Beyond Milk and Meat: Lithic Evidence for Economic Specialization in the Early Bronze Age Pastoral Periphery In The Levant

Abstract

Analysis of chipped stone assemblages from the Camel Site In the Central Negev, Israel, shows evidencefor semi-specialized production ojbeads (as rejlected In mlcrollthlc drills and other waste) and grinding stones (as rejlected In a full complement of sandstone reduction waste). The association of a non-lntenslve production system with a peripheral nomadic encampment, along with evidence for trade In these goods with the urban systemfarther north, suggests that non-intensive manufacture of this kind can also be classified as a kind of specialized production. The association of this system with a peripheral pastoral society suggests that there is much more to these societies than mere pastoral Ism.