Middle Paleolithic Behavioral Organization: 1993 Excavation of Tor Faraj,Southern Jordan

Abstract

Excavation of a Levantine Mousterian rockshelter exposed two living floors in the upper part of a deposit more than 3.5 m thick. An intrasite study, focusing on the spatial patterns of data recovered from the two floors, complements an earlier intersite study of settlement and procurement patterns. The arrangement of hearths and the spatial distributions of artifacts and manuports indicate redundant behavioral organization for the two components. Moreover, the behavioral patterns reflected in site use by the occupants of the shelter some 70,000 years ago strongly resemble those recorded for modern foragers.