Nira Alperson-Afil & Naama Goren-Inbar. The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov.

Nira Alperson-Afil & Naama Goren-Inbar. The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov. NIRA NIRA National Institute for Research Advancement (Japan)NIRA National Intercollegiate Rodeo AssociationNIRA National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933NIRA National Import Racing Association ALPERSON-AFIL & NAAMA NAAMA National Arab American Medical Association (Birmingham, MI)GOREN-INBAR. The Acheulian site ofGesher Benot Ya'aqov. Volume 2: ancient flames and controlled useof fire. xxviii+120 pages, 82 colour & b&w illustrations, 24tables. 2010. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London & New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : SpringerScience + Business Media; 978-90-481-3764-0 hardback 90 [poundssterling]; 978-90-481-3765-7 e-book; DOI (Digital Object Identifier) A method of applying a persistent name to documents, publications and other resources on the Internet rather than using a URL, which can change over time. : 10.1007/978-90-481-3765-7. The controlled use of fire was one of the great accomplishments ofour remote ancestors. Among its many consequences were warmth, defenceagainst predators at night, a focus for group activity ('hearth andhome'), all the dietary and social consequences of cooking and,quite probably, the ability to survive winters in ice-age Europe andAsia. For these reasons, considerable attention has been paid toestablishing when fire became a routine part of early human society.This volume makes a fundamental contribution to answering this question. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Israel (often abbreviated to GBY GBY God Bless YouGBY GonadoblastomaGBY Graham Ballett-Young (photographer, gamer, designer)) isone of the Early Palaeolithic 'flagship' sites of Asia, andmay, besides testimonies for the earliest use of fire, also have theearliest evidence for the hunting of elephants, the processing of plantfoods and the shaping of wood (Goren-Inbar et al. 2000, 2002a). It liesin the northern part of the Dead Sea Rift, along the River Jordan. Thestrata are severely tilted; the stratigraphy stratigraphy,branch of geology specifically concerned with the arrangement of layered rocks (see stratification). Stratigraphy is based on the law of superposition, which states that in a normal sequence of rock layers the youngest is on top and the oldest on the is very complex, and theexcavation and subsequent analysis have required much patience andskill. Because the site is waterlogged, preservation of organic plantmaterial was often excellent, as shown in the first volume on this site(Goren-Inbar et al. 2002b). The site contains 34m of lacustrine la��cus��trine?adj.1. Of or relating to lakes.2. Living or growing in or along the edges of lakes.[French or Italian lacustre (from Latin lacus, lake) + orlake-margin deposits, capped by some fluvial flu��vi��al?adj.1. Of, relating to, or inhabiting a river or stream.2. Produced by the action of a river or stream.[Middle English, from Latin ones. Palaeomagneticanalyses show that the Brunhes-Matuyama boundary lies 4m below one ofthe main archaeological horizons, which is thus dated to slightly after0.78 million years ago: the total length of occupation was c. 100 000years (MIS 19). As argued in great detail in this volume, GBY may have the earliestevidence for the controlled use of fire. The evidence is exceedinglyephemeral, as there were no obvious burnt areas, hearths or deposits ofash and burnt material; instead, the evidence consists of'invisible hearths'--i.e. concentrations of burntmicro-artefacts (pieces 2-20mm long) and burnt plant material. Here, theauthors independently developed the same methodology as has been appliedto late glacial and Mesolithic European sites (Sergant et al. 2006) bymeticulously documenting clusters of burnt micro-artefacts and smallfragments of burnt plant material (mostly wood, but some fruits andseeds). These were found in all excavated archaeological levels buttheir location varied, so different parts of the site were used atdifferent times. These clusters, the authors convincingly argue,resulted from hominin activity. Stratigraphic stra��tig��ra��phy?n.The study of rock strata, especially the distribution, deposition, and age of sedimentary rocks.strat evidence argues againstpeat fires and volcanic activity as causes. Lightning strikes are themost likely natural agent but ate unlikely to have caused naturalconflagrations. Hominins are thus considered the most likely agent:because, first, the incidence of burnt material is far lower than mightbe expected from lightning strikes; and second, its distributionclustered repeatedly. Does, however, the fact that hominins may haveused fire (from, for example, a nearby lightning strike) mean that theycould make it on a regular basis? I was initially sceptical but nowthink it does, because the evidence for its use is so repetitivethroughout the total 100 000-year long span of occupation. This volume has three important implications. First, the handaxesand cleavers at GBY are like those found in Africa, and may indicate aninflux of immigrants from Africa c. 800 000 years ago. As the authorssuggest, these immigrants might also have brought the ability to makefire--if so, similar but earlier evidence should be found in Africa.Secondly, Europe was first colonised by at least a million years ago,yet its earliest reliable evidence for fire is only some 400 000 yearsold: as Paola Villa argues in her foreword, the absence of evidence forfire in Europe before this date needs revisiting, and this volume showshow this might be done. The third and perhaps most important aspect ofthis volume is that it presents a clear methodology for how ephemeraltraces of 'invisible hearths' can be detected in EarlyPalaeolithic sites: it opens a window on our remote past, and shows howsimilar and perhaps even older evidence might be obtained. The volume isimpeccably produced, and presents an overview of past work (chapter 1),a clear outline of the research methodology (chapter 2), a wealth of rawdata from 16 levels (with abundant photographs) in chapter 3, and acomprehensive overview in chapter 4. Although a very specialised (andexpensive) volume, no serious researcher of the Early Palaeolithicshould ignore it- this volume is arguably the most important taphonomicinvestigation of an Early Palaeolithic site from the last 20 years. References GOREN-INBAR, N., C.S. FEIBEL, K.L. VERSOUB, Y. MELAMED, M.E.KISLEV, E. TCHERNOV & I. SARAGUSTI. 2000. Pleistocene milestones onthe Out-of-Africa corridor at Gesher Ya'aqov, Israel. Science 289:944-7. GOREN-INBAR, N., G. SHARON, Y. MELAMED & M. KISLEV. 2002a.Nuts, nut-cracking, and pitted stones at Gesher Benot Y'aqov,Israel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 99(4):2455-60. GOREN-INBAR, N., E WERKER & C.S. FEIBEL. 2002b. The Acheuleansite of Gesher Benot Y'aqov, Israel. 1: the wood assemblage.Oxford: Oxbow. SERGANT, J., P. CROMBE & Y. PERDAEN. 2006. The 'invisiblehearths': a contribution to the discernment of Mesolithicnon-structured surface hearths. Journal of Archaeological Science 24:439-46. ROBIN DENNELL Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield is a research university, located in Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. ReputationSheffield was the Sunday Times University of the Year in 2001 and has consistently appeared as their top 20 institutions. , UK (Email: r.dennell@sheffield.ac.uk)