We scored the literature and found out that bladelet making is rather the norm in southern #Ahmarian. We concluded then, that el-Wad points are likely early-stage knapping blanks and they are retouched to serve as small projectile tips along the unretouched bladelets. 7/

The #AlAnsab1 site provides a good example. The site is stratified, in-situ and its plentiful assemblage is chrono-typologically well anchored in the #Ahmarian. Plus, raw material is abundant near the location! 4/ https://bit.ly/3CkmlBs

The #Ahmarian is the earliest #Upper #Palaeolithic taxon in the #Levant (excluding the Initial Upper Palaeolithic) defined in the '70s-'80s as a blade-bladelet industry with a major component of laterally retouched and pointed bladelets and blades (el-Wad points) 2/

🔴 New #OpenAccess article 🔴
https://bit.ly/3InS2NY
I am really staggered that our @fast_cologne@twitter.com paper on the #Ahmarian site of #AlAnsab1 is online in the Journal of #Paleolithic #Archaeology. To illustrate the findings here a short 🧵1/