This volume combines the most up-to-date discoveries and perspectives of Near Eastern Neolithic lithics by leading international archaeologists. It presents the proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Chipped and Ground Stone Industries of the Near East, hosted at the University of Tokyo, Japan in 2019 (PPN9-Tokyo).   The book places emphasis on regional perspectives to evaluate the Near Eastern Neolithic. Current research indicates that the earliest farming societies of the Near East developed in interaction with neighbouring hunter-gatherer societies, that either coexisted with them for long periods or soon assimilated to the Near Eastern farmers. Understanding these contrasting processes sheds new light on identifying the Neolithisation practices of the 'core' regions in the Near East itself. The 39 papers in this volume include contributions on the Iranian Zagros, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, a region whose Neolithic archaeological records are far less well understood but which enrich our understanding of the first farming societies of the Near East.

Table of Contents:
PREFACE Y. NISHIAKI, O. MAEDA & M. ARIMURA   PART 1: NEW DISCOVERIES IN THE LEVANT   THE PRODUCTION AND USE OF DISTINCTIVE LITHIC OBJECTS   Drilling Tools at the End of the Natufian: Suggesting a Technological Innovation T. YASHUV & L. GROSMAN   Arrows and Archery during the PPNB: An Experimental Approach: Points Production and Use F. ABBÈS & F. PICHON   Weapons or Hunting Tools? Evaluating the Role of Big Arrowheads of the Neolithic Levant O. BARZILAI & H. MAY   3D Morpho-Metric Analysis of PPNB Arrowheads from MOTZA: Preliminary Results H. KHALAILY, K. VARDI, A. KARASIK & O. BARZILAI   Production and Use of Nahal Hemar Knives in the Southern Levant during the PPNB: New Evidence from Kharaysin (Jordan) F. BORRELL, J.J. IBÁÑEZ, J. MUÑIZ, I. CLEMENTE CONTE & L. TEIRA   The Baʻja Daggers: Type, Technology and Commodification of a LPPNB Burial Object H.G.K. GEBEL, C. PURSCHWITZ, D. ŠTEFANISKO & M. BENZ   Recycling of PPNB Artefacts in the Yarmukian Site of Tel Izhaki, Jezreel Valley, Israel: Some Chronological and Regional Implications A. YAROSHEVICH, E.C.M. van den BRINK, R. CHASAN, D. ROSENBERG, A. BIELER, L. PERRY-GAL, E. BOARETTO & N. GREENBAUM   Innovation, Adaptation or Just a Development? Alternative Uses of Obsidian the Early Neolithic of the Near East E. HEALEY and S. CAMPBELL   Typology, Material and Cultural Role of Stone Bracelets (Bangles) from the Neolithic Megasite of Motza: Preliminary Report I. MILEVSKI, J. VARDI & H. KHALAILY   Flaking or Grinding? Habits of Stone Tool Production in Prehistoric Cyprus A. MCCARTHY   The Processing of Construction Stones at the Neolithic Site of Mishmar Ha‘emeq, Israel G. HAKLAY, N. GETZOV & O. BARZILAI   LITHIC ASSEMBLAGES AND KNAPPING TECHNOLOGIES   Refitting Lithics from Ais Giorkis, Cyprus: A Preliminary Analysis of Bidirectional Blade Technology C. MCCARTNEY   Preliminary Analysis of the Lithic Assemblages of Nahal Yarmuth 38: A New PPNB Site in Central Israel D. ACKERFELD, A. EIRIKH-ROSE, H. ASHKENAZI, K. ZUTOVSKI & A. GOPHER   Intra-Site Variability in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Site of Yiftahel: Lithic Techno-Typological Analysis A. LEVY, N GETZOV, H. KHALAILY, I. MILEVSKI & O. MARDER   Skill, Learning and Knowledge Transfer in Lithic Production as Seen from LPPNB/FPPNB Baʻja, Southern Levant C. PURSCHWITZ   Motza: A Village of the Final Phase of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Preliminary Observations J. VARDI, D. YEGOROV, A. LEVY, A. SHATIL, N. MITKI & H. KHALAILY   Heat Treatment of Flint in the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Site of Motza (Judean Hills, Israel) D. YEGOROV, H. KHALAILY & S.A. ROSEN   Tracing the Neolithic Occupation of ‘En Esur (Israel) and the Question of the Archaeological Visibility of the Neolithic in the Archeological Record: The Lithic Perspective L. BRAILOVSKY-ROKSER, D. SHALEM & M. BIRKENFELD   PART 2: VIEWS FROM NEIGHBORING REGIONS   LITHICS FROM ARID LANDS   Hunting in the Dunes: Evidence for Late Natufian Hunting Practices in the Northwestern Negev Site of Ashalim L. EDELTIN, J. VARDI & O. MARDER   Chipped Stone Tool Production Strategies at Nahal Efe (northern Negev) during the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B F. BORRELL & J. VARDI   The Ghassanian Techno-Complex: Late/Final PPNB Lithic Assemblages from Desert Kite-Associated Occupation Sites in Jibal al-Khashabiyeh, South-Eastern Jordan R. CRASSARD, J.A. SÁNCHEZ PRIEGO, F. PICHON, W. ABU-AZIZEH & M. TARAWNEH   Harrat Juhayra 202 and the Jordanian Badia Early PPNB: Fresh Perspective on the PPNA/PPNB Transition in the Southern Levant S. FUJII   Go West: New Discoveries Concerning the PPNB in the Eastern Desert of Egypt between the Sinai and the Nile Valley F. BRIOIS, B. MIDANT-REYNES & Y. TRISTANT   The Local Development and Levantine Influence Seen in the Stone Tools of the Fayum Neolithic in Egypt N. SHIRAI   NEW PERSPECTIVES FROM ANATOLIA   A Prehistoric Survey in Cappadocia and a New Early Holocene Site, Balıklı: Preliminary Insights into the Local Chipped Stone Industries N. KAYACAN, A.N. GORING-MORRIS, G. DURU & M. ÖZBAŞARAN   Sırçalıtepe: A New Aceramic Neolithic Site in Volcanic Cappadocia (Central Anatolia) S. BALCI & Ç. ALTINBILEK-ALGÜL & D. MOURALIS   Chipped Stone at the Late Neolithic TPC Area, Çatalhöyük: On-Site and Beyond H.C. SCHECHTER   Tepecik Çiftlik (Turkey) and the Exploitation of Cappadocian Obsidian during the 7th Millennium D. GUILBEAU   The Lithic Assemblages of Gusir Höyük: A Pre-Pottery Neolithic Site on the Upper Tigris Basin (Southeast Anatolia) Ç. ALTINBILEK-ALGÜL, S. BALCI, D. MOURALIS & O. D. ASLANER   Change and Continuity in the Lithic Industry of Hasankeyf Höyük, a late 10th millennium cal. BC Site on the Upper Tigris O. MAEDA, T. CARTER & R. MOIR   “[…] but it is not clear at all where all the […] debris had been taken from […]” Chipped Stone Artefacts, Architecture and Site Formation Processes at Göbekli Tepe J. BREUERS and KINZEL   LITHICS FROM FURTHER EAST   Exploring the Changes in Lithic Industries during the Neolithisation in Armenia (7th–6th millennium BCE): A Comparison of Chipped Stone Tools from Lernagog-1 and Masis Blur M. ARIMURA, K. MARTIROSYAN-OLSHANSKY, A. PETROSYAN & B. GASPARYAN   Neolithic Chipped Stone Industry of Mentesh Tepe (Middle Kura Valley, Azerbaijan): Technological Markers and Relations to North-Eastern Anatolia L. ASTRUC, D. GUILBEAU, B. GRATUZE, C. CHATAIGNER, O. BARGE, B. LYONNET & F. GULIYEV   Discard Patterns of Chipped and Ground Stone Refuse at Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe in the Southern Caucasus: Implications for the Residential Mobility and the Neolithization Process S. KADOWAKI, F. GULIYEV & Y. NISHIAKI   Neolithic Sickles of the South Caucasus and North Mesopotamia (early 6th millennium BC) Y. NISHIAKI   A Brand New Thing: Bladelet Production Techniques and Methods in Caspian Mesolithic and Neolithic Chipped Stone Industries M. JAYEZ & H.V. NASAB   Towards Understanding the Early Neolithic in the Zagros Mountains: Results of New Investigations of the Austro-Iranian Team in Ilam Province, Iran B. MILIĆ, B. HOREJS & L. NIAKAN   Returning to Hunting and Re-microlithisation during the Mushki Phase in Fars, Southwest Iran M. ABE, S. ARAI & M. KHANIPOUR   The Symbolic Meaning of the Neolithic Manuports: The Examples from Nemrik 9, Northern Iraq, and Ayakagytma ‘The Site’, Uzbekistan K. SZYMCZAK