Levantine corridor
{{Short description|Geographic corridor that connects Africa to Eurasia}}
File:Amurru.JPG; the Levantine corridor is by the sea]]
File:Ksar Akil Fossils.jpg in the Levantine corridor, and discovery of two fossils of Homo sapiens, dated to 40,800 to 39,200 years BP for "Egbert",and 42,400–41,700 BP for "Ethelruda".{{Cite journal |last1= Higham |first1= Thomas F. G. |last2= Wesselingh |first2= Frank P.|last3= Hedges |first3= Robert E. M. |last4= Bergman |first4= Christopher A. |last5= Douka |first5= Katerina |date=2013-09-11 |title= Chronology of Ksar Akil (Lebanon) and Implications for the Colonization of Europe by Anatomically Modern Humans |journal= PLOS ONE |language= en |volume=8 |issue=9 |pages= e72931 |doi= 10.1371/journal.pone.0072931 |issn= 1932-6203 |pmc= 3770606 |pmid= 24039825 |bibcode= 2013PLoSO...872931D |doi-access= free }}.]]
{{Neolithic|258}}
The Levantine corridor is the relatively narrow strip in Western Asia, between the Mediterranean Sea to the northwest and deserts to the southeast, which connects Africa to Eurasia. It is the western part of the Fertile Crescent, the eastern part of the latter being Mesopotamia. 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.N. Goren-Inbar, John D. Speth (eds.), "Human Paleoecology in the Levantine Corridor". 1994, {{ISBN|1-84217-155-0}} ([http://www.palarch.nl/wp-content/vos_de_j_2006_review_of_goren_inbar_n_and_jd_speth_eds_2004_human_paleoecology_in_the_levantine_corridor_published_by_oxbow_books.pdf book review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716064222/http://www.palarch.nl/wp-content/vos_de_j_2006_review_of_goren_inbar_n_and_jd_speth_eds_2004_human_paleoecology_in_the_levantine_corridor_published_by_oxbow_books.pdf |date=2011-07-16 }}) The corridor is named after the Levant.
Dispersal route for plants
Migration route for humans
{{further|Prehistory of the Levant|Genetic history of the Middle East}}
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.[http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/AJHG_2004_v74_p000-0130.pdf J. R. Luis et al., "The Levant versus the Horn of Africa: Evidence for Bidirectional Corridors of Human Migrations"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216123633/http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/AJHG_2004_v74_p000-0130.pdf |date=2012-02-16 }}, American Journal of Human Genetics, 74: 532-544.
The term is used frequently by archaeologists as an area that includes Cyprus, where important developments occurred during the Neolithic Revolution.{{cite book|author=Alan H. Simmons|title=The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: Transforming the Human Landscape|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BLZbLtmEJ68C&pg=PA33|access-date=27 September 2012|date=15 April 2011|publisher=University of Arizona Press|isbn=978-0-8165-2966-7|pages=33–}}
The first sedentary villages were established around fresh water springs and lakes in the Levantine corridor by the Natufian culture.{{cite book|author=Graeme Barker|title=Archaeology of Drylands: Living on the Margins|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bxZ_pMxpS3YC&pg=PA68|access-date=27 September 2012|date=5 December 2000|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-23001-8|pages=68–}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{Regions of Asia}}
{{Regions of the world}}
{{Syria topics}}
Category:Physiographic divisions