Molecular evidence of bitumen in the Mousterian lithic assemblage of Hummal (Central Syria) |
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Authors: | Thomas C. Hauck,Jacques Connan,Armelle Charrié -Duhaut,Jean-Marie Le Tensorer,Heba al Sakhel |
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Affiliation: | 1. Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, Weyertal 125, 50923 Köln, Germany;2. Laboratoire de Biogéochimie Moléculaire, UMR 7177 CNRS/Université de Strasbourg, 67087 Strasbourg Cedex 2, France;3. Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse des Interactions et des Systèmes LSMIS, CNRS – UDS – UMR 7140 “Chimie de la Matière Complexe”, 1 rue Blaise Pascal, 67008 Strasbourg, France;4. Institute for Prehistory and Archaeological Science (IPAS), University of Basel, 4055 Basel, Switzerland;5. Musée national de Damas, Ministère de la Culture, Direction générale des Antiquités et des Musées, Damas, Syria |
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Abstract: | Evidence for bitumen use in Middle Palaeolithic sites is an exception in Pleistocene archaeology. This paper presents the discovery of three tar-bearing Levallois artefacts found in the Mousterian sequence in Hummal (Central Syria). The organic residues were submitted to geochemical study. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons and isotopic data show the presence of bitumen. The most likely location of natural asphalt provisioning is the Shaaf outcrop in the Bichri desert. The bitumen-bearing stone tools add further important data to the growing knowledge about bitumen processing in the Middle Palaeolithic spring sites of El Kowm. Identification of the provisioning place for natural asphalt enables a more precise assumption about the site's catchment area. From a technological point of view, the tar-bearing specimens provide information on the range of tool forms selected for hafting. Ballistic features arguably indicate that the pointed Levallois blanks seem to be spear points that were fitted to a wooden handle. In at least one case, this technical procedure was seemingly executed during a brief episode of occupation and replacement of worn out implements. This small, bracketed window of detailed insight into Mousterian technology is linked with the more general relationship between Levallois technology and stone tool hafting. |
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Keywords: | Syria El Kowm Jebel Bichri Mousterian Bitumen Levallois technology Stone tool hafting Natural asphalt Gas chromatography&ndash mass spectrometry |
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