Stability in the Intermittence: A Spatio-Temporal Approach to Mousterian Behavior in the Near East Based on the Technological Analysis of Lithic Industries of Complex VI3 at Umm el Tlel (Central Syria)

Abstract

The site of Umm el Tlel (El Kowm Basin, Syria) has revealed an extremely rich stratigraphic sequence, in particular for the Middle Paleolithic, which allows synchronic and diachronic approaches to the analysis of occupation dynamics. Complex VI3 corresponds to a lacustrine phase during which the site was regularly covered by water and sedimentary deposits. Nine archeological layers are present, dating to around 70 ka. The assemblage from layer VI3a has revealed the co-existence of at least two chaînes opératoires of reduction: (a) recurrent Levallois focused on the production of points associated with quadrangular and overshot flakes; (b) recurrent Levallois focused on the production of points, laminar and quadrangular flakes. Other data, such as that related to the remains of hunted fauna recovered in this layer, complement these results and also contribute to a better understanding of the status of the site of Umm el Tlel and, more generally, its role within a broader territory that we can now better define. In a diachronic perspective, occupation dynamics can also be addressed by the study of all of the archeological layers in complex VI3. Based on results of analyses completed, these layers are remarkably uniform throughout this specific geological context, from all perspectives (reduction techniques, hunting strategies and faunal treatment, sites functions, etc.). Thus, the human behaviors revealed by the material recovered from complex VI3, although relatively complex, seem to have been quite stable. This stability, at present difficult to quantify in terms of duration, suggests a degree of rigidity in Mousterian territories where, despite intermittent occupations, human groups regularly returned to the same places to carry out the same range of activities.