{{Short description|Paleolithic archeological industry in the Levant}} {{Infobox archaeological culture |name = Ahmarian culture |map = {{Location map+ |Near East |float=center |border=infobox |caption= |places= {{Location map~ |Near East |lat=33.035 |long=36 |label_size=75 |mark=Red circle 50%.svg |marksize=40}} }} |mapcaption = Approximate location of the Ahmarian culture |mapalt = |altnames = |horizon = |region = Levant |period = Upper Paleolithic |dates = c. 46,000 – c. 42,000 BP |typesite = |majorsites = Ksar Akil, Manot Cave |extra = |precededby = Aterian, Emiran, Bohunician |followedby = Levantine Aurignacian<br />Châtelperronian<br />Aurignacian (Europe) |definedby = }} {{Paleolithic |upper}} The '''Ahmarian culture'''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/ancient-european-culture-spectacular-cave-painting-middle-east-762051|title=Archaeologists carbon dated a cave in Israel to reveal details about the two first modern human cultures|website=Newsweek|date=28 December 2017|publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.02.017 |pmid=25924809 |title=Variability in Early Ahmarian lithic technology and its implications for the model of a Levantine origin of the Protoaurignacian |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=82 |pages=67–87 |year=2015 |last1=Kadowaki |first1=Seiji |last2=Omori |first2=Takayuki |last3=Nishiaki |first3=Yoshihiro |bibcode=2015JHumE..82...67K |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|doi=10.1007/978-981-10-6826-3_7 |chapter=The Ahmarian in the Context of the Earlier Upper Palaeolithic in the Near East |title=The Middle and Upper Paleolithic Archeology of the Levant and Beyond |pages=87–104 |year=2018 |last1=Goring-Morris |first1=Nigel |last2=Belfer-Cohen |first2=Anna |isbn=978-981-10-6825-6 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/BF00974677 |title=The Upper Paleolithic period in the Levant |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=105–154 |year=1991 |last1=Gilead |first1=Isaac |bibcode=1991JWPre...5..105G |s2cid=163984548 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rla-BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA61|title=Dynamics of Learning in Neanderthals and Modern Humans Volume 1: Cultural Perspectives|first1=Takeru|last1=Akazawa|first2=Yoshihiro|last2=Nishiaki|first3=Kenichi|last3=Aoki|date=16 December 2013|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9784431545118|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KzZCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA129|title = The Middle and Upper Paleolithic Archeology of the Levant and Beyond|isbn = 9789811068263|last1 = Nishiaki|first1 = Yoshihiro|last2 = Akazawa|first2 = Takeru|date = 6 December 2017| publisher=Springer }}</ref> was a Paleolithic archeological industry in the Levant dated at 46,000–42,000 years before present (BP) and thought to be related to Levantine Emiran and younger European Aurignacian cultures.
The word "Ahmarian" was adopted from the archaeological site of Erq el-Ahmar (also written Erk el Ahmar), West Bank, Palestine, a rockshelter in the Judean Desert in the northern Dead Sea Rift.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Marder |first1=Ofer |title=Hof Shahaf |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv8bt33h.35 |work=Natufian Foragers in the Levant |pages=505–526 |access-date=2023-12-19 |publisher=Berghahn Books |last2=Yeshurun |first2=Reuven |last3=Smithline |first3=Howard |last4=Ackermann |first4=Oren |last5=Mayer |first5=Daniella E. Bar-Yosef |last6=Belfer-Cohen |first6=Anna |last7=Grosman |first7=Leore |last8=Hershkovitz |first8=Israel |last9=Klein |first9=Noa|doi=10.2307/j.ctv8bt33h.35 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> It was explored and excavated by French Prehistorian René Neuville in 1951.<ref name="JJS">{{cite book |last1=Shea |first1=John J. |title=Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East: A Guide |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107006980 |pages=152–153 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bq7NAedu4gQC&pg=PA152 |language=en}}</ref> The "Ahmarian" category had only been recognized since the 1980s, and was previously designated as "Phase II Upper Paleolithic" or "Ksar Akil Phase B".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shea |first1=John J. |title=Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East: A Guide |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107006980 |page=154 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bq7NAedu4gQC&pg=PA154 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="url(PDF) Selected Figures from Chapter 5. Upper Paleolithic | John Shea - Academia.edu">{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/2921789 |title=(PDF) Selected Figures from Chapter 5. Upper Paleolithic | John Shea - Academia.edu |format= |accessdate=|last1=Shea |first1=John |date=6 March 2013 }}</ref>
== History == The Ahmarian period together with the Emiran period, both from the Levant, are among the first periods of the Upper Paleolithic, corresponding to the first stages of the expansion of ''Homo sapiens'' out of Africa. From this stage, another wave of modern humans migrated to Europe from Africa to form the beginning of the European Upper Paleolithic, including the Aurignacian culture, where they become known as the Cro-Magnons.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Klein |first1=Richard G. |title=The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins |date=2009 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=610 |isbn=9780226027524 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vSgCAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA610}}</ref>
The European Bohunician culture, may slightly predate the Ahmarian at 48,000 BP.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.0903446106 |title=The spread of modern humans in Europe |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=106 |issue=38 |pages=16040–16045 |year=2009 |last1=Hoffecker |first1=J. F |pmc=2752585 |pmid=19571003|bibcode=2009PNAS..10616040H |doi-access=free }}</ref> There is also a claim that it is roughly contemporary with the Aurignacian and the Gravettian cultures of Europe, all emerging prior to the Atlitian, which was also contemporary with the Solutrean and Magdalenian cultures of Western Europe.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A History of Israel and the Holy Land|last=Avi-Yonah|first=Michael|publisher=Continuum|year=2001|isbn=0826413226|location=New York|pages=20}}</ref>
Ahmarian technology, which included the complex of blade/bladelet-knapping techniques is also linked to the tools used by the hunter-gatherers of southwestern Asia.<ref>{{Cite book|title=History of Humanity: Prehistory and the beginnings of civilization|last1=De Laet|first1=S.J.|last2=Dani|first2=A.H.|last3=Lorenzo|first3=J.L.|last4=Nunoo|first4=R.B.|publisher=Routledge|year=1994|isbn=0415093058|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofhumanit0000unse/page/244 244]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofhumanit0000unse}}</ref>
Late Ahmarian is called Masraqan.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264357405 |last1=Belfer-Cohen |first1=Anna |last2=Goring-Morris |first2=Adrian |date=2012 |pages=127–136 |chapter=The earlier Upper Palaeolithic: a View from The Southern Levant |title=The Aurignacian from the Yafteh Cave and its context (2005–2008 excavations) |editor1-first=M. |editor1-last=Otte |editor2-first=S. |editor2-last=Shidrang |editor3-first=D. |editor3-last=Flas |via=ResearchGate}}</ref>
===Technology=== Ahmarian blades are usually elongated with some curves.<ref name="JJS"/> The Levallois technique is still in use, but only sparsely, thereby making Ahmarian the first fully Upper Paleolithic period.<ref name="JJS"/>
Ahmarian assemblages can be found throughout the Levant, including Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan.<ref name="JJS"/> The Lagaman industry in the Sinai can be considered as derivative to the Ahmarian culture.<ref name="JJS"/>
"Levantine Aurignacian", from the Levant, is a type of blade technology very similar to the European Aurignacian, immediately following chronologically the Emiran and Early Ahmarian in the same area of the Near East, and closely related to them.<ref name="JJS"/>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4"> File:Flint Knives, Ahmarian Culture, Nahal Boqer, 47000-40000 BP (detail).jpg|Flint Knives, Ahmarian Culture, Nahal Boqer, 47,000-40,000 BP. Israel Museum. File:Stone Core for Making Blades - Boqer Tachtit, Negev, circa 40000 BP (detail).jpg|Stone core for making fine blades, Boqer Tachtit, Negev, Israel, circa 40,000 BP. Image:El-Wad point.png|El-Wad points are typical of the Ahmarian culture.<ref name="JJS"/> File:Ksar-Akil-Flake.jpg|Ksar Akil flake made by Levallois technique. Found on the surface at Ksar Akil, Lebanon. Another point type typical of the Ahmarian culture (Northern Facies).<ref name="JJS"/> File:El-Wad cave & terrace.JPG|Entrance to el-Wad Cave, an important Ahmarian site File:El-Wad Cave (2).jpg|Inside of el-Wad Cave. </gallery>
== Sites == * Erq el-Ahmar (type site) * Manot Cave * Boker Tachtit * Nahal Boqer * El-Wad (Mount Carmel, Israel) * Ksar Akil (Ahmarian Northern Facies, Lebanon)
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Upper Paleolithic cultures Category:Paleolithic cultures of Asia Category:Prehistory of the Middle East Category:Archaeological cultures of West Asia Category:Peopling of Europe Category:Industries (archaeology) Category:Judaean Desert