Traces and function: the case of "ergot" blades and proximal notched blades EPPNB, Dja'de el-Mughara (Northern Levant) Fiona Pichon* *Archéorient (CNRS, UMR 5133) ; CSIC, IMF, Barcelona (Spain), ASD research group November 12-16, 2019, Tokyo (fiona.pichon@gmail.com) The site of Dja’de el-Mughara Method and sample Location of Dja’de in Northern Syria and view of the tell from the south (excavated by É. Coqueugniot) Dja’de 3 Dja’de 2 Dja’de 1 9310-8830 cal BC Late PPNA 8800-8500 cal BC Beginning of early PPNB 8540-8290 cal BC End of early PPNB In the Near East, the numerous mutations that have taken place around 12000 cal BC resulted in the emer- gence of the first sedentary societies. Hunting and ga- thering were progressively replaced by plant cultiva- tion and animal husbandry. Those changes can be observed at Dja'de el-Mughara (Northern Syria) oc- cupied from the Late PPNA to the Early PPNB. The 9th International Conference on the PPN Chipped and Ground Stone Industries of the Near East Determining the function of the tools (active areas, worked material, gestures, hafting) requires the macro- and microscopic observation of the usewear traces (scars, roundings, striations, micropolish, and residues). Functional interpretations are made taking into ac- count the pattern of wear organisation, and comparing it with experimental references. Using a binocular (up to x45) and an Olympus BHM metallographic microscope (x100- x400), we studied 9 “ergot” blades and 5 proximal notched blades coming from Dja’de 3. Problematic “Ergot” blades Proximal notched blades 100 μm Usewear traces of bone scraping on a distal burin, ”ergot” blade nº8 (x200) Usewear traces of skin cutting, ”ergot” blade nº5 (x200) Usewear traces of mineral scraping, ”ergot” blade nº4 (x400) Wood sawing Vegetal scraping Bone growing Bone scraping Bone sawing Skin cutting Mineral scraping Mineral sawing Ind. material cutting 2 2 3 6 7 1 4 2 4 31 Vegetal Mineral Animal Ind. 29% 45% 13% 13% 55% 39% 6% 100 μm 100 μm used areas 100 μm Usewear traces of skin scraping with ocher, blade nº10 (x200) These blades have two opposite proximal notches, obtained by direct or alternate abrupt retouch made by percussion or by pressure (Abbès, 2003). They are also known as “Nahal Hemar knife” (Bar-Yosef, Alon,1988). At Dja’de 3, they represent 3,7% of the lithic tools (Arimura, 2007). Usewear traces of vegetal scraping, blade nº11 (x100) Wood sawing Vegetal cutting Skin scraping Skin cutting Mineral scraping Mineral sawing Ind. material cutting 2 5 1 4 2 4 1 2 23 Vegetal Mineral Animal Ind. 13% 39% 61% used areas These blades present from 4 to 6 used areas, corresponding to various functions (9 functions). The two lateral edges of one blade were used for cutting grasses and then for scraping skin (nº11). A blade was used for sawing and scraping vegetal material. Another one was used for sawing and scraping mineral (nº14). Another was used to scrape and cut skin on both edges (nº14). The used areas do not extend on the notches, suggesting that the proximal part is not active but correspond to an axial fixation mode of the tool, like a ligature. At Nahal Hemar Cave, on an elongated pointed blade with large bilateral notches near the proximal end, threads of plant material were found (Bar-Yosef, Alon,1988). 200 μm Ind. material scraping Vegetal scraping 2 26% 21% 39% The “ergot” blades have two contiguous proximal or mesial notches, made by percussion or by pres- sure, on a lateral edge (Abbès, 2003). Some of them present other technical arrangements, as denticu- lation, burin or truncation. At Dja’de 3, they represent 2.1% of the lithic tools (Arimura, 2007). “Ergot” blades present from 2 to 7 used areas, corresponding to various functions (11 functions). The cycle of use and recycling makes it one of the most complex tools of Dja'de industry (Pichon, 2017). On 4 blades (nº 1,5,7 and 9), the notches are unused as well as the opposed edge. However, traces associated to different types of worked materials are present on other zones of the edges, suggesting that the “ergot” correspond to a hafting system (Abbès, 2003). At Dja’de, those blades are not devoted for only one activity —in contrary to other tools like scrapers or sickles (Pichon, 2017)— that is consistent with the results obtained by the functional analysis of the “ergot” blades from Mureybet IVA (Ibáñez et al., 2008). On the other 5 blades, some active areas appear to have been used before or after the production of the notches suggesting that they are not related to them and, thus, they are connected to a different cycle of use of the blades. References Abbès, 2003, Les outillages néolithiques en Syrie du Nord : méthodes de débitage et gestion laminaire durant le PPNB, BAR International Series 1150, Archaeopress, Oxford; Arimura, 2007, Néolithisation de la Syrie du Nord-Ouest : l’évolution des industries lithiques à Tell Ain el-Kerkh (Bassin du Rouj, 8500-6000 cal. BC.), PhD Dissertation, Lyon 2; Bar-Yosef, Alon, 1988, “Nahal Hemar Cave”, Atiqot, 1-30; Coqueugniot, 2014, “ Dja’de (Syrie) et les représenta- tions symboliques au 9e millénaire cal. BC”, in C. Manen, T. Perrin, J. Guilaine (éds), La transition néolithique en Mé- diterranée, Actes du colloque : Transitions en Méditerranée ou comment des chasseurs devinrent agriculteurs, Erran- ce, Paris, 91-108; Ibáñez et al., 2008, « Analyse fonctionnelle de l’outillage lithique de Mureybet », in J. J. Ibáñez (éd), Le site néolithique de Tell Mureybet (Syrie du Nord), Archaeopress, Oxford, 363-405. Pichon, 2017, Traditions culturelles dans les premières communautés villageoises du Levant Nord : l’analyse fonctionnelle de l’outillage en sile de Dja’de el-Mughara (Syrie, PPNB ancien, 9ème mill.). PhD Dissertation, Paris. Aknowledgements We thank É. Coqueugniot (CNRS, UMR 5133 – Archéorient) for entrusting us with the functional study of Dja'de el-Mughara and the organisers of the PPN9 congress. This research was supported by the Fyssen Foundation as part of a post-doctoral fellowship at the CSIC (Barcelona, Spain) and by grant from the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (IParis). “Ergot” blades and proximal notched blades are caracteristic elements in the Early PPNB of the Euphrates valley, at Mureybet, Cheikh Hassan (Abbès, 2003) and Dja’de (Arimura, 2007). Made on bipolar blades, these new types of tools have a pair of lateral or proximal notches that could be link to a specific system of hafting (Abbès, 2003). Which is the function of these new tools in the techno-economic system of the neolithic societies? What do they reveal about activities, technical innovations and tool management? Conclusion Functional analyzes of flint tools from the northern-levantine Neolithic preceramic showed a complexification in the cycle of use with more frequent recycling. The tools, used during a first activity, are then preserved, stored, and finally reused for another task on another material (that concerns 10% of the tools in the PPNA and 20% in the Early PPNB; Ibáñez et al., 2008; Pichon, 2017). Among the toolkit of Dja'de, the “ergot” blades and proximal notched blades are the most complex tools. 40% of them are recycled in different “chaînes opératoi- res” indeed. These tools types represents as well the development of new hafting systems, along the long axis, that was unknown during PPNA and probably reflecting changes in the needs of PPNB communities. Reconstrucing precisely the hafting system of these tools, determing the technical and/or economic reasons for these innovations as well as the limited diffusion of the “ergot” blades in the Middle Euphrates region, unlike the proximal notched blades, are still challenging. Drawing: T. Pichon Hide Hide Hide Hide Hide Hide Hide Hide Hide Hide Hide Hide Hide Hide