Lithic Production Strategies at the Early Pleistocene Site of Bizat Ruhama, Israel

Bizat Ruhama is an Early Pleistocene site located on the fringe of the Negev Desert, Israel, in the southern coastal plain of the southern Levant. This book presents the results of recent excavations carried out at the site and technological analysis of its lithic industry. The excavations (2004–5) had three major goals: firstly to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental context of the site; secondly to provide large lithic assemblages for detailed technological and behavioral studies; and finally to verify the primary context of the lithic and faunal assemblages. The results of the new excavations suggest that Bizat Ruhama is a site complex containing a number of roughly contemporaneous occupations. The analysis of the lithic assemblages from different occupation areas are presented in this study.