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During excavations at Ksar Akil, a most valuable artifact was discovered, allowing proof that the earliest modern humans migrated from Africa to the Middle East about 50 thousand years ago.

Archaeologists conducted radiocarbon analysis of 20 marine shells that made up beads. The obtained data, calculated according to soil layers, indicate that it was formed here 50,000 years ago. With the help of unique fossils, it is now possible to trace the routes of the first modern humans. It has been established that Neanderthals who lived in the same region before them were not capable of making similar bead jewelry.

Ksar Akil is one of the most important Paleolithic sites in Eurasia. It consists of 23 meters depth of archaeological layers that remained untouched by human hands for thousands of years.


The very first of the first? At the roots of the sapiens genus: new dates from Ksar Akil. S. Drobyshevsky 2013


People have always been concerned with the beginning and end of any process. These are the most unusual, non-standard, turning points. Who cares about grey weekdays, boring routine, the drudgery of everyday life? The same goes for anthropogenesis: everyone wants to know when man emerged as a genus and species, when he spoke the first word, when he lit the first fire, painted the world's first painting? Or conversely: when did the last Neanderthal take his last breath, when was the last mammoth killed, when did the latest Ice Age end? Most often, the question is about the First Man. And most often, this is understood as "already a completely, completely modern human, but the most ancient."

In anthropological language, this can be translated as: "When did the species Homo sapiens or even the subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens appear?" Of course, anyone at least superficially familiar with the principles of evolution knows that there was never a "very first sapiens," but the desire to think discretely and categorically prevails even among specialists.

That is why a new article on the dating of yet another first sapiens appeared in the new issue of the electronic journal PLOS ONE. This topic has been discussed many times both in the distant past and in recent years, and has also been covered repeatedly on our portal. This time, researchers turned their attention to the Middle East. The East, as comrade Sukhov would say, is a delicate matter, and in the most literal sense: between the monolithic Africa and the vast expanses of Eurasia lies a narrow path through the Levant, bounded on all sides by seas, mountains and deserts. It is no coincidence that finds from this region have always played a special role in the constructions of anthropogenesis scholars. It is no accident that both Neanderthals and sapiens, and their possible hybrids, have been found here, and many scientists have placed the ancestral home of humanity here. Everyone knows the finds from the Skhul and Qafzeh caves, Amud and Tabun. But most unjustly forget another most important find — from the Ksar Akil cave. And it is to this that the new article is dedicated.

In the distant pre-war year of 1938, in the deep Lebanese gorge, in the Ksar Akil cave, a highly fragmented skeleton was found, which its discoverers affectionately named Egbert, despite the fact that it most likely belonged to a girl. The preservation of the find was poor, and its fate was sad. The skull was described and even reconstructed, but disappeared without a trace in the depths of the Beirut National Museum. Well, the East is a land of secrets and mysteries... But it is not the story of loss that makes the Ksar Akil skull unique, but its features. The skull is very small and gracile for a Neanderthal, with a high vault and without a brow ridge, and the lower jaw with small teeth features a sharp chin protrusion. In other words, the skull is quite sapient, albeit not without archaic features. And the layer with the skeleton contained tools of the Ahmarian industry — one of the first Upper Paleolithic cultures on the planet.

The 1947 season brought a new discovery — an upper jaw without teeth, which this time received the nickname Ethelruda. Its fate is somewhat more cheerful than Egbert's: it too was lost, but in 2002 it resurfaced from the depths of the Beirut National Museum during a re-inventory of the collections.

It must be said that paleoanthropological finds at Ksar Akil are not limited to Egbert and Ethelruda. In preliminary excavation reports, one can find mentions of the burial of a "robust child" next to Egbert, as well as a description of the deciduous molar Ksar Akil 3. However, very little can be said about them.

From the very beginning of their discovery, it was clear that the remains from Ksar Akil belong to the dawn of the human species. The Early Upper Paleolithic layers here are among the oldest. It is clear that they have been dated repeatedly. But progress does not stand still: ever new methods of sample purification, calibration and refinement of dates make it possible to take a fresh look at many old finds. And now — new dates for the humans from Ksar Akil: Egbert has an age of 39.2–40.8 thousand years ago, and Ethelruda — 41.7–42.4 thousand years ago. Thus, Egbert turns out to be a contemporary of the human from Peștera cu Oase, and Ethelruda is even older. True, there are even older teeth from Cavallo and a jaw from Kent's Cavern, but their sapience rests on tricky odontological features whose value is difficult to determine. There is also the skull from Niah on Borneo and the quite ancient Tam Pa Ling from Laos, but the first is still slightly younger — about 37 thousand years ago, and the time of existence of the second is in doubt.

From these figures and the assessment of the Upper Paleolithic at Ksar Akil as "primary," several important conclusions follow. Firstly, it is pleasant to learn about yet another oldest sapiens. Secondly, many Upper Paleolithic dates in Europe turn out to be much larger than at Ksar Akil, and in Turkey at Uçağızlı they are 1–2 thousand years deeper. It follows from this that the Upper Paleolithic may not have originated in the Middle East. Yet it was precisely this hypothesis that was the leading one for many decades; it was from the Levant that most archaeologists drew lines of the first migrations of Upper Paleolithic sapiens across all of Eurasia. Hundreds of articles have been devoted to the study of the "pre-Aurignacian" Near Eastern cultures that are original to the Upper Paleolithic. Now — either the Upper Paleolithic came to the Levant from outside (from the north, from Europe?!) and late, or the huge dates in Europe require revision.

Anthropological conclusions may be even more intriguing. Firstly, neither Egbert nor Ethelruda can be the ancestors of European and Asian Cro-Magnons, since they lived synchronously and perhaps even earlier. Secondly — and this is the most interesting! — Ethelruda's belonging to the sapiens is extremely problematic. In the first article with its description, it was directly assigned to the Neanderthals. Although the jaw is not large and the teeth were not large, the floor of the nasal cavity lowers like that of Neanderthals and, like theirs, there is no canine fossa. True, there is a similarity with the jaw of the Skhul 5 skull, which many tend to consider an "anatomically modern human," but both the similarity and the taxonomic definition of Skhul 5 itself may be subjects of debate. If Ethelruda was nevertheless a Neanderthal, then this means, firstly, that Neanderthals in Lebanon survived right up to the appearance of sapiens there (a difference of 1–2 thousand years is within the margin of error of the method), and secondly, they may well have been creators or at least consumers of Upper Paleolithic culture. True, these assumptions are no more substantiated than all previous ones and, probably, are even too bold. Only new research and discoveries can solve the mystery. Caves and museum storerooms await their researchers...


Sources:

Douka K., Bergman Ch.A., Hedges R.E.M., Wesselingh F.P. et Higham Th.F.G. Chronology of Ksar Akil (Lebanon) and implications for the colonization of Europe by anatomically modern humans // PLOS ONE, 2013, V.8, №9, p.e72931.
Bergman C.A.et Stringer C.B. Fifty years after: Egbert an early Upper Paleolithic juvenile fromKsar Akil,Lebanon// Paléorient, 1989, V.15, №2, pp.99-111.
Ewing J.F. Preliminary note on the excavation at the Paleolithic site of Ksar Akil,RepublicofLebanon// Antiquity, 1947, V.21, pp.186-196.
Ewing J.F. Probable Neanderthaloid fromKsar Akil,Lebanon// American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1963, V.21, pp.101-104.
Tillier A.-M. et Tixier J. Une molaire d'enfant aurignacien a Ksar 'Aqil (Liban)Mt.Carmel, Israël // Paléorient, 1991, V.17, №1, pp.89-93.

The map shows the modern understanding of the geography and climate of the region in 48000 BC. Of course, the map is compiled based on theoretical conclusions, but it gives at least an approximate understanding of the period of the ascent of Homo sapiens sapiens.


Materials:

Short History of the World By H. G. Wells 1922

Paleolithic mtDNA Samples
Hg	N	R0/HV	H	V	J	T	U	(U2)	(U3)	(U4)	(U5)	K	I	W	X	Other
N=10	1	3	1	0	0	0	5	(1)	(0)	(0)	(1)	0	0	0	0	0
%	10%	30%	10%	0%	0%	0%	50%	10%	0%	0%	10%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
Countries	Russia, Germany, Spain, Italy
Sources	45000—26000 BC - Aurignacian culture. Krause 2010; 26000—20000 BC - Gravettian culture. Caramelli 2003; 20000—15000 BC - Solutrean culture. Fernandez thesis 2005; 15000—9000 BC - Magdalenian and Azilian cultures. Bramanti 2009, Hervella 2012;

All ancient DNA of Europe


Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroups of Abkhazians
Data from LITVINOV 2007

Population: Abkhazians
Ethnic group: Abkhazians
Geographic location: Abkhazia, various regions
Sample size: 137
Haplogroups: H: 23.4, X: 9.5, U3: 7.3, U5: 7.3, U1a: 5.8, C 5.8, R*: 5.8, U4: 5.1, W: 5.1, K: 3.7, T1a: 3.7, D: 2.9, I: 2.2, U2e: 2.2, U2d: 1.5, HV*: 1.5, HV1: 1.5, J1: 1.5, A: 0.7, F: 0.7, M*: 0.7, M1: 0.7, T*: 0.7, U1b: 0.7

More about Mitochondrial DNA of Abkhazians and the Western Caucasus

Emiran culture (Emiran) — a Middle Paleolithic culture transitioning into the Upper Paleolithic. It was widespread in the Middle East 36–47 thousand years ago. It grew out of the local variant of the Mousterian culture and evolved into Ahmarian — a local Upper Paleolithic culture. Its creators may have been Neanderthals or anatomically modern humans.

Models of the transition from the Middle to Upper Paleolithic in the Levant have been revised repeatedly. Based on typological analysis of stone artifacts found in caves and rock shelters in northern Israel, Libya and Syria, a sequence including six phases was originally constructed. It began with the Emiran culture, which was considered a transitional phase because it had both the Levallois method and blade technology among its characteristics. The heterogeneous appearance of the transitional phase complexes raised doubts about its validity. It was assumed that erosion and karst processes disturbed the archaeological layers and led to the appearance of this mixed industry. However, a similar phase with good stratigraphy was later identified at Ksar Akil in Libya and Boker Tachtit in southern Israel. For northern Israel, the problem of the authenticity of the transitional phase has not yet been solved, and it is believed that there are no undisturbed layers that would support its existence. In this work, we analyze the relative frequency of Levallois and blade products at four sites in northern Israel. Emir, El Wad, layer F, Rakefet VIII-V and Kebara, layers VI-III — all these sites contain both Upper Paleolithic blades and products of Levallois flaking. It appears that all these complexes, possessing similar typological and technological features, have a common cultural basis. These data confirm the validity of the transitional phase in northern Israel and make it possible to assign the complexes described above to it.


Materials:

Encyclopedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory. 2000
Prentice Hall Advances in Human Evolution Series. 1992

Based on radiocarbon dating, scientists have established that volcanic activity of Elbrus occurred in 33180±700 and 21000±120 BC, and in the Holocene (late stage of the post-caldera cycle) it resumed several times — 8150±40, 6520±50, 6200±120, 5120±21 BC ^[1]. According to other estimates, the last strong eruption of the volcano occurred in the I–II centuries AD and a less intense one 900 years ago ^[2]. Volcanic ash from an ancient eruption of Elbrus (about 45 thousand years ago — Heinrich event 5), in particular, was discovered by an international team of scientists during research of Mezmaiskaya Cave.

Notes:

^[1] Geological structure of Mount Elbrus and problems of its age. Gazeev
^[2] Global Volcanism Programm

The Phlegraean Fields is a territory northwest of Naples (Italy) on the shore of the Gulf of Pozzuoli, bounded on the west by Cape Miseno and on the east by Cape Posillipo, which in turn forms the northern bay of the Gulf of Naples.

The supereruption of the Phlegraean Fields about 40 thousand years ago, which by geological standards occurred synchronously with eruptions of Mount Kazbek in the Caucasus and Mount St. Anna in the Southern Carpathians, may have caused the onset of a "volcanic winter" and became the cause of Neanderthal extinction ^[1]. According to new data, after the eruption in Campania 40 thousand years ago, the amount of sulfur in the atmosphere over Europe increased, absorbing and scattering sunlight, resulting in a drop in air temperature of 5–10 degrees Celsius.


Notes:

^[1] The cause of Neanderthal extinction — volcanic winter

Kazbek is an extinct stratovolcano, the easternmost five-thousander of the Caucasus, located in the eastern part of the Central Caucasus, on the border of Russia and Georgia, in the eastern part of the Khokh Range. The last eruption occurred in 750 BC ^[1]

In 2004, volcanic ash was discovered in Mezmaiskaya Cave, attributed to the eruption of Kazbek, which by geological standards occurred synchronously with the supereruption of the Phlegraean Fields in Italy and the eruption of Mount St. Anna in the Southern Carpathians about 40 thousand years ago, which caused the onset of a "volcanic winter" and became the cause of Neanderthal extinction.


Notes:

^[1] Global Volcanism Programm

Humans began fishing as early as the Lower Paleolithic, about 40,000 years ago ^[3]. Isotopic analysis of the skeletal remains of Tianyuan Man (a 40,000-year-old Homo from East Asia) showed that he regularly consumed freshwater fish ^[4]. Shell middens, fish bones and cave paintings also show that freshwater and seafood were a very important part of the diet of ancient humans and were consumed in significant quantities.

Materials:

^[3] African Bone Tools Dispute Key Idea About Human Evolution National Geographic News article. 2010
^[4] Stable isotope dietary analysis of the Tianyuan 1 early modern human. Hu Y 2009

J-M304 (J, J-P209) split from IJ-P124 40,000 BC, MRCA 28,000 BC > J-FTA28008 split from J-BY175871 500 BC, MRCA 400 BC 1858–1933. Daut Arshba (Ҷыхә-иԥацәа), Atishadu, Abkhazia > Arshba

During the Upper Paleolithic era, Abkhazia was populated by Cro-Magnons (named after the Cro-Magnon cave in France). In physical appearance, these people were almost no different from modern humans. People learned to work stone and bone. This time is sometimes called the "Bone Age." It was then that the first ornaments, tailored clothing made of leather and fur, woven ropes, a tendency toward art — painting, sculpture — appeared, as did language and religious beliefs (animism, totemism). During this period, primitive tribal communities consisting of several large families — family communities — emerged. They lived either in caves or in wooden huts. Family members grouped around the mother-ancestress, keeper of the fire, blood kinship and tradition. The Upper Paleolithic is the time of the transformation of Homo habilis into Homo sapiens. In fact, the history of human society dates from the Upper Paleolithic era. Over 100 sites of this era are known on the territory of Abkhazia.


Materials:

"History of Abkhazia in Dates." T.A. Achugba 2011

An archaeological culture of the Early Upper Paleolithic in the Zagros mountain region on the border of Iran and Iraq.

Replaces the local variant of the Mousterian culture. According to radiocarbon analysis, its age is about 36 thousand years.

The relationship of the Baradostian culture with neighboring cultures remains unclear. It is considered an early variant of the Aurignacian culture. It was replaced by the Zarzian culture, possibly due to cooling during the last phase of the Ice Age. Some similarity with the inventory of the Imeretian culture is observed.