Exploring 'Ein Qashish, a Middle Paleolithic site in northern Israel Erella Hovers
The Middle Paleolithic site of ‘Ein Qashish is located on the floodplain of the Qishon stream, northern Israel, which drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is located at the inlet to a narrow water gap between Mt. Carmel and Tiv’on Hills. The excavation and 3 trenches up to 5 m deep provide the stratigraphy and allow a reconstruction of the paleogeography and depositional environments. The archaeological layer, OSL dated to about 64± 4 ka, is composed of carbonate gravel and overlies 66 ± 4 ka (MIS4) black, heavy alluvial clays deposited by the Qishon Stream, representing marsh environment. The site is covered by another clay unit, representing a second marsh period between 50± 3 and 41± 3 ka (MIS3). This sedimentary complex is unconformably covered by coarse gravel and reddish clay matrix, dated to between 15.1 ±0.7 and 10.5 ± 0.5 ka, which is derived from Wadi Qashish -‐ a steep mountainous stream of Mt. Carmel. The mineralogical analyses of the clays indicate high quartz concentrations and smectitic IS, which support the interpretation of Qishon basin origin, versus illitic IS from Mt. Carmel slopes. The duration of the prehistoric human activity is estimated at <10 kyr, during which the Qishon stream transported fine clay by relatively low-‐magnitude flows over a relatively stable floodplain. The site is located over the toe of the gravelly alluvial fan of Wadi Qashish. During the end of the Pleistocene to the Holocene, the site was covered by coarse gravel from Mt. Carmel alternating with fine clay sediments of the Qishon stream. Sea level during the occupation period was between 100 and 60 m b.s.l. and the coastline was located 10-‐7 km westward. The proposed mechanism for the marsh development is: (a) repeated episodes of blockage of the Qishon stream outlet at the narrow water gap by aeolian sand transported by westerly winds inland over the exposed continental shelf. The accumulation of sand and sandstone over the coastal plain during this period supports this idea. (b) Based on hydrological correlation with the Lake Lisan Levels the flows in the Qishon stream were low with large component of baseflows characterizing warmer and wetter periods that could not cut through the sand blockage and forced the water upstream into marshes. The marshes drained during the colder and drier Heinrich events H6/H5a and H4 which were characterized by higher frequency of large floods. The open-‐air site of ‘Ein Qashish is found at the interface of the sediments deposited by the Qishon stream, which drains the Yizra’el Valley, and paleo-‐Wadi Qashish, which flowed off Mt. Carmel. Artifacts and bones, derived from three excavation season over an area of 20 sq.m., are dispersed over a vertical distance of some 90 cm. Observations in geological trenches located at variable distances from the excavated area indicate that this cluster of finds occurred at a circumscribed locality on the landscape rather than as a part of a continuous
distribution on the paleo-‐surface. We ‘reverse-‐engineer’ site formation processes, starting with the latest (post-‐depositional), moving to earlier (syn-‐ depositional) processes, and relate them to their most likely causative agents through the examination of a series of explicit models. GIS techniques were applied in order to parse the variable lines of information, which include lithic and faunal taphonomy, size distributions and spatial and stratigraphic dispersal of objects, fabric analysis and OSL results. We discuss the implications of the results for distinguishing anthropogenic from non-‐anthropogenic effects and for reconstructing the timeline of depositional events that led to the current distribution of artifacts. Insights into these questions inform our understanding of human activities at the site, suggesting that the excavation samples the margins of an occupation horizon where activities focused on knapping and resource processing rather than task specific behaviors such as hunting. Excavations at the site revealed a small faunal collection and a diverse lithic assemblage. The lithic assemblage is flake-‐dominated, with low frequencies of retouched artifacts and of cores. Several reduction sequences were identified. Products of Levallois methods appear in low frequencies. The modified artifacts include lightly retouched flakes and blades, side-‐scrapers, truncations and burins. The low frequencies of primary elements, core trimming elements, and cores suggest that only part of the reduction sequence took place on-‐site. Side-‐ scrapers may have been imported into the locality. In contrast, short non-‐ Levallois reduction sequences were applied on-‐site. The expedient nature of the retouch and of local reduction sequences suggests that the original site from which the artifacts derived and were then redeposited (see above) was an ephemeral occupation(s) on the banks of the Qishon stream. The nature of the lithic assemblage is not consistent with specific tasks such as butchery or hunting, indicating more generalized activities. Technological aspects of the assemblage and its composition bear similarities to those observed in habitation sites found in caves in the late Middle Paleolithic in northern Israel. The first stages of any lithic reduction sequence concern raw material procurement. As in most other prehistoric sites, the hominins occupants of ‘Ein Qashish needed to identify raw material sources on the landscape, test the quality of raw material, and either knap it on the spot or move it to other locations. The distance from raw material source to a destination location is a significant factor that has implications for artifact use life history. The lithic assemblage from the late Middle Paleolithic site of ‘Ein Qashish is made exclusively on flint. This raw material occurs as several different visual types, distinguished by their colors and textures. Several geological formations, some of which are flint-‐bearing, are known at various distances from the site. In order to associate archaeological flint from the assemblage of ‘Ein Qashish to potential geological sources, large scale geological surveys were conducted, documenting the sources of raw material in relation to their distance for the site. Capitalizing on the computation power of GIS software, time-‐distance model of the area around the site were created and used to assess local vs. non-‐local raw
material exploitation. Visual observations (color and texture), geochemical ananyses (ICP-‐MS, ICP-‐AES) analyses, and statistical methods (e.g., ANOVA and Principle Component Analysis) were then used to create sufficiently large samples – geological and archaeological – that could be used to establish plausible source areas for the flint exploited by the site occupants and assess transport distances. This combination of methods is a methodological innovation in raw material research in the Levant. The analysis shows that ICP-‐MS and ICP-‐AES can be used to differentiate flints from various geological formations and to assign archaeological artifacts to geological origin areas. The inhabitants of ‘Ein Qashish obtained flints from various distances and integrated on-‐site knapping of flint from relatively closer sources with transport of finished tools from more distant locations. The relationship between the distance of potential raw material sources and the distribution of raw materials among technological products from different stages of reduction is addressed in order to discuss mobility patterns and raw material economy. The ‘Ein Qashish research has been published in four papers in Quaternary International 331 (2014). Ekshtain, R., Malinsky-‐Buller, A., Ilani, S., Segal, I., Hovers, E., 2014. Raw material exploitation around the Middle Paleolithic site of 'Ein Qashish. Quaternary International 331, 248-‐266. Greenbaum, N., Ekshtain, R., Malinsky-‐Buller, A., Porat, N., Hovers, E., 2014. The stratigraphy and paleogeography of the Middle Paleolithic open-‐air site of 'Ein Qashish, Northern Israel. Quaternary International 331, 203-‐215. Hovers, E., Ekshtain, R., Greenbaum, N., Malinsky-‐Buller, A., Nir, N., Yeshurun, R., 2014 Islands in a stream? Reconstructing site formation processes in the late Middle Paleolithic site of 'Ein Qashish, northern Israel. Quaternary International 331, 216-‐233. Malinsky-‐Buller, A., Ekshtain, R., Hovers, E., 2014. Organization of lithic technology at 'Ein Qashish, a late Middle Paleolithic open-‐air site in Israel. Quaternary International 331, 234-‐247.