Abstract Since its discovery in the 1980s, Nahal Hemar Cave has been interpreted as a cult site where ceremonies were performed, as indicated by the extremely selected and highly symbolic repertoire of objects found in the cave (e.g., stone masks, modelled skulls, bone figurines, etc.). The finds, dated to the 8th millennium cal. BC and assigned to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period, also consisted of other artefacts often found in contemporaneous sites, such as flint tools or stone beads. In this paper, the status and use of the unique lithic assemblage found in the cave is assessed through a comprehensive approach integrating techno-typological and use-wear analyses and, secondly, contextualized within current lithic research and in the broader context of the Middle/Late PPNB in the southern Levant. The study resolves some of the major questions concerning the production, use and meaning of the flint tools, also bringing some light to the ritual, spiritual or unconventional activities associated with the use of the cave. It concludes that the flint assemblage found in the cave was the result of a series of episodes of deposition of objects over a relatively lengthy period of time, that a varied group of social agents was involved in the production of the said tools and, finally, that the tool producers, and likely, the cave users, were farmers from the agricultural villages in the Mediterranean woodland region. In addition, use-wear analysis indicates that the flint tools found at the cave had a previous history of use before being abandoned/deposited in the cave and some of them may have participated in the ritual activities. Finally, we propose that, in the particular case of the Nahal Hemar knives, they could be related to the processing/dismembering of human bodies, a hypothesis further supported by the remains of 23 individuals (mostly cranial) found in the cave.

中文翻译：

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邪教用具还是日常用品？评估 Nahal Hemar 洞穴（PPNB 中部，朱迪亚沙漠）的燧石文物的现状和使用

摘要 自从 1980 年代被发现以来，Nahal Hemar 洞穴一直被解释为举行仪式的邪教场所，洞穴中发现的物品（例如，石面具、模型头骨、骨雕像）的精选和高度象征性的曲目表明了这一点。 ， 等等。）。这些发现可追溯到公元 8 世纪。BC 并分配给前陶器新石器时代 B (PPNB) 时期，还包括经常在同期遗址中发现的其他手工艺品，例如燧石工具或石珠。在本文中，通过整合技术类型学和使用磨损分析的综合方法评估了洞穴中发现的独特岩屑组合的状态和使用，其次，在当前岩屑研究和更广泛的中/黎凡特南部的 PPNB 晚期。该研究解决了有关燧石工具的生产、使用和意义的一些主要问题，也为与使用洞穴相关的仪式、精神或非常规活动带来了一些启示。它的结论是，在洞穴中发现的燧石组合是在相对较长的时间内一系列物体沉积事件的结果，各种各样的社会代理人参与了上述工具的生产，最后，工具生产者，也可能是洞穴使用者，是来自地中海林地地区农业村庄的农民。此外，使用磨损分析表明，在洞穴中发现的燧石工具在被遗弃/存放在洞穴中之前有使用过的历史，其中一些可能参与了仪式活动。最后，