CV
Senior Lecturer in Archaeology
Education
BA - Tel Aviv University, 1995
MA - Tel Aviv University, 1997
Master Thesis: "The Flint Assemblage from Nahal Zehora I, A Wadi Raba Site in the Menashe Hills: The Implications of a Technological and Typological Analysis".
Ph.D. - Tel Aviv University, 2001
Ph.D. Dissertation: "Flint and Stone Axes as Cultural Markers: Socio-Economic Changes as Reflected in Holocene Flint Tool Industries of the Southern Levant".
Current Projects
- • Qesem Cave: An Amudian site Near Tel-Aviv
- • Paleolithic landscape of extraction: flint surface quarries and workshops at Mt. Pua, Israel
- • The Kebaran site of Nahal Hadera V
- • Neolithic flint extraction at Ramat Tamar, Arava, Israel
Around the World in the Middle Pliestocene - Students' Presentations
BA Seminar in Prehistoric Archaeology 2006-7
Dr. Ran Barkai
Varia
Levi, B. and Barkai, R. The Paleolithic origins of the Grandmaother Hypothesis. Galileo. June 2009 Pp. 18-28. (In Hebrew).
Publications
Book
Barkai, R. Flint and Stone Axes as Cultural Markers: Socio-Economic Changes as Reflected in Holocene Flint Tool Industries of the Southern Levant. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment. Volume 11. Berlin, ex oriente. 2005.
Refereed Articles
Barkai, R., Burian, F., Friedman, E. and Gopher, A. 1994-5. 18X - An Epi-Paleolithic Collection from the Nahal Poleg Area. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 26: 63-74.
Bunimovitz, S. and Barkai, R. 1996. Ancient Bones and Modern Myths: Ninth Millennium Hippopotamus hunters at Akrotiri Aetokremnos? Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 9/1: 85-96.
Barkai, R. and Gopher, A. 1997. Transversal Burins from Nahal Zehora I, A Pottery Neolithic Site in Central Israel. Neo - Lithics 1/97: 20-23.
Gopher, A. and Barkai, R. 1997. Here Are the Microliths: A Reply to "Where Are the Microliths". Neo - Lithics 1/97: 16-18.
Barkai, R. 1998. Resharpening and Recycling of Flint Bifacial Tools from the Southern Levant Neolithic and Chalcolithic. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 65: 303-318.
Barkai, R. 1998. Sha'ar Ephraim South: A Late Natufian Campsite. Tel Aviv 25/1: 94-103.
Barkai, R. and Gopher, A. 1998. Reintroducing Butt Scrapers (Racloirs Sur Talon): Another Look at a Non-formal Tool Type. Lithic Technology 23/1: 20-26.
Gopher, A., Barkai, R. and Marder, O. 1998. Cultural Contacts in the Neolithic period: Anatolian Obsidians in the Southern Levant. In: Préhistoire d'Anatolie, Genèse de deux mondes, Liège, ERAUL 85: 641-650.
Barkai, R. and Gopher, A. 1999. The Last Neolithic Flint Industry: A Study of the Technology, Typology and Social Implications of the Lithic Assemblage from Nahal Zehora I, a Wadi Raba (Pottery Neolithic) Site in the Menashe Hills, Israel. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 29: 41-122.
Shimelmitz, R., Barkai, R. and Gopher, A. 2000. Canaanean Blade Workshop at Har Haruvim, Israel. Tel Aviv 27: 3-22.
Shimelmitz, R., Barkai, R. and Gopher, A. 2001. An Epipaleolithic Occurrence at the Site of 'Ain Miri, Northern Israel. Neo-Lithics 1/01: 4-5.
Barkai, R. 2002. Towards a Methodology of Neolithic and Chalcolithic Bifacial Tool Analysis. Neo-Lithics 1/02: 3-8.
Barkai, R., Gopher, A. and La Porta, P.C. 2002. Paleolithic Landscape of Extraction: Flint Surface Quarries and Workshops at Mt. Pua, Israel. Antiquity 76: 672-680.
Barkai, R. and Galili, E. 2003. The PPNC Bifacial Tool Industry from the Submerged Site of Atlit-Yam, Israel. Eurasian Prehistory 1/2: 139-162.
Barkai, R., Gopher, A., Lauritzen, S.E. and Frumkin, A. 2003. Uranium Series Dates from Qesem Cave, Israel, and the End of the Lower Palaeolithic. Nature 423: 977-979.
Godfrey-Smith, D.I., Vaughan, K.B., Gopher, A. and Barkai, R. 2003. Direct Luminescence Chronology of the Epipaleolithic Kebaran Site of Nahal Hadera V, Israel. Geoarchaeology 18: 461-475.
Yerkes, R.W., Barkai, R., Gopher, A. and Bar-Yosef, O. 2003. Microwear Analysis of Early Neolithic (PPNA) Axes and Bifacial Tools from Netiv Hagdud in the Jordan Valley, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Science 30: 1051-1066.
Shimelmitz, R., Barkai, R. and Gopher, A. 2004. The Geometric Kebaran Microlithic Assemblage from Ain Miri, Northern Israel. Paléorient 30/2: 127-140.
Verri, G., Barkai, R., Bordeanu, C., Gopher, A., Hass, M., Kaufman, A., Kubik, P., Montanari, E., Paul, M., Ronen, A., Weiner, S. and Boaretto, E. 2004. Flint Mining in Prehistory Recorded by in Situ Produced Cosmogenic 10Be. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 101(21): 7880-7884.
Gopher, A., Barkai, R., Shimelmitz, R., Khalaly, M., Lemorini, C., Hershkovitz, I, and Stiner, M. 2005. Qesem Cave: An Amudian Site in Central Israel. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 35: 69-92.
Lemorini, C., Gopher, A., Shimelmitz, R., Stiner, M., and Barkai, R. 2005. Use-wear Analysis of an Amudian Laminar Assemblage from Acheuleo-Yabrudian Qesem Cave, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Science 33: 921-934.
Verri, G., Barkai, R., Gopher, A., Hass, M., Kubik, P., Paul, M., Ronen, A., Weiner, S. and Boaretto, E. 2005. Flint Procurement Strategies in the Late Lower Palaeolithic Recorded by in Situ Produced Cosmogenic 10Be in Tabun and Qesem Caves (Israel). Journal of Archaeological Science 32: 207-213.
Barkai, R. 2006. The Earliest Tree Fellers: On Axes, People and Ideology During the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods in Israel. Jerusalem and the Land of Israel 3: 5-21 (In Hebrew).
Barkai, R., Gopher, A. and La Porta, P.C. 2006. Middle Pleistocene Landscape of Extraction: Quarry and Workshop Complexes in Northern Israel. In: Goren-Inbar, N. and Sharon, G. (eds.). Axe Age: Acheulian Toolmaking - from Quarry to Discard. (Equonox Publishers, Oxford). Pp. 7-44.
Barkai, R., Gopher, A. and Shimelmitz, R. 2006. Middle Pleistocene Blade Production in the Levant: An Amudian Assemblage from Qesem Cave, Israel. Eurasian Prehistory 3(2): 39-74.
Gopher, A. and Barkai, R. 2006. Flint Extraction Sites and Workshops in Prehistoric Galilee, Israel. In: Korlin, G. and Weisgerber, G. (eds.). Stone Age Sites - Der Anschnitt 19, Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau Museum Bochum. Pp. 91-98.
Karkanas, P., Shahack-Gross, R., Ayalon, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Barkai, R., Frumkin, A., Gopher, A. and Stiner, M.C. 2007. Evidence for Habitual Use of Fire at the End of the Lower Paleolithic: Site Formation Processes at Qesem Cave, Israel. Journal of Human Evolution 53: 197-212.
Barkai, R. and Liran, R. 2008. Midsummer Sunset at Neolithic Jericho. Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture 1/3:273–284.
Barkai, R., Lemorini, C., Shimelmitz, R., Lev, Z., Stiner, M. and Gopher, A. 2009. A blade for all seasons? Making and using Amudian blades at Qesem Cave, Israel. Human Evolution 24:57-75.
Buaretto, E., Barlkai,R.,Gopher, A., Berna, F., Kubik, P. and Weiner, S. 2009. Specialized Flint Procurement Strategies for Hand Axes, Scrapers and Blades in the Late Lower Paleolithic: A 10Be Study at Qesem Cave, Israel. Human Evolution 24:1-12.
Frumkin, A., Karkanas, P., Bar-Matthews, M., Barkai, R.,Gopher, A., Schak-Gross, R. and Vaks, A. 2009. Gravitational deformations and fillings of aging caves: the example of Qesem karst system, Israel. Geomorphology 106:154-164.
Stiner, M., Gopher, A. and Barkai, R. 2009. Cooperative hunting and meat sharing 400-200 kya at Qesem Cave, Israel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 106:13207-13212.
Gopehr, A., Ayalon, A., Bar-Matthews, M. Barkai, R., Frumkin, A., Karkanas, P.,and Shahack-Gross, R. 2010. The chronology of the Late Lower Paleolithic in the Levant: U series dates of speleothems from Middle Pleistocene Qesem cave, Israel. Quaternary Geochronology (available online).
Maul, L., Smith, K,. Barkai, R., Barash, A., Karkanas, P., Shahack-Gross, R. and Gopher, A. 2010.Of Men and Mice at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel: small vertebrates, environment and biostratigraphy. Journal of Human Evolution (available online).
Hershkovitz ,I; Smith, P; Sarig, R; Quam, R; Rodríguez, L; García, R; Arsuaga, J-L; Barkai, .R. and Gopher,.A. 2010. Middle Pleistocene dental remains from Qesem Cave, Israel. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
Barkai, R., Lemorini, C., and Gopher,.A. 2010.Palaeolithic cutlery 400 000–200 000 years ago: tiny meat-cutting tools from Qesem Cave, Israel. Antiquity 84 (325).
Stiner, M., Gopher, A. and Barkai, R. In press. Hearth-side socioeconomics, hunting and paleoecology during the late Lower Paleolithic at Qesem Cave, Israel. Journal of Human Evolution.
Liran , R. and Barkai, R. Casting a shadow on Neolithic Jericho. Antiquity 085 (327). 2011.
Gopher, A. and Barkai, R. Sitting on the tailing piles: Creating extraction landscapes in Middle Pleistocene quarry complexes in the Levant. World Archaeology 43:2, 211-229. 2011.
Shimelmitz, R., Gopher,.A. and Barkai, R. Systematic Blade Production at Late Lower Paleolithic (400-200 kyr) Qesem Cave, Israel. Journal of Human Evolution 61: 458-479. 2011.
Ben-Dor, M., Gopher, A., Hershkovitz, I. and Barkai, R. Man the fat hunter: The demise of Homo erectus and the emergence of a new hominin lineage in the Middle Pleistocene (ca. 400 kyr) Levant. PLoS One. 6(12): e28689.
Barkai, R. and Biran, N. Aviel: A new Neolithic site at the foothills of Mt. Carmel, Israel. Neo-Lithics 2/11:9-13. 2011.
Rabinovich, R., Ackermann, O., Aladjem, E., Barkai, R., Biton, R., Milevski, I., Solodenko, N. and Marder, O. Elephants at the Middle Pleistocene Acheulian Open-Air Site of Revadim Quarry, Israel. Qauternary International 226-227:183-197.
Yerkes, R.; Khalaily, H. and Barkai, R. Form and Function of Early Neolithic Bifacial Stone Tools Reflects Changes in Land Use Practices during the Neolithization Process in the Levant. PLoS ONE 7(8): e42442. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042442. 2012.
Chapters in Books
Barkai, R., Gopher, A. and Friedman, E. 1997. Prehistoric Occurrences in Western Samaria: The 1967-8 survey. In: Finkelstein, I. and Lederman, Z. (eds.). Highlands of Many Culture. The Southern Samaria Survey. Monographs of the Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University: 857-881.
Barkai, R. 2001. Make my Axe: Flint Bifacial Tools Production and Resharpening at the EPPNB Site of Nahal Lavan 109. In: Caneva, I., Lemorini, C., Zampetti, D. and Biagi, P. (eds.). Beyond Tools: Redefining the PPN Lithic Assemblages of the Levant. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistance and Environment 9. Berlin, ex oriente. Pp. 73-92.
Barkai, R. 2001. PPNA Flint and Stone Axes: Technological, Functional and Symbolic Aspects. In: Maeir, A.M. and Baruch, E. (eds.). Settlement, Civilization and Culture. Proceedings of the Conference in Memory of David Alon. Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan. Pp. 17-47 (in Hebrew).
Barkai, R. and Gopher, A. 2001. Flint Quarries in the Southern Levantine Holocene: A Routine Procedure? New Evidence from the Upper Galilee, Israel. In: Caneva, I., Lemorini, C., Zampetti, D. and Biagi, P. (eds.). Beyond Tools: Redefining the PPN Lithic Assemblages of the Levant. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistance and Environment 9. Berlin, ex oriente. Pp. 17-25.
Gopher, A. and Barkai, R. 2001. Flint Extraction Sites and Workshops in Prehistoric Galilee, Israel. Proceedings of the VIII International Flint Symposium, Bochum, 13-17 September 1999.
Gopher, A., Barkai, R. and Asaf, A. 2001. Trends in Sickle Blades Production in the Neolithic of the Hula valley, Israel. In: Caneva, I., Lemorini, C., Zampetti, D. and Biagi, P. (eds.). Beyond Tools: Redefining the PPN Lithic Assemblages of the Levant. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistance and Environment 9. Berlin, ex oriente. Pp. 411-425.
Barkai, R. 2004. The Chalcolithic Lithic Assemblage. In: Scheftelowitz, N. and Oren, R. (eds.). Giv'at Ha-Oranim. A Late Chalcolithic Site, Salvage Excavation Reports, No. 1, Emery and Claire Yass Publication in Archaeology, Tel Aviv. Pp. 87-109.
Yerkes, R.W. and Barkai, R. 2004. Microwear Analysis of Chalcolithic Bifacial Tools from the Giv'at Ha-Oranim Site in Central Israel. In: Scheftelowitz, N., and Oren, R. (eds.). Giv'at Ha-Oranim. A Late Chalcolithic Site, Salvage Excavation Reports, No. 1, Emery and Claire Yass Publication in Archaeology, Tel Aviv. Pp. 110-124.
Gopher, A. & Barkai, R. 2006. Flint extraction sites and workshops in prehistoric Galilee, Israel. In Korlin, G. And Weisgerber, G. (eds.). Stone Age Sites – Der Anschnitt 19, Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau Museum Bochum. Pp. 91-98.
Barkai, R., Gopher, A. and La Porta, P.C. 2006. Middle Pleistocene Landscape of Extraction: Quarry and Workshop Complexes in Northern Israel. In: Axe Age: Acheulian Toolmaking - from Quarry to Discard. N. Goren-Inbar, G. Sharon, Eds. (Equonox Publishers, Oxford). Pp. 7-44.
Barkai, R., and Yerkes, R.W. 2007. Stone axes as cultural markers: Technological, functional and symbolic changes in bifacial tools during the transition from Hunter-Gatherers to sedentary agriculturalists in the Southern Levant. In “Prehistoric Technology” 40 Years Later: Functional Studies and the Russian Legacy: Proceedings of the conference held in Verona, Italy; April 20-23, 2005, edited by L. Longo, BAR International Series.
Barkai, R. Gopher, A. and Weiner, J. 2007. Quarrying Flint at Neolithic Ramat Tamar: An Experiment.In: Astruc, L. Binder, D. and Briois, F. eds. Systemes Techniques et communates du Neolithique Preceramique au Proche-Orient. Actes du 5 colloque international Frejus, 2004.Antibes:25-32.
Barkai, R. PPNA Stone and Flint Axes as Cultural Markers: Technological, Functional and Symbolic Aspects. In: Healey, E. Studies in Technology, Environment, Production and Society of Neolithic Chipped and Ground Stone (S.T.E.P.S.) in the Near East. 2011.
Gopher, A.; Barkai, R. And Marder, O. An obsidian industry from Neolithic Ha-Goshrim, Northern Israel. In: Healey, E. Studies in Technology, Environment, Production and Society of Neolithic Chipped and Ground Stone (S.T.E.P.S.) in the Near East. Pp. 395-401. PP. 443-448. 2011.
Gopher, A. and Barkai, R. Pottery Neolithic flint assemblages: History of research and comments on method and theory. In: Gopher, A. (ed.). Village Communities of the Pottery Neolithic Period in the Menashe Hills, Israel. Archaeological Investigations at the Sites of Nahal Zehora. Emery and Clair Yass Publications in Archaeology, Tell Aviv University, Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology. Pp. 748-756. 2012.
Barkai, R. and Gopher, A. Flint Assemblages from Nahal Zehora II: Techno-typological Changes during the PN. In: Gopher, A. (ed.). Village Communities of the Pottery Neolithic Period in the Menashe Hills, Israel. Archaeological Investigations at the Sites of Nahal Zehora. Emery and Clair Yass Publications in Archaeology, Tell Aviv University, Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology. Pp. 757-869. 2012.
Barkai, R. and Gopher, A. The Flint Industry of Nahal Zehora I: Late Wadi Rabah Technology and Typology. In: Gopher, A. (ed.). Village Communities of the Pottery Neolithic Period in the Menashe Hills, Israel. Archaeological Investigations at the Sites of Nahal Zehora. Emery and Clair Yass Publications in Archaeology, Tell Aviv University, Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology. Pp. 870-929. 2012.
Yerkes, R. and Barkai, R. Microwear Analysis of Pottery Neolithic Bifacial Tools from Nahal Zehora I and Nahal Zehora II. In: Gopher, A. (ed.). Village Communities of the Pottery Neolithic Period in the Menashe Hills, Israel. Archaeological Investigations at the Sites of Nahal Zehora. Emery and Clair Yass Publications in Archaeology, Tell Aviv University, Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology. Pp. 930-977. 2012.
Gopher, A. and Barkai, R. The Lithic assemblages at the NaHal Zehora sites: A summary. In: Gopher, A. (ed.). Village Communities of the Pottery Neolithic Period in the Menashe Hills, Israel. Archaeological Investigations at the Sites of Nahal Zehora. Emery and Clair Yass Publications in Archaeology, Tell Aviv University, Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology. Pp. 1110-113. 2012.
Chapters in Books
Barkai, R. And Gopher, A. 2009. Changing the face of the earth: Human behavior at Sede Ilan, an extensive Lower-Middle Paleolithic quarry site in Israel. In: Adams, B. And Blades, B. (eds.). Lithic Materials and Paleolithic Societies. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford. Pp. 174-185.
Barkai, R. The Evolution of Neolithic and Chalcolithic Woodworking tools and the intensification of human production: Axes, Adzes and Chisels from the Southern Levant. In: Edmonds, M and Davis, V. (eds.). Stone Axe Studies III. Council for British Archaeology. Pp. 39-54. 2011.
Barkai, R. and Gopher, A. Innovative human behavior between Acheulian and Mousterian: A view from Qesem Cave, Israel. In: Le Tensorer, J.-M. et al. The Lower and Middle Palaeolithic in the Middle East and Neighbouring Regions. Etudes et Recherches Archéologiques de L'Université de Liège(ERAUL). 2011.
Barkai, R. and Gopher, A. Two Flint Caches from a Lower-Middle Paleolithic Flint Extraction and Workshop Complex at Mount Pua, Israel. In: Diaz del Rio, P. (ed.). 2nd International Conference of the UISPP Commission on Flint Mining in Pre and Protohistoric Times. BAR International Series. Pp. 265-274. 2011.
Gopher, A. and Barkai, R. A new Neolithic quarry complex at Har Gevim, Israel: An introduction. In: Diaz del Rio, P. (ed.). 2nd International Conference of the UISPP Commission on Flint Mining in Pre and Protohistoric Times. Pp. 275-282. BAR International Series. 2011.
Varia
זומר, ח. וברקאי, ר. 2012. שימפנזים כציידים. טבע הדברים. מרץ 2012 עמ' 20-27.
Zomer, H. and Barkai, R. 2012. Chimpanzees as hunters. Teva Hdvarim. March 2012.:20-27.
שלום, נ. וברקאי, ר. 2012. האדם הנאנדרתלי - אז והיום. גלילאו יוני 2012, עמ' 26-35.
Shalom, N. and Barkai, R. 2012. Neanderthal man - Past and present. Galileo June 2012: 26-
