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Abstract: Local sea level curves are obtained by using various methods, from land as well as from sea records and are based on different indicators. The most updated Holocene sea level curve for the coast of Israel, Eastern Mediterranean, from about 9500calyears ago up to about 700 hundred years ago (the end of the Crusaders period) is based mainly on coastal archaeological remains. For the last Millennia an attempt was made to use bio-constructions along the present-day abrasion platforms as a tool for reconstructing past sea levels. Here we present radiocarbon dating of pre-bomb mollusks from the intertidal zone in order to determine the reservoir age of the bio-construction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Dendropoma petraeum are fixed vermitids (mollusk) that colonize and construct abrasion platform rims along rocky shorelines. These endemic mollusks are considered good relative sea level indicators in the eastern and the southern Mediterranean, due to their narrow habitat below the sea surface (about ±10cm). The observed relative sea level values recorded (submerged, uplifted or at present mean sea level) reflect a superposition of eustatic, isostatic, tectonic and possibly local sedimentary instabilities. The present study examines fossil Dendropoma samples gathered along the Levant coast, from northern Israel to eastern Turkey. Conventional radiocarbon dates (from Turkey, Syria and partly in Lebanon) and 14C Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) from Lebanon and Israel yields Dendropoma ages ranging through Late Holocene. A numerical model is used for calculating the change in sea level through the Holocene as a function of glacio-hydrology and isostasy of the eastern Mediterranean. Space–time dependent subtractions of the model values are used to eliminate the eustatic component of the relative sea level, in order to obtain the tectonic component. Results show a general northward increase in tectonic uplift of the Levantine coast with different rates in different tectonic segments. This differential uplift corresponds well to the major tectonic segments comprising the Levantine continental margin since the Pleistocene, from the Carmel fault to the East Anatolian fault. Hence, these segments were still active during the last thousands years and even during the last hundreds years. The general trend of northward increase in vertical displacement is predominantly dictated by the convergence between the Sinai and Arabian plates with Anatolia and Eurasia, across the Cyprus arc and Zagros belt; and the secondarily dictated by the northward increase in convergence component across the sinistral Dead Sea Fault plate boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine Isotopic Stage 5 is associated with wetter climatic conditions in the Saharo-Arabian deserts. This stage also corresponds to the establishment of Middle Paleolithic hominins and their associated material culture in two geographical provinces in southwest Asia-the Eastern Mediterranean woodland and the Arabian Peninsula desert. The lithic industry of the Eastern Mediterranean is characterized by the centripetal Levallois method, whereas the Nubian Levallois method characterizes the populations of the Arabian desert. The Negev Desert, situated between these regions is a key area to comprehend population movement in correlation to climatic zones. This investigation addresses the nature of the Middle Paleolithic settlement in the Negev Desert during MIS 5 by studying the site of Nahal Aqev. High resolution chronological results based on luminescence dating and cryptotephra show the site was occupied from MIS 5e to MIS 5d. The lithic industries at Nahal Aqev are dominated by centripetal Levallois core method. These data demonstrate that Nahal Aqev is much closer in its cultural attributes to the Eastern Mediterranean Middle Paleolithic than to the Arabian Desert entity. We conclude that Nahal Aqev represents an expansion of Middle Paleolithic groups from the Mediterranean woodland into the desert, triggered by better climatic conditions. These groups possibly interacted with hominin groups bearing the Nubian core tradition from the vast region of Arabia., (© 2022. The Author(s).)