Rolling stones: basalt implements as evidence for trade/exchange in the Levantine Epipaleolithic

By sourcing raw materials through K/Ar dating of basalt implements from several Israeli Natufian sites in the region of Mount Carmel, the Galilee Hills and the northern Jordan Valley it was possible to document the long-distance movement of ground-stone utensils. While the Natufian is characterized by its large, sedentary hamlets based on an economy of hunting and intensive collecting on the threshold of agriculture, this apparent long-distance trade/exchange has its roots in earlier, more mobile hunter-gatherer groups. Placing the information concerning raw material sources in a framework of ethnographic models allows us to view the prehistoric trade/exchange networks within their economic, social and symbolic contexts