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20 - ‘Ubeidiya

from Part III: - Archaeology of Human Evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

Yehouda Enzel
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
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Summary

The ‘Ubeidiya site in the Jordan valley, Israel within a late Middle Pleistocene folded and faulted formation deposited in a lake shoreline environment. The formation is divided into four members from lowest to upper: LI, FI, LU, and FU were respectively deposited in a limnic, deltaic, limnic, and fluviatile environments. Palaeomagnetic, ESR readings and biochronological long distance comparisons suggest an age of 1.2-1.6 Ma. >20 bone and artefact bearing layers are mostly within the FI Member. The stone industries show a general correlation with the local raw materials. Handaxes and trihedrals were shaped from basalt and some from limestone and flint. Spheroids were made of limestone and flint cobbles produced a rich core and flake assemblages. Large mammalian fauna are indicative of Mediterranean biome with few African taxa indicative of a savanna habitat. A lower incisor found in situ has been identified as Homo cf. erectus/ergaster. Taphonomic analyses of the faunal assemblages suggest that evidence for hunting is rare and that the majority of bone were accumulated by scavenging. The site provides evidence for early human behaviour in the early Pleistocene of the Levant.
Type
Chapter
Information
Quaternary of the Levant
Environments, Climate Change, and Humans
, pp. 179 - 186
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

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