Hafting During Mousterian Times - Further Indication

A 54,000 years old Mousterian flint scraper with an unusual patina pattern on both faces was found at Quneitra, Golan Heights, Israel. We suggest that this pattern may have resulted from hafting procedures. It is assumed that after burial, the organic material of the haft deteriorated through time, leaving the original stone color and a unique patina pattern on the non-hafted areas. In order to test that the patina pattern resulted from hafting, and could develop over a very short time, three flint artifacts were struck off from black Eocene nodules, were hafted and exposed to atmosphere for six months. On all exposed faces of these items, a grayish/white patina was developed, whereas the hafted parts retain their original dark color. This patina pattern on the experimental pieces, was also encountered on the Mousterian scraper. The rapid development of the grayish/white patina, is most probably a result of microbial activity of chemotrophic/phototrophic lithobiants. The flint artifact acts as a massive substrate for the microcolonial bacteria growth, exploiting clay minerals, quartz, calcite, iron-oxides (air-born dust) and water for their living, causing the formation of the patina on the exposed area. The patina and the non-patinated areas on a flint implement, can serve as an indicator of hafting. Thus, the described scraper implies that the hafted artifacts were already part of the lithic assemblage of the Mousterian community, camped along the shore of the Late Pleistocene Quneitra lake.