Chalcolithic - Early Bronze Age I Transition in the Southern Levant: The Lithic Perspective

This paper examines the differences between the flint tool assemblages of the Ghassulian, the major cultural entity of the Chalcolithic period, and those of the first phases of the Early Bronze Age. Recently it has been claimed that the Canaanean blades, an Early Bronze Age I tool-type, appeared already in the Ghassulian. It is our view that this is not the case and that there are ample differences between the lithic tools assemblages of both periods. These differences reflect profound changes between the Chalcolithic period and the Early Bronze Age.