Shift in the Bladelet Production Process from Epipalaeolithic to Neolithic in the Izeh Plain of Kuzistan, Iran

The Organization of stone tool production is one of the most important aspects of lithic assemblage studies. Reduction process indicates how lithic material was prepared and transported through reductive phases which can be reconstructed according to remaining material from each phase. Such studies are important in explaining the differences between lithic assemblages from the same period and in a region and their variability in various periods. Sequential models have distinct characteristics which distinguishes them from other archaeological structures. The concept has been proposed by American archaeologist as “reduction sequence” and by French archaeologists as “Chaine Operatoire”, which are almost the same. In this article reduction sequence is studied in Epipalaeolithic and early Neolithic of Izeh Plain, in North West of Kuzistan, Iran. Determining factors in Organization of chipped stone production, including recourse availability, settlement patterns and production trajectory are studied in lithic assemblages of Izeh sites. The only extant PPN Neolithic site, Tepe Imamzadeh Mahmud shows that there has occurred a major change in the production trajectory of bladelets from Epipalaeolithic to Neolithic and at least the location of different reduction junctures which were not exactly separated from each other in previous Epipalaeolithc period, has got relatively separated in the form of a work-camp of bladelet production workshop in PPN Neolithic.