Tracking the Neolithic in the Near East

Yoshihiro Nishiaki received his BA and MA from the University of Tokyo, and Ph.D. from University College London. He has been a full professor of prehistoric archaeology at the University of Tokyo since 2006 and Director of the University of Tokyo Museum since 2020. His major research interest is concerned with the prehistory of West and Central Asia. Osamu Maeda received his BA and MA degrees from the University of Tsukuba and Ph.D. from the University of Manchester, UK. He has been a researcher at University of Tsukuba since 2015 and currently is an associate professor in the archaeology course and a head of the archaeology division of the Research Center for West Asian Civilization. He recently conducted international collaborative research as a member of the Manchester Obsidian Laboratory. Makoto Arimura is a Professor at Tokai University, Japan. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Archaeology from the University of Tsukuba, Japan and his PhD in Archaeology from the Université Lumière Lyon 2, France.

• PREFACEY. NISHIAKI, O. MAEDA & M. ARIMURA PART 1: NEW DISCOVERIES IN THE LEVANT THE PRODUCTION AND USE OF DISTINCTIVE LITHIC OBJECTS Drilling Tools at the End of the Natufian: Suggesting a Technological InnovationT. YASHUV & L. GROSMAN Arrows and Archery during the PPNB: An Experimental Approach: Points Production and UseF. ABBÈS & F. PICHON Weapons or Hunting Tools? Evaluating the Role of Big Arrowheads of the Neolithic LevantO. BARZILAI & H. MAY 3D Morpho-Metric Analysis of PPNB Arrowheads from MOTZA: Preliminary ResultsH. KHALAILY, K. VARDI, A. KARASIK & O. BARZILAI Production and Use of Nahal Hemar Knives in the Southern Levant during the PPNB: New Evidence from Kharaysin (Jordan)F. BORRELL, J.J. IBÁÑEZ, J. MUÑIZ, I. CLEMENTE CONTE & L. TEIRA The Baʻja Daggers: Type, Technology and Commodification of a LPPNB Burial ObjectH.G.K. GEBEL, C. PURSCHWITZ, D. ŠTEFANISKO & M. BENZ Recycling of PPNB Artefacts in the Yarmukian Site of Tel Izhaki, Jezreel Valley, Israel: Some Chronological and Regional ImplicationsA. YAROSHEVICH, E.C.M. van den BRINK, R. CHASAN, D. ROSENBERG, A. BIELER, L. PERRY-GAL, E. BOARETTO & N. GREENBAUM Innovation, Adaptation or Just a Development? Alternative Uses of Obsidian the Early Neolithic of the Near EastE. HEALEY and S. CAMPBELL Typology, Material and Cultural Role of Stone Bracelets (Bangles) from the Neolithic Megasite of Motza: Preliminary ReportI. MILEVSKI, J. VARDI & H. KHALAILY Flaking or Grinding? Habits of Stone Tool Production in Prehistoric CyprusA. MCCARTHY The Processing of Construction Stones at the Neolithic Site of Mishmar Ha‘emeq, IsraelG. HAKLAY, N. GETZOV & O. BARZILAI LITHIC ASSEMBLAGES AND KNAPPING TECHNOLOGIES Refitting Lithics from Ais Giorkis, Cyprus: A Preliminary Analysis of Bidirectional Blade TechnologyC. MCCARTNEY Preliminary Analysis of the Lithic Assemblages of Nahal Yarmuth 38: A New PPNB Site in Central IsraelD. ACKERFELD, A. EIRIKH-ROSE, H. ASHKENAZI, K. ZUTOVSKI & A. GOPHER Intra-Site Variability in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Site of Yiftahel: Lithic Techno-Typological AnalysisA. LEVY, N GETZOV, H. KHALAILY, I. MILEVSKI & O. MARDER Skill, Learning and Knowledge Transfer in Lithic Production as Seen from LPPNB/FPPNB Baʻja, Southern LevantC. PURSCHWITZ Motza: A Village of the Final Phase of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Preliminary ObservationsJ. VARDI, D. YEGOROV, A. LEVY, A. SHATIL, N. MITKI & H. KHALAILY Heat Treatment of Flint in the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Site of Motza (Judean Hills, Israel)D. YEGOROV, H. KHALAILY & S.A. ROSEN Tracing the Neolithic Occupation of ‘En Esur (Israel) and the Question of the Archaeological Visibility of the Neolithic in the Archeological Record: The Lithic PerspectiveL. BRAILOVSKY-ROKSER, D. SHALEM & M. BIRKENFELD PART 2: VIEWS FROM NEIGHBORING REGIONS LITHICS FROM ARID LANDS Hunting in the Dunes: Evidence for Late Natufian Hunting Practices in the Northwestern Negev Site of AshalimL. EDELTIN, J. VARDI & O. MARDER Chipped Stone Tool Production Strategies at Nahal Efe (northern Negev) during the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic BF. BORRELL & J. VARDI The Ghassanian Techno-Complex: Late/Final PPNB Lithic Assemblages from Desert Kite-Associated Occupation Sites in Jibal al-Khashabiyeh, South-Eastern JordanR. CRASSARD, J.A. SÁNCHEZ PRIEGO, F. PICHON, W. ABU-AZIZEH & M. TARAWNEH Harrat Juhayra 202 and the Jordanian Badia Early PPNB: Fresh Perspective on the PPNA/PPNB Transition in the Southern LevantS. FUJII Go West: New Discoveries Concerning the PPNB in the Eastern Desert of Egypt between the Sinai and the Nile ValleyF. BRIOIS, B. MIDANT-REYNES & Y. TRISTANT The Local Development and Levantine Influence Seen in the Stone Tools of the Fayum Neolithic in EgyptN. SHIRAI NEW PERSPECTIVES FROM ANATOLIA A Prehistoric Survey in Cappadocia and a New Early Holocene Site, Balıklı: Preliminary Insights into the Local Chipped Stone IndustriesN. KAYACAN, A.N. GORING-MORRIS, G. DURU & M. ÖZBAŞARAN Sırçalıtepe: A New Aceramic Neolithic Site in Volcanic Cappadocia (Central Anatolia)S. BALCI & Ç. ALTINBILEK-ALGÜL & D. MOURALIS Chipped Stone at the Late Neolithic TPC Area, Çatalhöyük: On-Site and BeyondH.C. SCHECHTER Tepecik Çiftlik (Turkey) and the Exploitation of Cappadocian Obsidian during the 7th MillenniumD. GUILBEAU The Lithic Assemblages of Gusir Höyük: A Pre-Pottery Neolithic Site on the Upper Tigris Basin (Southeast Anatolia)Ç. ALTINBILEK-ALGÜL, S. BALCI, D. MOURALIS & O. D. ASLANER Change and Continuity in the Lithic Industry of Hasankeyf Höyük, a late 10th millennium cal. BC Site on the Upper Tigris O. MAEDA, T. CARTER & R. MOIR “[…] but it is not clear at all where all the […] debris had been taken from […]” Chipped Stone Artefacts, Architecture and Site Formation Processes at Göbekli TepeJ. BREUERS and KINZEL LITHICS FROM FURTHER EAST Exploring the Changes in Lithic Industries during the Neolithisation in Armenia (7th–6th millennium BCE): A Comparison of Chipped Stone Tools from Lernagog-1 and Masis BlurM. ARIMURA, K. MARTIROSYAN-OLSHANSKY, A. PETROSYAN & B. GASPARYAN Neolithic Chipped Stone Industry of Mentesh Tepe (Middle Kura Valley, Azerbaijan): Technological Markers and Relations to North-Eastern AnatoliaL. ASTRUC, D. GUILBEAU, B. GRATUZE, C. CHATAIGNER, O. BARGE, B. LYONNET & F. GULIYEV Discard Patterns of Chipped and Ground Stone Refuse at Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe in the Southern Caucasus: Implications for the Residential Mobility and the Neolithization ProcessS. KADOWAKI, F. GULIYEV & Y. NISHIAKI Neolithic Sickles of the South Caucasus and North Mesopotamia (early 6th millennium BC)Y. NISHIAKI A Brand New Thing: Bladelet Production Techniques and Methods in Caspian Mesolithic and Neolithic Chipped Stone IndustriesM. JAYEZ & H.V. NASAB Towards Understanding the Early Neolithic in the Zagros Mountains: Results of New Investigations of the Austro-Iranian Team in Ilam Province, IranB. MILIĆ, B. HOREJS & L. NIAKAN Returning to Hunting and Re-microlithisation during the Mushki Phase in Fars, Southwest IranM. ABE, S. ARAI & M. KHANIPOUR The Symbolic Meaning of the Neolithic Manuports: The Examples from Nemrik 9, Northern Iraq, and Ayakagytma ‘The Site’, UzbekistanK. SZYMCZAK