Epipaleolithic Tools

In this post I will be talking about epipaleolithic period and the tools from this particular time. Certain will call epipaleolithic as synonymous to the Mesolithic period, but it is significantly different as it happened in places where they are not directly impacted by the ice age. The idea of the "Epipalaeolithic" showed up quite a few years after the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. It was first proposed in 1910 by the Swedish paleontologist, Knut Stjerna. It is unclear still if Stjerna intended to replace the Mesolithic period in places other than Europe. Some significant places of Epipaleolithic sites are Levant, where the eastern mediterranean were recorded to house a lot of cultures centered around the changes of microlith and the assemblages from the excavation sites. The next significant area of where Epipaleolithic period was in Asia, specifically in Southeast Asia where the Hoabhinian culture was found.

Epipaleolithic period was believed to happen around 24, 000 - 11, 800 BP. There is not enough research that could relate this as something equal to Mesolithic period, but it happened from Late Pleistocene until Early Holocene where Mesolithic happened as well.

In Levant, particular in the area where Jericho, Israel, is now is one of the Epipaleolithic sites in the world. The eastern mediterranean area is famously known around Israel, Jordan and Sinai Peninsula where the Epipaleolithic period is broken into 3 groups:

Early Epipaleolithic where the Kebaran culture was found in Kebaran Cave. Along with Kebaran there are other multiple cultures discovered as more and more artifacts are found. The most recognisable features of these artifacts are the backed microliths and the first appearance of mortar and grindstones, as shown below. An excavation site in Wadi El-Hasa, Jordan discovered that the Kebaran culture has non-geometric microlith and also lack of microburin technique.

Stone Age Stone Mortar & Pestle, Kebaran culture, 22000-18000 BP

Middle Epipaleolithic however has discoveries of the geometric microlith and also frequent use of microburin technique. The sites where these artifacts were found were also more widely spread as it means seasonal movement of foragers. The Middle Epipaleolithic were also known for the Mashubian. 

Late Epipaleolithic was when the Natufian emerged because of the climate changes. The emergence of the Natufian culture was a symbolic for the earliest farmers in the world. The origin of the culture was from the Wadi Natuf. The stone tools from this culture are commonly variety of flint tools: microliths, lunates (sometimes with bifacial, Helwan retouch), burins and awls/borers, as well as by sickle blades.

This period is the transition between hunter gatherers and sedentary farmers. The tools that can be found are heavily influenced by Paleolithic tools, especially microlith and microburin technique. According to Zhang (2000) in Guizhou and Xingyi, the stone tools found at these places include a lot of other tools that are used as finishing touch of other tools like anvils and hammerstones for direct percussion and anvil-supported direct percussion which is also called bipolar technique. Particularly from this sites, the lithic tools were made with direct percussion that actually was similar to the technique from the Paleolithic period. Though other parts of the Epipaleolithic industry were not seen previously or recognisably similar from Mesolithic either. No handaxes, picks, stone balls or common tools found in South China previously. 

These findings of the epipaleolithic sites show how significant this period while the Mesolithic happened in the Europe.