Prehistory of the Levant

The span of human history in the Levant before written records, reconstructed chiefly from archaeological remains and environmental evidence.

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Levantine Epipaleolithic: The period between the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic in the Levant, marked by increasingly settled hunter-gatherers. Its changing settlement patterns show the transition from mobile foraging toward village life.
‘Ain Mallaha: A Natufian archaeological site in northern Israel with substantial dwellings and burials. Its houses and graves document settled life among Levantine hunter-gatherers.
Paleolithic: The prehistoric era characterized by stone tools, extending from early human toolmaking to the adoption of farming. It supplies the broad chronological framework for the earliest Levantine societies.
Ubeidiya: An Early Pleistocene archaeological site in the Jordan Valley with stone tools and animal fossils. It records early human activity in the Levant well before modern humans.
Out of Africa migration: The dispersal of Homo sapiens populations from Africa into other regions of the world. The Levant was a key corridor, and evidence points to more than one dispersal episode.
Natufian culture: An Epipaleolithic culture of the southern Levant, known for substantial settlements and intensive use of wild resources. Natufian communities illustrate sedentism before agriculture became established.
Jericho: An ancient settlement in the Jordan Valley, occupied from the Epipaleolithic and known for early monumental construction. Its early settlement and tower provide evidence for large-scale communal building.
Middle Paleolithic: A Paleolithic period associated with prepared-core stone tools and, in some regions, Neanderthals and early modern humans. Its Levantine sites preserve evidence of multiple human populations and tool traditions.
Dmanisi hominins: Early Homo fossils from Dmanisi, Georgia, dating to about 1.8 million years ago. They provide a regional comparison for early human dispersal beyond Africa.
Neanderthal–modern human interbreeding: The genetic and historical interbreeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Levantine fossils and later genetic evidence inform questions about contact between populations.