Fluting in the Old World: The Neolithic Projectile Points of Arabia

ABSTRACT

Fluting is a technical process used to thin bifacial projectile points. This operation, which requires a high level of skill, was until now considered as exclusively characteristic of American prehistoric industries, where it nearly always applies to the base of the projectile. The occurrence of this process has recently been documented in the Old World, on certain Neolithic points of Arabia (Oman Sultanate and Yemen). In this region, fluting bears only on the tip of the projectile, and it seems to be an original cultural marker of these Neolithic societies of southern Arabia.