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The Oldowan of Zarqa Valley, Northern Jordan

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Abstract

The fluvial Dawqara Formation, upper Zarqa Valley, eastern side of Jordan Valley, is chronologically constrained between 2.52 and 1.98 Ma. Several artifact-bearing outcrops display a core and flake industry, with no handaxes nor planned flaking. Herein, we describe 40 artifacts from section 334 Lower, the earliest archeological site of the formation and one of the oldest Oldowan complexes outside Africa. Despite the occurrence of basalt rocks, all artifacts were made on chert cobbles displaying various degrees of abrasion due to fluvial transport. The industry is represented by 30 flakes and 10 cores and choppers, preferentially obtained on chert cobbles with massive-fan form, unifacially and bifacially flaked. Most of the flakes present plain or cortical platforms and show on their dorsal faces a unipolar production scheme. Eighteen flakes, from unipolar or undetermined cores, exhibit a discontinuous retouch, defining a denticulated or convex margin. The assemblage is compared to Oldowan or lower Acheulean complexes in and outside Africa, pointing to a rapid spread of unknown hominins with this flaking technology, possibly ascribable to an early Homo clade.

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Modified from Bar-Yosef and Goren-Inbar (1993)

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The data supporting this study are included within the article and/or supporting materials.

Notes

  1. A similar morphological cobble classification is in Goldman-Neuman and Hovers (2012, p. 357).

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Department of Antiquities of Jordan for the excavation permit and Fareed Al-Shishani e Youssef Haslbe Shishani for their invaluable aid in Sukhne during our field campaigns. We acknowledge Gabriel Rocha for revising the references and Carla Gabrieli and Brenda Bowser for revising the text. We finally acknowledge the anonymous colleagues who performed a great deal of work in reviewing this paper.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (W.A.N., 2013/22631-2; G.S., 2016/04809-7, 2023/05601-4), The Wenner-Gren Foundation (G.S., 8991), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnologico (CNPq) (G.S., 302127/2015-1), and Italian Ministero degli Affari Esteri through the Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana (F.P.).

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  1. Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas Arqueológicas, Departamento de Antropologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Rua Bom Jesus 650, Juvevé, Curitiba, PR, 80035-010, Brazil

    Fabio Parenti

  2. Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana, Piazza Ruggero Bonghi 2, 03012, Anagni, FR, Italy

    Fabio Parenti

  3. Departamento de Geologia, Escola de Minas, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Campos Morro Do Cruzeiro s/n - Bauxita, Ouro Preto, MG, 35400-000, Brazil

    Filipe Giovanini Varejão

  4. Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Av. 24 A, 1515 - Bela Vista, Rio Claro, SP, 13506-700, Brazil

    Giancarlo Scardia

  5. Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, Universidade de São Paulo, R. do Matão, 277 - Butantã, São Paulo, SP, 05508-090, Brazil

    Mercedes Okumura

  6. Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Almeida Prado, 1466 - Butantã, São Paulo, SP, 05508-070, Brazil

    Astolfo Araujo

  7. Departamento de Geologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Av. Cel. Francisco H. dos Santos, s/n - Jardim das AméricasCuritiba, PR, 81270-460, Brazil

    Carlos Conforti Ferreira Guedes

  8. Instituto de Estudos Avançados, Universidade de São Paulo, R. do Anfiteatro, 513 - Butantã, São Paulo, SP, 05508-060, Brazil

    Walter Alves Neves

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Parenti, F., Varejão, F.G., Scardia, G. et al. The Oldowan of Zarqa Valley, Northern Jordan. J Paleo Arch 7, 3 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-023-00168-6

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