Morphological Analysis of Nahal Zihor Handaxes: A Chronological Perspective

Lower Paleolithic handaxe assemblages were collected during a geological and archaeological survey at Nahal Zihor in the Arava, southern Israel, where the existence of a paleo-lake was established. Later measurements date sediments associated with the Zihor lake to ~1.6 Ma. The present study focuses on two groups of handaxes from different locations— Group A consists of handaxes from the shoreline of the lake, while Group B originated from the terraces which surrounded the lake. By observing the two groups of handaxes, the surveyors suggested that Group A could be assigned to the early Acheulian, while Group B was assigned to the late Acheulian. The aim of the current study is to present a more quantitative chronological assessment of the Zihor assemblages, through closer study of their shape attributes. The new element that is introduced in the present analysis is the use of the digitized 3-D images of the handaxes, from which various quantitative measures of each individual item were extracted. Our results validate the existence of two distinct groups and link Group A to the early Acheulian. Accordingly, this study suggests that the finds of Group A from the Zihor are the most southern location in the Levant where evidence of early Pleistocene hominid occupation has been found. The importance of the study of these lithic assemblages is primarily due to the scarce evidence of Lower Paleolithic hominid presence in the Levant, in particular the earliest phase in the southern region of Israel. Hence, the information derived here may shed new light on early hominin migrations out of Africa.