The study of Natufian bedrock features and boulder mortars received little scholarly attention and has been largely overlooked for nearly 90 years since Dorothy Garrod first defined this intriguing South Levantine culture (Garrod 1932, 1957; Garrod and Bate 1937). The fact that they have beenmentioned only briefly by most scholars, and that their social context is hardly discussed, is striking, as these are directly linked to technological developments in food processing and to the transition to large-scale food production and sedentism in the Southern Levant. As a result, integrative and data-based studies that combine various sets of archaeological records, which could enable a thorough characterization and evaluation of the nature and scope of the phenomenon, were lacking until recently. Building on these lacunae, we initiated a project targeting such Natufian (and Neolithic) stone objects. For over a decade we conducted integrative multidisciplinary research, and in a series of recent papers and a thematic journal volume, we tackled various issues and aspects relevant to the characteristics, distribution, and functions of Natufian bedrock features and boulder mortars (e.g., Filin et al. 2017; Miller et al. 2014; Nadel and Lengyel 2009; Nadel and Rosenberg 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016a, 2016b; Nadel, Rosenberg, and Yeshurun 2009; Nadel et al. 2015; Rosenberg and Nadel 2011a, 2011b, 2014, 2017a, 2017b). One of the main outcomes of our study is the demonstration of the widemorphometric variability of the Natufian bedrock features and bouldermortars, suggesting functional variability andmost probably also functional flexibility and complex life histories of many of the studied specimens. In Eitam’s critique of our paper “The Sounds of Pounding: Boulder Mortars and Their Significance to Natufian Burial Customs” (Rosenberg and Nadel 2014), he argues that various narrow conical mortars (NCMs) were used by the Natufians as “exceptionally efficient ‘bread machines’ for peeling and milling wild barley grains into fine flour for bread making” (see also Eitam 2019; Eitam et al. 2015). However, he also erroneously

中文翻译：

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Natufian 石臼的功能和背景

自从多萝西·加罗德首次定义这种有趣的南黎凡特文化（Garrod 1932、1957；Garrod 和 Bate 1937）以来，对纳图夫基岩特征和巨石砂浆的研究很少受到学术关注，并且在近 90 年中一直被忽视。大多数学者只简要提及它们，而且几乎没有讨论它们的社会背景，这一事实令人震惊，因为它们与食品加工的技术发展以及南方向大规模食品生产和定居的过渡直接相关。黎凡特。因此，直到最近才缺乏结合各种考古记录的综合性和基于数据的研究，这些研究可以对这一现象的性质和范围进行彻底的表征和评估。基于这些缺陷，我们发起了一个针对此类 Natufian（和新石器时代）石器的项目。十多年来，我们进行了多学科综合研究，在最近的一系列论文和专题期刊卷中，我们解决了与 Natufian 基岩特征和巨石砂浆的特征、分布和功能相关的各种问题和方面（例如，Filin 等al. 2017; Miller et al. 2014; Nadel and Lengyel 2009; Nadel and Rosenberg 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016a, 2016b; Nadel, Rosenberg, and Yeshurun 2009; Nadel et al., 20111a, 2011b , 2017a, 2017b)。我们研究的主要成果之一是展示了纳图夫基岩特征和巨石砂浆的宽形态测量变异性，表明许多研究标本的功能可变性，最有可能还有功能灵活性和复杂的生活史。在 Eitam 对我们的论文“敲击声：巨石迫击炮及其对纳图夫墓葬习俗的意义”（Rosenberg 和 Nadel 2014 年）的批评中，他认为纳图夫人使用各种窄锥形迫击炮 (NCM) 作为“非常有效的面包”用于将野生大麦粒去皮和研磨成用于制作面包的细面粉的机器”（另见 Eitam 2019；Eitam 等人 2015）。然而，他也错误地 他认为 Natufians 使用各种窄锥形研钵 (NCM) 作为“非常高效的‘面包机’，用于将野生大麦粒剥皮和研磨成用于制作面包的细粉”（另见 Eitam 2019；Eitam 等人 2015）。然而，他也错误地 他认为 Natufians 使用各种窄锥形研钵 (NCM) 作为“非常高效的‘面包机’，用于将野生大麦粒剥皮和研磨成用于制作面包的细粉”（另见 Eitam 2019；Eitam 等人 2015）。然而，他也错误地