Lithic economy and prehistoric human behavioral ecology viewed from southern Jordan

•Chert varieties were compared in Middle Paleolithic and Neolithic assemblages.•A multi-variate macroscopic, visual analysis was used.•Differences in chert utilization were explored through several interwoven factors. A lithic sourcing study coupled with analyses of lithic reduction strategies and settlement- procurement patterns of Middle Paleolithic (Late Levantine Mousterian) and Early Neolithic (Late Middle PPNB) occupations revealed intertwined factors that shaped the different lithic provisioning strategies of the prehistoric groups. The accessibility and morphometrics of lithic sources, the techniques guiding the reduction process, economizing measures conditioned by elements of Optimal Foraging Theory and the settlement-procurement patterns of the consuming groups were important factors modeling the different lithic provisioning strategies. The interrelationship of these factors traces the complex process of lithic procurement and places it more fully within the context of human behavioral ecology.