Reply to: 'No direct evidence for the presence of Nubian Levallois technology and its association with Neanderthals at Shukbah Cave'.

As a result, the use of Nubian Levallois technology by other populations that employ Levallois reduction methods and focus on the production of points is, perhaps, unsurprising. Increasing sample sizes within and between sites will undoubtedly enhance precision of comparative studies, yet our results provide the means to test key hypotheses - whether Nubian Levallois is discrete from other Levallois technologies. Conclusion Amongst the plurality of definitions of Nubian Levallois technology in the literature, the basis upon which Usik and colleagues[11] determined the criteria they set out is opaque, prohibiting clear differentiation from other Levallois methods. This remarkable absence of comparative studies prohibits acceptance that Nubian Levallois technology is inherently discrete from other Levallois methods. [Extracted from the article]