New perspectives on lithic technology and subsistence strategies at the middle palaeolithic site of Ras el-Kelb, Lebanon

The Middle Palaeolithic of the Central Levant remains a topic of ongoing debates concerning cultural variability, technological traditions, and hominin occupations. One crucial site that adds to the discussion is Ras el-Kelb, a geographically strategic site located between the Lebanese coastal cliffs and the historic Nahr el-Kelb valley. While the site was excavated in the 1950s by Dorothy Garrod and Germaine Henri-Martin, it remains understudied in terms of modern archaeological methodologies and technologies. For this reason, we revisit some lithic artefacts from the site’s original collection, which had been transported to University College London, to build upon previous studies and relate its findings to recent advancements in the field. Our main objective is to explore technological and cultural variability, within environmental and geographical frameworks. We focus on the use of the natural landscape, specifically through the exploitation of raw material and animal resources. To achieve this, we use qualitative and quantitative methods to study the lithics, alongside low-power and high-power approaches for use-wear analyses. Our results indicate that the tools were used mainly for diverse cutting and scraping tasks, suggesting the site’s domestic character. In addition, the faunal remains previously studied from the site provide contextual information on the animal species hunted and the environmental setting of these activities, offering complementary insights into subsistence strategies. The understanding of Ras el-Kelb’s significance within the Middle Palaeolithic landscape is enhanced by contextualising our findings within a broader geographic and chronological framework.