Human Paleoecology in the Levantine Corridor Edited by Naama Goren-Inbar and John D. Speth (2004). Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2004, 220 pp. (paperback), $70. ISBN 1-84217-155-0

Review by PAMELA R. WILLOUGHBY Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2H4, CANADA

his volume represents the proceedings of a 2002 con- animals and humans. He shows that over the Quaternary, Tference at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew there were fluctuations between Holarctic and Ethiopian University of Jerusalem. Unlike most conferences, the pre- faunal assemblages, in other words, between Eurasian and sentations were part of an occasional series that extended African mammal groups. Animal and human distribution over six months. The goal of the Human Paleoecology in also could have been affected by major palaeoenvironmen- the Levantine Corridor project was to examine the palaeo- tal changes, such as the waxing and waning of Northern ecology, palaeoenvironments, and the Pleistocene human Hemisphere ice sheets. Martinez-Navarro additionally history in this eastern Mediterranean coastal region. The discusses faunal changes in the Levant compared to coeval volume is dedicated to Eitan Tchernov, the palaeontologist events in Eurasia and Africa. The palaeontologist Adrian whose research has contributed the most to our under- Lister reviews similar questions in relation to the evolu- standing of the past fauna and environments of this part of tionary history of Eurasian elephants between 800,000 and the Near East and the role they played in various periods 600,000 years ago. of human evolution. The papers represent a mixture of top- Gideon Hartman discusses turtle evolution. He shows ics and concerns; some are data based, while others take a that a distinct turtle subspecies, Auremys caspica rivulata, is more theoretical perspective. Many combine the two ap- present at Gesher Benot Ya’acov 780,000 years ago. Because proaches. The authors represent a diverse range of special- this same taxon is present here today, he concludes that there ists, some of whose relationship to the theme seems initial- may be long term environmental stability and population ly to be rather peripheral. Many are based at the Hebrew continuity in turtles from the Middle Pleistocene onwards. University of Jerusalem, and were invited to participate in How this corresponds to the presumed regular changes in this inter-disciplinary project, even though their real exper- large mammal fauna remains unclear. But it shows that the tise lies outside of its major focus. Other participants were well-documented tectonic and volcanic events associated from outside Israel, but have closer ties to the main themes with the Jordan Ri� Valley may not have changed some of past environments and humans. The choice of authors freshwater ecosystems in any substantial way. thus makes the resulting volume somewhat disjointed. Sabine Gaudinski analyzes seventeen faunal assem- The main focus of this book is the role of the Levant blages from the Lower Palaeolithic archaeological and fos- in Pleistocene and early Holocene human and animal mi- sil site of ‘Ubeidiya. This site was first excavated from 1961 grations. This is a critical issue, especially in light of the to 1963, and then again from 1968 to 1974. Gaudinski exam- Out-of-Africa I and II models of dispersals of Homo erectus ines the role of hominins in the accumulation of these fau- and Homo sapiens, respectively. It contains fourteen papers nal remains by focusing a�ention on the assemblage from as well as a brief introductory chapter by the editors; I will II-24. She sees evidence in the faunal remains for both car- discuss each in the order in which they appear. nivore and hominin activity. The former le� tooth marks The first chapter a�er the introduction is by Dov Por. on bones, and different skeletal element distributions from Titled the Levantine waterway, it provides information those that should be naturally present or present in hom- about present and past springs, rivers and lakes. These inin sites. The presence of humans can be seen in cut marks permanent sources of fresh water could have permi�ed the on bone and in the presence of stone tools. But, somewhat dispersals of animals and humans at various times during surprising, there is no evidence of marrow processing. the Pleistocene and Holocene. Craig Feibel, a geologist who She suggests that if early hominins were not interested in is well known for his palaeoanthropological work in the marrow, it might mean that animal fat was obtained from Lake Turkana basin of Kenya, shi�s to the northernmost other sources, most likely from meat acquired through true extremes of the African ri� valley in order to describe the hunting behavior. geology and palaeoenvironments of similar lake margin Emanuel Marx presents a theoretical paper on Acheu- areas. In the Levant, these are associated with important lean social organization. Making use of ethnographic data Lower Palaeolithic archaeological sites such as ‘Ubeidiya on modern and recent hunter-gatherers, Marx sees Acheu- and Gesher Benot Ya’acov. lean people as essentially human in their behavior. This is Bienvenido Martinez-Navarro describes the disper- in contrast to recent ideas about modern human origins sals and migrations of mammals through the Levant dur- which suggest that all humans prior to 40,000 years ago are ing the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene. Like Tchernov, he people without true culture regardless of which species is emphasizes the role of this region as a bo�leneck for both involved. A related topic is discussed by Daniel Dor and

PaleoAnthropology 2006: 24−26. Copyright © 2006 Paleoanthropology Society. All rights reserved. BOOK REVIEW • 25

Eva Jablonka, the origins of language. They stress the inter- gazelle and Persian fallow deer. From estimates of distance relationships between genetic and cultural innovations, and of transport of faunal packages to the cave, as well as sea- argue that natural selection promoted the ability to learn to sonality of prey acquisition (late winter or spring), he ar- respond to stimuli. This pa�ern of gene-cultural co-evolu- gues that Neanderthals were active hunters rather than the tion led to the transformation of a learned response to a occasional scavengers that Lewis Binford and others have more genetically fixed or instinctive response. It also oper- promoted. Speth makes an intriguing argument about the ates at the group level, as language allows social control. role of hunting pressure on various mammal species. The This paper takes an almost Lamarckian perspective on the numbers of large animals decrease over time in the Middle role of language in human evolution, and also suggests that Palaeolithic, and this trend continues into the Early Upper it had a key role over the evolution of the genus Homo. Palaeolithic, where this pa�ern must be associated with an- Ahuva Almogi-Labin et al. present a review of envi- atomically modern Homo sapiens populations. He proposes ronmental conditions for the last 400,000 years. Factors that a model of intensification of resource use over time which control climate in both the Levant and Northeast Africa are is shared by both the Kebara Neanderthals and later ana- compared, showing that the Mediterranean Sea has a major tomically modern people. role in the Levant, while monsoons are the primary agents Shoshana Ashkenazi describes the modern draining of in African climate. They also discuss the record available Levantine lakes, and its impact on birds and other wetland from deep sea cores in the eastern Mediterranean and Red animals, while Tal Simmons focuses on bird exploitation Sea. A proxy record is available, not only from foraminifera in past archaeological sites in the Jordan Valley. Simmons and their oxygen isotopes, but also from sapropels or dark, points out that Natufian hunter-gatherers at the end of the organic rich layers deposited in the Mediterranean due to Pleistocene focused on aquatic species rather than terres- heavy flow of the Nile River during we�er periods. A ter- trial ones. There is no sign of an increasing bird diversity restrial record is available from speleothems in Levantine that would hint at Kent Flannery’s broad spectrum dietary caves, especially those that have yielded the important adaptation that promoted the first domestication of both Upper Pleistocene fossil human record. Almogi-Labin et animals and plants. But by the time of the Pre-Po�ery Neo- al. also review Milankovitch forcing of glacials and inter- lithic A, when there is clear evidence of such domestication, glacial conditions, and the shi� to the 100,000 years orbital arid and terrestrial bird species increase in frequency. These eccentricity cycle sometime a�er 1.2 million years ago. By may have been game birds taken in farmer’s fields. 600,000 years ago, the orbital eccentricity cycle becomes François Valla discusses the Natufian at Eynan in the the most important cause of ice age periodicity. This shi� Hula area of northern Israel. He measures territoriality and is the basis for Rick Po�s’ (1998) variability selection model resource acquisition by examining the frequency of exotic of later human biocultural evolution. The authors conclude stone artifacts and changes in faunal remains. by reviewing dates for we�er and drier periods, as well as So what does this book offer researchers interested in the role of changing environment in human evolution and general palaeoanthropological issues? It highlights a re- dispersals. gion that, while geographically small, has had extensive Anne-Marie Tillier and her co-authors discuss dental a�ention from researchers interested in human evolution, pathologies and trauma in people who lived at Skhūl and one that has played a significant role in the development of Qafzeh during the Middle Palaeolithic. One of the signifi- models of the origins of anatomically modern humans, as cant discoveries of the last twenty years is that these peo- well as those dealing with earlier hominin migrations. This ple are anatomically modern or near-modern. While one volume offers a welcome review of the environmental con- of the original workers at Qafzeh, Bernard Vandermeersch text of human biological and cultural evolution in the East- (1981), classified them as proto-Cro-Magnons in 1981, it ern Mediterranean, and presents an important case study was almost another decade before it was revealed that they that could be a model for research elsewhere. The papers lived in the Levant over 100,000 years ago, well before Ne- also raise other possibilities and more questions to be ad- anderthals appeared in the same area. Despite their antiq- dressed in the future. Was the Levant an isolated cul-de-sac uity, there are numerous skeletons in buried context. The at any point in the human past? It was clearly connected authors conclude that few individuals at Qafzeh survived to the wider world of Eurasia and Africa at various times. to reproductive adulthood. In contrast, at Skhūl there are During some periods, it is more accurately discussed as an only three juveniles represented. Despite the demographic extension of one or the other region. The Levant offers what evidence, or perhaps because of it, there is li�le evidence of to us today would be an obvious route in and out of Af- dental problems or skeletal trauma. Whatever caused their rica, but so far has not yielded strong proof for substantial demise did not leave an obvious skeletal marker. human migrations at any period during the Pleistocene. John Speth, an American zooarchaeologist and co-edi- Generally, while this book is a mix of papers that do not tor of this volume, addresses the key question of Neander- necessarily fit together into a complete package, it is an im- thal hunting behavior. He examines the Middle Palaeoli- portant contribution to the study of this region and to the thic faunal assemblages at Kebara, dated between 60,000 general field of human biological and cultural evolution. and 40,000 years ago, which are dominated by mountain 26 • PaleoAnthropology 2006

REFERENCES Vandermeersch, B. 1981. Les Hommes Fossiles de Qafzeh. Par- Po�s, R. 1998. Environmental Hypotheses of Hominin Evo- is: Editions du CNRS. lution. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 41: 93‒136.