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Middle Palaeolithic bitumen use at Umm el Tlel around 70 000 BP

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Eric Boëda ,
Stéphanie Bonilauri ,
Jacques Connan ,
Dan Jarvie ,
Norbert Mercier ,
Mark Tobey ,
Hélène Valladas ,
Heba al Sakhel  and
Sultan Muhesen
Eric Boëda
Affiliation:
Département d'Ethnologie et de Préhistoire, CNRS, UMR 7041, ArScAn, équipe AnTET, Maison de l'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie, Université de Paris X- Nanterre, 21 allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre, France (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Stéphanie Bonilauri
Affiliation:
Département d'Ethnologie et de Préhistoire, CNRS, UMR 7041, ArScAn, équipe AnTET, Maison de l'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie, Université de Paris X- Nanterre, 21 allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre, France (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Jacques Connan
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Biogéochimie Moléculaire, CNRS, UMR 7177, Université Louis Pasteur, 25 rue Becquerel, 67200-Strasbourg, France (Email: [email protected])
Dan Jarvie
Affiliation:
Worldwide Geochemistry, LLC, P.O. Box 789, Humble, Texas 77347, USA (Email: [email protected])
Norbert Mercier
Affiliation:
Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux, CNRS, UMR 5060, Centre de Recherche en Physique Appliquée à l'Archéologie (CRP2A), Maison de l'Archéologie, Université de Bordeaux, 33607-Pessac Cedex, France (Email: [email protected])
Mark Tobey
Affiliation:
Encana Oil & Gas, USA Inc., 370 17th St., Suite 1700, Denver, CO 80303, USA (Email: [email protected])
Hélène Valladas
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPS, UMR CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Centre des faibles Radioactivités, Laboratoire mixte CNRS-CEA, avenue de la Terrasse, 91198-Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France (Email: [email protected])
Heba al Sakhel
Affiliation:
Musée National de Damas, Ministère de la Culture, Direction générale des Antiquités et des Musées, Shoukry al-Qouwatly St., Damas, Syrie (Email: [email protected])
Sultan Muhesen
Affiliation:
Département d'Archéologie, Université de Damas, Damas, Syrie (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

The authors identify natural bitumen on stone implements dating to 70 000 BP. It is proposed that this represents residue from hafting, taking the practice back a further 30 000 years from the date previously noted and published in Nature. The bitumen was tracked to a source 40km away, using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and carbon isotopes.

Keywords

Near EastDjebel BichriMousterianbitumenmicro-traceshaftingmicroscopic techniquesgeochemical analysisstable isotopeabsolute datinggas chromatography-mass spectrometry
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 82 , Issue 318 , December 2008 , pp. 853 - 861
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2008

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