Flint Trade in the Protohistoric Levant: The Complexities and Implications of Tabular Scraper Exchange in the Levantine Protohistoric Periods

Description

Flint Trade in the Protohistoric Levant offers an in-depth case study of the production and exchange of tabular scrapers. Crossing cultural and ecological boundaries and traded from the desert to the settled zone, these tools encompassed both ritual and quotidian functions over the course of well over the two millennia of the existence of the exchange system. Analyses focus on the changing nature of the production systems, dynamics of value in changing contexts of production and use, ritual contexts and meaning. Extending throughout the Levant, the tabular scraper complex is compared and contrasted to other contemporary production and exchange systems (ceramics, chipped stone, ground stone, copper, beads), offering a rich picture of the complexities of late prehistoric trade, transcending linear evolutionary frameworks, and simple models. Adopting a chaîne opératoire approach to the use-life of the artifacts, the artifacts can be seen to transform over time and place, made, used, recycled, and ultimately discarded, each stage in its own cultural contexts. The rise and decline of this exchange complex reflects both the geo-political history of the region and the general role of lithic industries in these societies. Focusing on late prehistoric times in the Near East, the discussions will of relevance to all researchers interested in the role of exchange in the evolution of complex economies. It offers an analysis of exchange systems based on a matrix of factors which should be of interest to all researchers interested in the evolution of trade. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Figures Tables Preface Acknowledgements 1. Prologue: notes on the archaeology of exchange 2. The tabular scrapers: a background to a cross-cultural exchange system A first overview The geographical and cultural background to the tabular scraper trade The settled zone chronologies and general features The desert zones Tabular scrapers: basic chronology Note 3. The tabular scraper from tool type to chaîne opératoire Methodology and research agenda Problems in the definition of tabular scrapers Problems of incomplete data description Absence of contextual information A first description Raw materials Manufacturing methods Technique Typology The retouch Techno-economic strategies and socio-cultural behaviors 4. Use and function Physical utilization Social function Incisions Distribution Motifs Comparisons and interpretations 'Special' contexts Intentional breakage 5. The production system Production sites Production sites without intensive quarrying Production sites with intensive quarrying Production sites: chronological, social, and geographical trends Other structures of production of tabular scrapers: curated and expedient production Secondary workshops Stockage Notes 6. The trade and exchange system Distribution and frequency Methodological notes The desert: the intra-regional exchange system and the external-trade system The contact zone: an inter-cultural exchange system in the interface between nomads and sedentary The settled zone: internal exchange and consumption zone Beyond the Southern Levant The Egyptian system The Northern Levant and the Northern Mesopotamia Notes 7. Tabular scraper value 8. The comparative contexts of the tabular scraper system A comparative perspective The different production and exchange systems Ceramics Sickles Stone vessels Milling stones Copper Trinkets and beads The general contexts of tabular scraper exchange 9. The tabular scraper system: 'rise' and 'collapse' of a dynamic complex 10. Concluding discussion: the tabular scraper system in context Note Appendix 1:. The tabular scraper catalogue Appendix 2:. Tabular scraper database Bibliography Index