A Tel Aviv University study shows that Quina scrapers were first used 400,000 years ago, reflecting a shift in hunting practices due to the extinction of large game such as elephants. The research points to significant cultural and practical evolution in early human societies, linking tool technology to the sacred geographical sources of resources. A close-up of a Quina-like scraper from Jaljulia. Credit: Tel Aviv University
Research shows that early humans developed Quina scrapers for hunting 400,000 years ago, adapting to the disappearance of elephants and forming a cultural link with the resource-rich mountains of Samaria.
A recent study from Tel Aviv University has identified the earliest global use of specific stone tools known as Quina scrapers, dating back 400,000 years. These tools were first discovered at a location in France and named after them. They have been found at the ancient sites of Jaljulia and Qesem Cave. Quina scrapers are distinguished by their scalloped, sharp working edges, which were used for butchering fallow deer and processing their hides.
The researchers explain that after the elephants disappeared from the region, ancient hunters were forced to make technological adjustments that allowed them to hunt, slaughter and process much smaller and faster game: fallow deer. The research also revealed that the unique tools were made from non-local flint sourced from the mountains of Samaria, which probably also served as a calving ground for the fallow deer, about 20 km east of Jaljulia and the Qesem Cave.
Consequently, the researchers hypothesize that the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim (near today’s Nablus) were considered a source of abundance as early as the Paleolithic and were considered sacred by prehistoric hunters. The research was led by Vlad Litov and Prof. Ran Barkai of Tel Aviv University’s Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures. The article was published in Archaeologies.
Evolution of hunting tools
The researchers explain that for about a million years, starting 1.5 million years ago, early humans used stone tools called scrapers to process hides and scrape the meat from the bones of mainly large game. In the Levant they hunted mainly elephants and other large herbivores that provided most of the calories they needed. However, the research found that about 400,000 years ago, after the disappearance of elephants, hunters turned to a different type of prey, significantly smaller and faster than elephants: fallow deer.
Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. A view from the east. Credit: Dr. Shai Bar
Litov explains: ‘In this study we sought to understand why stone tools changed during prehistory, focusing on a technological change in scrapers in the Lower Paleolithic, about 400,000 years ago. We found a dramatic change in the human diet during this period, probably due to a change in the available fauna: big game, especially elephants, had disappeared, and people were forced to hunt smaller animals, especially fallow deer. Clearly, butchering a large elephant is one thing, and processing a much smaller and more vulnerable fallow deer is a completely different challenge.
Prof. Ran Barkai. Credit: Tel Aviv University
Systematically processing countless fallow deer to compensate for a single elephant was a complex and demanding task that required the development of new tools. As a result, we are seeing the emergence of the new Quina scrapers, with a better shaped, sharper and more uniform working edge compared to the simple scrapers used previously.”
Conclusion and historical significance
The study is based on findings from an excavation at the prehistoric site of Jaljulia next to Highway 6 in central Israel, likely inhabited by Homo erectus humans. kind, as well as evidence from the nearby Qesem Cave. At both sites the excavators discovered many scrapers of the new type, made from non-local flint whose nearest sources are the western slopes of Samaria, east of the excavated sites, or the present-day Ben Shemen Forest to the south.
Prof. Barkai adds: “In this study we identified links between technological developments and changes in the fauna that early humans hunted and consumed. For years, researchers believed that the changes in stone tools were the result of biological and cognitive changes in humans. We show a double connection, both practical and perceptual. On the one hand, people began to make more advanced tools because they needed to hunt and slaughter smaller, faster, and thinner game. On the other hand, we identify a perceptual connection: the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim in Samaria, about 20 km east of Jaljulia, were a home range for fallow deer and are therefore considered a source of abundance. We have found a link between the abundant source of fallow deer and the source of flint used to slaughter them, and we believe this link had perceptual significance for these prehistoric hunters. They knew where the fallow deer came from and made special efforts to use flint from the same area to make tools for slaughtering this prey. This behavior is known from many other places around the world and is still widely practiced by indigenous hunter-gatherer communities.”
Litov concludes: “We believe that the mountains of Samaria were sacred to the prehistoric people of the Qesem Cave and Jaljulia because that is where the fallow deer came from. It is important to note that in Jaljulia we also found numerous other tools made from various types of locally obtained stones. When locals realized that the elephant population was declining, they gradually shifted their attention to fallow deer. They identified the deer’s abundant resource and began developing the unique scrapers in the same spot. This is the earliest example of a phenomenon that later spread throughout the world.
The new scrapers first appeared on a small scale in Jaljulia, about 500,000 years ago, and a short time later, 400,000 to 200,000 years ago, on a much larger scale in Qesem Cave. The Samarian highlands east of Jaljulia and the Qesem Cave were probably home to a fallow deer population, as evidenced by bone remains recovered from local Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological sites. Many fallow deer bones were also found at the altar site on Mount Gerizim, which is attributed in the Old Testament to Joshua bin Nun, and identified by some traditions as the site of Abraham’s Covenant of the Pieces, described in the Book of Genesis. Apparently the mountains of Samaria acquired a prominent or even sacred status as early as the Paleolithic period and have retained their unique cultural position for hundreds of thousands of years.”
Reference: “The Stone, the Deer, and the Mountain: Lower Paleolithic Scrapers and Early Human Perceptions of the Cosmos” by Vlad Litov and Ran Barkai, February 23, 2024, Archaeologies.
DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09493-w