1The study of the economy of lithic production and use has always been an important theme in the study of human subsistence strategy and lifeways. For a long time in the history of humans, lithics were the only tool to modify subsistence strategies, and for the prehistoric archaeologists they are the most important and sometimes the only clue to decoding past human lifeways. In line with this issue, this book systematically analyses raw material economy within and between prehistoric settlements in Southwestern Asia specifically in the Greater Petra region. By analysis of the lithic raw material economy in the study region, this book shows sociocultural changes during the Neolithisation process in the Fertile Crescent.

2Purschwitz’s book is a comprehensive work on the different aspects of lithic production and use in one of the important regions in Southwestern Asia. For this study, he selected five Early Neolithic sites (Ail 4, Ba’ja, Basta, Beidha, Shkarat Msaied) dated to the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (EPPNB, ca. 8,600-8,300/8,200-7,500 BC) and Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (LPPNB, ca. 7,500-6,900 BC). The sites altogether yielded more than 15,990 lithic artefacts which were analysed based on raw material classification and comprehensive techno-typological analysis.

3Despite being in German language, which might have limited the number of readers, its approach and the large comprehensive lithic catalogue provide an important reference for the researchers who are working in this subject and this region.

4Generally, the book follows two main research subjects:

5The book consists of ten chapters. It starts with describing the geographical situation and chronological and cultural-historical framework of Early Neolithic in Southern Levant.

6In chapter 2, important analytical concepts for the study of lithic artefacts and the reconstruction of the lithic economy are presented. The following chapter 3 describes the research design and methodology of the study. The raw material analysis consists of one of the most important parts of the book. The author used both chaîne opératoire and attribute analysis. Site catchment analysis using least-cost-model (minimising efforts for transport, time, distance) has been applied for each studied site showing sociocultural changes during Early Neolithic period.

7Chapter 4 is devoted to the geological framework of the Southern Levant and the Greater Petra region and describes the raw material resource areas and potentially flint-bearing formations. During the five-week survey in 2012 the available raw material sources have been recognised. Based on these sources, the author was able to trace their usage during Early Neolithic. The result was a regional geological map which, in addition to the main lithology, provides information on the availability and density of potential flint deposits. This geological map forms an important basis for the raw material studies carried out in chapters 5-9. These chapters present the distribution of raw material resources on the Greater Petra region, the geological context of the main raw material groups used in the studied sites and to know which raw material groups used at the sites are local and which have been imported. The extensive description of the raw material classification is especially of importance for the researchers who work in this region and focus on this period. The raw material study was conducted on the basis of the Early Neolithic settlements of Ail 4 (chap. 5), Shkarat Msaeid (chap. 6), Beidha (chap. 7), Basta (chap. 8) and Ba’ja (chap. 9) and thus cover the periods of the early (Ail 4), the middle (Shkarat Msaeid, Beidha), the late (Beidha, Basta), until the final phase of Pre-Pottery Neolithic (Ba’ja). The analysis of the lithic artefacts from these localities encompasses the early stage of raw material procurement, lithic artefacts production and use, as well as regional exchange networks.

8In the following chapter 10, the results of these analyses are considered in their temporal depth and placed in a chronological context. Comparisons with the findings from other localities in the Southern Levant have been conducted. The final chapter tries to answer the questions: Which raw materials were specifically used among the lithics of these sites? Which parameters have influenced the use of specific raw materials (here, the author searched for the parameters that could influence the use of a special kind of raw material in a site such as water resources, the natural geographical ways from the site to access the raw material resources)? How could the raw material resources influence the settlements and mobility of the inhabitants of the five studied sites? What is the role of the local raw materials and the transported ones in techno-typology of each assemblage? How was the degree of use of each raw material group? How are the diachronic changes in the raw material use pattern?

9The author tries to explain the organisation of lithic production through depicting which raw material was specialised for the special lithic production. Tracing diachronic changes in the organisation of lithic techno-typology was also investigated in this study which is resulted in the recognition of the differences between different households among the studied sites. As the final goal of this study, the author tries to reconstruct the network and exchange between the inhabitants of the studied sites based on the lithic artefacts and showing how these networks changed through time and their interregional and intraregional influences.

10A 187-page catalogue is prepared at the end of the book and consists of two parts of coloured photographs and illustration of the lithic artefacts. The catalogue is arranged according to the site and place of discovery of the artefact, whereby each artefact is marked with a small letter (a to l). Within these, the artefacts can also be found by technological group. The coloured part is especially useful in terms of the raw material differentiation based on source and texture. These images provide an excellent visual impression of each raw material group.

11Purschwitz’s book is highly comprehensive and detailed in its scope. Concentrating on the important topics of lithic techno-typology, raw material studies and site catchment analysis, the author attempts to draw a narrative in which these topics resulted in the reconstruction of raw material economy during Neolithisation processes. These are the points that make the book interesting reading.