaptations in the Levant at the end of the Pleistocene. Journal of World Prehistory, 3: 159-198. doi:10.1007/BF00975760
Byrd, B.F., & Monahan, C.M. 1995, Death, mortuary ritual, and Natufian social structure. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 14: 251-287. doi:10.1006/jaar.1995.1014
Copeland, L., & Hours, F. 1977, Engraved and plain bone tools from Jiita (Lebanon) and their early Kebaran context. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 43: 295-301. doi:10.1017/S0079497X00010422
Edwards, P.C. 2013, Visual representations in stone and bone. In: Wadi Hammeh 27, an Early Natufian Settlement at Pella in Jordan, (Edwards, P.C., Ed.), Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 39. Brill, Leiden and Boston: p. 287-320.
Eitam, D. 2008, Plant food in the Late Natufian: the oblong conical mortar as a case study. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 38: 133-151. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23386442
Eitam, D. 2010, Late Epipalaeolithic rock-cut installations and groundstone tools in the southern Levant. Paléorient, 35(1): 77-104. doi:10.3406/paleo.2009.5279
Garrod, D.A.E. 1957, The Natufian culture: the life and economy of a Mesolithic people in the Near East. Proceedings of the British Academy, 43: 211-247. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00029008
Garrod, D.A.E., & Bate, D.M.A. 1937, The Stone Age of Mount Carmel. Clarendon Press, Oxford. p. 240.
Grosman, L., Munro, N.D., & Belfer-Cohen, A. 2008, A 12,000-year-old shaman burial from the southern Levant (Israel). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105: 17665-17669. doi:10.1073/pnas.0806030105
Hayden, B. 2004, Socio-political organization in the Natufian: A View from the northwest. In: The Last Hunter-Gatherers in the Near East, (Delage, C., Ed.), BAR International Series Vol. 1320. Archaeopress, Oxford: p. 263-308.
Henry, D.O. 1976, Rosh Zin: A Natufian settlement near Avdat. In: Prehistory and Palaeoenvironments in the Central Negev, Israel, (Marks, A.E., Ed.), SMU Press, Dallas: p. 317-347.
Henry, D.O. 1989, From Foraging to Agriculture: The Levant at the End of the Ice Age, The University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 288 p.
Henry D.O. 1995. Prehistoric Cultural Ecology and Evolution: Insights from Southern Jordan, Plenum Press, New York, 466 p.
Hovers, E. 1990, Art in the Levantine Epi-Palaeolithic: an engraved pebble from a Kebaran site in the Lower Jordan Valley. Current Anthropology, 31(3): 317-322. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2743634
Kaufman, D. 1999, A unique engraved object from the Epipalaeolithic of Israel. Rock Art Research, 15(1): 109-112.
Larson, P. 1978, Ornamental beads from the Late Natufian of southern Israel. Journal of Field Archaeology, 5(1): 120-121. doi:10.1179/009346978791489934
Lengyel, Gy., Bocquentin, F., & Nadel, D. 2013, Raqefet Cave (2004 – 2008 seasons of excavation). In: Natufian Foragers in the Levant: Terminal Pleistocene Social Changes in Western Asia. Proceedings of the 2nd Natufian Conference, Paris, (Bar-Yosef, O., & Valla, F.R., Eds.), International Monographs in Prehistory, Archaeological Series Vol. 19, Ann Arbor: p. 478-504.
Marshack, A. 1997, Palaeolithic image making and symboling in Europe and the Middle East: a comparative review. In: Beyond Art: Pleistocene Image and Symbol, (Conkey, M., Soffer, O., Sttatmann, D., & Jablonski, N.G., Eds.), Memoires of the California Academy of Sciences 23. University of California Press, Berkeley and San Francisco: p. 53-91.
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Published
31-Oct-2016
How to Cite
Nadel, D., & Rosenberg, D. (2016). A grid-like incised pattern inside a Natufian bedrock mortar, Raqefet Cave, Israel. Journal of Lithic Studies, 3(3), 337-257. https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.v3i3.1467
Issue
Section
Presented at the 1st Meeting of the Association for Ground Stone Tools Research
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