Examining the Boundaries of the Levantine Aurignacian

John K. Williams

Advisor: Professor Anthony E. Marks

Doctor of Philosophy conferred May 17, 2003

Dissertation completed May 10, 2003

Abstract

Given the current state of research, the numerous assemblages labeled ‘Levantine Aurignacian’ cannot be sufficiently compared. This study involves a detailed analysis of 21 lithic assemblages that at one time or another were called "Levantine Aurignacian", in an effort test the validity of subsuming all of these assemblages under the same classificatory scale. In particular, it is unclear how the assemblages in the caves and rockshelters of the Mediterranean woodlands relate to the mostly open-air assemblages in the marginal zone. Detailed analyses of these assemblages demonstrated to what degree these assemblages vary, and along what dimensions. Several reduction strategies were reconstructed within the sampled assemblages, and these were used to classify the assemblages within an explicitly defined scheme. Six industries were identified, spanning the entire length of the Upper Paleolithic. The results indicate that some similarities do exist between the Mediterranean woodlands and marginal zone, while some industrial characteristics are unique to the Mediterranean woodlands. It is further suggested that broad trends can be seen as a response to demographic pressure and resulting intensified exploitation of certain subsistence strategies, and this process eventually culminates in a threshold event during the terminal Upper Paleolithic, as a result climate interacting with a process that was up to that point environmentally-independent.