Changes and variation in the shape of architectural remains have often been tied to changes in social structure and organization, demography, hierarchy, subsistence, mobility and more. While there is an immeasurable amount of architectural data collection, there are no agreed upon standards for documentation and analysis.
Here we present for the first time an objective and repeatable method for quantifying and comparing structure forms, in an attempt to shed new light on questions of architectural dynamics. Our case study is the Neolithization
process in the Near East, traditionally regarded as a change from rounded to rectangular forms. We digitize building outlines from published plan drawings and objectively quantify their two-dimensional morphology via the directionality of the normal vectors and minimum angles. This pilot study includes a sample of 118 structures deriving from 23 sites in the Mediterranean region and Jordan Valley of the southern Levant. Our results show that there is considerably more variability than can be subsumed in the traditional
‘round to rectangular’ scheme of architectural development. We identify construction of right angles as early as the Natufian and show that early architecture throughout the Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A is less
restricted by formal conventions. On the other hand, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, variability is more constrained, potentially suggesting a codification of architectural norms.

A decorated basalt shaft straightener discovered at the Natufian
open-air site of Nahal Ein Gev II (Israel) seemingly provides an
insight into the workings of the human mind ca. 12,000 years ago.
It is oval and features a central deep groove flanked on both sides by
a series of perpendicular striations—24 on the right and 26 on the
left—grouped into three registers. The number of lines in the third
register on either side constitutes the total number of lines incised in
the other two registers. Apparently, the notation-maker was intent on
indicating the mathematically correct number of lines on either side of
the groove at the expense of a visual bilateral symmetry sensu stricto.
As such, this appears to be one of the earliest recorded instances in
human prehistory to directly manifest this uniquely human cognitive
characteristic. It also serves as a “wake-up call” to revisit other
“decorated” Natufian and Epipaleolithic items.

Spheroids are Lower Paleolithic stone tools documented in African and Eurasian archeological sites ascribed to the later Oldowanand Acheulian cultural complexes. While reported since the 1960s, there is disagreement about how they were made, or whether their morphology resulted from non-intentional processes related to flake production or percussive activities.
Recently, attention has turned towards resolving the issue of intentionality in spheroid production. Based on our observations of the large collection of limestone spheroids from the Early Acheulian site of ‘Ubeidiya (Levant), dated to ca. 1.4 Ma, we test the hypothesis that these were intentionally produced by attempting possible operative schemes for their manufacture. In addition to experimental knapping, we also provide a morphotechnological analysis of the products from each experiment, identifying typical flake morphologies and breakage patterns within each lithic set. In addition, refitting of each experimental lithic set provides a clear picture of the sequencing of gestures used by expert, experienced, and novice knappers, shedding new light on the decision-making processes leading up to the production of these enigmatic tool types.

In the Southern Levant, the Natufians established a long-lasting tradition of using stones, along with other materials, for construction. Initial field observations at Nahal Ein Gev II suggested that such stones are natural
blocks or cobbles that frequently underwent some kind of modification. To further investigate this pattern and better understand construction techniques and design, a protocol was developed at the site to record and analyze
the construction stones, labelled BL for ‘Building Stones.’ This paper presents our initial results.
Our analysis reveals that basalt and limestone were commonly used as BL, consistent with the lithology of the geological formations around the site. A large proportion of the BL are broken, perhaps as a result of intentional
‘calibration’ of the stones aimed at making them fit into the structure's walls. Consistency in modal BL size reveals some of the norms that underlie the design of the structures. The presence of several types of sheen was
noted on the BL; some forms being related to the use of bonding material employed in wall construction, while other forms may indicate surface treatment. Finally, the construction traditions documented at the site are
considered in the broader context of Natufian technical innovation and inter-site variability.

The renewed excavation of the Ein Gev IV Epipalaeolithic (Nizzanan) site, in the Upper Jordan Valley, provides a novel insight into the long-dur´ee process that, in hindsight, set the stage for the pivotal changes attested during the Late Epiplaeolithic Natufian and subsequent pre-Pottery Neolithic cultural entities. Based on the analysis of the archaeological deposit, the lithic assemblage, and a series of new radiometric dates it is possible to suggest that Ein Gev IV might have been occupied for a large part of the year as a residential site, embedded in a tight social network that included other Nizzanan sites in Transjordan and the Negev. The new data highlight the complexity of the pre-Natufian Epipalaeolithic population dynamics, and advocate for a paradigm shift, loosening the rigid separation between Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic cultural entities and focusing on how social and environmental factors might have affected the development and transmission of innovations between
interconnected local populations over the whole pre-Natufian Epipalaeolithic period.

Observations about handaxe techno-morphology, like their symmetry, refinement, and fine edges have long been used to reconstruct the evolution of hominin cog- nition, skills, and technological decision making. However, these interpretations about the cognitive and technical abilities of Acheulean hominins often rely on the most ‘beautiful’ or supposedly ‘archetypical’ 
looking handaxes. But how often do these finely made handaxes actually occur in assemblages and how can we identify handaxes that were more skillfully made than others? Instead of seeking to estimate the skill level of individual past knappers, a trait that is oftentimes obscured in the archaeological record, we approach the question of knapping skill from the other direction. We 
instead ask how much skill was required to manufacture a handaxe? We explore, not the skill level of a handaxe’s maker, but how skillfully an individual handaxe was made. We put forth a suite of novel 3D methods of handaxe analysis for calculating their 3D edge sinuosity and 3D asymmetry. 
Using these methods, we quantify traits that are difficult to achieve during handaxe-making, providing an esti- mate of the requisite amount of ability, experience, attention, and effort demanded by their manufacture. Among our large sample of handaxes from the later Acheu- lean of the 
southern Levant, we find that blank size and tool-/site-use best explain the presence of more skillfully-made handaxes. Handaxes made on larger original blanks appear to afford more volume with which to enact longer and more skill- fully demanding reduction sequences. Moreover, handaxes 
occurring at more recur- rently occupied sites demanded less skill investment and appear geared towards the more expedient fulfilment of quotidian tasks. In the later Acheulean of the southern Levant there appears to be a great diversity in how skillfully handaxes were made, likely reflecting a diversity in the goals of handaxe making.
 

The wheel and axle’ revolutionized human technological history by transforming linear to rotary motion and causing parts of devices to move. While its ancient origins are commonly associated with the appearance of carts during the Bronze Age, we focus on much earlier wheel-shaped find–an exceptional assemblage of over a hundred perforated pebbles from
the 12,000-year-old Natufian village of Nahal Ein-Gev II, Israel. We analyze the assemblage using 3D methodologies, incorporating novel study applications to both the pebbles and their perforations and explore the functional implications. We conclude that these items could have served as spindle whorls to spin fibres. In a cumulative evolutionary trend, they
manifest early phases of the development of rotational technologies by laying the mechanical principle of the wheel and axle. All in all, it reflects on the technological innovations that played an important part in the Neolithization processes of the Southern Levant.

The edges of stone tools have significant technological and functional implications. The nature of these edges–their sharpness, whether they are concave or convex, and their asymmetry–reflect how they were made and how they could be used. Similarly, blunt portions of a tool’s perimeter hint at how they could have been grasped or hafted and in which directions force could be applied. However, due to the difficulty in accurately measuring the complex 3D geometry of tool edges with traditional methods, their attributes are often overlooked. When they are analyzed, they have traditionally been assessed with visual qualitative categories or unreliable physical measurements. We introduce new computational 3D methods for automatically and repeatably measuring key attributes of stone tool edges. These methods allow us to automatically identify the 3D perimeter of tools, segment this perimeter according to changes in edge angles, and measure these discrete edge segments with a range of metrics. We test this new computational toolkit on a large sample of 3D models of handaxes from the later Acheulean of the southern Levant. Despite these handaxes being otherwise technologically and morphologically similar, we find marked differences in the amount of knapped outline, edge angle, and the concavity of their edges. We find many handaxes possess blunt portions of perimeter, suitable for grasping, and some handaxes even possess more than one discrete sharp edge. Among our sample, sites with longer occupations and more diverse toolkits possessed handaxes with more diverse edges. Above all, this paper offers new methods for computing the complex 3D geometry of stone tool edges that could be applied to any number of artifact types. These methods are fully automated, allowing the analysis and visualization of entire assemblages. 

Traditionally, rock engravings were studied through their visual characteristics. They have been analyzed with comparative and interpretative methodologies of iconography and iconology. However, there has been a recent shift towards identifying production processes, allowing reconstruction of operational characteristics through various methods. Nevertheless, the studies of the technological aspects typically focus on the operational and the mechanical, often omitting the visuality of the outcome. In the current paper, we are using ArchCUT3-D software for computational analysis of 3-D data acquired from various rock engravings located in Timna Park, southern Israel. We show how micro-morphological evidence, extracted from the engraved lines, can decode technical trends and variabilities in a technique’s particular implementation. Then, we conduct a focused examination of one group of engraved figures in order to establish a link between execution techniques and visual considerations. Based on our results and the following discussion, we suggest the term Techné to indicate the choice of technique that goes beyond the instrumental or purely operative perspectives. We highlight the intentional choice, which designs the visual rhetoric of the engraved marks and suggests cultural concepts that contrived the procedural processes. 

umming up the data deriving from the Natufian burials at Hayonim Cave which incorporates information pertaining to the last grave uncovered on site (Grave XVII), the paper endeavours to understand the role of burials within the evolving Natufian society at large. It seems that certain sites—Hayonim Cave being a case in point—served as special localities, used by a particular group as a burial ground all through the Natufian time-span (i.e. for more than 3000 years). Members of that group returned to the cave again and again in order to bury their dead, being aware of the location of the preceding graves, apparently retaining a long-term memory of their burial practices. At the same time, at least some burials provide evidence for inter-group ties, as evident through particular similarities between certain burials in two distinct Natufian sites, Hayonim Cave and Eynan (‘Ain Mallaha). Clearly, retention of mortuary practices played a significant role in consolidating and preserving social cohesion in the Natufian society.

Spheroids are one of the least understood lithic items yet are one of the most enduring, spanning from the Oldowan to the Middle Palaeolithic. Why and how they were made remains relatively unknown. Here we seek to address whether they were the unintentional by-product of a percussive task or were intentionally knapped, and if so, were there any goals to their manufacture? We apply novel 3D analysis methods, including spherical harmonics and surface curvature, on 150 limestone spheroids from ‘Ubeidiya to bring a new perspective to these enigmatic artefacts. We reconstruct the spheroid reduction sequence based on trends in their scars and geometry. We find that the spheroid makers at ‘Ubeidiya followed what appears to be a premeditated and formal reduction strategy. During this reduction, the spheroids do not become smoother, but they become markedly more spherical. They approach an ideal sphere, a feat that likely required a mental template and skilful knapping. Acheulean bifaces are currently thought to represent the earliest evidence of hominins imposing a premeditated, symmetrical shape on stone. With evidence of spheroids occurring before the Acheulean, the intentional production of a sphere-like object represents earlier evidence of hominins desiring and achieving intentional geometry and symmetry.

Ancient rock engravings evoke the interest of archeologists and art historians as an important remnant of human cultures. Traditionally, engraved images are studied based on iconography, iconology, and stylistic characteristics, with little emphasis on execution technology.
In contrast, the research method presented in this study strives to characterize the techniques adopted for making rock engravings in ancient times, with technological variations considered as indicators of the engraver’s production process. 3-D scans of two ancient engravings and contemporary graffiti were obtained from Site 25 in Timna Park, Southern Israel. The models were analyzed with ArchCUT3-D, a software specifically developed to precisely evaluate the 3-D micromorphological characteristics of the incisions making up the engraving. The software analyzes the surface micromorphology by extracting 3-D slices of the incisions using an accurate and repeatable method. Our results indicate that different incisions were executed by remarkably distinct techniques of stroking the rock surface with a sharp tool. The identification of discriminant characteristics enabled us to demonstrate the
particularities of the engraving operations, such as ergonomic conditions and the level of consistency of the engraving gesture. ArchCUT3-D thus provides a computational method for incision technique recognition through micromorphology specifications, and the reconstruction of engraving gestures and individual production procedures.

The nature of lithic morphological variability during the Acheulean is a much-debated topic, especially in the late Acheulean of the Levant. To explore this issue, we present a 3D analysis of 260 handaxes from Jaljulia, a recently discovered late Acheulean site dated to ca. 500–300/200 ka. We employ a comprehensive suite of 3D methods aimed at reconstructing the technological and morphological choices enacted by the Jaljulia knappers. These methods include the precise calculation of orthogonal measurements, center of mass, surface area, edge length, and geometric morphometrics, as well as new metrics for quantifying handaxe outlines and distribution of mass. Scar density was used to reconstruct the handaxe reduction strategies employed at the site.

Our analyses reveal that the Jaljulia handaxes are diverse in shape suggesting that they were made following a flexible reduction sequence involving an expedient selection of initial nodules of varying sizes. This reduction strategy was geared toward improving the refinement and outline quality of the handaxes, but not imposing any shape constraints. The expediency and relative crudeness of the handaxes from such a late Acheulean site belie the commonly held perception that handaxes improve through time during the Acheulean. This is true on an intra-site scale also, with the oldest excavation area containing the most refined and smooth-edged handaxes. Finally, we consider how this newfound morphological flexibility and expediency of nodule selection fit within the complex lithic variability occurring in the terminal phase of the Acheulean.