Personal ornaments from Hayonim and Manot caves (Israel) hint at symbolic ties between the Levantine and the European Aurignacian

Situated at the crossroads of Africa and Eurasia, the Levant is a crucial region for understanding the origins and spread of Upper Paleolithic (UP) traditions associated with the spread of modern humans. Of the two local Early Upper Paleolithic technocomplexes, the Ahmarian and the Levantine Aurigna...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of human evolution 2021-11, Vol.160, p.102870-102870, Article 102870
Main Authors: Tejero, José-Miguel, Rabinovich, Rivka, Yeshurun, Reuven, Abulafia, Talia, Bar-Yosef, Ofer, Barzilai, Omry, Goder-Goldberger, Mae, Hershkovitz, Israel, Lavi, Ron, Shemer, Maayan, Marder, Ofer, Belfer-Cohen, Anna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Hayonim Cave
Human symbolic behavior
Humanities and Social Sciences
Levantine Aurignacian
Manot Cave
Upper Paleolithic
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Situated at the crossroads of Africa and Eurasia, the Levant is a crucial region for understanding the origins and spread of Upper Paleolithic (UP) traditions associated with the spread of modern humans. Of the two local Early Upper Paleolithic technocomplexes, the Ahmarian and the Levantine Aurignacian, the latter appears to be unique in the endemic UP sequence, exhibiting greater similarity to the West European ‘classic’ Aurignacian than to the local preceding and proceeding UP entities. Previous publications have mostly focused on the similarities between the two lithic industries and less on studies conducted on Levantine Aurignacian bone tools and ornaments. Here, we present an archaeozoological, technological and use-wear study of ornaments on animal teeth from the Levantine Aurignacian layers at Manot and Hayonim caves (the Galilee, Israel). The selection of taxa, the choice of teeth, the mode of modification, and the use-wear analysis exhibit clear similarities with the European Aurignacian. This, with the technology of the osseous raw material exploitation, the presence of antler simple-base points, and some lithic typotechnological features, suggest a link between the symbolic spheres of the Levantine and the European Aurignacian cultural entities. Such similarity also supports some contribution of European Aurignacians groups to the local cultural entities, intermingling with the local material culture features.
ISSN:0047-2484
1095-8606
DOI:10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102870