Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, located in the Dead Sea Rift valley, is one of the oldest non-African sites to have yielded evidence for the activities of groups of hominin hunter-gatherers. The excavations recovered thousands of Acheulian period stone tools and animal bones that had accumulated in and around an ancient lake about 780, 000 years ago. The deposits have remained waterlogged virtually ever since, and this unusual circumstance resulted in the preservation of plant macrofossils, including pieces of wood and bark that can be identified to the level of individual plant species. Most of the pieces probably accumulated naturally around the lake, but a few show signs of hominin modification - making them the oldest wooden artefacts yet discovered. The unique contribution of the Gesher Benot Ya'aqov palaeobotanical assemblage, however, lies in its value for the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of a pre-agricultural age - an age that predates changes induced by intensive human activity. This monograph describes the geological and archaeological context of the ancient wood, the criteria for its identification, and its implications for the woods surrounding Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Lower to Middle Pleistocene times. They include detailed descriptions of the different wood taxa, discuss the present habitats of the identified species, and consider the possible mechanisms by which the wood was deposited. They also provide a survey of the wood fragments that have occasionally been found at other ancient Palaeolithic sites. This volume is the first in a series of monographs which will focus on different aspects of the multidisciplinary investigations at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov.

The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya'akov, Israel: 1, The Wood Assemblage (Gesher Benot YaÆaqov Monograph Series)

History

Goren-Inbar, Naama

Werker, Ella

Feibel, Craig S.

Ancient Civilizations

Oxbow Books

Few areas of the world have played as prominent a role in human evolution as the Levantine Corridor, a comparatively narrow strip of land sandwiched between the Mediterranean Sea on the west and the expanse of inhospitable desert to the east. The first hominids to leave Africa, over 1.5 million years ago, first entered the Levant before spreading into what is now Europe and Asia. About 100,000 years ago another African exodus, this time of anatomically modern humans, colonized the Levant before expanding into Eurasia. Toward the end of the Pleistocene, this Corridor also witnessed some of the earliest steps toward economic and social intensification, perhaps the most radical change in hominid lifestyle that ultimately paved the way for sedentary communities wholly dependent on domestic animals and cultivated plants.Table of ContentsIntroduction (Naama Goren-Inbar and john D. Speth)1. The Levantine waterway, Riparian archaeology , paleolimnology and conservation (Dov. F. Por)2. Quaternary Lake Margins of the Levant rift valley (Craig S. Feibel)3. Hippos, pigs, bovids, saber-toothed tigers, monkeys and hominids: dispersals through the Levantine Corridor during Late Plioscene and Early Pleistocene times (Bienvenido Martinez-Navarro)4. Ecological interactions of Elephantids in pleistocene Eurasia, Palaeoloxodon and Mammuthus (Adrian M. Lister)5. Long-term continuity of a freshwater tutle (Mauremys caspica rivulata) population in the Northern Jordan Valley and its paleoenvironmental implications (Gideon Hartman)6. Early hominid subsistence in the Levant: Taphonomic studies of the Plio-Pleistocene 'Ubeidiya Formation (Israel) - evidence from 'Ubeidiya Layer II-24 (Sabine Gaudzinski)7. Bands and other corporate hominid groups in Acheulian culture (Emanuel Marx)8. Culture and genes in the evolution of human language (Daniel Dor and Eva Jablonka)9. Climate variability in the Levant and northeast Africa during the Late Quaternary based on marine and land records (Ahuva Almmogi-Labin, Miryam Bar-Matthews and Avner Ayalon)10. Dental pathology, stressful events, and disease in Levantine early anatomically modern humansL evidence from Qafzeh)11. Hunting pressure, subsistence intensification and demographic change in the Levantine Late Middle Palaeolithic (John D. Speth)12. Wetland drainage in the Levant (Lake Hula, Amik Golu and el-Azraq Oasis): impact on avian fauna (Shoshana Ashkenazi)13. "A feather for each wind that blows": Utilizing avifauna in assessing changing patterns in palaeoecology and subsistence at Jordan Valley archaeological sties (Tal Simmons)14. Natufian behaviour in the Hula bain: the question of territorialiy (Francois R. Valla)

Human Paleoecology in the Levantine Corridor

Politics & Social Sciences

Speth, John D.

Anthropology

"Axe Age" is dedicated to the Acheulian, a unique cultural phenomenon with the longest duration and the widest distribution in the history of humanity. The Acheulian lasted over 1 million years and is well known over three continents (Africa, Europe and Asia). This stone tool tradition is characterized by its hallmark bifacial tools, which include handaxes and cleavers. Though this prehistoric culture has been investigated extensively for over a century, countless questions have remained unanswered. Many of them are addressed in this volume. The volume, of interest to both scholars and students, presents original contributions that expand the scope of our understanding of this intriguing cultural entity. The contributions cover a vast geographic terrain and a large array of issues expressing hominin cognitive abilities and behavioral modes, such as landscape exploitation, production of bifacial tools and their classification, regional diversity, transmission of knowledge, transportation and discard patterns. Of the many authors, some are eminent scholars of worldwide reputation in Acheulian research, while others are young scholars reporting on their original research data. All of them contribute to gaining an improved understanding of the Acheulians and their culture.

Axe Age: Acheulian Tool-making from Quarry to Discard (Approaches to Anthropological Archaeology)

Gonen, Sharon

Archaeology

Routledge

The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov Volume IV: The Lithic Assemblages (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)

Alperson-Afil, Nira

Sharon, Gonen

Herzlinger, Gadi

Springer

This manuscript is the 4th Volume of the Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov (GBY) monograph sub-series. The goal of the book is to publish the lithic assemblages originating in the excavations of the Acheulian site at Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov (GBY), Israel. The authors provide the readers with detailed descriptions of the lithic assemblages, illustrations (maps, photographs, drawings) and complete inventory of the artifacts that were excavated during the seven field seasons of 1989-1997 (two in 1997) under the directorship of Prof. Naama Goren-Inbar. This manuscript includes the classification of Large Cutting Tools (bifaces: handaxes and cleavers), Cores and Core Tools, and Flake Tools made of three different raw materials (flint, basalt and limestone). This major classification system enables, in addition to the characterization of the assemblages, intra and inter assemblage analyses and comparisons. It forms the foundation and means with which the GBY cultural sequence can be investigated and compared with other Levantine, African and Asian Acheulian entities. From a methodological perspective the authors apply a detailed attribute analysis to all lithic items, a method that integrates morpho-technoogical and stylistic observations culminating in better understanding of the Acheulian realm as documented by the analysis. This analysis is aimed to refine and improve the understanding beyond that of types and their technology and to allow describing the reduction sequence (chaîne opératoire) of some of the major components of the lithic asemblages. The unique record of diverse data from GBY provides insight into hominin behavior (through time) along the margins of the paleo-Lake Hula, and sheds light on processes that led to the colonization of other parts of Eurasia. The book will be of interest to academics and students in all disciplines of Quaternary studies, and to archaeologists using GIS for intra-site spatial analysis.

The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov Volume II: Ancient Flames and Controlled Use of Fire (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)

A View from Western Europe Most archaeologists would agree that the emergence of stone tool manufacture and the m- agement of fre are the two most signifcant events in the cultural evolution of early humans. The oldest known stone artifacts are securely dated to 2. 6–2. 5 Ma at several localities in Ethiopia; their association with ungulate remains and observations of cut marks prove that one of their main functions was for butchery (Domínguez-Rodrigo et al. 2005). The record of early stone tools from a number of sites in the time span 2. 5–2. 0 Ma is unequivocal; tool use and manufacture were a regular activity with evidence of planning, foresight and considerable technical skills (Delagnes and Roche 2005). In contrast, the timing of the human control of fre is not fully resolved and the antiquity of its habitual use has been debated until now. This book provides very strong evidence of the habitual use of fre by early humans at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov (Israel). The sedimentary sequence at the site is 34 m thick, and it represents different depositional environments, mainly beaches along the margins of a paleo-lake. The Matuyama-Brunhes chron boundary, dated to 0. 78 Ma, occurs in the lower part of the sequence.

Social Sciences

The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov Volume III: Mammalian Taphonomy. The Assemblages of Layers V-5 and V-6 (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)

Multidisciplinary research on the Early-Middle Pleistocene site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov has yielded abundant climatic, environmental, ecological and behavioral records. The 15 archaeological horizons form a sequence of Acheulian occupational episodes on the shore of the paleo-Lake Hula. These enable us to reconstruct numerous aspects of the survival and adaptation of ancient hominins, leading to a better understanding of their evolution and behavior. This book presents the faunal analyses of medium-sized and large mammals, providing taxonomic, taphonomic and actualistic data for the largest faunal assemblages. The study of modes of animal exploitation reveals valuable information on hominin behavior.

Rabinovich, Rivka

Gaudzinski-Windheuser, Sabine

Kindler, Lutz

This book presents analyses of burned and unburned flint items which provide evidence for the controlled use of fire at the 790,000-year-old Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov. It shows that fire was already in regular use some 800,000 years ago.

Multidisciplinary research on the Early-Middle Pleistocene site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov has yielded abundant climatic, environmental, ecological and behavioral records. The 15 archaeological horizons form a sequence of Acheulian occupational episodes on the shore of the paleo-Lake Hula. These enable us to reconstruct numerous aspects of the survival and adaptation of ancient hominins, leading to a better understanding of their evolution and behavior. This book presents the faunal analyses of medium-sized and large mammals, providing taxonomic, taphonomic and actualistic data for the largest faunal assemblages. The study of modes of animal exploitation reveals valuable information on hominin behavior.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Goren-Inbar, Naama. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Goren-Inbar, Naama

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Goren-Inbar, Naama. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya'akov, Israel: 1, The Wood Assemblage (Gesher Benot YaÆaqov Monograph Series)

Human Paleoecology in the Levantine Corridor

Axe Age: Acheulian Tool-making from Quarry to Discard (Approaches to Anthropological Archaeology)

The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov Volume IV: The Lithic Assemblages (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)

The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov Volume IV: The Lithic Assemblages (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)

The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov Volume II: Ancient Flames and Controlled Use of Fire (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)

The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov Volume III: Mammalian Taphonomy. The Assemblages of Layers V-5 and V-6 (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)

The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov Volume II: Ancient Flames and Controlled Use of Fire (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)

The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov Volume III: Mammalian Taphonomy. The Assemblages of Layers V-5 and V-6 (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)