Dr. Aviad Agam

• Paleolithic Archaeology
• Early Fire
• Lithic Raw Materials
• Flint Quarrying in Prehistory
• Human-Proboscidean Interaction

Education

• 06/2015 – 07/2019
  Ph.D. student to prehistory at The Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology, Tel-Aviv University (Direct track). Dissertation: „Flint Procurement and Exploitation Strategies in the Late Lower Paleolithic Levant: the case of Acheulo-Yabrudian Qesem Cave“, under the supervision of Prof. Ran Barkai (Tel Aviv University), Prof. Avi Gopher (Tel Aviv University), and Prof. Lucy Wilson (University of New Brunswick). Approved: June 2020.
  
• 2013 – 2015
  M.A. – Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel-Aviv University. Without a thesis, as a part of the direct track to Ph.D.
• 2010 – 2013-
  B.A. – Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel-Aviv University, with honors.

Research Expeditions

• 8/2018
  Co-director of the excavation at Kerem Ben-Zimra – Paleolithic and Neolithic flint extraction and reduction piles (with M. Finkel).

Archaeological Field Work

• 05-06-09-10/2017
  Area supervisor at the excavation of Late Acheulian Jaljulia.
  
• 2013 – 2016-
  Area supervisor at the excavation of Acheulo-Yabrudian Qesem Cave.
  
• 2011 – 2012-
  Participant at the excavation of Acheulo-Yabrudian Qesem Cave.
• 2012 – 2016-
  Geologic flint sourcing in the surroundings of Acheulo-Yabrudian Qesem Cave.
• 05/2015, 06/2016
  Participant in a survey of Paleolithic and Neolithic flint quarries in Northern Israel.
• 2012 – 2015
  Geologic flint sourcing in the surroundings of Neolithic Ein Zippori.
• 09/2012
  Area supervisor at the excavation of Tel-Arshaf.

• 10/2021 – Present
  Rothschild Fellow, Yad HaNadiv Foundation, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.
• 08/2020 – 09/2021
  Post-doc research fellow at Tel-Aviv University, The J. M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and ANE Cultures.
• 08/2019 – 07/2020
  Post-doc Feinberg fellowship at the Kimmel Center for Archaeological science, the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Books

Agam, A., 2021. Flint Procurement and Exploitation Strategies in the Late Lower Paleolithic Levant: A View from Acheulo-Yabrudian Qesem Cave (Israel). Archaeopress.

Journal Articles

Agam, A., Marder, O., Barkai, R. 2015. Small flake production and lithic recycling at Late Acheulian Revadim, Israel. Quaternary International 361, 46-60.

Agam, A., Barkai, R. 2016. Not the Brain Alone: The Nutritional Potential of Elephant Heads in Paleolithic Sites. Quaternary International 406(2), 218-226.

‏Wilson, L., Agam, A., Barkai, R., Gopher, A. 2016. Raw material choices in Amudian versus Yabrudian lithic assemblages at Qesem Cave: A preliminary evaluation. Quaternary International, 398, 61-69.

Agam, A., Walzer, N., Schechter, H., Zutovski, K., Milevski, I., Getzov, N., Gopher, A., Barkai, R. 2016. Organized waste disposal in the Pottery Neolithic: A Bifacial Workshop Refuse Pit at Ein Zippori, Israel. Journal of Field Archaeology, 41(6), 713-730.

Zutovski, K., Yerkes, R.W., Agam, A., Wilson, L., Milevski, I., Getzov, N., Barkai, R., Gopher, A. 2016. Techno-typological analysis of fan (tabular) scrapers, Ein Zippori, Israel. Journal of lithic Studies, 3(1), 207-238.

Agam, A., Barkai, R. 2018a. Elephant and Mammoth Hunting During the Paleolitihc: A Review of the Relevant Archaeological, Ethnographic and Ethno-Historical Records. Quaternary, 1(1), 3.

Agam, A., Barkai, R. 2018b. Small Flake Acheulian: Further Insights into Systematic Lithic Recycling at Late Acheulian Revadim, Israel. Tel-Aviv, 45(2), 170-192.

Schechter, H. C., Zutovski, K., Agam, A., Wilson, L., Gopher, A. 2018. Refitting Bifacial Production Waste–The Case of the Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah Refuse Pit from Ein Zippori, Israel. Lithic Technology, 43(4), 228-244.

‏Agam, A., Wilson, L. 2019. Blind test evaluation of consistency in macroscopic lithic raw material sorting. ‏‎Geoarchaeology, 34(4), 467-477.

Venditti, F., Cristiani, E., Nunziante-Cesaro, S., Agam, A., Lemorini, C., Barkai, R. 2019a. Animal residues found on tiny Lower Paleolithic tools reveal their use in butchery. Scientific reports, 9(1), 1-14.

‏Venditti, F., Agam, A., Barkai, R. 2019b. Techno-functional analysis of small recycled flakes from Late Acheulian Revadim (Israel) demonstrates a link between morphology and function. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 28, 102039.

‏Agam, A., Wilson, L., Gopher, A., Barkai, R., 2019. Flint type analysis of bifaces from Acheulo-Yabrudian Qesem Cave (Israel) suggests an old Acheulian origin. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, 1-36.

Agam, A., Zupancich, A., 2020. Interpreting the Quina and Demi-Quina Scrapers from Acheulo-Yabrudian Qesem Cave, Israel: Results of Raw Materials and Functional Analyses. Journal of Human Evolution, 144, 102798.

Finkel, M., Gopher, A., Agam, A., 2020. Excavating tailing piles at Kakal Spur (Kerem Ben Zimra) locality in the Nahal Dishon Prehistoric flint extraction and reduction complex, northern Galilee, Israel. Archaeological Research in Asia, 23, 100207.

Agam, A., 2020. Late Lower Paleolithic Lithic Procurement and Exploitation Strategies: A View from Acheulo-Yabrudian Qesem Cave (Israel). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 33, 102447.

Agam, A., Azuri, I., Pinkas, I., Gopher, A., Natalio, F., 2021. Estimating temperatures of heated Lower Palaeolithic flint artefacts. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(2), 221-228.‏

Venditti, F., Agam, A., Tirillò, J., Nunziante-Cesaro, S., Barkai, R., 2021. An integrated study discloses chopping tools use from Late Acheulean Revadim (Israel). Plos one, 16(1), e0245595.