This book surveys the archaeological record for stone tools from the earliest times to 6,500 years ago in the Near East.

This book surveys the archaeological record for stone tools from the earliest times to 6,500 years ago in the Near East.

A detailed overview of the Eastern African stone tools that make up the world's longest archaeological record.

This book focusses on ground stone tools, stone vessels, and devices carved into rock across the Near East and Egypt from prehistory to the later periods. The aim is to explore all aspects of these tools and stimulate a debate about new methodologies to approach this material.

Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East: A Guide surveys the lithic record for the East Mediterranean Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan, and adjacent territories) from the earliest times to 6,500 years ago. It is intended both as an introduction to this lithic evidence for students and as a resource for researchers working with Paleolithic and Neolithic stone tool evidence. Written by a lithic analyst and professional flintknapper, this book systematically examines variation in technology, typology, and industries for the Lower, Middle, and Upper Paleolithic; the Epipaleolithic; and Neolithic periods in the Near East. It is extensively illustrated with drawings of stone tools. In addition to surveying the lithic evidence, the book also considers ways in which archaeological treatment of this evidence could be changed to make it more relevant to major issues in human origins research. A final chapter shows how change in stone tool designs points to increasing human dependence on stone tools across the long sweep of Stone Age prehistory.

This volume compiles the papers presented at the seventh edition of the Conference on PPN Chipped and Ground Stone Industries of the Fertile Crescent, held in Barcelona from 14 to 17 February 2012. This series of conferences/workshops started nineteen years ago - the first meeting was organised in Berlin in 1993 - and is devoted to the study of the lithic record in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Near East and neighbouring regions. The seventh of these conferences was organised by the Institució Milà i Fontanals (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) and the Prehistory Department (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). This volume includes a total number of 36 articles, covering a wide range of topics and disciplines related to lithic studies in the Levant over a long chronological time span (from the final stages of the Epipalaeolithic/Natufian to the Halaf period). The publication of the conference proceedings is thus an interesting synthesis of the current state of lithic studies on the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Near East, and consolidates this specific series of conferences as a key tool to maintain and stimulate the vitality of high quality research into the Near Eastern lithic record.

This book surveys the archaeological record for stone tools from the earliest times to 6,500 years ago in the Near East.