In accordance with European Science Foundation regulations, Exploratory Workshops with a maximum of 20 participants were designed to encourage researchers from across Europe to put forward innovative and creative ideas in European research. The workshop 'Lower Palaeolithic small tools in Europe and the Levant' was accordingly held in Liege (Belgium) between September 3 - 7, 2001 (in cooperation with the XIVth Congress of the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences). Since the famous 1960s' excavations in Vertesszolos (Hungary), Lower Palaeolithic assemblages of very small tools have been known in Europe and referred to as microlithic assemblages. They were so different from the known European Lower Palaeolithic assemblages, that the Hungarian archaeologist L. Vertes introduced the new generic name 'Buda Industry', and sparked a wider interest in this whole area of study. This volume (bringing together the current knowledge on a topic that includes the oldest hunting weapons known in the world: the Schoningen (Lower Saxony, Germany) wooden spears) includes the 15 papers that were prepared for the Workshop.Taking the main theme of the Workshop (the comparative technological and stylistic analysis of small tool assemblages in Europe and Asia) as a starting point, the 15 papers presented here (ordered spatially from west to east and temporally from the Lower to the Middle Palaeolithic: c. 1000 - 300 kyr BP), as well as discussing the "Buda Industry", also extend to cover such areas of interest as the "Lower Palaeolithic Microlithic Tradition", the "Colombanian", the "Archaic Industries" or "Taubachian", etc: (1) Lower Palaeolithic Sites at Schoningen, Lower Saxony; (2) Bilzingsleben - Homo erectus, his culture and his environment; (3) The small flint tool industry from Bilzingsleben - Steinrinne; (4) Lower Palaeolithic sites with small artefacts in Poland; (5) A new Lower Palaeolithic site with a small toolset at Raeinives (Central Bohemia); (6) Changing environment - unchanged culture at Vertesszolos, Hungary; (7) The small tools of Evron-Quarry, western Galilee, Israel; (8) The use of raw material at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Bizat Ruhama, Israel; (9) Small instruments of the Lower Palaeolithic site Kuldara and their geoarchaeological meaning; (10) The role of raw material in explaining tool assemblage variability in Palaeolithic China; (11) Some Observations on Microlithic Assemblages in Central Europe during the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Kulna and Pooedmosti II (Czech Republic); (12) The Taubachian, a Middle Palaeolithic Small Tool Industry in the Czech Republic and Slovakia; (13) The Middle Palaeolithic Microlithic Assemblage from Wroc3 aw,Southwest Poland; (14) Palaeolithic micro-industries: value and significance; (15) Research problems of the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic small tool assemblages.

For the history of Nabataean Aila, the importance of antiquities cannot be underestimated: the pottery recovered from the excavations of the Roman Aqaba Project (RAP) has provided much more information about the society and economy of the site than the writings of the ancient authors. The port of Aila is located at the northern head of the Gulf of Aqaba, on the Jordanian side of the modern Israeli/Jordanian border. From the mid-1st century BC through the early-2nd century AD, Aila was an important Nabataean entrepot serving a variety of commercial and economic functions. In this volume the author focuses on the ceramic assemblage from the RAP excavations in an attempt to better understand the socio-economic conditions at the site during this period, as seen through its pottery. Subsequent investigation of this material, combined with a thorough examination of excavation reports and a detailed comparative analysis of ceramic assemblages scattered throughout Jordan and Israel, was carried out by the author and the results of this research have brought to light a great deal of new information regarding the society and economy of Nabataean Aila. The study examines the historical sources and archaeological evidence regarding Aila during the Nabataean period. Analysis of these sources provides important clues as to the role of Aila during the height of the Nabataean kingdom and shortly thereafter: this information both confirms and supplements the ancient authors and offers new insights into Aila's socio-economic history of Aila. Also included is a detailed analysis of the Nabataean and Early Roman pottery uncovered by the excavations. A discussion of the various wares and vessel types offers insights into the local pottery industry attests to the thriving trading activities of the ancient polis, amply demonstrated by the numerous imports recovered. The final chapter offers some preliminary conclusions regarding the society and economy of Nabataean Aila, including its strategic location as a nexus of trade, the goods and other possible commodities that the site may have produced and exported, and its role as a regional oasis that supplied its rural hinterland with a variety of products. Taken together, information provided by the present study sheds much light on the socio-economic history of Nabataean Aila. (Includes as an Appendix a catalogue of 44 selected examples of early Roman and Nabataean ware.)