Knowledge transmission and apprentice flint-knappers in the Acheulo-Yabrudian: A case study from Qesem Cave, Israel

We present the techno-typological characteristics of a lithic assemblage earlier that 300 ka originating from the southern area of Qesem Cave, a Middle Pleistocene site in central Israel. Aspects of knapping trajectories were examined in detail (including core analyses), demonstrating that the southern area assemblage has some distinguishable features in comparison with lithic assemblages from other areas of the cave. These features permit, in our opinion, to suggest that various levels of knapping skills are reflected in this particular assemblage – most probably characterizing both skilled knappers and unexperienced knappers or knappers in the process of learning. Thus, these data may permit a preliminary assessment of knowledge transmission relating to flint knapping that has taken place in the southern area of Qesem Cave during the late Lower Paleolithic in the Levant.