Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-nptnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-10T13:46:43.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Milking the Stones or An Acheulean Aggregation Locality on the Yiron Plateau in Upper Galilee

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

Milla Y. Ohel*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

Abstract

The central and most intricate occurrence among the acheulean sites of the Yiron Plateau and environs, Israel, is studied. All lines of evidence favour an interpretation of Mitzpeh Yiron (Y25) as an aggregation node where small groups assembled to concentrate on the exploitation of a relatively short-term seasonal subsistence resource. Concurrently the congregation event enhanced co-operative activities, sociocultural relationships, and particularly kinship ties. With the present effort a better understanding is hopefully achieved of the general configuration of the settlement system of the area along with the technological and other variabilities of the constituent units.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baker, C. M., 1978. ‘The size effect: an explanation of variability in surface artifact assemblage content’, American Antiquity 43, 288–93.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O., 1980. ‘Prehistory of the Levant’, Annual Review of Anthropology 9, 101–33.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O., 1982. ‘Some remarks on the nature of transitions in prehistory’, in Ronen, A. (ed.), The transition from Lower to Middle Palaeolithic and the Origin of Modern Man, 2933. BAR S151, Oxford.Google Scholar
Bordes, F. 1961. Typologie du Paléolithique Ancien et Moyen. Publications de l'Institut de Préhistoire Mémoire 1, Université de Bordeaux.Google Scholar
Bordes, F. 1968. The Old Stone Age. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London.Google Scholar
Bordes, F. 1979. Cahiers du Quaternaire 1. Vol. 1: Le Paléolithique Hors D'Europe (1976/1977); Vol. 2: Le Paléolithique en Europe (1979). Institut du Qaternaire, Université de Bordeaux.Google Scholar
Brosh, A. and Ohel, M. Y. 1981. ‘Factors in habitat selection for Acheulean sites at Ramat Yiron, Israel’, Paleorient 7(2), 2331.Google Scholar
Bruder, G. 1979. ‘Remaining of flint tools on earth's surface: intermediate report of an experiment’, Mitkufat Haeven 16, 2834 (Hebrew with English summary).Google Scholar
Bruder, G. 1982. ‘The vertical movement of rocks and flint artifacts on the Yiron Plateau’, Mitkufat Haeven 17, 1629 (Hebrew with English summary).Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W., 1982. Archaeology as Human Ecology: Method and Theory for a Contextual Approach. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Cahen, D. and Moeyerson, J. 1977. ‘Subsurface movements of stone artifacts and their implications for the prehistory of Central Africa’, Nature 266, 812–15.Google Scholar
Campbell, B. G. 1974. Human Evolution. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Clarke, D. L. 1977. Spatial Archaeology. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Conkey, M. W. 1980. ‘The identification of prehistoric hunter-gatherer aggregation sites: the case of Altamira’, Current Anthropology 21, 609–30.Google Scholar
Courtin, J. and Villa, P. 1982. ‘Une experience de pientinement’, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 79, 117–23.Google Scholar
Franssen, C. J. H. and Wouters, A. M. 1982. ‘The Heidelbergien-component of the CCC in the stuwwallen (ice pushed ridges) and the CCC in general’, Archaeologische Berichten 13, 21141 (Dutch with an English summary by A. M. Wouters).Google Scholar
Gifford, D. P. and Behrensmeyer, A. K. 1977. ‘Observed formation and burial of a recent human occupation site in Kenya’, Quaternary Research 8, 245–66.Google Scholar
Glikson, Y. 1964. The Geology of the Nahal Dishon Region. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Hebrew University, Jerusalem (Hebrew).Google Scholar
Gould, R. A. (ed.)., 1978. Explorations in Ethnoarchaeology. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Gould, R. A. 1980. Living Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Grader, P. 1958. ‘Outlines of the geology of the Sasa region, Galilee’, Geological Survey of Israel, Bulletin 20.Google Scholar
Hassan, F. A. 1981. Demographic Archaeology. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hayden, B. 1979. Paleolithic Reflections. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.Google Scholar
Jia, L., Gai, P. and You, W. 1972. ‘Excavation report of the Paleolithic site of Shiyu, Shanxi’, Kaogu Xuebao 1, 3958.Google Scholar
Keeley, L. H. 1982. ‘Hafting and retooling: effects on the archaeological record’, American Antiquity 47, 798809.Google Scholar
Kintigh, K. W. 1984. ‘Measuring archaeological diversity by comparison with simulated assemblages’, American Antiquity 49, 4454.Google Scholar
Kretzoi, M. and Vertés, L. 1965. ‘Upper Biharian (Intermindel) pebble industry occupation site in western Hungary’, Current Anthropology 6, 7487.Google Scholar
Lagerweij, A. and Van Der Made, H. 1982. ‘Microforms from the Heidelbergien of Garderen’, Archaeologische Berichten 13, 164–73 (Dutch).Google Scholar
Merrick, H. V. 1976. ‘Recent archaeological research in the Plio-Pleistocene deposits of the Lower Omo, Southwestern Ethiopia’, in Issac, G.Ll. and McCown, E. R. (eds), Human Origins, 461–81. W. A. Benjamin, Melno Park.Google Scholar
Ohel, M. Y., 1981a. Lithic Analysis of the Avivim Assemblages: A Methodological Pilot Study. Ms on file, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Haifa.Google Scholar
Ohel, M. Y., 1981b. ‘The Avivim sites, Upper Galilee, Israel: results of lithic analysis’, Current Anthropology 22, 432–33.Google Scholar
Ohel, M. Y., 1981c. ‘Artefact assemblages of two adjacent Acheulean sites on the Yiron Plateau, Israel’, Anthropology 5(2), 63118.Google Scholar
Ohel, M. Y., 1982a. ‘Procedure designing and implementation: an example from the Upper Dishon intensive prehistoric survey’, Anthropologie 20, 8185.Google Scholar
Ohel, M. Y., 1982b. ‘Artificial stone arrangements in the Acheulean site of Mitzpeh Yiron, Israel’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 48, 2943.Google Scholar
Ohel, M. Y., 1982c. ‘Acheulean sites on both sides of Nahal Aviv’, Qadmoniot 57(1), 1115 (Hebrew).Google Scholar
Ohel, M. Y., 1983a. ‘Mitzpeh Yiron: a hunter's lookout in the Upper Galilee’, Archaeology 36(4), 64–65, 77.Google Scholar
Ohel, M. Y., 1983b. ‘The second season on Ramat Yiron, 1980: test excavations and survey’, Israel Exploration J. 33 (1–2), 114.Google Scholar
Ohel, M. Y., 1983c. ‘Origine et répartition du silex et des industries sur le plateau de Yiron (Israel)’, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 80(6), 179–83.Google Scholar
Ohel, M. Y., 1983d. ‘Random sampling and common sense: a personal but rather common experience’, Eretz-Israel 17, 135–40 (Hebrew with English abstract).Google Scholar
Ohel, M. Y. 1985. ‘Aspects of homogeneity and variability among some Acheulean sites of the Yiron Plateau’, Anthropos 80, 199225.Google Scholar
Ohel, M. Y. and Bruder, G. 1980. ‘Upper Dishon Basin Project: first season 1979’, Israel Exploration J. 30, 3451.Google Scholar
Orquera, L. A. 1984. ‘Specialization and the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition’, Current Anthropology 25, 7398.Google Scholar
Price, B. J. 1982. ‘Cultural materialism: a theoretical review’, American Antiquity 47, 709–41.Google Scholar
Ronen, A., Gilead, D., Bruder, G. and Meller, P. 1974. ‘Notes on the Pleistocene geology and prehistory of the central Dishon Valley, Upper Galilee, Israel’, Quartär 25, 1323.Google Scholar
Shemueli, A., Soffer, A. and Kliott, N. 1983. The Lands of Galilee. Society for the Study of Applied Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa (Hebrew).Google Scholar
Shlein, N. 1961. The Geology of the Alma Region. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Hebrew University, Jerusalem (Hebrew).Google Scholar
Smith, E. A. 1983. ‘Anthropological application of optimal foraging theory: a critical review’, Current Anthropology 24, 625–51.Google Scholar
Stahl, P. W. 1982. ‘On small mammal remains in archaeological context’, American Antiquity 47, 822–29.Google Scholar
Stein, J. K. 1983. ‘Earthworm activity: a source of potential disturbance of archaeological sediments’, American Antiquity 48, 277–89.Google Scholar
Stockton, E. D. 1973. ‘Shaw's Creek shelter: a human displacement of artifacts and its significance’, Mankind 9, 112–17.Google Scholar
Van Es, J. and Franssen, C., 1982. ‘The EEN component of the CCC in the Tiglien of Central Limburg’, Archaeologische Berichten 13, 174–80 (Dutch with an English summary by H. B. Boer).Google Scholar
Vertés, L. 1965. ‘Typology of the Buda industry, a pebble-tool industry from the Hungarian Lower Paleolithic’, Quarternaria 7, 185–95.Google Scholar
Villa, P. 1982. ‘Conjoinable pieces and site formation processes’, American Antiquity 47, 276–90.Google Scholar
Volman, T. P. 1981. The Middle Stone Age in the Southern Cape. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Wiessner, P. 1983. ‘Style and social information in Kalahari San projectile points’, Current Anthropology 48, 253–76.Google Scholar
Wood, W. R. and Johnson, D. L. 1979. ‘A survey of disturbance processes in archaeological site formation’, in Schiffer, M. B. (ed.), Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, 1, 315–81. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Yaalon, D. H. and Kalmar, D. 1978. ‘Dynamics of cracking and swelling of clay soils: displacement of skeletal grains, optimum depth of slickensides, and rate of intra-deponic turbation’, Earth Surface Processes 3, 3142.Google Scholar
Yair, A. 1962. The Morphology of Nahal Dishon. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Hebrew University, Jerusalem (Hebrew).Google Scholar
Yellen, J. E. 1977. Archaeological Approaches to the Present. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Yi, S. and Clark, G. A. 1983. ‘Observations on the Lower Palaeolithic of Northeast Asia’, Current Anthropology 24, 181202.Google Scholar
Yom-Tov, Y. 1983. ‘The animals of the mountainous Galilee’, in Shemueli, A., Soffer, A. and Kliott, N. (eds), The Lands of Galilee, 1, 187–98. Society for the Study of Applied Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa (Hebrew).Google Scholar