Evidence of different compound resin-based adhesives is present in South Africa from at least 77000 years ago. Ancient glue production is considered one of the oldest known highly complex technologies, requiring advanced technological and mental abilities. However, our current knowledge of adhesive materials, recipes, and uses in South Africa is limited by the lack of in-depth analysis and molecular characterization of residues. To deepen our knowledge of past adhesive technology, we performed a detailed multi-analytical analysis (use-wear, XRD, μ-CT, IR spectroscopy, GC-MS) of 30 Later Stone Age tools with adhesive remains from Steenbokfontein Cave, South Africa. At the site, tools made of various rocks were hafted with compound adhesives, and we identified three recipes: 1) resin/tar of Widdringtonia or Podocarpus species combined with hematite; 2) resin/tar of Widdringtonia or Podocarpus species mixed with hematite and another plant exudate; 3) resin/tar without hematite. The studied scrapers were used in hide-working activities, and the studied cutting tools were used to work animal and soft plant matters. All scrapers display evidence of intense resharpening and were discarded when no longer useable. The combination of different methods for residue analysis reveals the flexibility of adhesive technology at Steenbokfontein. Despite the consistent use of conifer resin/tar throughout the sequence, we observed that other ingredients were added or excluded independently of the tools’ raw materials and functions. Our results highlight the long-lasting tradition of using adhesive material from conifer species but also the adaptability and flexibility of adhesive traditions. The systematic application of this multi-analytical approach to Pleistocene adhesives will be useful to better characterise adhesive traditions and enhance the debate on the technological, cognitive, and behavioural implications of this technology.@en

Birch bark tar was used extensively throughout human history. While later ceramic-based production technologies are known, prehistoric aceramic techniques leave little to no archaeological evidence. Experimental tar production attempts to fill this gap and suggest potential techniques. However, their archaeological relevance is unclear. Through an in-depth biomolecular analysis using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, this study attempts to differentiate tars produced using four experimental aceramic techniques: condensation, ash mound, pit roll, and raised structure. In doing so we publish the largest collection of GC-MS results of aceramic birch tars. The results show that pentacyclic triterpenoids, characteristic of birch bark, vary between the production techniques in relation to heating exposure and perhaps the tar collection method. This allows for a tentative identification of tars produced through the condensation and ash mound techniques, which were formed consistently using short periods of heating and collected systematically by scraping. In contrast, tars produced using the pit roll and raised structure techniques do not have consistent molecular signatures. Despite the partial success of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, the archaeological relevance is questioned because this technique is only applicable to samples from optimum lipid preservation conditions when a high number of pentacyclic triterpenoids are preserved. Therefore, using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry to determine the transformation methods of organics, like birch bark, may not be an appropriate standalone technique to fairly discuss the technological capabilities of past populations.

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Research on ancient adhesives from the South African Stone Age is expanding, driven by excellent preservation conditions of adhesives and the potential to address diverse archaeological questions. These adhesives are primarily characterized through microscopic and chemical analysis. Despite geographic variability, a consistently identified component is Podocarpus resin or tar. We challenge these identifications, considering another Podocarpaceae genus, Afrocarpus, and the Cupressaceae genus Widdringtonia. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry was employed to analyze molecular signatures of modern wood, tar, resin, and seed cones from these genera. The results form an extensive reference database and reveal challenges in distinguishing these genera based on the diterpenoid signature. While Podocarpus is frequently cited, we advocate for a broader classification as Podocarpaceae when phenolic diterpenoids are found in high abundances and pimaranes and abietanes in lower abundances, and Widdringtonia when the opposite is true. The study differentiates materials used in adhesive production, including leaves and wood, highlighting the significance of α,ω-dicarboxylic acids, hydroxy acids, n-alkanes, and alcohols. Tars produced from leaves are characterized by odd-numbered n-alkanes, while tars produced from twigs and branches are characterized by long-chain α,ω-dicarboxylic acids, hydroxy acids, and alcohols. Because the differences between these adhesives in terms of raw material procurement and production are great, a more nuanced and cautious approach that acknowledges the challenges in differentiating tree species on a molecular level and considers archaeological and environmental context is required.@en

Tel Tsaf is a Middle Chalcolithic (ca. 5200–4700 cal BC) site located in the central Jordan Valley, Israel. The site reflects increasing long-distance trade, organized cereal crop cultivation and possibly olive horticulture. Organic residue analysis of lipids recovered from 100 pottery vessels and three stone vessels and comparison to the botanical and faunal remains suggest that the vessels were used to contain or process various combinations of domestic animal and plant products and that these food products were supplemented by local wild plants. This shows direct continuity of dietary traditions from the preceding Neolithic period; however, there were some developments within the suite of domesticated resources, including the earliest direct evidence for milk exploitation in the southern Levant. Culinary traditions incorporated recipes where these food products were cooked and consumed together in various combinations. These dietary patterns were a part of daily life at Tel Tsaf, adding another layer to our understanding of the village and the culinary traditions of the Middle Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant.

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Foodways in the late prehistoric southern Levant evolved alongside changes in the social and economic organization of the communities occupying the region. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study of culinary practices from the Pottery Neolithic to the Late Chalcolithic period (ca. 6,400–3,800 cal. BC). The research examines changes and continuity in food-related organic residues preserved within ceramic and stone vessels along diachronic and interregional climatic lines in Israel. The results of lipid biomarker and compound-specific isotope analyses, together with the faunal and botanic records, indicate that while this timespan witnessed significant social and economic developments (including most notably the introduction of pottery and later copper metallurgy), there was a fairly uniform diet. Dietary preferences included meat, originating mainly from domestic ruminants, and cultivated vegetal resources, usually regardless of chronological, cultural, or environmental differences. Some chronological and potentially environmental variation was noted in the use of dairy products, which chemical residue analysis detected from samples dating to the Middle Chalcolithic period onwards in semi-arid regions. The overarching general uniformity in diet during the Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods suggests that the timespan was one long economic continuum separated by distinct cultural entities sharing a core dietary tradition. The socio-economic processes of the timespan had no significant effect on what people ate and how they used vessels to prepare and consume food.

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Beehive products have a rich global history. In the wider Levantine region, bees had a significant role in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and intensive beekeeping was noted in Israel during the Biblical period when apiaries were first identified. This study investigates the origins of this extensive beekeeping through organic residue analysis of pottery from prehistoric sites in the southern Levant. The results suggest that beehive products from likely wild bees were used during the Chalcolithic period as a vessel surface treatment and/or as part of the diet. These functions are reinforced by comparison to the wider archaeological record. While the true frequency of beeswax use may be debated, alternatives to beehive products were seemingly preferred as wild resources contrasted with the socio-economic system centred on domesticated resources, controlled production and standardization. Bee products only became an important part of the economic canon in the southern Levant several millennia later.

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How hunter-gatherers manipulated and utilised their natural surroundings is a widely studied topic among anthropologists and archaeologists alike. This focuses on the Natufian culture of the Late Epipalaeolithic period (c. 15-11.7 kyr), the last Levantine hunter-gatherer population, and specifically on the earliest composite tools designed for harvesting. These tools are widely referred to as sickles. They consisted of a haft into which a groove was cut and flint inserts affixed. This revolutionised harvesting and established it on new grounds. While the plants manipulated by these tools are yet to be identified with certainty, it is evident that these implements were rapidly integrated and dispersed throughout the Natufian interaction sphere, suggesting that they provided a significant advantage, which probably constituted a critical step toward agriculture. At the same time, the Natufian haft assemblage demonstrates high morphometric variability. We review the available data concerning Natufian hafts and offer three possible models to explain the noted variability. We conclude that while these models are not mutually exclusive, this varied technological pattern is best understood as deriving from a protracted formative phase of technological development, progressing through incremental processes of trial and error.

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The Natufian culture is the first cultural entity in the southern Levant to have large graveyards and a wide array of symbolic expressions. Hundreds of Natufian burials have been discovered and studied; at some Natufian sites the presence of stone slabs within the graves has been recorded. One interesting yet rare phenomenon documented is the slabs bearing clear incised patterns, suggesting the Natufians were using these flat stone blocks as 'canvases'. Here we report and discuss an incised anthropomorphic figure that has been discovered in the Natufian graveyard at Raqefet Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel. The human figure, most likely shown as dancing, adds another dimension to the rich assemblage of Natufian burial practices and symbolism as recorded at the site of Raqefet Cave as well as at other Natufian sites.

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The Late Chalcolithic of the southern Levant is in part characterized by increased formalized ritual behavior, specifically in the form of burial caves. These caves feature a high variety of utilitarian and prestige grave goods. One of the notable finds in some of the burial caves are basalt vessels, which are considered a hallmark of the Chalcolithic period. Despite their ubiquity in domestic context and likely status as prestige goods produced at specialized production sites, basalt vessels are absent from most burial caves, and the overall frequency of basalt vessels in the caves is highly variable. This paper reviews the phenomenon of basalt vessels in Chalcolithic burial caves and discusses the variability noted. The fact that these labor-intensive prestige goods were found in caves used as arenas for rich symbolic and ritualistic mortuary behavior suggests that while basalt vessels had an important role in Chalcolithic mundane context, the cultic significance of these vessels also entered the spectrum of beliefs concerning death and the afterlife. Moreover, the discrepancies noted in their presence in burial caves suggest that this significance was probably not shared among all Chalcolithic communities in the southern Levant.

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