Nishiaki, Yoshihiro; (1992) Lithic technology of Neolithic Syria: A series of analyses of flaked stone assemblages from Douara Cave II, Tell Damishilyya, Tell Nebi Mend and Tell Kashkashok II. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The interpretive possibility of lithics for understanding cultural development in the Levantine Neolithic has not been fully exploited. Current lithic studies are strongly biased to typological study of particular tool forms, leaving many other important aspects of lithic industry such as technology and raw material use rather unexplored. It is intended in this study to fill this important gap of information, and to provide a more comprehensive and dynamic picture on the use of lithic material by the Neolithic people in Syria. The raw material procurement, core reduction, and tool manufacturing processes at Pre-Pottery to Pottery Neolithic sites in Syria (Douara Cave II, Tell Damishilyya, Tell Nebi Mend and Tell Kashkashok II) were analysed in detail to examine their inter-relations, so that the complex factors creating the technological variability of Neolithic assemblages were isolated. The results suggest that one important factor was availability, kinds and procurement methods of raw material, and that the change from the Pre-Pottery to the Pottery Neolithic was characterised by the increasing use of locally available raw material, as well as a move from specialised blade to more expedient flake production. The period with which this study is concerned is a period when profound changes were occurring in various aspects of human life¬styles, when the then still primitive farming community evolved to the more advanced one that characterises the later Neolithic period. This study suggests that the change in lithic technology closely reflects those changing patterns in raw material economy, settlement system, and subsistence economy, and that detailed analysis of lithic technology using pertinent methods can contribute to a better understanding of important developments within the Neolithic communities of the Ancient Near East.

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