Flint mining in prehistory recorded by in situ-produced cosmogenic 10Be.
The development of mining to acquire the best raw materials for producing stone tools represents a breakthrough in human technological and intellectual development. We present a new approach to studying the history of flint mining, using in situ-produced cosmogenic 10Be concentrations. We show that the raw material used to manufacture flint artifacts approximately 300,000 years old from Qesem Cave (Israel) was most likely surface-collected or obtained from shallow quarries, whereas artifacts of the same period from Tabun Cave (Israel) were made of flint originating from layers 2 or more meters deep, possibly mined or quarried by humans.
Verri
G
G
Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
Barkai
R
R
Bordeanu
C
C
Gopher
A
A
Hass
M
M
Kaufman
A
A
Kubik
P
P
Montanari
E
E
Paul
M
M
Ronen
A
A
Weiner
S
S
Boaretto
E
E