The lithic landscape around Kharaneh IV (Azraq Basin, Jordan): Petrographical and geochemical characterization of geological cherts - HAL-SHS - Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports Année : 2019

The lithic landscape around Kharaneh IV (Azraq Basin, Jordan): Petrographical and geochemical characterization of geological cherts

Résumé

As part of a current archaeological project focusing on the Azraq Basin, through notably the excavation of the Early-Middle Epipalaeolithic site of Kharaneh IV, a geoarchaeological analysis was started to ultimately characterize the chert types exploited by the inhabitants of the site and to assess their geographical origins. In order to examine prehistoric lithic procurement strategies, a detailed study of the geological literature and maps of a 3000 km2 area surrounding the site was completed. This study revealed the presence of three chert-bearing formations dated to the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary in that territory: Muwaqqar Chalk-Marl Formation, Umm Rijam Chert-Limestone Formation, and Wadi Shallala Chalk Formation. A geo-archaeological survey followed. This survey comprised detailed observations about these silicifications in their sedimentary context and the collection of chert samples in both primary and secondary deposits. This contribution presents the main results of this work. The multiplicity of outcrops and the conditions of embeddedness of the siliceous horizons, on the one hand, and the characteristics of these silicifications (size, shape, quality, etc.), on the other hand, all contribute to illustrate the rich lithic potential of this region. Thus the Kharaneh IV inhabitants had access to a wide range of cherts from which to choose their stone tool kit. Given that the Epipalaeolithic tool kit of the Kharaneh IV inhabitants was based on small size tools, quite small nodules would have been sufficient for these populations to develop their lithic industry, so chert outcrops with both small and large nodules were taken into account in this study. Furthermore we present some observations on the textural, micropalaeontological, petrographical and geochemical characterization of some 104 samples of geological siliceous rocks. Such a dataset will constitute the most reliable reference in the comparison with the archaeological lithic assemblages exhumed at the site. We may already mention that the diversity of chert types documented in the geological reference collection is also present in the archaeological assemblages. Most of these lithic types are thus present in the local environment (<15 km away). Moreover differences in raw material selection, procurement and exploitation are already noticeable between the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic occupations that will need to be further documented and quantified.
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Dates et versions

hal-02155935 , version 1 (14-06-2019)

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Marta Sánchez de La Torre, Bernard Gratuze, Xavier Mangado, Christophe Delage. The lithic landscape around Kharaneh IV (Azraq Basin, Jordan): Petrographical and geochemical characterization of geological cherts. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2019, 26, pp.101857. ⟨10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.05.022⟩. ⟨hal-02155935⟩
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