In this study, we discuss learning aspects related to the production of prehistoric stone tools and their use as a holistic process, with a case study from the late Lower Paleolithic Levant—recycled items from the site of Qesem Cave (420–200,000 bp), Israel. Qesem Cave is a central and well-studied Acheuleo-Yabrudian site. Among the set of distinct behaviors documented in this site, the use of small flakes systematically produced from old-discarded flakes (i.e., lithic recycling) stands out. We will present an exploratory techno-functional study of the recycled items from the Amudian context of the southern area of the cave. Previous observations highlighted some unique features characterizing the lithic assemblages of this area, including the possibility that inexperienced knappers in the process of learning had been practicing there. The results of new functional and residue analyses of lithic recycling products in the same area indicate the prevalence of cutting activities performed on soft and soft-medium animal and vegetal resources by recycled items. On this group of tools, microwear diverged from traces recorded from the study of the same categories of implements in other parts of the cave. We discuss the possibility that in the southern area, activities involving inexperienced individuals practicing both the knapping of recycled items and their use were carried out, in the framework of the learning process. The techno-functional approach presented here may serve as an additional means of identifying less skilled individuals, as well as learning and knowledge transmission processes in the prehistoric lithic record.

在这项研究中，我们讨论了与史前石器生产相关的学习方面及其作为一个整体过程的使用，并以旧石器时代晚期黎凡特晚期的案例研究为案例——来自 Qesem Cave（420–200,000 bp）遗址的回收物品，以色列。Qesem Cave 是一个中心且经过充分研究的 Acheuleo-Yabrudian 遗址。在本网站记录的一组不同行为中，使用由旧丢弃的薄片系统地生产的小薄片（即., 石器回收）脱颖而出。我们将对洞穴南部地区阿姆迪亚语境中的回收物品进行探索性技术功能研究。先前的观察突出了该地区岩石组合的一些独特特征，包括可能是在学习过程中缺乏经验的砍伐者曾在那里练习过。同一地区岩屑回收产品的新功能和残留物分析结果表明，回收物品对软质和软质介质动植物资源进行的切割活动普遍存在。在这组工具上，微磨损与洞穴其他部分同类工具研究记录的痕迹不同。我们讨论了在南部地区的可能性，在学习过程的框架内开展了一些活动，让没有经验的人练习回收物品的敲击和使用。这里介绍的技术功能方法可以作为识别技能较低的个人以及史前石器记录中的学习和知识传播过程的附加手段。