Mae Goder-Goldberger E-mail: mae.goder@mail.huji.ac.il Ph.D. dissertation topic: Lithic variability along the Middle Paleolithic dispersal routes of modern humans out of Africa Advisor: Prof. Erella Hovers

Abstract:

Numerous models have been presented to explain the global distribution of modern humans, many of them emphasizing the dispersal that coincided with the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition. The majority of such models are based on skeletal remains and recent genetic studies that support the idea of an African origin for modern human populations. The issue of “Out of Africa” has often been discussed without incorporating the archaeological lithic evidence. This study attempts to add to the ongoing debate, a behavioral dimension, as mirrored in the techno-typological lithic traditions. The need for detailed lithic studies related to the dispersals becomes more acute if modern behavior as well as modern anatomy can be linked with the appearance of MSA technologies in Africa. The objective of this research is to check whether lithic traditions, comprised of a series of well defined techno-typological criteria, diagnostic of the African MSA assemblages, can be found in the Levantine MP lithic assemblages. It is expected that lithic technological traditions found in East Africa or their derivatives would be found expanding, along the dispersal routes, from East Africa through the Sahara and the Nile Valley to the Levant. The assemblages selected for the study include open-air and cave sites in East Africa, the Nile Valley and the Levant dated between 195 Ka to 45 Ka. Sample sizes will range from 700-1500 artifacts, prioritizing complete debitage sequences from in situ collections. The samples will be analyzed according to the principles of the Chaמne Opיratoire concept, using the methodology of attribute analysis to describe the techno-typological characteristics of the lithics.

Areas of interest:

• Lithic technology and the anthropology of technology: how does the material culture portray the transfer of knowledge, style and tradition amongst early humans?
• The archaeology of modern human's dispersal out of Africa
• The use of GIS for the analysis and interpretation of prehistoric sites.

Projects:

• GIS Analysis of the Middle Paleolithic cave site of Amud
• Lithic analysis of an Early Bronze assemblage from Barnea, Ashkelon
• Lithic analysis of a Middle Paleolithic assemblage from the cave site of Emanuel

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