Nira Alperson-Afil

Bar Ilan University | BIU · Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note...

Although cooking is regarded as a key element in the evolutionary success of the genus Homo, impacting various biological and social aspects, when intentional cooking first began remains unknown. The early Middle Pleistocene site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel (marine isotope stages 18–20; ~0.78 million years ago), has preserved evidence of h...

The range of evidence at the archaeological site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov (GBY) provides a window into the minds of 800,000-year-old Acheulian ho-minins. Detailed action sequences used in stone tool manufacture, and in the exploitation of animals (over 70 taxa) and plants (over 130 taxa) are recon-structed, suggesting hierarchically organized decisi...

This paper presents an experimental study on the production of basalt mortars, common at Levantine Natufian sites (15,000–11,500 cal. BP). An increase in the gathering and processing of plant foods is among the Natufian cultural innovations preceding the Neolithic agricultural revolution, as documented in “agricultural” tools such as sickle blades...

Chapter 6 aims to provide a comprehensive description of the flint assemblages, a major component of the archaeological horizons of Gesher Benot Yaʻaqov. Analyses consist of taphonomic, morphological, technological, and typological observations, which enable characterization and reconstruction of the operational sequences of flint. Both cores and c...

Chapter 3 is concerned with the geography, geology, stratigraphy, and chronology of the site of Gesher Benot Yaʻaqov. The geographical landmarks of the study area are presented in detail and the structural, morphotectonical, and geomorphological processes of the area are discussed. The different exposures of the Benot Yaʻakov Formation, in which th...

Chapter 4 presents a detailed account of the field and laboratory methodologies used at Gesher Benot Yaʻaqov. It provides a comprehensive description of the excavation methods and techniques pertaining to the grid, elevations, coordinates, sieving, sediment sampling, drafting of maps and cross-sections, and conservation. Laboratory methods include...

In-depth study of Acheulian limestone artifacts from Gesher Benot Yaʻaqov (0.79 Ma) has revealed that limestone nodules procured from fluvial deposits were transported to the lake margin and exploited throughout the occupational sequence (ca. 50 ka). Analyses of the limestone assemblages show that individual artifacts went through several use-stage...

Chapter 2 presents the history of the archaeological discoveries and excavations at Gesher Benot Yaʻaqov, from as early as the 1930s to very recently. Throughout these years, the area of the site was subjected to recurrent activities of construction, destruction, and drainage. The chapter provides a detailed account of the history of research on Ge...

Chapter 7 aims to provide a comprehensive description of the basalt assemblages, a major component of the archaeological horizons of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov. Analyses consist of taphonomic, morphological, technological, and typological observations, which enable characterization and reconstruction of the operational sequences of basalt. These involve...

This chapter summarizes the results of the analyses of the lithic assemblages of Gesher Benot Yaʻaqov and their behavioral, social, and cognitive implications. We discuss the place of these lithic assemblages within the Acheulian record and present a summary of the reduction sequences of each of the raw materials. We provide a comparative view of t...

Chapter 5 presents a detailed account of the excavated archaeological layers at Gesher Benot Yaʻaqov. It provides data on the location and stratigraphic position of each excavated unit in the study area, as well as details of the surface exposed, thickness and volume of the layers, and their sedimentological characteristics. When available, the res...

This manuscript is the 4th Volume of the Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov (GBY) monograph sub-series. The goal of the book is to publish the lithic assemblages originating in the excavations of the Acheulian site at Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov (GBY), Israel. The authors provide the readers with detailed descriptions of the lithic assemblages, illustrations (maps, pho...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188091.].

This manuscript presents an attempt to evaluate the intensity of fire through spatial patterning and thermoluminescence methodology. Previous studies of Layer II-6 Level 2 at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov suggested that hominins differentiated their activities across space, including multiple activities around a hearth reconstructed on...

The use of fire by early hominins is considered a significant technological and cultural revolution. Recently, the study of fire use has been affected by a troublesome trend that views chemical and microscopic techniques as the only acceptable analyses of fire residues, thus ignoring basic archaeological observations and analyses. This paper discus...

Analyses of the flint assemblages of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov have provided new insights into the technological and typological characteristics of its Acheulian Technocomplex. As these assemblages are products of small flint nodules, the flakes and flake tools are small in size. Analysis of the striking platforms of these flakes showed that modificatio...

In-depth study of Acheulean limestone artifacts from Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (0.79 Ma) has revealed that limestone nodules procured from fluvial deposits were transported to the lake margin and exploited throughout the occupational sequence (ca. 50 ka). Analyses of the limestone assemblages illustrate that individual artifacts go through several use-s...

This volume introduces a model of the expansion of cultural capacity as a systemic approach with biological, historical and individual dimensions. It is contrasted with existing approaches from primatology and behavioural ecology; influential factors like differences in life history and demography are discussed; and the different stages of the deve...

We report here on the identification and characterization of thin basalt anvils, a newly discovered component of the Acheulian lithic inventory of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov (GBY). These tools are an addition to the array of percussive tools (percussors, pitted stones and anvils) made of basalt, flint and limestone. The thin anvils were selected from par...

Concepts which are common in the reconstruction of fire histories are employed here for the purpose of interpreting fires identified at archaeological sites. When attempting to evaluate the fire history of ancient occupations we are limited by the amount and quality of the available data. Furthermore, the identification of archaeological burned mat...

The reconstruction of past human use of fire is often based on the presence of fire in archaeological sites as evidenced by alterations of lithic material. Here, a simple test based on thermoluminescence (TL) methods is used as a verification tool for the macroscopic identification of burning damage on flint microartefacts from the Early and early...

A new Acheulian locality, NBA (North of Bridge Acheulian), was discovered north of the well-known Early-Middle Pleistocene site of Gesher Benot Ya´aqov (GBY) as a result of a massive drainage operation of the Jordan River in 1999. A preliminary test excavation enabled reconstruction of the stratigraphy of the site's layers. The Ar/ Ar date of 658±1...

The Acheulian Technocomplex exhibits two phenomena: variability and conservatism. Variability is expressed in the composition and frequencies of tool types, particularly in the varying frequencies of bifaces (handaxes and cleavers). Conservatism is expressed in the continuous presence of bifaces along an immense time trajectory. The site of Gesher...

The discussion in the previous chapter of the evidence for the early use of fire has demonstrated the complexities involved in identifying the early stages of human control over fire and emphasized the need for a comprehensive approach to their study. The presence of burned flint items at the site of GBY provides a unique opportunity to investigate...

The previous chapter presented data on the presence and ­spatial distribution of burned flint items throughout the stratigraphic sequence at GBY. It demonstrated that, while burned flint occurs in all the studied archaeological horizons, the burned flint microartifacts are not evenly distributed throughout the excavated surface and denser concentra...

This chapter integrates the data on the spatial distribution of burned flint items and the general lithic inventory of the different occupation levels in Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov. The analyzed assemblages are presented in chronological order, from the topmost (i.e., youngest) layer of the strati­graphic sequence to the lowermost (oldest) one.

Th e manipulation of fire by early hominins was a turning point in our evolutionary history. Once “domesticated”, fire provided warmth, light and protection from predators, as well as enabling the exploitation of a new range of foods. Th is book presents the spatial analyses of burned and unburned fl int items which provide evidence for the control...

The manipulation of fire was clearly a turning point for our ancient ancestors. Their ability to “domesticate” this powerful tool, lacking in any other creature, has provided us with the valuable gift of fire, whose possession has remained exclusively human ever since. As fire conferred varied advantages for early man, providing warmth and light, p...

Home Is Where the Hearth Is One aspect of human intelligence is the ability to organize our living and working spaces. It was generally thought that this capability arose with modern humans in the past 100,000 years or so. However, Alperson-Afil et al. (p. 1677 ) found evidence of domestic organization 800,000 years ago at a Pleistocene hominin cam...

This paper presents the culmination of an extensive study of fire-use at the Early and early Middle Pleistocene site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov. Using software available in the GIS package, we have examined the spatial distribution of burned and unburned flint microartifacts from eight Acheulian archaeological horizons. The results of this study demon...

The presence of large scrapers has been reported from Acheulean sites worldwide but they are rarely described in detail. At Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY), a similar group of artifacts, named here "massive scrapers," was identified as a significant component of the lithic assemblage. In this paper, we define and describe this Acheulean tool type and di...

The basic assumption of this study is that hearths are the center of debris accumulation and that the identification of clusters of burned debris testifies to the location of ancient hearths that are no longer visible. We present the results of thermoluminescence �T��� and spatial analyses of ��int microartifacts from t�o �cheulian archaeologi� the...

A growing body of data suggests that during the Middle Paleolithic period human activities already were segregated across any given habitation space. However, spatial studies of Middle Paleolithic remains often focus on sites with relatively low densities of finds and with clear stratigraphic and spatial features that help distinguish demarcated ar...

The presence of burned seeds, wood, and flint at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya`aqov in Israel is suggestive of the control of fire by humans nearly 790,000 years ago. The distribution of the site's small burned flint fragments suggests that burning occurred in specific spots, possibly indicating hearth locations. Wood of six taxa was burned...

Reponse a un article (Schwarcz et al. 1998 J. Hum. Evol. 35 635-645) dans lequel un femur et une mandibule ont ete dates a deux âges differents (19+-2 ka et 34+-5 ka), attribues au plus jeune neandertalien connu. L'auteur de cette reponse pense que les donnees chronologiques sont en contradiction avec les donnees archeologiques et qu'il n'est pas p...