A Lithic Examination of Tor Aeid: A Middle and Upper Paleolithic Rockshelter in Southern Jordan (165 pp. – Chapter VI)

Williams, John K.

Thesis in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology, University of Tulsa, 1997

Directed by Professor Donald O. Henry

ABSTRACT

A study of the lithic artifacts from Tor Aeid has provided evidence regarding the characteristics of the Early Ahmarian industry in southern Jordan. Analysis of the technological and typological aspects of the artifact inventory indicates that Tor Aeid represents a base camp occupied during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic periods. The Middle Paleolithic artifacts represent a Mousterian B-type technology, and the Upper Paleolithic artifacts are comparable to other assemblages throughout the southern Levant currently labeled “Early Ahmarian”. The Upper Paleolithic artifacts at Tor Aeid are compared to Early Ahmarian assemblages at the proximate sites of Tor Hamar and Jebel Humeima. A search for lithic variability is performed by reconstructing the operational sequence at each assemblage. Broad-scale studies of raw material procurement and technological organization are followed with fine-grained analyses of microscopic use-wear and stylistic attributes. The results indicate small ethnic differences within otherwise very similar assemblages.