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[email protected] Numbers displayed above are based on latest data collected. For more information visit www.intechopen.com 12 Early-to-mid Pleistocene Tectonic Transition Across the Eastern Mediterranean Influences the Course of Human History Uri Schattner Dr. Moses Straus Dept. of Marine Geosciences, Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel 1. Introduction 1.1 Out of Africa through the Levantine corridor The widely accepted ‘Out-of-Africa’ hypothesis considers northeastern Africa as the cradle of humankind, based on early archaeological evidence, (e.g., Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen, 2001; Templeton, 2002). The earliest evidence for hominin activity was found in Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Amongst these findings were remnants of Oldowan and Acheulian stone tools, remnants of animals and remains of hominins in sites dated to the Pliocene (>1.8 Ma)(e.g., Semaw, 2000). Hominin remains outside Africa are dated to the Pleistocene and Holocene periods, from ~1.8 Ma to present. Remains were found in sites spanning from northeast Africa to the Far East (Carto et al., 2009; Stringer, 2000).