A Technological and Typological Analysis of the Lithic Assemblage from Velem, Hezarjarib, Behshahr, Mazandaran

The large assemblage of lithic artifacts deriving from the first season of excavations at Velem in 2021 wassubjected to counting by the NAS approach. Typologically, the assemblage split into retouched tools, various typesof scrapers (both side- and end-), hand axes, and a Levallois-type arrowhead. The recovered tools tended to beshaped on blades. Among the debitages, flakes proved to be the most recurrent. The meager attestations of corescompared to debitages and the lack of flakes with cortex raised the possibility that part of the core preparationprocess took place outside the site. With regard to technology, flakes were mostly separated from the core throughdirect percussion, while indirect percussion or soft hammer direct percussion was used to fashion the blades andbladelets. The entire assemblage was made of chert, of which Behshahr ranks among the leading sources in Iran.While its mysterious, disturbed and intermingled archaeological context excluded a precise chronology, a tentativedate between the late Neolithic and the Chalcolithic period was offered for the lithic assemblage from Velem inlight of the attested technology and typology.