Book contents
- Quaternary of the Levant
- Quaternary of the Levant
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Quaternary of the Levant
- Part I: The Evolution of Current Landscapes and Basins
- Part II: Palaeoclimates
- Part III: Archaeology of Human Evolution
- Part IV: Palaeoecology
- Part V: Quaternary Geomorphology
- Part VI: Humans in the Levant
- 59 The Acheulian of the Levant
- 60 The Palaeolithic Sequence in Southeast Turkey
- 61 Lower and Middle Palaeolithic of Lebanon
- 62 The Lower Palaeolithic of Syria
- 63 The Lower Palaeolithic of Jordan
- 64 The Middle Palaeolithic of Southern Jordan
- 65 Middle Palaeolithic Open-Air Sites
- 66 A Hominid ‘Archetype’
- 67 Neanderthals and Modern Humans in the Levant: An Overview
- 68 Human Fossils from the Upper Palaeolithic through the Early Holocene
- 69 The Initial Upper Palaeolithic in the Levant
- 70 The Upper Palaeolithic in Cisjordan
- 71 The Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic of Cisjordan
- 72 The Early Epipalaeolithic in the Eastern Levant
- 73 The Upper and Epipalaeolithic of Southern Jordan
- 74 The Upper and Epipalaeolithic of the Azraq Basin, Jordan
- 75 Late Quaternary Refugia, Aggregations, and Palaeoenvironments in the Azraq Basin, Jordan
- 76 The Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Lebanon
- 77 The Natufian Culture
- 78 The Natufian Period in Syria
- 79 Natufian and Early Neolithic in the Black Desert, Eastern Jordan
- 80 The Archaeology of Early Farming in Southeast Turkey
- 81 Early Agriculture in the Southern Levant
- 82 Domesticating Plants in the Near East
- 83 The Neolithic of Southern Jordan
- 84 The Beginning of Animal Domestication and Husbandry in Southwest Asia
- 85 Environmental Change and Society in Holocene Prehistory
- Index
- Plate section
- References
67 - Neanderthals and Modern Humans in the Levant: An Overview
from Part VI: - Humans in the Levant
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 May 2017
Book contents
- Quaternary of the Levant
- Quaternary of the Levant
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Quaternary of the Levant
- Part I: The Evolution of Current Landscapes and Basins
- Part II: Palaeoclimates
- Part III: Archaeology of Human Evolution
- Part IV: Palaeoecology
- Part V: Quaternary Geomorphology
- Part VI: Humans in the Levant
- 59 The Acheulian of the Levant
- 60 The Palaeolithic Sequence in Southeast Turkey
- 61 Lower and Middle Palaeolithic of Lebanon
- 62 The Lower Palaeolithic of Syria
- 63 The Lower Palaeolithic of Jordan
- 64 The Middle Palaeolithic of Southern Jordan
- 65 Middle Palaeolithic Open-Air Sites
- 66 A Hominid ‘Archetype’
- 67 Neanderthals and Modern Humans in the Levant: An Overview
- 68 Human Fossils from the Upper Palaeolithic through the Early Holocene
- 69 The Initial Upper Palaeolithic in the Levant
- 70 The Upper Palaeolithic in Cisjordan
- 71 The Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic of Cisjordan
- 72 The Early Epipalaeolithic in the Eastern Levant
- 73 The Upper and Epipalaeolithic of Southern Jordan
- 74 The Upper and Epipalaeolithic of the Azraq Basin, Jordan
- 75 Late Quaternary Refugia, Aggregations, and Palaeoenvironments in the Azraq Basin, Jordan
- 76 The Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Lebanon
- 77 The Natufian Culture
- 78 The Natufian Period in Syria
- 79 Natufian and Early Neolithic in the Black Desert, Eastern Jordan
- 80 The Archaeology of Early Farming in Southeast Turkey
- 81 Early Agriculture in the Southern Levant
- 82 Domesticating Plants in the Near East
- 83 The Neolithic of Southern Jordan
- 84 The Beginning of Animal Domestication and Husbandry in Southwest Asia
- 85 Environmental Change and Society in Holocene Prehistory
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
The nomadic hunter-gatherers producers of Mousterian techno-complexes in the Mediterranean Levant are known from Syria and Israel. They bring evidence of within- (Tabun, Skhul, Qafzeh and Dederiyeh) and inter-site (Tabun-Amud-Kebara) marked biological diversity. This individual variation exists across both time and space, as it was recently reinforced by new ages of some specimens. A short review of the fossil record indicates that queries concerning this biodiversity are not yet fully resolved. We did not intend to attempt to resolve the issue of the pattern of Levantine population settlements but to address question of the current dichotomizing of two populations. It is suggested that, in place of a Neanderthal versus modern human scenario of population movements which is currently accepted, a more complicated situation in the region cannot be rejected. In fact, the common usage which tends to categorize certain Levantine hominins as Neanderthals preclude posing any meaningful inquiries about their affinities and evolutionary significance. Furthermore genetic exchanges between distinct human groups from South and East cannot be avoided.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Quaternary of the LevantEnvironments, Climate Change, and Humans, pp. 607 - 610Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2017
References
Akazawa, T. & Muhesen, S. (ed.) 2002. Neanderthal Burials. Excavations of the Dederiyeh Cave, Afrin, Syria. Kyoto: International Research Center for Japanese Studies.Google Scholar
Arensburg, B. & Belfer-Cohen, A. 1998. Sapiens and Neandertals: Rethinking the Levantine Middle Paleolithic hominins. In Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, ed. Akazawa, T., Aoki, K. & Bar-Yosef, O.. New York & London: Plenum Press, pp. 311–22.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O. 2000. The Middle and Early Upper Paleolithic in southwest Asia and neighboring regions. In The Geography of Neandertals and Modern Humans in Europe and the Greater Mediterranean, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. & Pilbeam, D.. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum, Harvard University, pp. 107–56.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O. & Callender, J. 1999. The woman from Tabun: Garrod's doubts in historical perspective. Journal of Human Evolution 37: 879–89.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O., Vandermeersch, B., Arensburg, B. et al. 1992. The excavations in Kebara Cave, Mt Carmel. Current Anthropology 33: 497–550.Google Scholar
Coqueugniot, H. 1999. Le crâne d'Homo sapiens en Eurasie: croissance et variation depuis 100 000 ans, BAR International Series 822. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Couture, C. 1998. Le fragment d'occipital néandertalien d'Umm El Tlel. In Préhistoire d'Anatolie. Genèse de deux mondes, ed. Otte, M., Actes du Colloque international Liège 28 avril–3 mai 1997, ERAUL 85. Liège: University of Liège Press, pp. 775–84.Google Scholar
Creed-Miles, M., Rosas, A. & Kruszynski, R. 1996. Issues in the identification of Neandertal derivative traits at early post-natal ages. Journal of Human Evolution 30: 147–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodo, Y., Kondo, O. & Nara, T. 2002. The skull of the Neanderthal child of Burial 1. In Neanderthal Burials. Excavations of the Dederiyeh Cave, Afrin, Syria, ed. Akazawa, T. & Muhesen, S.. Kyoto: International Research Center for Japanese Studies, pp. 93–138.Google Scholar
Frayer, D. 1992. The persistence of Neanderthal features in post-Neanderthal Europeans. In Continuity or Replacement. Controversies in Homo sapiens Evolution, ed. Brauër, G. & Smith, F.H.. Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 179–88.Google Scholar
Grün, R. & Stringer, C.B. 2000. Electron spin resonance dating and the evolution of modern humans. Archaeometry 33: 153–99.Google Scholar
Grün, R., Stringer, C., McDermott, F. et al. 2005. U-Series and ESR analyses of bones and teeth relating to the human burials from Skhul, Journal of Human Evolution 49: 316–34.Google Scholar
Hershkovitz, I., Marder, O., Ayalon, A. et al. 2015. Levantine cranium from Manot Cave (Israel) foreshadows the first European modern humans. Nature 520: 216–19.Google Scholar
Howell, F.C. 1958. Upper Pleistocene men of southwestern Asian Mousterian. In Hundert Jahre Neanderthaler, Neanderthal Centenary 1856–1956. Köln Graz: BöhlauVerlag, pp. 185–98.Google Scholar
Hublin, J-J. 2000. Modern–nonmodern hominin interactions: A Mediterranean perspective. In The Geography of Neandertals and Modern Humans in Europe and the Greater Mediterranean, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. & Pilbeam, D.. Cambridge: Peabody Museum Bulletin, Harvard University, pp. 157–82.Google Scholar
Ishida, H. & Kondo, O. 2002. The skull of the Neanderthal child of Burial no. 2. In Neanderthal Burials. Excavations of the Dederiyeh Cave, Afrin, Syria, ed. Akazawa, T. & Muhesen, S.. Kyoto: International Research Center for Japanese Studies, pp. 271–98.Google Scholar
Jelinek, J. 1992. Gravettian shoulderblades, their morphological variability and other interesting features. Anthropologie XXX: 45–50Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. 1999. The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kondo, O. & Dodo, Y. 2002. The postcranial bones of the Neanderthal child of Burial 1. In Neanderthal Burials. Excavations of the Dederiyeh Cave, Afrin, Syria, ed. Akazawa, T. & Muhesen, S.. Kyoto: Inter-national Research Center for Japanese Studies, pp. 139–214.Google Scholar
Le Tensorer, J.-M., Falkennstein, V. von, Le Tensorer, H. & Muhesen, S. 2011. Hummal: a very long Paleolithic sequence in the steppe of central Syria. Considerations on Lower Paleolithic and the beginning of Middle Paleolithic. In The Lower and Middle Paleolithic in the Middle East and Neighbouring regions, ed. Le Tensorer, J.-M., Jagher, R. & Otte, M., ERAUL 126. Liège: University of Liège Press, pp. 235–48.Google Scholar
Mann, A.E. 1995. Modern human origins: Evidence from the Near East. Paléorient 21: 35–46.Google Scholar
McCown, T.D. 1934. The oldest complete skeletons of Man (with a note by Sir Arthur Keith). Bulletin of the American School of Prehistoric Research 10: 12–19.Google Scholar
McCown, T.D. 1936. Mount Carmel Man. Bulletin of the American School of Prehistoric Research 12: 131–9.Google Scholar
McCown, T.D. & Keith, A. 1939. The Stone Age of Mount Carmel II: The Fossil Human Remains from the Levalloiso-Mousterian. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Mercier, N. & Valladas, H. 2003. Reassessment of TL age estimates of burnt flints from the Paleolithic site of Tabun Cave, Israel. Journal of Human Evolution 45: 401–9.Google Scholar
Mercier, N., Valladas, H., Froget, L. et al. 2007. Hayonim Cave: A TL-base chronology for this Levantine Mousterian sequence. Journal of Archaeological Science 34: 1064–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quam, R. & Smith, F.H. 1998. A reassessment of the Tabun C2 mandible. In Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, ed. Akazawa, T., Aoki, K. & Bar-Yosef, O.. New York & London: Plenum Press, pp. 405–21.Google Scholar
Rak, Y. 1991. The Kebara pelvis. In Le Squelette Moustérien de Kebara 2, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. & Vandermeersch, B.. Paris: Éditions du CNRS-Cahiers de Paléoanthropologie, pp. 147–56.Google Scholar
Rak, Y. 1993. Morphological variation in Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens in the Levant. In A Biogeographical Model. Species, Species Concept and Primate Evolution, ed. Kimbel, W.H. & Martin, L.B.. New York: Plenum Press, pp. 523–36.Google Scholar
Rak, Y. 1998. Does any Mousterian cave present evidence of two hominin species? In Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, ed. Akazawa, T., Aoki, K. & Bar-Yosef, O.. New York and London: Plenum Press, pp. 353–66.Google Scholar
Rak, Y., Kimbel, W.H. & Hovers, E. 1994. A Neanderthal infant from Amud Cave, Israel. Journal of Human Evolution 26: 313–24.Google Scholar
Rink, W.J., Schwarcz, H., Lee, H.K. et al. 2001. Electron spin reson-ance (ESR) and thermal ionization mass spectrometric (TIMS) 230Th/234U dating of teeth in Middle Paleolithic layers at Amud Cave, Israel. Geoarchaeology 16: 701–17.Google Scholar
Rink, W.J., Schwarcz, H.P., Weiner, S. et al. 2004. Age of the Mousterian industry at Hayonim Cave, northern Israel, using electron spin resonance and 230Th/234U methods. Journal of Archaeological Science 31 : 953–64.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, K. 1998. Morphological variation in west Asian postcrania: Implications for obstetric and locomotor behavior. In Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, ed. Akazawa, T., Aoki, K. & Bar-Yosef, O.. New York: Plenum Press, pp. 367–80.Google Scholar
Suzuki, H. & Takai, F. (ed.) 1970. The Amud Man and his Cave Site. Tokyo: Academic Press of Japan.Google Scholar
Tillier, A-m. 1989. The evolution of modern humans: Evidence from young Mousterian individuals. In The Human Revolution: Behavioural and Biological Perspectives in the Origins of Modern Humans, ed. Mellars, P. & Stringer, C.. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 286–97.Google Scholar
Tillier, A-m. 1998. Ontogenetic variation in Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens from the Near East: Implications for methodological bias in reconstructing evolutionary biology. In Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, ed. Akazawa, T., Aoki, K. & Bar-Yosef, O.. New York: Plenum Press, pp. 381–9.Google Scholar
Tillier, A-m. 1999. Les enfants moustériens de Qafzeh. Interprétations phylogénétique et paléoauxologique. Paris: CNRS Editions, Cahiers de Paléoanthropologie.Google Scholar
Tillier, A-m. 2005. The Tabun C1 skeleton: A Levantine Neanderthal? Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society – Mitekufat Haeven 35: 439–50.Google Scholar
Tillier, A-m., Arensburg, B. & Duday, H. 1989. La mandibule et les dents du néanderthalien de Kébara (Homo 2), Mont Carmel, Israël. Paléorient 15: 39–56.Google Scholar
Tillier, A-m., Arensburg, B., Vandermeersch, B. & Chech, M. 2003. New human remains from Kebara Cave (Mount Carmel). The place of the Kebara hominins in the Levantine Mousterian Fossil Record. Paléorient 29: 35–62.Google Scholar
Tillier, A-m., Arensburg, B. & Brůžek, J. 2008. Identité biologique des artisans moustériens de Kebara (Mount Carmel, Israël). Réflexions sur le concept de Néanderthalien au Levant Méditerranéen. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris 1–2: 33–58.Google Scholar
Tillier, A-m., Arensburg, B., Belfer-Cohen, A. & Vandermeersch, B. 2012. Early hominin remains from Hayonim Cave in the context of the Late Middle and Upper Pleistocene record from the Near East. Paléorient 37: 47–63.Google Scholar
Valladas, H., Joron, J.L., Valladas, G. et al. 1987. Thermoluminescence dates for the Neanderthal burial site at Kebara, Israel. Nature 330: 159–60.Google Scholar
Valladas, H., Reyss, J.L., Joron, J.L. et al. 1988. Thermoluminescence dating of the Mousterian Proto-Cro-Magnon remains of Qafzeh Cave (Israel). Nature 331: 614–16.Google Scholar
Valladas, H., Mercier, N., Hovers, E. et al. 1999. TL dates for the Neandertal site of Amud Cave, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Science 26: 182–93.Google Scholar
Vallois, H.V. & Vandermeersch, B. 1972. Le crâne moustérien de Qafzeh (Homo VI). Etude anthropologique. L'Anthropologie 76: 71–96.Google Scholar
Vandermeersch, B. 1981. Les Hommes Fossiles de Qafzeh (Israël). Paris: Editions du CNRS–Cahiers de Paléoanthropologie.Google Scholar
Vandermeersch, B. 1991. La ceinture scapulaire et les membres supérieurs. In Le Squelette Moustérien de Kebara 2, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. & Vandermeersch, B.. Paris: Editions du CNRS, pp. 157–78.Google Scholar
Vandermeersch, B 1995. Le rôle du Levant dans l’évolution de l'humanité au Pléistocène supérieur. Paléorient 21.2: 25–34.Google Scholar
- 1
- Cited by