An Acheulian Biface Assemblage from Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel: Indications of African Affinities

A detailed technological study of a basalt biface assemblage comprising handaxes and cleavers from the site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel,is presented. The results demonstrate that biface production was a procedure well planned in advance, and which involved at least two well-established and different techniques: the Levallois and the Kombewa. These techniques produced pre-determined, large-sized flakes that were modified into tools by a minimal amount of retouch. Technological and 1norphmnetric comparisons between tools manufactured by the different techniques does not demonstrate any bimodal patterning of the end-products.The morphological and technological characteristics of the assemblage, its uniqueness in the Levant, and its great similarity to African Middle Pleistocene assemblages suggest a possible African influence on the Middle Pleistocene Acheulian of the northern Dead Sea Rift. It is further argued that the presence of very temporally-distinct Acheulian industries in the Rift, each resembling a very different African cultural entity, may suggest that the Levantine data reflect a pattern of repetitive “waves” out of Africa.