Human Paleoecology in the Levantine Corridor

T volume represents the proceedings of a 2002 conference at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Unlike most conferences, the presentations were part of an occasional series that extended over six months. The goal of the Human Paleoecology in the Levantine Corridor project was to examine the palaeoecology, palaeoenvironments, and the Pleistocene human history in this eastern Mediterranean coastal region. The volume is dedicated to Eitan Tchernov, the palaeontologist whose research has contributed the most to our understanding of the past fauna and environments of this part of the Near East and the role they played in various periods of human evolution. The papers represent a mixture of topics and concerns; some are data based, while others take a more theoretical perspective. Many combine the two approaches. The authors represent a diverse range of specialists, some of whose relationship to the theme seems initially to be rather peripheral. Many are based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and were invited to participate in this inter-disciplinary project, even though their real expertise lies outside of its major focus. Other participants were from outside Israel, but have closer ties to the main themes of past environments and humans. The choice of authors thus makes the resulting volume somewhat disjointed. The main focus of this book is the role of the Levant in Pleistocene and early Holocene human and animal migrations. This is a critical issue, especially in light of the Out-of-Africa I and II models of dispersals of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, respectively. It contains fourteen papers as well as a brief introductory chapter by the editors; I will discuss each in the order in which they appear. The first chapter a�er the introduction is by Dov Por. Titled the Levantine waterway, it provides information about present and past springs, rivers and lakes. These permanent sources of fresh water could have permi�ed the dispersals of animals and humans at various times during the Pleistocene and Holocene. Craig Feibel, a geologist who is well known for his palaeoanthropological work in the Lake Turkana basin of Kenya, shi�s to the northernmost extremes of the African ri� valley in order to describe the geology and palaeoenvironments of similar lake margin areas. In the Levant, these are associated with important Lower Palaeolithic archaeological sites such as ‘Ubeidiya and Gesher Benot Ya’acov. Bienvenido Martinez-Navarro describes the dispersals and migrations of mammals through the Levant during the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene. Like Tchernov, he emphasizes the role of this region as a bo�leneck for both animals and humans. He shows that over the Quaternary, there were fluctuations between Holarctic and Ethiopian faunal assemblages, in other words, between Eurasian and African mammal groups. Animal and human distribution also could have been affected by major palaeoenvironmental changes, such as the waxing and waning of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. Martinez-Navarro additionally discusses faunal changes in the Levant compared to coeval events in Eurasia and Africa. The palaeontologist Adrian Lister reviews similar questions in relation to the evolutionary history of Eurasian elephants between 800,000 and 600,000 years ago. Gideon Hartman discusses turtle evolution. He shows that a distinct turtle subspecies, Auremys caspica rivulata, is present at Gesher Benot Ya’acov 780,000 years ago. Because this same taxon is present here today, he concludes that there may be long term environmental stability and population continuity in turtles from the Middle Pleistocene onwards. How this corresponds to the presumed regular changes in large mammal fauna remains unclear. But it shows that the well-documented tectonic and volcanic events associated with the Jordan Ri� Valley may not have changed some freshwater ecosystems in any substantial way. Sabine Gaudinski analyzes seventeen faunal assemblages from the Lower Palaeolithic archaeological and fossil site of ‘Ubeidiya. This site was first excavated from 1961 to 1963, and then again from 1968 to 1974. Gaudinski examines the role of hominins in the accumulation of these faunal remains by focusing a�ention on the assemblage from II-24. She sees evidence in the faunal remains for both carnivore and hominin activity. The former le� tooth marks on bones, and different skeletal element distributions from those that should be naturally present or present in hominin sites. The presence of humans can be seen in cut marks on bone and in the presence of stone tools. But, somewhat surprising, there is no evidence of marrow processing. She suggests that if early hominins were not interested in marrow, it might mean that animal fat was obtained from other sources, most likely from meat acquired through true hunting behavior. Emanuel Marx presents a theoretical paper on Acheulean social organization. Making use of ethnographic data on modern and recent hunter-gatherers, Marx sees Acheulean people as essentially human in their behavior. This is in contrast to recent ideas about modern human origins which suggest that all humans prior to 40,000 years ago are people without true culture regardless of which species is involved. A related topic is discussed by Daniel Dor and