Production and Use of Nahal Hemar Knives in the Southern Levant during the PPNB. New Evidence from Kharaysin (Jordan)
This article presents the results of the techno-typological and use-wear analyses and contextualization of the Nahal Hemar knives from PPNB Kharaysin. The assemblage is the third largest of this enigmatic and rare tool type in the southern Levant and presents several interesting peculiarities. Almos...
| Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | other |
| Publication Date: | 2022 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repository: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/304025 |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/304025 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Jordan Kharaysin PPNB Nahal Hemar knives mortuary practice |
| Summary: | This article presents the results of the techno-typological and use-wear analyses and contextualization of the Nahal Hemar knives from PPNB Kharaysin. The assemblage is the third largest of this enigmatic and rare tool type in the southern Levant and presents several interesting peculiarities. Almost all the knives were found in two concentrations very close to a funerary area, to which they seem to be related. Some of the knives are the longest ones found to date in the Near East and, interestingly, some could be retted. Use-wear analysis concludes that Nahal Hemar knives from Kharaysin were basically used for cutting soft animal tissue and, less frequently, scraping bones (human bodies?). The results suggest the two concentrations of knives were caches of artefacts of particular signifcance, possibly ritual and associated with the mortuary practices that took place next to where they were found. Thus, would establish, for the first time after Nahal Hemar Cave, a connection between Nahal Hemar knives and the mortuary practices of PPNB communities in the southern Levant. |
|---|