Size Matters: The Role of Nodule Size in Assessing Lithic Transportation—The Case of the Mount Reihan Flint Extraction and Axe/Adze Workshop, Dishon Basin, Eastern Galilee, Israel. (3rd July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Finkel, Meir; Gopher, Avi
• Is Part Of: Lithic technology. Volume 43:Number 3(2018)
• Page Start: 186
• Page End: 200
• Publication Date: 2018-07-03
• Subjects: Flint extraction -- lithic transportation -- Axe/Adze Workshop -- nodule size -- Neolithic/Chalcolithic -- Israel; Stone implements -- Periodicals; Tools, Prehistoric -- Periodicals; Antiquities, Prehistoric -- Periodicals; 621.9009012
• DOI: 10.1080/01977261.2018.1484604
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0197-7261

Abstract

ABSTRACT: There has been much progress recently in reconstructing the transportation of lithic materials from quarry/extraction sites and workshops to occupation sites. The suggested "theoretical nodule, " "cortex ratio, " and "volume ratio" measures have proven useful, mainly when applied to cases in which relatively small initial nodules/cobbles were selected for knapping. However, these methods lose much of their relevance when dealing with the production of bifacials from large nodules. In this article, we present evidence from a newly discovered axe/adze workshop at Mount Reihan in the eastern Galilee, Israel, which boasts an almost complete chaîne opératoire of the production of Neolithic/Chalcolithic axes and adzes from large (mean weight 17.7 kg) flint nodules as a starting point. Measuring nodules, bifacial roughouts, and debitage enables us to propose a two-step method that is valid for the production of bifacials from large nodules: (1) weight of knapped waste is calculated as 80 per cent of the initial flint weight; (2) the 20 per cent weight that remains is divided between the rejected roughouts and the exported/transported items, following a ratio of 1 roughout: 2–3 exported tools.