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Context 1
... to a specific part in the groove of the haft . The role of the backing is to control the width of each insert in order to facilitate the for- mation of an elongated continuous working edge . The retrieval of sickles with inserts of different widths strengthens our point since they all form an elongated continuous working edge (Hole 1983: 564, fig . 115 fig . 3) are exposed and it is clear that they have different shapes and sizes . It is possible that the knapper was not skilled enough to produce standardized pieces . However, the pos- sibility that the non-standardized shapes and sizes of the Solferino inserts were necessary and inten- tionally selected in order to form a continuous ...
Context 2
... is supported by the fact that in the refuse pits of the Beit Eshel and Horvat 'Illit B there are thousands of inserts with a non-modified working edge . However, the few glossed (i .e . used) inserts that were discarded there feature only fine denticulation (Vardi 2012) . Other significant changes are obvious in the metric traits of the inserts (table 1, fig . 5) . The average maximal width of the inserts dropped from 15-17 mm in the Wadi Raba samples, to 13 .5 mm in the first half of the 5 th millennium, to around 11 .4 mm in the Ghassulian . The thickness had decreased as well, from 5 .32 mm in Wadi Raba inserts, to 4 .6 mm in the early 5 th millennium and to 4 .5 mm in the Ghassulian . It ...
Context 3
... is pronounced in the northern negev where three workshops of standardized inserts were studied . Figure 1: Average width (in mm) of sickle blades from the southern Levant. ...
Context 4
... it appears that the inserts were secured to the haft by a mass of adhesive that was applied on the haft's margins until it covered parts of the in- serts that were not secured inside the groove . The cross-sections of some of the sickles show that the adhesive was applied until it was near or passed the pronounced dorsal ridge of the insert ( fig . 9: 1-2) . This action actually locked most of the insert into the haft . Another proof for such an application of adhesive can be seen on a number of inserts from some of the examined assem- blages, which carry changes in color or even residues that mark the hafting arrangement ( fig . 10) . The marks indicate that the binding material covered ...
Context 5
... near or passed the pronounced dorsal ridge of the insert ( fig . 9: 1-2) . This action actually locked most of the insert into the haft . Another proof for such an application of adhesive can be seen on a number of inserts from some of the examined assem- blages, which carry changes in color or even residues that mark the hafting arrangement ( fig . 10) . The marks indicate that the binding material covered the pronounced ridge or one of the pro- nounced ridges in the case of inserts with a trapezoidal cross-section ...
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Citations
... Our harvesting experiments clearly indicate that the advantage of a curved haft is that it helps in grouping the stem bundle, whereas the straight haft only enables cutting bundles that are grouped by the hand (see also Astruc et al 2012;Vardi and Gilead 2013b and references therein). Straight and curved sickles are known from the earliest sites, deriving from Late Epipaleolithic Natufian contexts (see also Rosenberg and Chasan 2021), such as a straight sickle from El-Wad Cave, Israel (Garrod 1932), the curved sickles from Wadi Hammeh 27, Jordan (Edwards and Le Dosseur 2012;Zvonkica 2012), the straight sickle from Shanidar Cave, northern Iraq (Solecki 1963), and Neolithic examples such as the straight sickles from Yiftahel, Israel (Khalaily et al. 2005) and curved sickles from sites such as Nahal Hemar Cave, Israel (Bar-Yosef and Alon 1988), Tell Halula, Syria (Borrell and Molist 2007), Haçılar, southern Anatolia (Mortensen 1970), and Jarmo, northern Iraq (Hole 1983). ...
... The intention of this post-use operation is still unclear as no traces associated with the second cycle of use were found (except for the rare occasions where fractures exhibit cereal harvesting polish from a second use-cycle, n = 3), but post-use operation is an indication that the sickle blades were valued (or else they would have been discarded with no further attempt to re-shape or reuse them). Such procedures of sickle blade segmentation were observed in the sickle blade workshop of Late Chalcolithic Beit Eshel (Gilead et al. 2004(Gilead et al. , 2010Vardi and Gilead 2009, 2013b and refuse pit at Mitḥam C (Vardi et al. 2020) in the northern Negev. These sites were defined as special activity sites where sickle blades were intensively produced-a workshop or a place related to it-and specialized craft manufacture occurred (ibid: 186). ...
This study combines typology and use-wear analysis applied to a large sample of flint sickle blades from Tel Tsaf, Jordan Valley, Israel, dated to the Middle Chalcolithic period (ca. 5200–4700 cal BC). The dominant backed, bi-truncated rectangle sickle blade, typical of the Chalcolithic period, was analyzed, revealing new types that are identified through shaping nuances which, based on the results of the use-wear analysis, are associated with different construction principles of the composite sickle. Considering that the archaeological record is scarce with evidence of the sickles themselves, the use-wear analysis provides detailed information, where a variety of techniques are defined, looking at the shape of the hafts, the positioning of the sickle inserts, and the method of using the adhesive material. A versatile system of sickle construction is introduced, where a range of hafting options is possible, in straight or curved hafts and with inserts positioned parallel or obliquely. But there are also particular types that were clearly designed in a special way, to fit unique types of sickles. Furthermore, the identification of post-use operations through breakage patterns also connects the Tel Tsaf sickles to activities identified in sickle blade workshops from other Late Chalcolithic sites, indicating that these were valued products that were repaired and re-shaped for subsequent use. We provide several lines of evidence, deriving from harvesting experiments, archaeological research of sickles and sickle blades, and by drawing on ethnography to explain the significance of these differences in sickles at Tel Tsaf. It is associated with varying harvesting techniques to deal with variations in field settings, types of sickle users, and intense consumption. Compared to the previous Late Pottery Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic sickle types, where sickle blades are different in shape, the analysis of the Tel Tsaf sickle blades presents a development in sickle harvesting technology and its complexity during this time.
... For example, the geographical distribution of different types of sickle inserts, combined with radiocarbon dates, was used to reconstruct the place of the Neolithic expansion and the spread of technological innovations westwards in the Mediterranean basin [78,79]. The technological investment in the manufacturing of the sickles, including the production and rejuvenation of the stone inserts, varies in time and space along with the increasing reliance on domestic cereals crops, reflecting regional cultural dynamics and innovative adaptation solutions [80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89]. ...
Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq is the only Neolithic site in Northeastern Iran, characterised by aceramic and ceramic levels corresponding to an occupation of 1500 years from the eighth to the end of the sixth millennium BCE. The Western and Eastern Mounds represent the oldest and longest occupation among the sites identified East of the Zagros, providing a unique context to explore the origin and spread of farming outside the core area of the Eastern Fertile Crescent. We present data about the first harvesting activities in the Northeastern Iranian Central Plateau by applying usewear and microtexture analysis through confocal microscopy on sickle gloss blades. Our results indicate a community of pioneer farmers who settled down in the area carrying with them both domestic cereals as well as advanced techniques of cereal cultivation. We demonstrate that most of the tools were used for harvesting cereals in a fully ripened state collected near the ground, indicating a well-established cereal cultivation strategy. The use of straight shafts with parallel inserts in Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq, as known in some sites in the Zagros, suggests the dispersal of farming practices and technologies from the Eastern Fertile Crescent north-eastward across Iran. We observe an evolution in the degree of ripeness of harvested cereals along the first four levels of occupation of the Western Mound, where semi-ripe harvesting is relatively important, suggesting that domestic cereals to be harvested before full maturity were introduced into the village. From the topmost of the Western Mound and along the occupation of the Eastern Mound, ripe harvesting is dominant, showing a well-established cultivation strategy of fully mature cereal. This shift could indicate an in-situ evolution towards a better-established agricultural technology, including harvesting riper crops, that would have resulted in higher yields, as cereals were collected when the grain was fully formed.
... Remains of a workshop that was found at Ard el-Samra, indicate that sickle blades and adzes were produced at the site (Getzov et al. forthcoming). The production technology is identical to the one known from sites in the Negev, such as Bet Eshel (Vardi & Gilead, 2013). ...
In 1986, when Tom Levy indicated that distinct regional cultures emerged in the Late Chalcolithic period, he did not refer to the Galilee, as available information on that region was sparse. In the same year, Frankel and Gophna defined Galilean painted “Abu-Sinan” pottery, but additional information regarding the Late Chalcolithic material culture in the mountainous Galilee was still scarce and mainly based on a few survey collections. The discovery of the Peqi‘in secondary-burial cave in 1995 changed the hitherto general impression that the Galilee during the second half of the fifth millennium BCE was a barely populated periphery. Since then, interest in the mountainous Galilee during this period has increased, engendering additional surveys and some excavations. The updated information shows that this area housed more than 30 settlements, and that its material culture was in general typical of the period and the Ghassulian culture. However, variations in pottery types, decoration, and motifs as well as flint, differentiates this area. We suggest that these distinctive Galilean characteristics should be considered a Ghassulian Galilean sub-culture.
... Lithic assemblages of the Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods have been the subject of extensive research in the last three decades (e.g., Gopher 1989;Rosen 1997; Barkai and Gopher 1999;Matskevich 2011;Barzilai et al. 2013;Milevski et al. 2013;Rosenberg et al. 2017;Khalaily, Covello-Paran and Marder 2018), with more specific studies usually focusing on elements such as blade technology, arrowheads, bifacial tools and tabular scrapers (e.g., Gopher 1994;Gilead et al. 2004;Barkai 2005;Shimelmitz and Mendel 2008;Bar and Winter 2010;Goodale et al. 2010;Vardi 2012;Vardi and Gilead 2013;Agam et al. 2016). The presented lithic analysis provides a detailed description of the various elements of the assemblages and aims to shed light on four aspects in particular: 1. ...
... Thinner and narrower Type E sickle blades require a thinner and narrower groove and therefore, a lighter sickle haft. They also require less adhesive material (Vardi and Gilead 2013). ...
... Thinner blanks retain less weight on the same surface area and logically, are more durable in terms of a tighter grip inside the haft (see also Vardi and Gilead 2013). ...
... Within E narrow, plain edges constitute 33.3% of the intensively glossed items, 37.5% of the medium, 62.5% of the weak glossed items, and 0% of the un-glossed (Table 3.5.7). Plain edges were evidently used as is, contrary to the suggestion of Vardi and Gilead (2013). Plain edges of subtype E narrow exhibit more intensive gloss compared to E regular, and none of them is un-glossed ( ...
Between the Neolithic and the urban revolutions, sweeping changes of tremendous socio-economic significance took place in the southern Levant. The main goal of this research was to investigate the role lithics played in these transformations. The specific research goals were first, to determine the main triggers for changes in raw material selection, techno-typological aspects, and functional changes in sickle blades, projectiles, and bifacial tool production during this timeframe. Second, follow the socio-cultural aspects these changes reflect; and third, use the techno-typological and raw material analyses to extrapolate a likely trajectory of the establishment and development of agricultural communities following plant and animal domestication, the formation of mature farming societies, and the founding of the first cities, or urbanization.
My basic assumption is that everything made and used by pre-industrial people are reflections of society, economy, identity, and worldviews. Sickle blades, projectiles, and bifacial tools are standardized craft objects and, as such, are perceived as material expressions of social discourse and an effective medium for exploring society and culture
Materials and Methods
This research focuses on a detailed study of 924 sickle blades, 371 projectiles, and 800 bifacial tools from ten cultural layers of five different sites dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C (PPNC), the Pottery Neolithic (PN) Yarmukian, the PN Lodian, the PN Wadi Rabah, the Chalcolithic Ghassulian (CGH), and the Early Bronze Age (EBA). It examines aspects of raw material, technology, and typology, and includes a comparative study with other available (published) contemporary sites. The insights from the diachronic changes in tool types analyzed and meticulously characterized in this study were evaluated using seriation and comparison of the three production trajectories, published functional studies (use-wear analyses and controlled experiments), ethnographic evidence, economic and social models, and a perceptual perspective.
Main Results and Implications
Techno-typological and raw material analyses reveal that, from a lithic perspective, cultural changes during the PPNC–EBA were gradual, with no abrupt breaks. This steady development formed a continuum from the onset of agriculture through the establishment of rural communities and into the emergence of more complex societies (which, in the Mediterranean zone, saw a split between the farmer and craftsmen), and finally to the foundation of cities. The three tool types examined in this study contribute to a better understanding of this process, each from a different perspective.
This research illustrates that developments and changes in the sickle blade production trajectories were triggered by increasing demand for cereals and straw (for animal feed, basketry, the pottery industry, and more) and reflect increasing efficiency in both harvesting and production and maintenance of sickles (haft and inserts). I propose to view these developments through the prism of organization and reorganization of production. An increase in the number of harvested plants per time unit reflects resource optimization and contributes to an increase in an area's carrying capacity, which in turn potentially leads to an increase in surplus. Therefore, changes in sickle blade techno-typology over time eventually enabled the sustaining of a growing population.
With the introduction of a long sickle in the PPNC, the complexity of sickle production, hafting, and maintenance significantly increased. This, along with concurrent scheduling of harvesting and sickle blade craftsmanship, contributed to the establishment of distinct social identities of farmers and craftsmen.
This research makes a significant contribution to aspects of perception of production. As mentioned, the trigger for diachronic change in sickle blades was the increasing efficiency in both harvesting and sickle production. However, the achievement of this goal changed dramatically in the late PN, indicating a perceptual change. Between the PPNC and the Lodian culture of the PN, the need for increased efficiency in both harvesting and sickle production was handled by extending the lifespan of sickle inserts based on increased investment in the shaping, reshaping, and reuse of each insert (late stage production investment). This situation changed in the PN Wadi Rabah culture with the adoption of a more cost-effective approach characterized by increased investment in the initial production stages (acquisition of suitable raw material and core preparation). This enabled serial production of large numbers of short-lived sickle inserts with minimal investment in the last stages of production.
The PPNC, Yarmukian, and Lodian sickle blade production echoes hunter-gatherer perceptions of objects as “selves,” emphasizing the life cycle of various “selves.” This approach, though ecologically beneficial, is time–effort consuming and contradicts fundamental principles of production efficiency. It creates a “bottleneck” that prevents an increase in specialization, slows down demographic growth, and socio-economic development. Beginning with the Wadi Rabah culture, sickle blade craftsmen focused on the “whole” at the expense of the “individual,” meaning the whole sickle at the expense of its inserts. The sickle insert was no longer viewed as a “self” but rather as a “means” to achieving increased production efficiency. This led the late PN economy and society on a track of increasing specialization, technological development, social ranking, and economic and demographic growth. This research suggests that we view the Lodian–Wadi Rabah transition as a turning point in the increased specialization in sickle blade production, further amplified in the CHG, and even more in the EBA, with its nearly “industrial” mass production of highly standard Cannaanean blade blanks. This technological choice is essentially a reflection of a shift from a relational epistemology to an objectified worldview, a shift in perception that, over time, would develop, expand, and finally evolve into modern perception of economy and society as we know it today.
Diachronic changes in projectiles reflect a continuous decline in hunting activities and an increasing marginalization of stone tipped tools in the southern Levant. A detailed comparison of tool type characteristics shows a similarity between the sickle blade and projectile production trajectories (they were likely produced by the same craftsmen) during the PPNC, PN Yarmukian, and Lodian, until projectiles decrease and then practically disappear. The sickle blade trajectory is evidently the leading one. It is of great significance that the withdrawal from the hunter-gatherer animistic worldview of objects as "selves" coincided with abandonment of the classic Neolithic “three-type” projectile system in the Wadi Rabah culture and adoption of an advantageous production (of Transverse projectile) based on blade segments. This shift is a visible expression of the above presented perceptual change.
The production of bifacial tools seems to reflect a conservative set of choices, applied traditionally, and with little change, throughout the time span examined. Bifacial tool production differs from the sickle blade + projectile industry, and was likely performed by different craftsmen. Due to the complex process of shaping and polishing (extensive investment in the late production stages), bifacial tools could not be subjected to high levels of specialization, namely, mass production. The inability to make stone bifacial tool production more efficient probably led to its eventual abandonment (and likely replacement by metal axes and adzes) already in the early stages of the EBA, while the production of stone sickle blades became highly organized and flourished much longer afterwards. As the adze claims to be more efficient and versatile than the axe, the increase in adzes in the Wadi Rabah and CHG likely reflects attempts to increase efficiency. This emphasizes the importance of efficiency in production and use between the PPNC and the EBA. As with projectiles, the abandonment of stone bifacial tools in the EBA reflects the relinquishing of the cultural and symbolic meaning these tools once held, and emphasizes again, withdrawal from “old” perceptions.
Using a sickle blade attribute seriation model and a technology-based production curve analysis, I was able to illustrate how technological development alone does not lead to socio-economic change. Perceptual changes underlie (and are an essential driving force behind) socio-economic developments. In fact, the increased organization of production (specialization) in the Wadi Rabah–CHG–EBA would not have been possible without letting go of “old” perceptions (rooted in the hunter-gatherer world), in favor of a more direct, “end-product targeted”, “cost-effective” approach to production. In the absence of perceptual change, further socio-economic developments (including increased exploitation and manipulation of the environment, resource optimization, and demographic growth) would not have been possible.
This research establishes that worldviews rooted in hunter-gatherer epistemologies continued to influence the perception of lithic (and also pottery) production until, and including the PN Lodian culture, almost two millennia after the domestication of plants and animals in the region and the institutionalization of agriculture.
This raises many questions, such as: How can the perceptual change be characterized? Was the separation from hunter-gatherer worldviews a gradual process or was it a change that occurred in parallel with changes in the perception of domestication and production, but not in the same pace? How and when did a change in the perception of plants and animals take place and how did it make domestication possible and legitimate? Did a similar process take place in production as well?
This research makes an important contribution to understanding the dynamics of innovation that accompanied the Neolithic process, and the centrality of cereals as the major economic foundation of rural societies in the southern Levant and the Levant as a whole. The perceptual change illuminated through lithic analysis may relate to the concept of the “Second Neolithic Revolution” and the “Neolithization of the human mind” as put forward by Gopher. It evidently was preceded by a significantly changed discourse reflected in a symbolic explosion in the Yarmukian culture. How this perceptual change was promoted, its nature and course, and more generally, the mechanisms behind the new epistemological structuring are, in my view, the most significant paths for future research.
... Virtually all are backed and truncated (unless broken) inserts, typical of the Ghassulian Chalcolithic (e.g. Vardi and Gilead 2013). All are narrow and elongated, and some are exceptionally long (Fig. 51:4). ...
Salvage excavations were conducted in the summer of 2017 on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, opposite
Nissim Aloni Street no. 2, less than 35 m southeast of the Late Chalcolithic site at Namir Road, Tel Aviv. The latter
site was extensively excavated in 2005 and 2010. The present excavation clearly shows that the Nissim Aloni site is
part of that same site. While structural settlement remains are absent at Nissim Aloni Street, 45 vertical, narrow and
deep, cylindrical shafts and 19 circular pits were identified and excavated. As such, the present site constitutes the
southeast continuation of Namir Road, Area 2, the latter also characterized by the almost mere presence of shafts and
pits. Excluding few Epipaleolithic or Upper Paleolithic flints artifacts, all the anthropogenic materials deriving from
their fills at both localities date to the Late Chalcolithic period. The construction method and likely function of the shafts
has recently been discussed elsewhere, the final conclusion being that at least some of these were artesian water wells. In
addition to the shafts and circular pits, three bell-shaped cavities and a subterranean storage chamber were uncovered,
the latter reminiscent of similar subterranean spaces present at some of the Late Chalcolithic Beersheva sites. Below we
present the final report of this rescue excavation, concluding that Nissim Aloni and Namir Road are part of one and the
same Late Chalcolithic settlement site and its adjacent, exploited groundwater zone
... Virtually all are backed and truncated (unless broken) inserts, typical of the Ghassulian Chalcolithic (e.g. Vardi and Gilead 2013). All are narrow and elongated, and some are exceptionally long (Fig. 51:4). ...
... Virtually all are backed and truncated (unless broken) inserts, typical of the Ghassulian Chalcolithic (e.g. Vardi and Gilead 2013). All are narrow and elongated, and some are exceptionally long (Fig. 51:4). ...
Salvage excavations were conducted in the summer of 2017 on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, opposite Nissim Aloni Street no. 2, less than 35 m southeast of the Late Chalcolithic site at Namir Road, Tel Aviv. The latter site was extensively excavated in 2005 and 2010. The present excavation clearly shows that the Nissim Aloni site is part of that same site. While structural settlement remains are absent at Nissim Aloni Street, 45 vertical, narrow and deep, cylindrical shafts and 19 circular pits were identified and excavated. As such, the present site constitutes the southeast continuation of Namir Road, Area 2, the latter also characterized by the almost mere presence of shafts and pits. Excluding few Epipaleolithic or Upper Paleolithic flints artifacts, all the anthropogenic materials deriving from their fills at both localities date to the Late Chalcolithic period. The construction method and likely function of the shafts has recently been discussed elsewhere, the final conclusion being that at least some of these were artesian water wells. In addition to the shafts and circular pits, three bell-shaped cavities and a subterranean storage chamber were uncovered, the latter reminiscent of similar subterranean spaces present at some of the Late Chalcolithic Beersheva sites. Below we present the final report of this rescue excavation, concluding that Nissim Aloni and Namir Road are part of one and the same Late Chalcolithic settlement site and its adjacent, exploited groundwater zone.
... Virtually all are backed and truncated (unless broken) inserts, typical of the Ghassulian Chalcolithic (e.g. Vardi and Gilead 2013). All are narrow and elongated, and some are exceptionally long (Fig. 51:4). ...
... 11 tools have alternate truncations (one is direct and the other in inversely retouched). Of the complete sickle blades 12 feature a curved profile and they were probably discarded since they did not fit the straight groove of the haft (Vardi and Gilead 2013b). ...
The site of Mitḥam C is adjacent to the Beer Sheva city market and was excavated during the years 2004–2006. It is
a stratified site that was settled during the Byzantine, Late Roman, Iron Age II and Chalcolithic periods. Ghassulian
remains of the Chalcolithic period were uncovered on virgin soil at the western part of the excavated area under the Iron
Age II and Late Roman-Byzantine remains. The Ghassulian remains consist of a living surface and refuse pits which
were partially truncated and disturbed by walls and pits of the later occupations. The limited Chalcolithic remains include
numerous flint artifacts, waste as well as tools, mostly products of a Ghassulian sickle blade industry. The technotypological
analyses of the artifacts indicate that these are remains of a specialized workshop. The close proximity of
Mitḥam C to the already known Beit Eshel workshop site suggests that this locality was a center where specialized flint
knappers were producing high quantities of sickle blades, probably for inhabitants of other sites such as the nearby Tel
Abu Matar and Bir es-Safadi.
