The Sultanian Flint Assemblage from Gesher and its Implications for Recognizing Early Neolithic Entities in the Levant

This article presents a typological and technological analysis of the Sultanian lithic assemblage from Gesher, a recently discovered "PPNA" site in the Central Jordan Valley. The site is unique in its very short period of occupation, which provides a homogeneous clean context. The tool assemblage includes El Khiam points, bifacial tools, and lunates. The finds from Gesher point to the problematic nature of the definitions of the Sultanian and the Khiamian cultures, and stress the need for better criteria to distinguish cultural entities in the first stage of the Neolithic period in the Levant.