Resumen de Further diversity in the Early Neolithic of the Southern Levant: A first look at the PPNA chipped stone tool assemblage from el-Hemmeh, Southern Jordan

Sam Smith, Jonathan Paige, Cheryl Makarewicz

• We present the first analysis of a chipped stone assemblage recovered from the PPNA layers of el-Hemmeh, Southern Jordan. The sample (31,725 pieces) shows general affinities to PPNA material described elsewhere from the Southern Levant but also provides evidence for a distinctive suite of typological and technological traits. These include the presence of at least two reduction sequences, a lack of traditional PPNA point types, and an emphasis on the production of burins and tools manufactured on burin spalls. We suggest that this assemblage, together with those from other PPNA sites (WF16 and ZAD 2), provides evidence of indigenous cultural development during the Late PPNA in Southern Jordan.