Re-thinking the concept of embedded procurement: Insights from the lower Paleolithic of the Levant

Abstract

Binford’s concept of embedded procurement, proposed over half a century ago, which suggests that lithic procurement was typically integrated with other subsistence activities, has become a cornerstone of raw material studies, and continues to dominate interpretations by many archeologists studying Lower and Middle Paleolithic flint sourcing. However, evidence from Lower Paleolithic Acheulo-Yabrudian Qesem Cave, and the Lower and Middle Paleolithic Dishon and Achbara flint extraction and reduction complexes, in Israel, suggests that this view warrants reconsideration. At Qesem Cave, significant proportions of non-local materials, particularly within specific typo-technological categories, indicate a selective approach to the procurement and exploitation of different flint types, including evidence of long-distant procurement. At Dishon and Achbara, multiple flint extraction and reduction tailing piles have been identified, featuring rejected handaxes and Levallois cores, and the geochemical composition similarity between this flint and handaxes from the Acheulian sites of at Ma’ayan Barukh and Gesher Benot Ya’aqov (GBY), both located ∼ 20 km from the Dishon complex, suggesting the existence of task-specific forays, dedicated to the organized extraction of flint. Based on these finds, we propose that the predominance of the embedded procurement model should be reassessed, as direct procurement strategies were already in use during the Lower Paleolithic of the Levant. Moreover, drawing on archaeological and ethnographic data, we argue that cultural, social, cosmological, and ontological factors also influenced lithic materials procurement practices among Lower Paleolithic populations.