Potential Refugia in the Levant During the Pleistocene and Their Use by Hominins

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Interest in the possibility that refugia have played an important role in human evolution has grown in recent years. A refugium is a relatively small area in which a population may be able to survive during a period of unfavorable conditions. Here, we report preliminary results of a study that is seeking to identify refugia in the Levant that were occupied by Pleistocene hominins. In the Levant, the main constraint on mammalian occupation has been, until recently, the availability of water. Hence, we focus on areas that likely had stable sources of water over long periods of time. We are reviewing geohydrological evidence to identify such areas; to attach dates to the areas’ refugial phases; and to correlate these phases with the global climate record. We are also examining archaeological evidence to ascertain when hominins occupied the areas in question. So far, we have identified over a dozen potential refugia across the Levant. The data indicate that the refugial phases are not always synchronous or correlated with global climate patterns. The data also indicate that some of the potential refugia are on the frontiers of the Levant, which raises the possibility that they could have facilitated hominin migration into Eurasia.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 41560.0