Levantine corridor

The Levantine corridor is the relatively narrow strip between the Mediterranean Sea to the northwest and deserts to the southeast which connects Africa to Eurasia. This corridor is a land route of migrations of animals between Eurasia and Africa. In particular, it is believed that early hominins spread from Africa to Eurasia via the Levantine corridor and Horn of Africa.[2] The corridor is named after the Levant.

Fertile Crescent; the Levantine corridor is by the sea
Layer sequence at Ksar Akil in the Levantine corridor, and discovery of two fossils of Homo sapiens, dated to 40,800 to 39,200 years BP for "Egbert",[1]and 42,400–41,700 BP for "Ethelruda".[1].
The Neolithic
Mesolithic
Fertile Crescent
Heavy Neolithic
Shepherd Neolithic
Trihedral Neolithic
Pre-Pottery (A, B)
Qaraoun culture
Tahunian culture
Yarmukian culture
Halaf culture
Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period
Ubaid culture
Nile valley
Faiyum A culture
Tasian culture
Merimde culture
El Omari culture
Maadi culture
Badarian culture
Amratian culture
Europe
Arzachena culture
Boian culture
Butmir culture
Cardium pottery culture
Cernavodă culture
Coțofeni culture
Cucuteni–Trypillia culture
Dudești culture
Gorneşti culture
Gumelnița–Karanovo culture
Hamangia culture
Khirokitia
Linear Pottery culture
Malta Temples
Ozieri culture
Petreşti culture
San Ciriaco culture
Shulaveri-Shomu culture
Sesklo culture
Tisza culture
Tiszapolgár culture
Usatovo culture
Varna culture
Vinča culture
Vučedol culture
Neolithic Transylvania
Neolithic Southeastern Europe
China
Peiligang culture
Pengtoushan culture
Beixin culture
Cishan culture
Dadiwan culture
Houli culture
Xinglongwa culture
Xinle culture
Zhaobaogou culture
Hemudu culture
Daxi culture
Majiabang culture
Yangshao culture
Hongshan culture
Dawenkou culture
Songze culture
Liangzhu culture
Majiayao culture
Qujialing culture
Longshan culture
Baodun culture
Shijiahe culture
Yueshi culture
Neolithic Tibet
South Asia
Lahuradewa
Mehrgarh
Rakhigarhi
Kalibangan
Chopani Mando
Jhukar
Daimabad
Chirand
Koldihwa
Burzahom
Mundigak
Brahmagiri
Other locations
Jeulmun pottery period
Jōmon period
Philippine jade culture
Capsian culture
Savanna Pastoral Neolithic

farming, animal husbandry
pottery, metallurgy, wheel
circular ditches, henges, megaliths
Neolithic religion
Neolithic decline

Chalcolithic

Location and geography

The Levantine Corridor is the western part of the Fertile Crescent, the eastern part being Mesopotamia.

Dispersal route for plants

Botanists recognize this area as a dispersal route of plant species.[3]

Dispersal route for humans

The distribution of Y-chromosome and mtDNA haplogroups suggests that during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, the Levantine corridor was more important for bi-directional human migrations between Africa and Eurasia than was the Horn of Africa.[4]

The term is used frequently by archaeologists as an area that includes Cyprus, where important developments occurred during the Neolithic revolution.[5]

The first sedentary villages were established around fresh water springs and lakes in the Levantine corridor by the Natufian culture.[6]

References

  1. Higham, Thomas F. G.; Wesselingh, Frank P.; Hedges, Robert E. M.; Bergman, Christopher A.; Douka, Katerina (2013-09-11). "Chronology of Ksar Akil (Lebanon) and Implications for the Colonization of Europe by Anatomically Modern Humans". PLOS ONE. 8 (9): e72931. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...872931D. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0072931. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3770606. PMID 24039825.
  2. N. Goren-Inbar, John D. Speth (eds.), "Human Paleoecology in the Levantine Corridor". 1994, ISBN 1-84217-155-0 (book review)
  3. Bar-Yosef O. Pleistocene connections between Africa and Southwest Asia: an archaeological perspective, African Archaeological Review, 1987, vol. 5, pp. 29–38.
  4. J. R. Luis et al., "The Levant versus the Horn of Africa: Evidence for Bidirectional Corridors of Human Migrations" Archived 2012-02-16 at the Wayback Machine, American Journal of Human Genetics, 74: 532-544.
  5. Alan H. Simmons (15 April 2011). The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: Transforming the Human Landscape. University of Arizona Press. pp. 33–. ISBN 978-0-8165-2966-7. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  6. Graeme Barker (5 December 2000). Archaeology of Drylands: Living on the Margins. Taylor & Francis. pp. 68–. ISBN 978-0-415-23001-8. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
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