The sedimentary sequence of Ararat-1 Cave encapsulates an intricate depositional archive (Marine Isotope Stage 3), crucial for our understanding of the Middle Palaeolithic in the Armenian Highlands and beyond. The study of this record is accomplished through the use of a multi-proxy geoarchaeological framework of analysis, incorporating stratigraphical, micromorphological, sedimentological, mineralogical, chemical, magnetic, micro-archaeological and geochronological methods. These analyses demonstrate the predominance of geogenic processes, including rockfalls, grain and debris flows, interbedded with aeolian sedimentation, as well as localised pyroclastic material in-wash events. Post-depositional alterations are primarily linked to intense bioturbation, as well as minimal karst-induced cementation and minor phosphate diagenesis. The study of the anthropogenic and biogenic records indicates dynamic human-animal habitation histories. Human visits, associated with combustion and consumption activities, were infrequent and short-lived, representing brief occupation episodes in a cave habitually visited by carnivores and herbivores. This high-resolution reconstruction of Ararat-1 Cave formation histories improves our understanding of regional settlement and mobility patterns, highlighting the presence of Middle Palaeolithic groups that temporarily camped in the Ararat Depression.

Studies of lithic technological organization have progressed from static typological classifications to analyses of dynamic processes of tool production, use, and discard. These analyses reveal the intricate interplay of human behavior and environmental adaptation. This paper investigates lithic technology, emphasizing the dichotomy of curated and expedient technologies by examining the differential strategies employed in raw material acquisition, tool production, and discard. It also explores how environmental, economic, and mobility factors interplay and shape lithic assemblages. Focusing on Ararat-1 cave, a late Middle Paleolithic site in the Armenian Highlands, we conducted an integrative techno-typological study of 1770 lithic artefacts spanning five stratigraphic units, identifying distinct raw material reduction strategies for obsidian and chert. Obsidian artefacts exhibited a focus on retouching and rejuvenation, indicative of curated technologies associated with high residential mobility, while the chert showed evidence of primary reduction and blank production, reflecting expedient strategies. By integrating module flake analysis and reviewing the Whole Assemblage Behavioral Indicators (WABI) framework, suggesting the addition of smaller debitage, we highlighted dual mobility patterns reflected in the site assemblage. This approach offers a refined understanding of lithic technological systems, providing insights into MIS 3 mobility and site function in the Armenian Highlands.

The Ararat-1 Cave site, situated within the dry mountain steppe zone of Armenia at an elevation of 1,034 m, preserves a stratigraphic sequence spanning Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 and the Holocene (MIS 1). The site has yielded a rich microvertebrate assemblage comprising 18 extant taxa, including rodents, insectivores, lagomorphs, amphibians, and reptiles. Middle Paleolithic deposits (52-35 kyrs, MIS 3) are characterized by taxa such as Chionomys nivalis (Snow Vole), Ellobius sp. (Mole Voles), Microtus arvalis (Common Vole), Microtus socialis (Social Vole), Meriones sp. (Jirds), Mus sp. (Mice), Nothocricetulus migratorius (Grey Dwarf Hamster), Scarturus sp. (Jerboas), Crocidura sp. (White-toothed Shrews), Erinaceus concolor (Southern White-breasted Hedgehog), Ochotona cf. rufescens (Afghan Pika), Bufotes gr. viridis (Green Toads), Agamidae indet. (Agamids), Erycinae indet. (Sand Boas), Colubridae indet. 1 and 2 (Colubrids), Natrix tessellata (Dice Snake), and Vipera gr. berus (Vipers). Holocene layers (SU0.1–SU1.3) exhibit a similar taxonomic composition, though lacking C. nivalis, Ellobius sp., O. cf. rufescens, as well as Erycinae indet., Colubridae indet. 1 and 2, and Natrix tessellata. A comprehensive taxonomic and taphonomic analysis of the small mammal and herpetofaunal assemblages was conducted, employing the Taxonomic Habitat Index Method to reconstruct local ecological conditions during MIS 3 and the Holocene. Small mammal taxa indicate the coexistence of both cold- and warm-adapted species, while herpetofaunal assemblages predominantly exhibit Eastern-Mediterranean and Turano-Mediterranean affinities, with the V. berus complex being a notable exception due to its European or Sibero-European distribution. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction reveals a mosaic landscape comprising open semi-arid shrublands and grasslands interspersed with forested patches, rocky terrain, and a perennial water source. This environment closely resembles the modern “mountain steppe” and “dry mountain steppe” biomes of southern Armenia. The findings from Ararat-1 Cave underscore the ecological diversity present in the Southern Caucasus during both the Pleistocene and Holocene and contribute to a deeper understanding of the region's paleoenvironments.

Analysis of the chipped stone assemblage from the 4th millennium BCE cult site at Mitzpe Shalem in the Judean desert, with special focus on the lithic waste, offers insight into protohistoric cult practices. Specifically, special tools—tabular scrapers—were imported from the desert periphery, incised with symbolic markings, utilized most likely as ritual butchering knives, and then either deliberately shattered or resharpened and reused. However, reuse necessitated the cancellation of the earlier sets of symbols. After reuse, these tools were also deliberately broken. Located on the seam between the settled zone and the desert, the site cluster served as locus for ritual gathering and performance used by settled communities of the Dead Sea region.

This paper presents the results of spatial analyses of Unit III in Nesher Ramla, Israel, an open-air mid-Middle Paleolithic site. Featuring numerous anthropogenic features (e.g., hearths and artifact clusters), a well-preserved lithic assemblage, and well-defined deposits, Unit III constitutes an excellent case for exploring the ability of the Nesher Ramla Homo to organize and maintain their space. We employed two analytical procedures: tracing the spatial distribution of various lithic categories and refitting. The results were correlated with field records and plans to produce high-definition distribution and density maps, which suggest a division into northern and southern areas. The northern area consists of small accumulations of bones, stones, and a few lithic artifacts; it likely served as a task-specific field camp for brief butchering events. The southern area featured dense artifact accumulations associated with combustion features, and it seems to have functioned as a domestic space where various activities were carried out: flint knapping, bone processing, animal consumption, etc. While the temporal relations between the northern and southern areas are uncertain, they do not seem to have been contemporaneous; instead, they appear to have been associated with different visits. Alongside other published data from the upper units of Nesher Ramla, the current study contributes to new insights into shifts in functions and duration of occupations at the site.

The provenance of a group of Late Minoan IB copper oxhide ingots found on Crete remains a mystery in Mediterranean archaeometallurgical research. The distinctive isotopic signature of the Late Minoan IB Cretan ingots points to an ore source from the Neoproterozoic or early Cambrian eras, effectively excluding most of the well-documented copper sources within the Mediterranean region. Drawing upon a blend of legacy geochemical data, historical evidence, and archaeological findings, we argue that the yet-to-be-defined ‘Old Copper’ signature derives from the Arabian-Nubian Shield. Based on this interpretation, we suggest that copper from the Red Sea region was traded via Egypt to the Late Minoan IB Minoan palaces in the form of oxhide ingots. This interpretation sheds light on the development of the Minoan-Egypt trade interface at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age.

Volume 25 of the Israel Oriental Studies Annual includes nine articles. The Ancient Near Eastern section consists of three articles. The first article is a study of the way that scholarly knowledge was memorized and internalized by the professional classes of First Millennium Mesopotamia (Gabbay). The second article discusses rhotacism in Luwian (Simon). The third article is an edition of an inscribed metal-bowl of King Iddin-Sin of Simurrum, followed by a commentary (Wasserman). The Semitic section includes six articles that touch upon languages attested, although not solely, in Africa. The issues discussed are shared etymologies between ancient Egyptian and Arabic (Borg and Sheyhatovitch), a new Digital Humanities project of Phoenician and Punic insciptions (Cerqueglini, Silber-Varod and Klein), the syntax of Hebrew spoken by the Algerian Jewish community of Wad-Souf (Gębski), the nomina agentis in Tigrinya (Gutgarts), the oral and written Beta Israel tradition (Rom-Shiloni).

In this paper, we present a comprehensive techno-typological study of the lithic assemblages from two newly excavated sites in the Arava Valley (Israel), dated to ca. 24,000 years ago. The two assemblages feature comparable bladelet reduction sequences oriented to produce a variety of obliquely truncated backed bladelets made on straight, narrow blanks, with some typological variability detectable between them.

The Idan occupations are contemporaneous with the Masraqan and Nebekian industries during the early part of the Early Epipaleolithic (EEP) that, following Garrard and Byrd (2013), we refer to here as Initial Epipaleolithic (IEP).

We suggest that the Idan localities represent an IEP facies, stylistically more reminiscent of the Nebekian assemblages in the Transjordian highlands, but differing technologically in the absence of the microburin technique.

We highlight the different developmental trajectories of backed microliths in different regions within the Southern Levant, illustrating the complex cultural dynamics at the beginning of the Epipaleolithic.

We propose that these developmental trajectories are influenced by different population densities and adaptation strategies of forager groups in diverse environmental settings within the Levant.

The medieval wall and trench system of China and Mongolia covers ∼4000 km and consists of a series of rammed-earth walls, ditches, and hundreds of associated structures. This was not a unified system but rather different sections that were built by different political entities and perhaps for different purposes between ca. 1000 to 1220 CE. Among those lines, the earliest is the northernmost section dated to the period of the Liao empire (916–1125 CE). It is located deep in the sparsely populated steppe of today's northeastern Mongolia (Dornod Province) as well as in parts of China and Russia. Recent excavations at Site 23 along the northern line revealed a rich and well-preserved faunal assemblage from a midden pit dated towards the end of the Liao empire (ca. 1050 CE). Common Mongolian domesticates sheep, goat, horse, cow, and dog were identified, as well as wild species: gazelle, rabbit, mustelids, large raptors, and fish, including Amur catfish. Based on bone fusion, size, and teeth eruption, many of the sheep/goat bones and dogs belong to very young animals under six months. Historical texts, such as the Liaoshi (Liao history) and Qidan guozhi (Records of the Kitan empire), were the only source of knowledge available regarding human-animal relations, as very little is known of subsistence practices during the Liao period from faunal analysis in itself. The historical record documents aspects of Liao-era animal husbandry, hunting, fishing, and imperial diplomatic/tributary animal exchange between the Liao governors and local tribes. Through integration of textual evidence and the excavated faunal material, we can interpret the subsistence activities of a distinct Liao frontier garrison for the first time, going beyond the often-generic descriptions of the historical record which pertain more to the elite than the common people. This analysis allows us a glimpse behind the texts at the varied and flexible economic practices taking place deep in the Mongolian steppe.

Reconciling the ever-increasing volume of new archaeological data with the abundant corpus of legacy data is fundamental to making robust archaeological interpretations. Yet, combining new and existing results is hampered by inconsistent standards in the recording and illustration of archaeological features and artefacts. Attempts at collating data from images in existing publications first involve scouring the substantial body of existing literature, followed by extracting images that require onerous manual preprocessing steps, like re-scaling, re-orienting, and re-formatting. While the sample sizes of such manual analyses are curtailed by these problems, recent developments in AI and big data methods are poised to accelerate and automate large syntheses of existing data.

This paper introduces an AI-assisted workflow capable of creating uniform archaeological datasets from heterogeneous published resources. The associated software (AutArch) takes large and unsorted PDF files as input, and uses neural networks to conduct image processing, object detection, and classification. Objects commonly found in archaeological catalogues – like graves, skeletons, ceramics, ornaments, stone tools, and maps – are reliably detected. Accompanying elements of the illustrations, like North arrows and scales, are automatically used for orientation and scaling. Outlines are then extracted with contour detection, allowing whole-outline morphometrics. Detected objects, contours, and other automatically retrieved data can be manually validated and adjusted via AutArch's graphical user interface.

While we test this workflow on third millennium BCE Central European graves and Final Neolithic/Early Bronze Age arrowheads from Northwest Europe, this method can be applied to the vast number of artefacts and archaeological features for which shape, size, and orientation holds technological, functional, cultural, and/or temporal significance. This AI-assisted workflow has the potential to speed-up, automate, and standardise data collection throughout the discipline, allowing more objective interpretations and freeing sample sizes from budget and time constraints.