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Abstract: This review summarizes the paleoecology of the Early and Middle Pleistocene of southwestern Asia, based on both flora and fauna, retrieved from a series of ‘windows’ provided by the excavated sites. The incomplete chrono-stratigraphy of this vast region does not allow to accept the direct chronological correlation between the available sites and events of faunal and hominin dispersals from Africa. It also demonstrates that hominins survived in a mixed landscape of open parkland with forested surrounding hills. In addition, the prevailing environmental conditions are not sufficient to explain successful adaptations to new ecological niches away from the African savanna of the bearers of ‘core and flake’ and the Acheulian industries, The differences in knapping and secondary shaping of stone artifacts probably reflect the learned traditions of different groups of hominins. The current distribution of lithic industries across Eurasia is undoubtedly incomplete due to lack of cultural continuities as well as paucity of field research in several sub-regions. This observation supports the contention that what we view as a constant stream of migrants was actually interrupted many times. The continuous occupation of southwestern Asia by the makers of the Acheulian is in contrast with neighboring regions such as the Iranian plateau and Eastern Europe. A more complex model is required to explain the recorded Eurasian archaeological–cultural mosaic. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The long archeological sequence exposed during our renewed excavations in Hayonim Cave sheds new light on the striking technological changes observed at the boundary between the Acheulo-Yabrudian (end of the Lower Paleolithic) and Early Middle Paleolithic in the Levant, as well as on their meaning in terms of population movements. The recent, as yet unpublished, technological studies highlight a clear technological break between these two entities. In Hayonim, the Acheulo-Yabrudian assemblages found at the bottom of the archeological sequence display the specific combination of bifacial shaping and the production of thick, often cortical, flakes frequently shaped into scrapers by Quina retouch. Neither of these lithic production systems is observed in the succeeding Levantine Middle Paleolithic assemblages. In contrast, the Early Middle Paleolithic is characterized by the expansion and diversification of the Levallois production system in its full-fledged form, the emergence of a specific Laminar technology, and a high proportion of retouched tools made on elongated blanks (points and blades). These technological features are unknown in the previous Acheulo-Yabrudian assemblages in the cave. Based on this information, we attempt to determine if the observed changes in stone tool production strategies resulted from an autochthonous development or a dispersal out of Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]