A total of 15,862 chipped stone remains have been studied, 8,951 from Akarçay Tepe and 6,911 from Tell Halula, both sites located in the mid-Euphrates. The chipped stones from Halula belong to Occupation Phases 8-14 (7560 to 7320 Cal. BC.) The chipped stones from Akarçay belong to a sequence of layers dated from 7580 to 6300 Cal BC.
The goal of this project has been to describe the production process of stone tools at both sites, and by extension in the mid-Euphrates valley in the mid-VIIIth millennium Cal BC, and its evolution until the mid-VIIth millennium cal BC.
The results have proven the existence of significant differences between the two sites in the mid-VIIIth millennium Cal B.C. Contextualising these results in mid-Euphrates valley has enabled two zones to be distinguished. One zone occupies the northern part of the mid-Euphrates valley between the region of Adiyaman and Bireçik. The other zone spans from Djerablous to Meyadin. The existence of differences it is documented in other material aspects. This fact suggests that the differences could be the result of two different societies. These results contrast with the previous interpretations for this region. The northern Levant has been carachterised by the cultural homogeneity, continuity of the population as well as by the vast geographical extension of this cultural homogeneity. This view can be revised based on the results obtained. In the mid-VIIIth millennium Cal. B.C., in the mid-Euphrates valley, a series of new settlements (Halula, Akarçay, etc.) appear. These settlements show a dense, ongoing occupation during the middle and recent PPNB and the Pottery Neolithic. In contrast, the sites with earlier chronologies do not seem to display ongoing occupation. Thus, at the dawning of the VIIIth millennium there is very little evidence to suggest that the mid-Euphrates valley was densely populated. According to these data, it is difficult to establish a relationship of direct continuity between the settlements from the end of the IXth millennium and the beginning of the VIIIth millennium Cal. B.C. and the large newly-built settlements that appeared along the mid-Euphrates valley in the mid-VIIIth millennium. In other words, the material evidence seems to put into doubt the continuity between early PPNB and the middle PPNB. In light of this evidence, we suggest a repopulation of the mid-Euphrates valley in around 7700-7600 Cal. B.C. It is suggested that this reoccupation of the mid-Euphrates valley was undertaken by two distinct social groups, giving rise to the two zones we have defined. The origin of the population located in the northern zone of the valley might be the region of the upper Euphrates. The origin of the settlement located in the southern zone can't be established.
The second section of the results deals with the evolution of the process of stone tool production from both zones from the mid-VIIIth millennium Cal. B.C. until the mid-VIIth millennium Cal. B.C. A common phenomenon of divestment is documented in both zones, by around 7100 to 7000 Cal. B.C., and prior to the appearance of the earliest pottery productions, so the stone tool production process had already changed. These changes are the result of consolidation and intensification of animal husbandry and agriculture practices during the mid-VIIIth millennium Cal. B.C. The adoption and consolidation of a means of subsistence based fully on food production implied a series of transformations in the social relations, increase in social complexity and a change in the social value of certain production processes. This fact might suggest the appearance of certain activities with a prestigious value or social status, incipient social inequality and perhaps a change in access to means of production (ouvrage)