TY - JOUR
T1 - Dune elongation and hunting strategy during the Terminal Pleistocene (Ramonian)
T2 - Insights from Mizpor Ashalim, northwestern Negev dunefield margins, Israel
AU - Yaroshevich, Alla
AU - Roskin, Joel
AU - Porat, Naomi
AU - Goring-Morris, Adrian Nigel
AU - Robins, Lotem
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2024/12
Y1 - 2024/12
N2 - The Middle Epipalaeolithic Ramonian culture, endemic to the Negev-Sinai desert, incorporates highland occupations alongside lowland dune-associated localities. The lowland sites, dominated by microlithic tools, have been hypothesized to be prime hunting settings. Here we investigate this hypothesis based on the data from Mizpor Ashalim - a new Ramonian site located upon a falling dune overlooking the central Besor Valley. The study incorporates analysis of projectile damage on microlithic tools, geomorphology, portable OSL profiling, and OSL ages of the dune deposits, as well as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) investigation. GIS mapping of relevant sites alongside the ancient dune-dammed water bodies constitutes an additional methodological tool newly applied in the current study. The results support the hypothesis and suggest that Ramonian hunting strategy was associated with dune-dammed, medium-sized basins that formed ecological niches following winter floods. The study sheds new light on adaptations developed by different cultural entities occupying the region during the Terminal Pleistocene and their connection with changing environmental settings. At the same time, it emphasizes technological continuity throughout the cultural sequence in the arid environments of the Southern Levant, expressed in microliths production and projectile design. This continuity, not observed in the Mediterranean climate zone, underscores the importance of understanding the social and economic dynamics in the desert areas of the Southern Levant to comprehend the processes that led to sedentism and food production in the region.
AB - The Middle Epipalaeolithic Ramonian culture, endemic to the Negev-Sinai desert, incorporates highland occupations alongside lowland dune-associated localities. The lowland sites, dominated by microlithic tools, have been hypothesized to be prime hunting settings. Here we investigate this hypothesis based on the data from Mizpor Ashalim - a new Ramonian site located upon a falling dune overlooking the central Besor Valley. The study incorporates analysis of projectile damage on microlithic tools, geomorphology, portable OSL profiling, and OSL ages of the dune deposits, as well as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) investigation. GIS mapping of relevant sites alongside the ancient dune-dammed water bodies constitutes an additional methodological tool newly applied in the current study. The results support the hypothesis and suggest that Ramonian hunting strategy was associated with dune-dammed, medium-sized basins that formed ecological niches following winter floods. The study sheds new light on adaptations developed by different cultural entities occupying the region during the Terminal Pleistocene and their connection with changing environmental settings. At the same time, it emphasizes technological continuity throughout the cultural sequence in the arid environments of the Southern Levant, expressed in microliths production and projectile design. This continuity, not observed in the Mediterranean climate zone, underscores the importance of understanding the social and economic dynamics in the desert areas of the Southern Levant to comprehend the processes that led to sedentism and food production in the region.
KW - Diagnostic impact fractures
KW - Dune migration
KW - Dune-dammed waterbodies
KW - Epipaleolithic hunting
KW - Microlithic tools
KW - Port-OSL
KW - Projectile weapons design
KW - Terminal pleistocene
KW - Very fine sand
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85204907314&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105260
DO - 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105260
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
AN - SCOPUS:85204907314
SN - 0140-1963
VL - 225
JO - Journal of Arid Environments
JF - Journal of Arid Environments
M1 - 105260
ER -