Natufian Flint Ver Sus Ground Stone Tools: a Use-wear per Spec Tive on Subsistance Change

Ab stract Use-wear and tech no log i cal stud ies sug gest that Natufian flint as sem blages share sev eral char ac ter is tics with Mesolithic as sem blages of Eu rope, as both re gions show an ex ten sive pro duc tion of mi cro-lithic tools mostly de voted to an i mal pro cure ment and ex ploi ta tion. In the Lev ant, this as so ci a tion seems to be rooted in pre vi ous cul tural tra di tions. In con trast to flint tools, ground stone tools show the de vel op ment of a new tech nol ogy partly re lated to the ex ploi ta tion of plants. This pa per dis cusses the im pli ca tions and sym bolic sig nif i cance of this flint ver sus ground stone tool di chot omy for our un der stand ing of Natufian sub sis tence and plant ex ploi ta tion be hav ior.