Abstract
The site of Umm el Tlel (El Kowm Basin, Syria) has revealed an extremely rich stratigraphic sequence, in particular for the Middle Paleolithic, which allows synchronic and diachronic approaches to the analysis of occupation dynamics. Complex VI3 corresponds to a lacustrine phase during which the site was regularly covered by water and sedimentary deposits. Nine archeological layers are present, dating to around 70 ka. The assemblage from layer VI3a has revealed the co-existence of at least two chaînes opératoires of reduction: (a) recurrent Levallois focused on the production of points associated with quadrangular and overshot flakes; (b) recurrent Levallois focused on the production of points, laminar and quadrangular flakes. Other data, such as that related to the remains of hunted fauna recovered in this layer, complement these results and also contribute to a better understanding of the status of the site of Umm el Tlel and, more generally, its role within a broader territory that we can now better define. In a diachronic perspective, occupation dynamics can also be addressed by the study of all of the archeological layers in complex VI3. Based on results of analyses completed, these layers are remarkably uniform throughout this specific geological context, from all perspectives (reduction techniques, hunting strategies and faunal treatment, sites functions, etc.). Thus, the human behaviors revealed by the material recovered from complex VI3, although relatively complex, seem to have been quite stable. This stability, at present difficult to quantify in terms of duration, suggests a degree of rigidity in Mousterian territories where, despite intermittent occupations, human groups regularly returned to the same places to carry out the same range of activities.
Keywords
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Earlier phases are known only from a pit dug by the local population.
- 2.
Only flint has been taken into account here. It is important to emphasize, however, that limestone (equally allochtonous as flint) was also used as a raw material in lesser proportions and for unretouched tools or tools not used for cutting (Torchio 2006 ).
- 3.
The largest nodules of this raw material were observed around Palmyra, 40 km southwest, and in the Euphrates Valley, 80 km north (Al Sakhel 2004: 151, after Boëda, pers. comm.).
- 4.
The definition of Levallois reduction and the terminology employed to characterize it are relatively variable from one publication to the next. The concepts used here are those developed by Boëda (1994, 1995) and the terminology as determined at the round table meeting held in 1990 at Champlitte, Haute-Saône (Collective, unpublished).
- 5.
Flakes produced from the first are always slightly smaller than those from the second.
- 6.
A “3-blow” point has only three dorsal scars: one forming the “basal triangle” typical of all Levallois points and the two others from the lateral edges. For the “constructed” point, one or more of the three elements of a Levallois point (basal triangle and two edges) were made by several removals (Boëda et al. 1998a).
- 7.
For 26 cores, the state of the flaking surface did not permit identification of the method employed.
- 8.
It is important to note that the functional aspect of these assemblages is not addressed in this article. Variation in function and use of the blanks from one stratum to another is entirely possible, but the type of analysis carried out here, focusing uniquely on the production phase of these blanks, does not permit formulation of hypotheses on this subject.
- 9.
Perhaps after having been used to butcher carcasses at the kill site (Boëda et al. 1998a).
References
Al Sakhel, H. (2004). Le Paléolithique moyen dans des oasis du Proche-Orient. Ph.D. dissertation, Université Paris X, Nanterre.
Bar Yosef, O., & Meignen, L. (2001). The chronology of the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic period in retrospect. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris, 13, 269–289.
Bar-Yosef, O. (1998). The chronology of the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant. In T. Akazawa, K. Aoki, & O. Bar-Yosef (Eds.), Neandertals and modern humans in Western Asia (pp. 39–56). New York: Plenum Press.
Bernard-Guelle, S. (2005). Territoires et mobilité des groupes Moustériens en Vercors: analyse et discussion. L’anthropologie, 109, 799–814.
Beyries, S., & Boëda, E. (1993). Etude technologique et traces d’utilisation des « éclats débordants » de Corbehem (Pas-de-Calais). Bulletins de la Société Préhistorique Française, 80, 275–279.
Binford, L. R. (1978). Nunamiut ethnoarcheology. New York: Academic.
Binford, L. R. (1980). Willow smoke and dog’s tails: Hunter-gatherer settlement systems and archeological site formation. American Antiquity, 45, 4–20.
Binford, L. R. (1982). The archeology of place. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 1, 5–31.
Boëda, E. (1994). Le concept Levallois: variabilité des méthodes (Monographies du CRA, Vol. 9). Paris: CNRS.
Boëda, E. (1995). Levallois: A volumetric construction, methods, a technique. In H. L. Dibble & O. Bar-Yosef (Eds.), The definition and interpretation of Levallois technology (pp. 41–69). Madison: Prehistory Press.
Boëda, E. (2005). Le site d’Umm el Tlel (Syrie centrale). In Ministère des Affaires Etrangères (Ed.), Archéologies. Vingt ans de recherches françaises dans le monde (pp. 442–445). Paris: ERC.
Boëda, E., & Muhesen, S. (1993). Umm el Tlel (El Kowm, Syrie): etude préliminaire des industries lithiques du Paléolithique moyen et supérieur 1991–1992. Cahiers de l’Euphrate, 7, 47–91.
Boëda, E., Connan, J., Dessort, D., Muhesen, S., Mercier, N., Valladas, H., & Tisnerat, N. (1996). Bitumen as a hafting material on Middle Palaeolithic artifacts. Nature, 380, 336–338.
Boëda, E., Bourguignon, L., & Griggo, C. (1998a). Activités de subsistance au Paléolithique moyen: couche VI3b’ du gisement d’Umm el Tlel (Syrie). In J. P. Brugal, L. Meignen, & M. Patou-Mathis (Eds.), Economie préhistorique: les comportements de subsistance au Paléoltihique. XVIII e Rencontres Internationales d’Archéologie et d’Histoire d’Antibes (pp. 243–258). Sophia Antipolis: APDCA.
Boëda, E., Connan, J., & Muhesen, S. (1998b). Bitumen as hafting material on Middle Paleolithic artifacts from the El Kowm basin, Syria. In T. Akazawa, K. Aoki, & O. Bar-Yosef (Eds.), Neandertals and modern humans in Western Asia (pp. 181–204). New York: Plenum Press.
Boëda, E., Geneste, M., & Griggo, C. (1999). A Levallois point imbedded in the vertebra of a wild ass (Equus Africanus): Hafting, projectile, mousterian hunting weapon. Antiquity, 73, 394–402.
Boëda, E., Soriano, S., & Noël-Soriano, S. (2000). Fonction et fonctionnement d’un site à la fin du Pléistocène moyen. Le niveau acheuléen C’3 base de Barbas I (Creysse, Dordogne). In P. Bodu & C. Constantin (Eds.), Approches fonctionnelles en Préhistoire. Actes du XXVe Congrès Préhistorique de France - Nanterre (pp. 293–305). Paris: Société Préhistorique Française.
Boëda, E., Griggo, C., & Noël-Soriano, S. (2001). Différents modes d’occupations du site d’Umm el Tlel au cours du Paléolithique moyen (El Kowm, Syrie centrale). Paleorient, 27(2), 13–28.
Boëda, E., Muhesen, S., & Al Sakhel, H. (Eds.) (2006). Mission Archéologique Umm el Tlel/El Meirah, Bassin d’El Kowm, Syrie. Analyse comportementale des Hommes fossiles du Paléolithique en zone semi-désertique. Rapport Scientifique. Unpublished manuscript, Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Paris.
Boëda, E., Bonilauri, S., Connan, J., Jarvie, D., Mercier, N., Tobey, M., Valladas, H., Al Sakhel, H., & Muhesen, S. (2008). Middle Palaeolithic bitumen use at Umm el Tlel around 70 000 BP. Antiquity, 82, 853–861.
Bourg, H. (2000). Production différée dans le temps et l’espace au Paléolithique Moyen proche-oriental: la couche VI3a’ du gisement d’Umm el Tlel (Syrie centrale). M.A. thesis, Université de Liège, Liège.
Cauvin, J., Cauvin, M.-C., & Stordeur, D. (1979). Recherches préhistoriques à El Kowm (Syrie). Première campagne 1978. Cahiers de l’Euphrate, 2, 80–118.
Collective, unpublished. Terminologie appliquée à la description d’un schéma de débitage. Table ronde de Champlitte, juin 1990. Unpublished manuscript, Champlitte.
Conard, N. J., & Adler, D. S. (1997). Lithic reduction and hominid behavior in the middle Paleolithic of the Rhineland. Journal of Anthropological Research, 53, 147–175.
Costamagno, S., Meignen, L., Beauval, C., Vandermeersch, B., & Maureille, C. (2006). Les Pradelles (Marillac-le-Franc, France): A mousterian reindeer hunting camp? Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 25, 466–484.
Courty, M.-A., Boëda, E., Emery-Barbier, A., Griggo, C., Mercier, N., Théry-Parisot, I., & Valladas, H. (2006). The relative timing of human occupation and palaeoenvironnemental changes in the high-resolution sequence of Umm el Tlel: A Palaeolithic site in the Syrian desert. Geophysical Research Abstracts, 8, 01815.
de la Torre Sáinz, I., & Domínguez-Rodrigo, M. (2000). El Paleolítico medio en el próximo oriente. Una síntesis regional. Complutum, 11, 9–27.
Delagnes, A. (1992). Eclats à troncature inverse et enlèvements postérieurs: réflexions autour d’un vieux débat. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, 89, 274–277.
Emery-Barbier, A. (1998). Analyses palynologiques du site de Umm el Tlel (El Kowm, Syrie). In M. Otte (Ed.), Préhistoire d’Anatolie. Genèse de deux mondes (pp. 765–774). Liège: ERAUL 85.
Féblot-Augustins, J. (1993). Mobility strategies in the Late Middle Palaeolithic of Central Europe and Western Europe: Elements of stability and variability. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 12, 211–265.
Garrod, D. A. E., & Bate, D. M. A. (1937). The stone age of Mount Carmel. Excavation at the Wady El-Mughara. Oxford: Clarendon.
Geneste, J.-M. (1991). Systèmes techniques de production lithique: Variations techno-économiques dans les processus de réalisation des outillages paléolithiques. Techniques et Culture, 17(18), 1–35.
Griggo, C. (1998). Associations fauniques et activités de subsistance au Paléolithique moyen en Syrie. In M. Otte (Ed.), Préhistoire d’Anatolie. Genèse de deux mondes (pp. 749–764). Liège: ERAUL 8.
Griggo, C. (1999). Les occupations moustériennes du complexe VI3’ d’Umm el Tlel (Syrie): taphonomie en milieu steppique aride. Anthropozoologica, 29, 3–12.
Griggo, C. (2000). Adaptations environnementales et activités de subsistance au Paléolithique moyen en Syrie. Annales de la Fondation Fyssen, 15, 49–62.
Griggo, C. (2004). Mousterian fauna from Dederiyeh cave and comparison with fauna from Umm el Tlel and Douara cave. Paleorient, 30, 149–162.
Le Tensorer, J. M., Jagher, R., & Muhesen, S. (2001). Paleolithic settlement dynamics in the El Kowm area (Central Syria). In N. J. Conard (Ed.), Settlement dynamics of the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age (pp. 101–122). Tübingen: Kerns Verlag.
Lourdeau, A. (2004). Etude technologique du matériel lithique de la couche levalloiso-moustérienne VI3a’ du site d’Umm el Tlel (Syrie centrale). M.A. thesis, Université Paris X, Nanterre.
Meignen, L. (1998). Le Paléolithique moyen au Levant sud et central: que nous apprennent les données récentes? In M. Otte (Ed.), Préhistoire d’Anatolie. Genèse de deux mondes (pp. 685–708). Liège: ERAUL 85.
Meignen, L., & Brugal, J. P. (2001). Territorial exploitation, technical traditions and environment in a mid-altitude context: The Canalettes rockshelter (Grands Causses, France). In N. J. Conard (Ed.), Settlement dynamics of the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age (pp. 463–483). Tübingen: Kerns Verlag.
Rasse, M., & Boëda, E. (2006). De la lecture verticale à la lecture spatiale des enregistrements archéologiques: réflexions géographiques tirées de l’exemple du site d’Umm el Tlel (Syrie centrale). M@ppemonde 83 (2006.3), http://mappemonde.mgm.fr/num11/articles/art06301.html.
Richter, J. (2001). For lack of a wise old man? Late Neanderthal land use pattern in the Altmühl river valley, Bavaria. In N. J. Conard (Ed.), Settlement dynamics of the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age (pp. 205–219). Tübingen: Kerns Verlag.
Shea, J. J. (2003). The Middle Paleolithic of the East Mediterranean Levant. Journal of World Prehistory, 17, 313–394.
Solecki, R. L., & Solecki, R. S. (1970). A new secondary flaking technique at the Nahr Ibrahim Cave site, Lebanon. Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth, 23, 137–142.
Soriano, S. (2000). Outillage bifacial et outillage sur éclat au Paléolithique ancien et moyen: Coexistence et interaction. Ph.D. dissertation, Université Paris X, Nanterre.
Torchio, G. (2006). L’industrie hors silex du complexe archéologique VI du site d’Umm el Tlel (Syrie centrale): approche technique et fonctionnelle. M.A. thesis, Université Paris X, Nanterre.
van Andel, T. H., & Runnels, C. N. (2005). Karstic wetland dwellers of Middle Palaeolithic Epirus, Greece. Journal of Field Archaeology, 30, 367–384.
Vaquero, M. (2003). Les stratégies de transport d’outils dans un contexte résidentiel: un exemple du Paléolithique moyen. In D. Vialou, J. Renault-Miskovsky, & M. Patou-Mathis (Eds.), Comportements des hommes du Paléolithique moyen et supérieur en Europe: territoires et milieux. Actes du Colloque du G.D.R. 1945 du CNRS (Paris) (pp. 121–132). Liège: ERAUL 111.
Zilhão, J. (2001). Middle Paleolithic settlement patterns in Portugal. In N. J. Conard (Ed.), Settlement dynamics of the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age (pp. 597–608). Tübingen: Kerns Verlag.
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge N.J. Conard and J. Richter for having accepted my participation in their symposium of the 150 Years of Neanderthal Discoveries Bonn congress. I also express special thanks to E. Boëda for his very helpful suggestions and, with S. Muhesen and H. Al Sakhel, for access to the lithic material of the stratum VI3a′ of Umm el Tlel. I am grateful to H. Koehler and M. Pagli for reading an improving earlier version of the text.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lourdeau, A. (2011). Stability in the Intermittence. In: Conard, N.J., Richter, J. (eds) Neanderthal Lifeways, Subsistence and Technology. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0415-2_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0415-2_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0414-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0415-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)