marc verhaegen

The Middle Paleolithic of the East Mediterranean Levant,
John J. Shea
Journal of World Prehistory ,
Volume 17, Issue 4, Dec 2003, Pages: 313-394


This paper reviews recent developments in geochronology, archaeology, and
behavioral interpretations of the Middle Paleolithic Period (ca. 47-250Kyr)
in the East Mediterranean Levant . Neandertals and early modern humans both
occupied the Levant during this period. Both these hominids are associated
with the Levantine Mousterian stone tool industry and similar sets of faunal
remains. The Levant has long been seen as preserving evidence for the origin
of modern humans out of Neandertal ancestors. Recent radiometric dates for
Levantine Middle Paleolithic contexts challenge this hypothesis. Instead,
they suggest the evolutionary relationships between these hominids were far
more complicated. Proposed models for Neandertal and early modern human
coevolutionary relationships are examined. Intense competition between
Neandertals and early modern humans for a narrow human "niche" may be the
context out of which the Upper Paleolithic behavioral "revolution" arose.


.... The present day climate of the Levant is classically Mediterranean, with
long dry summers and cool humid winters (Blondel and Aronson, 1999). The
climate of the MP was generally cooler and more humid, though the period was
punctuated by episodes of extreme aridity (Cheddadi and Rossignol-Strick,
1995). The MP Period in the Levant, ca. 47-250 Kyr, spans at least two major
cycles of glaciation and deglaciation corresponding to marine Oxygen-Isotope
Stages (OIS) 7-4, and the first part of OIS 3 (Mercier and Valladas, 2003).
The physical appearance of the Levant, its vegetation, and animal
communities varied during the course of the MP. The two most important
hydrogeological effects of Late Pleistocene climate change concern the
formation of Rift Valley lakes and the consequences of sea-level change.
Late Pleistocene Lake Lisan, and its precursor, Lake Samra, filled much of
the central and southern Jordan Rift Valley up to a maximum elevation of
about -180 m below modern sea level. Deep deposits of aragonite and gypsum
indicate hypersaline conditions in the south part of the lake, but
diatomaceous sediments in the north suggest less saline conditions (Begin et
al., 1974). These lake-edge habitats along the northern shores of Lake Lisan
would have supported considerable plant and animal life and attracted human
settlement. Unfortunately, relatively little is known aboutMPadaptations
around these lakes because deep alluvial deposits (the Lisan Formation) have
buried the relevant landscapes. While the northern coast of the Levant is
relatively steep and was probably minimally affected by Pleistocene sea
level changes, the effects on the southern Levant coast were far more
pronounced. Lowered sea levels would have extended the Israeli Coastal Plain
tens of kilometers west of its present position and simultaneously drawn the
Nile Delta northward. These exposed areas, too, probably attracted MP human
settlement, as coastlines appear to have done elsewhere (Walter et al.,
2000), but the evidence from any such MP coastal adaptations is now
submerged. One unfortunate consequence of Pleistocene sea level changes for
archaeology is that karst spring activity, particularly that associated with
the Last Glacial Maximum, has disturbed cave sediments from the time of the
Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition in the southern Levant (Bar-Yosef and
Vandermeersch, 1972). For most of the MP, the humid coastal lowlands of the
north-central Levant supported the highest concentration of biomass. Humans
living there probably experienced the least demographic effects of climate
change. Extreme variation in temperature and overall lower humidity would
have made the southern and interior parts of the Levant (the Sinai, southern
Israel, Jordan) of marginal value for human settlement, except during
episodes of increased humidity. The Sinai, southern Jordan, and the
Negev/southern...