The Neolithic Lithic Industry at Tell Ain El-Kerkh

Contents

List of Figures, Tables and Plates ;
Acknowledgements ;

Introduction ;
1. The research subject ;
2. Organisation of the research ;
3. Illustrations ;

Chapter I: The research framework ;
1. Neolithisation of the northern Levant ;
2. Neolithisation of north-western Syria ;

Chapter II: Methodology ;
1. The subject of analysis ;
2. Methodological framework: Reconstitution of the operational sequence in lithic production ;
3. Analytical method ;

Chapter III: The lithic industries of the Pre-Pottery and the Pottery Neolithic at Tell Ain el-Kerkh ;
1. The collections ;
2. Raw material for the lithic industry at Tell Ain el-Kerkh and geological surveys for flint research ;
3. The lithic industry of the Rouj 1a period ;
4. Lithic industry of layer 6 ;
5. The lithic industry of the Rouj 1c period ;
6. The lithic industry from the Rouj 2a/2b period ;
7. The lithic industries of the later periods of the Pottery Neolithic ;
8. Discussion: Development of the lithic industries at Tell Ain el-Kerkh during the Neolithic ;

Chapter IV: Comparative analysis of lithic materials from other sites in Syria ;
1. Tell Riz ;
2. Qastun ;
3. Slenfe ;
4. Tell el-Kerkh 2 ;
5. Tell Ain Dara III ;
6. Dja’de el Mughara, sector SB ;

Chapter V: Comparative study of published data from other Neolithic sites in the northern Levant ;
1. Sites of the Early PPNB (the 9th millennium cal. BC) ;
2. Sites of the Middle PPNB (first half of the 8th millennium cal. BC) ;
3. Sites of the Late PPNB (second half of the 8th millennium cal. BC) ;
4. Sites of the Beginning of the Pottery Neolithic or Final PPNB (first half of the 7th millennium BC) ;

Chapter VI: General conclusion ;
1. Synthesis: Development of Neolithic lithic industries in the northern Levant ;
2. Reflections on the system of lithic production during the PPNB in the northern Levant in a socio-economic context ;
3. Emergence and diffusion of the PPNB culture ;
4. The end of the PPNB culture: Was the ‘PPNB collapse’ a general phenomenon? ;

Appendix: Plates ;
Bibliography

About the Author

Makoto Arimura is a professor at Tokai University, Japan. He obtained his undergraduate degree in archaeology (1995) from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, under Professor Akira Tsuneki, and his PhD in archaeology (2007) from the Université Lumière Lyon 2, France, under Professor Olivier Aurenche and Dr Éric Coqueugniot. After a project assistant post at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), Kyoto (2006), he worked at the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (NRICP) as a research fellow (2007–2012). He taught at Kanazawa University as an associate professor in museology (2013–2016). Arimura has participated in the excavation of Near Eastern prehistoric sites such as Tell el-Kerkh and Dja’de el-Mughara, Syria. His primary research topic is the transformation of human society during Neolithisation, through changes in material culture, particularly the transition of stone tool manufacturing technology in the Neolithic Near East.