The first Neanderthal remains from an open-air Middle Palaeolithic site in the Levant

The late Middle Palaeolithic (MP) settlement patterns in the Levant included the repeated use of caves and open landscape sites. The fossil record shows that two types of hominins occupied the region during this period - Neandertals and Homo sapiens. Until recently, diagnostic fossil remains were found only at cave sites. Because the two populations in this region left similar material cultural remains, it was impossible to attribute any open-air site to either species. In this study, we present newly discovered fossil remains from intact archaeological layers of the open-air site 'Ein Qashish, in northern Israel. The hominin remains represent three individuals: EQH1, a nondiagnostic skull fragment; EQH2, an upper right third molar (RM3); and EQH3, lower limb bones of a young Neandertal male. EQH2 and EQH3 constitute the first diagnostic anatomical remains of Neandertals at an open-air site in the Levant. The optically stimulated luminescence ages suggest that Neandertals repeatedly visited 'Ein Qashish between 70 and 60 ka. The discovery of Neandertals at open-air sites during the late MP reinforces the view that Neandertals were a resilient population in the Levant shortly before Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens populated the region

Investigating pre-agricultural dynamics in the Levant: a new stratified epipaleolithic site at Ein Qashish South, Jezreel Valley, Israel

The transformation of society from mobile hunter-gatherers to settled farmers was completed in Neolithic times and became a point of ‘no return’ in human history. The nature and the origin of that transformation have always been of special interest in terms of guiding research on the Levantine Epipalaeolithic (c. 23–11.5 ka cal BP). The Late Epipalaeolithic Natufian culture (14.5–11.5 ka BP), characterised by stone-built dwellings, elaborate burial practices, objects d’art and personal decoration, is considered a threshold to Neolithic farming communities (Bar-Yosef 1998). While agriculture practised by Natufian hunters was noted in Garrod’s (1932) very first publication of Natufian culture more than 80 years ago, the origin of that culture remains enigmatic. At the same time, large, open-air Early Epipalaeolithic sites discovered during the last decades provide some evidence of social complexity, arguably suggesting cultural continuity and the perception of the transition to agriculture in the Levant as a long, gradual and protracted proces