The age of the Lower Paleolithic site of Kefar Menachem West, Israel—Another facet of Acheulian variability

A salvage excavation at the Lower Paleolithic site of Kefar Menahem West in the interior of the Israeli coastal plain yielded a flake industry devoid of handaxes and their byproducts. The archeological finds covering an area exceeding 2000 m², are found at the contact of two distinct sedimentological units: Quartzic Brown and hamra (red clay loam paleosols). The absence of handaxes hamper placing the site within the relative chronology of the Lower Paleolithic record of the Levant. New paleomagnetic analysis coupled with optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and thermally transferred optically (TT-OSL) dating yielded a chronological range between 780 and 460 ka for the archeological occupation. The techno-typological similarities with Late Acheulian assemblages together with possible variations in the mode of occupations by early hominids at the site, both suggest that the KMW should be conceived as part of the Late Acheulian variability.