Syrian desert no relation Near East
Syria
An excavated site at El Kowm (Aïn al Fil, (de:Aïn al Fil)), Syria revealed a plethora of Oldowan tools. In a 2m2 test pit excavated in 2008, 790 artifacts were found, with many pebble tools, cores, flakes, manuports, and flake debris. Although many of these tools show little sign of modification, several of the pebble tools are distinctly-shaped bifacial and trifacial choppers. Dated between 2.0-1.8 Ma, these stone tools are some of the earliest Near East finds.Because of their location in the Syrian desert, these tools have raised questions about the path of early hominin dispersal. The predominant theory that early hominins traveled along the Mediterranean, through what is now Israel, into Europe has been challenged, as the presence of these Olowan tools indicate that an alternate route may have been taken.Iran
In Iran, 80 tools of different assemblages have been discovered at 7 sites in the Kashafrud Basin. Although many of the artifacts found here, dated at 1.8 Ma, were pre-Acheulean, some are of the Oldowan tradition, resembling East African Oldowan finds.  Containing cores, choppers, flake, chunks, and hammer stones made predominately of quartz, this site displayed the ability of early toolmakers to work skillfully with fragile stones.
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