The landscape-structural zones of the Levant ancient hominin habitat: Revisiting combined paleomagnetic and tectonic-geodynamic analysis, paleogeographic mapping, and event stratigraphy

Considering the latest data in paleomagnetic, tectonic-geodynamic, paleogeographical mapping, and event stratigraphy [1], several essential characteristics of the sites of the most ancient hominin of the Levant are generalized. The region transitioning from the East African dispersal of ancient hominin to the Eastern Mediterranean is called the Levantine Corridor. In the Late Cenozoic, it was a carbonate platform cut by the essential tectonic element – the Dead Sea Transform (DST). This structure determined the nature of geodynamics, volcanic processes, and landscape conditions during the ancient hominin movement from Africa to Eurasia. An elevated sea level carbonate platform was within the Levantine corridor in the Late Pliocene and Eopleistocene, corresponding to paleomagnetic Chrons of Gauss and Matuyama (C2An-C1r). In the west, the platform 2.0-2.5 Ma was covered by marine transgression, with levels up to 200 m higher than today. Three habitat zones were determined in the Levant to describe the ancient hominin dispersal: (a) Lacustrine-alluvial basin of the Kinneret-Kinnarot depression (Israel) within the DST. Two suites of sedimentary rocks are developed here – 'Ubeidiya (zone C2r) with numerous artifact horizons and Erk el-Ahmar (C2An) – by paleomagnetic data. According to facies data, these are typically pluvial complexes of terrigenous-carbonate rocks, which we compared with the Akchagylian hydrosphere maximum [1]. Palinspastic reconstructions of paleomagnetic maps showed that to the north, the 'Ubeidiya lacustrine basin is replaced by an extensive field of Ruman basalts with radiometric dates of 2.04-2.52 Ma and reverse magnetization rocks averagely corresponding to the paleomagnetic zone C2r; (b) Volcanic-swamp-alluvial Zarqa basin (Jordan) within the DST-shifted northeastern block of the Negev terrane. A complex of volcanogenic-sedimentary rocks is developed here, clearly dated paleomagnetically and radiometrically (1.98-2.52 Ma), with a dominant reverse magnetization of the rocks (C2r) (Scardia et al., 2019). Oldowan artifacts are developed in the upper alluvial layer of the section; (c) Volcanic-alluvial basin of the Yiron plateau of the Upper Galilee uplift on the eastern margin of the Galilea-Lebanon terrane. Here, as in the Zarqa section on the opposite side of the DST, the Ruman basalts series, with a radiometric age of 2.22-2.47 Ma, is developed. It is underlain by gravel-clayey formations, forming an erosional incision with an amplitude of up to 20 m, and is covered by a younger soil-volcanogenic layer. Artifacts attributed to the Acheulean in the incision and soil horizon were found [2]. Thus, all three landscape zones of the Levantine Corridor indicate the development of a unified pluvial complex ('Ubeidiya formation corresponding to the paleomagnetic zone C2 (Early Matuyama)) of lacustrine and alluvial formations on both sides of the DST and in the Kinnarot basin. During this epoch, optimal conditions were formed for the large-scale hominin dispersal from East Africa to Eurasia through the Levantine Corridor.

References

[1] Eppelbaum, L.V. and Katz, Y.I., 2023. Multidisciplinary Geological-Geophysical Analysis Unmasks Anthropological Site Structure in the Northern Part of the Levantine Corridor. Jour. of Anthropological and Archaeological Sci., 8(3), 1056-1078.

[2] Ronen, A., 1991. The Yiron-gravel lithic assemblage artifacts older than 2.4 Ma in Israel. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 21(2), 159-164.