Archaeological Research Department, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem, Israel.
Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
PLoS One. 2022 May 11;17(5):e0267672. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267672. eCollection 2022.
The Lower Paleolithic Late Acheulian in the Levant marks a fascinating chapter in human cultural and biological evolution. Nevertheless, many aspects of the Late Acheulian are still undeciphered, hindered by the complex nature of each site on the one hand, a scarcity of wide, multidisciplinary studies on the other, and by difficulties in obtaining absolute chronology for this timeframe. Therefore, subjects such as human subsistence strategies and modes of adaptation, regional diversity, and the possible existence and nature of interactions between hominin groups are largely understudied. The discovery and study of Jaljulia, a large-scale Late Acheulian site at the central Coastal Plain, Israel, add valuable insights to the research of this chapter in human history. Considered to represent recurrent occupations at a favored, water and flint-rich setting, the site has provided extensive lithic assemblages obtained from several localities. Absolute chronology places the human activity on-site at roughly 500-300 ky (and possibly even later), which is suggested to be divided into several main occupation phases. Geomorphological and sedimentological analyses show a change in environmental conditions, from aeolian sand deposition and overlying Hamra soil during the Middle Pleistocene to high energy fluvial regime which transported large gravels in a north-south paleo-channel. Wetland environments, correlating to the human activity on site, developed later due to higher sea levels and a coastline shifts to the eastward, which caused a blockage of the Yarkon stream corridor to the sea by marine sand. In this paper we present results of the study of the site, including geomorphological formation and post-depositional processes, absolute chronology, lithic and faunal analyses. The site's extensive lithic assemblages are currently under study and future investigations are expected to shed more light on the technological nature of Late Acheulian Jaljulia.
黎凡特地区的旧石器时代晚期阿舍利文化标志着人类文化和生物进化的一个引人入胜的篇章。然而，由于每个遗址的复杂性、缺乏广泛的多学科研究以及获得该时间段绝对年代学的困难，阿舍利晚期的许多方面仍然难以理解。因此，人类生存策略和适应模式、区域多样性以及人类群体之间可能存在的相互作用及其性质等主题在很大程度上仍未得到充分研究。以色列中央沿海平原大规模的晚期阿舍利遗址 Jaljulia 的发现和研究为这一人类历史篇章的研究提供了宝贵的见解。该遗址被认为是在一个偏好的、富含水和燧石的环境中反复出现的人类居住点，提供了从几个地方获得的广泛的石器组合。绝对年代学将人类在遗址上的活动定在大约 500-300 千年前（甚至可能更晚），这一时期被分为几个主要的居住阶段。地貌和沉积学分析表明，环境条件发生了变化，从中更新世的风成砂沉积和覆盖其上的 Hamra 土壤，到搬运大型砾石的高能河流系统，这些砾石在南北向的古河道中流动。由于海平面升高和海岸线向东移动，导致雅孔河河道被海洋砂阻塞，后来形成了与遗址上人类活动相关的湿地环境。本文介绍了对该遗址的研究结果，包括地貌形成和沉积后过程、绝对年代学、石器和动物群分析。该遗址广泛的石器组合目前正在研究中，未来的调查预计将揭示更多关于 Jaljulia 晚期阿舍利技术性质的信息。
