The middle Paleolithic of the Levant

The study explores the origin and development of the Middle Paleolithic in the Levant-a region critical for understanding the dispersal of anatomically modern humans. Technological and typological features of the regional Middle Paleolithic industry indicate its distinctiveness, opposing it to other contemporaneous industries of Africa and Eurasia. Peculiarities concern reduction techniques related to the emergence and spread of the Levallois and blade technique, which had local Acheulo-Yabrudian roots. The Levantine Middle Paleolithic industry was associated with both anatomically modern humans and Palestinian Neanderthals, who had originated during the Middle Pleistocene from a taxon that was an outcome of hybridization between Homo heidelbergensis and local archaic hominins.