This paper presents evidence relating to the Early Bronze Age combed vessels of southern Canaan, based mainly on data from Tel Yarmuth. Neglected in previous studies on 'Combed Ware', this evidence ...confirms that combing should be considered as merely a 'geste technique'. It further suggests that combing and 'Metallic Ware' are two distinct aspects with a different spatial and chronological distribution. The practice of combing emerged during EB II in its original core area of northern Canaan and the central Levant, in a milieu of incipient urbanism. In EB III, it spread to southern Canaan, in a context of growing inter-regional exchanges, and to the northern Levant, in the framework of the development of maritime connections between Egypt, Byblos and Ebla.
The impact of human-driven hunting on large carnivores has been an important factor in altering recent and sub-recent ecosystems. However, comprehending this vital interaction in ancient times is ...compromised by the scarcity of carnivore remains in archaeological records. To address this, we examined historical human carnivore hunting dynamics in the Judean Desert of the Southern Levant using archaeological leopard traps, a unique hunting device common throughout the Saharo-Arabian region which has never been subjected to comprehensive analytic research. In this research, we applied a multi-faceted approach involving OSL dating, distribution modeling, and ancient DNA techniques, that provide direct evidence to spatio-temporal trends in top predator hunting. Our investigation dates the oldest known traps and implies that human hunting has been directed towards the Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) population in the Judean Desert since the mid-Holocene. Leopard hunting, which was probably carried out mostly by nomadic herding communities, intensified during the late Holocene, resulting in a substantial decline in the leopard population. By the time conservation regulations were enforced in the region, the leopard population had already plummeted to unsustainable levels due to these historical hunting practices.
•We applied OSL dating, distribution modeling, and ancient DNA techniques to study leopard hunting in the Holocene Judean Desert.•Leopard trap construction dates suggest human hunting since the mid-Holocene.•Leopard hunting intensified during the late Holocene, stressing a relatively isolated population.•By the time conservation began, historical hunting had driven the leopard population to unsustainable levels.
•Levantine late Acheulean bifaces were used in butchering activities.•Different tasks including percussion and cutting-related gestures were carried out using bifaces at Revadim and Jaljulia.•Biface ...refinement may be related to its actual use rather than to the skill of the knapper.•The use of biface replicas in several experimental activities revealed their efficiency in both heavy and light-duty tasks.
Lower Paleolithic bifaces are one of the most ubiquitous and persistent stone tools in prehistory, proliferating from Africa through Eurasia from as early as 1.75 Mya and remaining in use for over 1.5 million years. Numerous studies have thus far focused on Acheulean handaxes’ technological characteristics, underlining their relevance in terms of early human technology, behavior and cognition. Moreover, many experimental studies have investigated the use of handaxes, highlighting their exceptional efficiency in carcass processing tasks and in other activities. However, issues of preservation have often prevented a thorough and accurate functional interpretation of Lower Paleolithic bifaces, thus limiting our current knowledge regarding their actual use. This paper presents initial results from the functional analysis of two biface assemblages originating from the Late Lower Paleolithic sites of Revadim and Jaljulia (Israel). Our analysis of use wear traces shows that handaxes at both sites appear to have been employed mainly for carcass processing. We identified differences in biface utilization at the two sites, most probably attributable to the type of animal processing activities for which these tools were employed. We also designed a dedicated experimental framework in which biface replicas were utilized in different tasks on animal, vegetal and mineral materials. This made it possible to test the efficiency of the tools and build a use-wear reference collection to which the traces observed on the archaeological specimens were compared. We thus provide a solid and reliable functional interpretation of the use of bifaces at Revadim and Jaljulia, contributing to our current understanding of the role that these tools played in the adaptation of early human groups in the Levant.
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•Freshwater mussels were surveyed comprehensively in the East Mediterranean Region.•Voucher specimens and tissue snips were collected for genetics.•COI barcoding and species ...delineation methods are applied to all available genera.•New phylogeny and systematics of the East Mediterranean Unionidae are provided.•Biogeographic and conservation considerations are provided.
Located at the junction between Europe, Africa, and Asia, with distinct evolutionary origins and varied ecological and geographical settings, together with a marked history of changes in orogeny and configuration of the main river basins, turned the Eastern Mediterranean into a region of high diversity and endemism of freshwater taxa.
Freshwater mussels (Bivalvia, Unionidae) from the Western Palearctic have been widely studied in their European range, but little attention has been dedicated to these taxa in the Eastern Mediterranean region and their diversity and phylogeography are still poorly understood.
The present study aims to resolve the diversity, biogeography, and evolutionary relationships of the Eastern Mediterranean freshwater mussels. To that end, we performed multiple field surveys, phylogenetic analyses, and a thorough taxonomic revaluation. We reassessed the systematics of all Unionidae species in the region, including newly collected specimens across Turkey, Israel, and Iran, combining COI + 16S + 28S and COI phylogenies with molecular species delineation methods. Phylogeographical patterns were characterized based on published molecular data, newly sequenced specimens, and species distribution data, as well as ancestral range estimations.
We reveal that Unionidae species richness in the Eastern Mediterranean is over 70% higher than previously assumed, counting 19 species within two subfamilies, the Unioninae (14) and Gonideinae (5). We propose two new species, Anodonta seddonisp. nov. and Leguminaia anatolicasp. nov. Six additional taxa, Unio delicatusstat. rev., Unio eucirrusstat. rev., Unio huetistat. rev., Unio sesirmensisstat. rev., Unio terminalisstat. rev. removed from the synonymy of Unio tigridis, as well as Unio damascensisstat. rev. removed from the synonymy of Unio crassus, are re-described. The nominal taxa Unio rothi var. komarowi O. Boettger, 1880 and Unio armeniacus Kobelt, 1911 are proposed as new synonyms of Unio bruguierianus, and Anodonta cyrea Drouët, 1881 and Anodonta cilicica Kobelt & Rolle, 1895 as new synonyms of Anodonta anatina. Also, the presence of Unio tumidus in the Maritza River is confirmed. The phylogeographic patterns described here are interpreted concerning major past geological events.
Conservation needs and implications are presented, together with populations and species conservation priorities.
This study provides a detailed reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental conditions that prevailed during one of the periods of modern human migration out of Africa and their occupation of the Eastern ...Mediterranean-Levant during the Late Middle Paleolithic-Early Upper Paleolithic. Tracing the past vegetation and climate within the Eastern Mediterranean-Levant region is largely based on a south-eastern Mediterranean marine pollen record covering the last 90 kyr (core MD-9509). The various palynomorphs were linked to distinct vegetation zones that were correlated to the two climate systems affecting the study area: the low-latitude monsoon system and the North Atlantic-Mediterranean climate system. The bioprovince palynological markers show that during the period between ∼56 and 44 ka, which covers the early part of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), there was an increase in transportation of pollen from Nilotic origin and a rise in dinoflagellate cyst ratios. These changes coincided with maximum insolation values at 65°N, which led to an enhancement in Nile River discharge into the Eastern Mediterranean following the intensification of the African monsoonal system. At the same time, the rise in Mediterranean arboreal pollen values (broadleaved, coniferous and deciduous temperate trees) is most likely driven by increased precipitation related to the intensification of the North Atlantic-Mediterranean climate system. The ∼56–44 ka wet event coincides with Dansgaard-Oeschger interstadials 14 and 12 and with a warming phase in the Levant, as evidenced by the melting of permafrost along the higher elevations of Mount Hermon. We suggest that African modern humans were able to cross the harsher arid areas due to the intensification of the monsoonal system during the first part of MIS 3, and inhabit the Eastern Mediterranean-Levant region where climatic conditions were favorable (wetter and warmer), even in the currently semiarid/steppe regions.
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