In the southern Levant, a study region of this paper, chert (flint) is the main raw material of chipped stone artifacts, and the availability and variability of chert have been increasingly examined through surveys for chert outcrops. This paper reports the results of geological survey for chert sources near the Jebel Qalkha area located at the northwestern corner of the Hisma Basin in southern Jordan. Although chert outcrops are generally ubiquitous in the Levant, their occurrences are very limited in the Hisma Basin. However, previous and new surveys have discovered several chert sources near the Jebel Qalkha area. The paper describes three main areas with chert sources: Humayma, Abbasiyah, and Wadi Abu Sawwan. Each of them is small and occurs in isolation. Such sporadic distributions of smallscale sources characterize the chert occurrences in the western Hisma Basin. Although the areal extent of chert occurrence is limited in the Hisma Basin, our survey observed great variability of chert in visual attributes, such as shape, color, texture, and translucency. The exploitation of these local chert sources around Jebel Qalkha is indicated by the surface scatters of Paleolithic artifacts collected during the survey. Most noticeable artifacts were Levallois cores and blanks of the Middle Paleolithic, but we also found several blade/bladelet cores that are probably dated to the Upper Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic. Further studies are necessary to clarify the role of the local chert sources in the raw material provisioning strategies by prehistoric inhabitants in the western Hisma Basin.

This paper analyzes the Mushabian (ca. 15000 cal BP) animal bones newly obtained from Tor Hamar, one of the Epipaleolithic sites located in the southern marginal arid regions of Jordan. We evaluate diachronic trends in the faunal compositions by comparing four sub-regions in the southern Levant. Although the taxonomic composition of Tor Hamar fauna was slightly different from previous reports, the general trend was similar to the previous one. Numerically, NISP (n = 447) was dominated by small and medium ungulates (90.8%) including Gazella sp. and Capra sp. while small games such as hares, tortoises, and birds were rare. In contrast to the Mediterranean coastal region, the taxonomic composition fit the trends observed in the Negev and the inland Jordanian steppe, where the proportions of small ungulates and small animals do not clearly increase over time.

We examined the culling profile of gazelles by constructing survivorship curves based on bone fusion data. The results indicated that the Mushabian people occupied the site in winter. Furthermore, the gazelle fusion rate of the site is consistent with a gradual increase in the relative abundance of gazelle juveniles. A trend observed from the Early Epipaleolithic to the Late Epipaleolithic in the arid to steppe area, consistent with the finds from the Mediterranean region. This might suggest an increase in hunting pressure on gazelles in the areas of the southern Levant during the Epipaleolithic.

The Mushabian faunal composition at Tor Hamar, characterized by the low proportion of small ungulates and small games with a slightly higher proportion of juvenile gazelle individuals, is comparable the Epipaleolithic faunal assemblages in the Negev. Thus, geographic variability is a key aspect that requires more investigations for deeper understanding of the changes in Epipaleolithic faunal exploitations in the southern Levant.

This paper aims at providing insights into early Neolithic bead hole-making techniques by analyzing stone beads recovered from excavations at Hasankeyf Höyük, Turkey. However, it must be noted that even though numerous stone beads have been collected from this site, the lack of blank/unfinished beads, perforating tools, and polishing/abrading implements at the excavation site indicate that those beads were produced and imported from outside of the settlement. Additionally, I report on scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations of silicon replicas made from the inner wall of bead perforations that indicate bidirectional perforations and mechanical rotary drills were frequently utilized in bead production, which is consistent with the widespread use of those techniques/tools at other Neolithic sites in Western Asia. I also observed features on the sample perforations that indicate either the use of a finishing process after perforation or long-term usage of the beads. Additionally, when examining unfinished beads, I found that very small-scale bead perforating actions had been carried out and that some beads may have been processed for reuse from chlorite vessel fragments. Furthermore, while previous studies generally agree that perforations made at a slanted angle were likely created by hand drills, the results of this study indicate that slanted perforations were also produced when using mechanical rotary drills.

Studies on the lithic technology of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period in the Levant have generally focused on bidirectional blade technology, with other blank production methods receiving less attention. This paper focuses on flint unidirectional blade production using pressure flaking in the Northern Levant and considers the background to the adoption of this technology, mainly based on data from a large Neolithic site, Tell el-Kerkh, in northwestern Syria.

The excavations at Tell el-Kerkh revealed that flint unidirectional blade production using pressure flaking was adopted during the Late PPNB period (late 8th millennium BCE); it is characterized by the use of a wedge-shaped core with a flat platform inclined to the back. At Tell el-Kerkh, flint pressure blade production was composed of two distinct chaîne opératoires, one the blade making for the sickle element blanks, the other bladelet making for the blanks of micro-drills and other bladelet tools. The manufacture of these tools is distinguished from that of other tools, and thus could be interpreted as specialized manufacture.

Available information from other sites suggests that flint pressure blade production spread in the north-western Levant from the Late PPNB onwards. The distribution of sites yielding flint pressure blade debitage implies that this technology was adopted in the Neolithic settlements along the ancient routes in Anatolia and Northern Syria. Based on the data from Tell el-Kerkh and other sites, we infer that the background to the emergence of flint pressure blade production and the specialized tool manufacture of sickle elements and micro-drills might be interpreted in the context of socio-economic developments in Neolithic society in the Northern Levant during the period from the Late PPNB to the Pottery Neolithic.

It has been 40 years since the excavations of Qminas in northwest Syria were carried out in 1981 by a Japanese-Syrian team, who uncovered a Neolithic settlement with an occupational sequence from the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B to the Pottery Neolithic periods. However, during a long time after the excavations, the results of the investigation have only been briefly reported, and the artifacts recovered during the excavations have never been studied in detail. This paper provides basic information on the 1981 excavations and the material artifacts recovered from this site. It is mainly based on the re-investigation of the archive of the original excavations and the artifact studies conducted during the excavation, as well as some additional studies of the artifacts currently stored at the University of Tsukuba. It can be argued that archaeological evidence acquired from Qminas demonstrates a tradition of local material culture that was shared in northwest Syria through the transition from the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B to the Pottery Neolithic.

Neolithic societies have been characterized by a long-term process of evolution in funerary practices and shift of burial locations. Thousands of burials uncovered from different regions have shed light on various aspects of human behavior in these societies. The spatial location of burials and burial customs underwent significant changes throughout the development of these societies from the hunter-gatherer way of the life in the Natufian to the settled farming societies in the Neolithic period. People tended to bury their dead within the settlement boundaries and in close association with residential buildings. Burials took place beneath the floor of residential and non-residential buildings bearing symbolic significance, between buildings and in courtyards. The building-burial relations were intertwined with ritual in the Neolithic, particularly household and community rituals that were integrated into daily life. Therefore, there was a spatial-based relationship between the location of the burials and the communal activities that were undertaken which also reinforced memories of place. This legacy continued into the Pottery Neolithic period, however, a shift from indoor to crowded outdoor cemeteries has been documented at several sites. The changes in the location of the burials and the decline in building-burial relations might be attributed to social changes during the transition from the Late PPNB to the PN periods. People in the PN period did not maintain a fixed ancestral abode as was the case in succeeding periods. Rather, there was diversity in the burial context that reflected the diversity of household practices and increased household autonomy. This paper presents a chronological overview of the shift in burial location during the development of Neolithic societies through investigation of the spatial context of burials and the association between the living and the dead.

The Shahrizor Plain (Iraqi Kurdistan) is located in the most eastern distribution of Halaf pottery in the Late Neolithic period. Re-excavations at Tell Begum in 2013 demonstrated that Halaf pottery in this plain had unique local attributes distinguished from those of “classic” Halaf pottery found in Upper Mesopotamia. This paper presents the radiocarbon dates of the Halaf layer at Tell Begum and compares these dates and the ceramic styles with those of neighbouring Halaf sites, to consider the expansion and influence of Halaf pottery to the east. The typological observations provided the recognition of a regional variant of Halaf pottery distributed in the Shahrizor Plain and the Pshdar Plain, which could be called the “east end” variant. Radiocarbon dating of Tell Begum and available dates of this variant fall between 5600 and 5200 cal BC, which overlaps with the Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period in Upper Mesopotamia. However, this “east end” variant of Halaf pottery demonstrates similarities in decoration with ware groups of pottery further east, such as White on Black Ware and J Ware in the Mahidasht Plain, rather than indications of the transition to Ubaid style. These facts suggest that this variant appeared because of the latest expansion of the Halaf horizon along with localising transformation and influenced the appearance of J Ware in the east.

Recent investigations in the Neolithic Southern Caucasus have shed new light on the advent and development of Neolithic culture in the area, which is thought to have emerged around 6000 B.C.E., likely as a result of interaction with the Neolithic communities of bordering regions to the south. Given the geographic and environmental diversity of the Southern Caucasus, the corresponding regional variability of the culture is increasingly attracting attention. Focusing on obsidian pressure blade technology in the region, which is often treated generically so far, this paper investigates the variability in this technology and then makes comparisons among contemporaneous sites. Based on the examination of blade cores obtained from the Neolithic sites of Göytepe and Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe in the Middle Kura Valley, two techno-typologically distinct core types were defined—namely, unifacial and circumferential blade cores. Further, the distribution patterns of the detected technological traces on the surface of the cores, likely caused by firm immobilization for a lever or long crutch pressure debitage, appeared to correspond to the defined core types. Considering the distribution pattern of surface stigmas vis-à-vis the specific blade core type, strategies involving multiple blade production technologies, perhaps each employing different immobilization devices for pressure debitage, can be assumed to be present at the two sites studied. A preliminary comparison with contemporaneous sites on the Ararat Plain in the Araxes Valley provided the basis for considering the regional needs and tradition behind the assumed blade production strategy, probably specific to Middle Kura Valley. Nevertheless, the newly defined and potentially unique unifacial core type may provide a clue to trace technological variability among regions. By exploring the regional variability of the blade production technology through this new perspective, vital questions regarding the Neolithization process or the relationship among groups at that time can be addressed.

The study of Sasanian and post-Sasanian Middle Persian seals and sealings is not only important because of the personal and place-names they contain, but also indispensable for a better understanding of the administrative divisions and titles of the Sasanian period (224–651 AD) which continued, to some extent, in the early Islamic period. The Middle Persian clay sealing discussed in this paper, which is now kept in a private collection, was discovered in Khorrambid County in the north of Fārs Province, Iran. It contains three seal impressions of different sizes, two of which having Middle Persian inscriptions. As it will be shown in the paper, the reading of the inscriptions reveals that the large “official" seal impression belongs to the mowūh of Kōmih-Nahrhādān-Wēd in the province of Staxr. The “personal" seal impression belongs to a certain Ādurmihr, son of Xwadāymard, who must have been the owner of the item to which the clay sealing had been attached with a cord.

This article addresses the methodological aspect of Maimonides' doctrine of divine attributes, including attributes that require negative interpretations and attributes of actions, from the perspective of the science of kalām. Previous studies have not focused on the method of language analysis developed by the Basran mutakallimūn in relation to Maimonides' negative theology. This article shows that Maimonides employed their language analysis in order to direct the mind to the truth.

The Basran mutakallimūn examined ontological issues by analyzing propositions into grammatical elements. They paraphrased Zayd ʿālim (Zayd is knowing) into Zayd lahu ʿilm (Zayd, an act of knowing belongs to him). If this analysis is applied to God's predicate, it follows that an accident is attached to God. Hence, they paraphrased Allāh ʿālim into the tautological proposition, Allāh huwa ʿālim (Allāh is identical to the knower).

Maimonides first prepared tautological propositions about God, such as huwa mawjūd lā bi-wujūd (He is existent not by virtue of existence). He denied that mawjūd implies the signification of wujūd; hence, the predicate signifies only the essence of the subject. Then he interpreted this predicate as negation of deprivation. This tautology focuses the reference of the negative connotation on the essence of the subject.

Concerning attributes of actions, grammarians paraphrased dhahaba (left) into kāna minhu dhahāb (an act of leaving has arisen out of him). Ibn Sīnā considered acts, which are implied in these attributes, located outside the agent. His theory agrees with Maimonides' view that acts are remote from the essence of the subject. Thus, he can attribute acts to God without violating God's oneness and simplicity.