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74 - The Upper and Epipalaeolithic of the Azraq Basin, Jordan

from Part VI: - Humans in the Levant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

By
Brian F. Byrd  and
Andrew N. Garrard
Edited by
Yehouda Enzel  and
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Yehouda Enzel
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
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Summary

The 12,000 km2 inland Azraq basin in north-central Jordanian plateau experienced through the late Pleistocene and early Holocene a steppic environment, with a spring-fed oasis at its centre. A project was undertaken to examine late Palaeolithic and Neolithic settlement in this region and the impact of late Pleistocene and early Holocene climate change on its resources. Small-scale excavations were conducted at eighteen sites of which ten were late Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic (~30-13 ka cal BP). Of particular interest are two extensive seasonal aggregation sites (Jilat 6 and Kharaneh IV), which appear to have been occupied just after the LGM. This chapter focuses on the stone tool industries identified and their implications for hunter-gatherer interactions across the region. Points of interest include the very early occurrence of backed bladelet industries and of the microburin technique for truncating backed tools, and the presence of several Epipalaeolithic occupations, which contained relatively few microlithic tools. Many of the industries were regionally distinctive and only the Natufian had strong affinities with west of the Rift Valley assemblages.

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Quaternary of the Levant
Environments, Climate Change, and Humans
 , pp. 669 - 678
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

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