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The emergence of the Upper Palaeolithic in Southwest Asia is considered a unique phenomenon in relation to other parts of the Old World. Besides the local circumstances that are particular to each region, this is the only region outside Africa with the clear presence of modern humans producing Middle Palaeolithic industries. Still, it seems that also here, as elsewhere outside Africa, the UP is conceived mostly as portraying a break with MP life-ways, and continuity, if indicated, is on a rather modest scale. While the geographical extent of the Levant (i.e. the eastern Mediterranean, from the Taurus Zagros mountains in the north, to southern Sinai and from the coast eastwards of the Rift valley into the Saudi Arabian deserts) is relatively small, at least four or five variants of Initial Upper Palaeolithic lithic industries have been identified/defined, based on techno-typological criteria, geographical constraints and differing chronologies, as demonstrated at Boqer Tachtit, Tor Sadaf, Ksar Akil, Umm el-Tlel, and Ucagizli. Besides the usual obstacles archaeologists face in trying to identify and define relationships between various archaeological assemblages in time and space, prehistoric research of the Levant, like other regions, suffers from its Eurocentric past and international present, whereby research reflects the different ‘weltanschauung’ and paradigms of the scholars currently conducting it. We shall attempt to present a coherent picture of the present state of affairs, as well as our own understanding of the Levantine IUP, based on the locally available data within the wider context of current prehistoric research.

Shells found at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site of Yiftahel reflect various aspects of the cultic, social, and economic life at the site. Taxonomically, the assemblage is typical to sites in the Mediterranean climatic zone, dominated by Mediterranean bivalves with several local gastropods and a few specimens originating from the Red Sea. This composition reflects the community's observation of local norms as well as their participation in wide-ranging regional interaction networks with remote populations. Shells were found across the site, yet several exceptional contexts of shell deposition shed light on specific shell-related behaviours practiced on-site. A shell cache, unique in the PPNB, was found in an open courtyard of a public building, possibly related to both ritualistic as well as socio-economic aspects of life at Yiftahel. Shells were also found embedded in the eye-sockets of three plastered skulls found at the site, demonstrating the incorporation of shells in the cultic life of the community, as well as nuances of this practice in the region. Shells were found to have had multiple significant meanings and community-wide roles in many aspects of life at Yiftahel.

The Negev Desert, an arid region of the southern Levant, was only occasionally suited for human occupation in prehistory. Archaeological sites are especially abundant in the Epipaleolithic periods, likely due to changes in the availability and distribution of water resources. We consider how hunter-gatherers adapted to this sometimes marginal region by investigating human demography, site occupation intensity and population mobility by revisiting the zooarchaeological assemblage from the Late Epipaleolithic, Harifian site of Ramat Harif (12,650/12,500–11,650 cal. BP) in the Central Highlands of the Negev. A near exclusive focus on ungulate species at Ramat Harif indicates efficient hunting overall. Nevertheless, high proportions of juvenile ibex and gazelle suggest intensive hunting of these two species. The rarity of other taxa in the diet indicates that they stopped short of depressing ungulate prey. Small variation in the body-part representation and age structure of the ungulates from Ramat Harif and other Late Epipaleolithic Negev sites may be linked to seasonality and their relative proximity to ibex and gazelle territories. The Negev pattern diverges from the adjacent Mediterranean zone where local Natufian populations hunted more diverse taxa, particularly small game. This pattern undoubtedly reflects higher occupation intensity and larger human populations in the Mediterranean zone as well as lower net primary production and biodiversity in the Negev desert.

Archaeological investigations along Nahal Sekher on the eastern edge of Israel's northwestern Negev Desert dunefield revealed concentrations of Epipalaeolithic campsites associated respectively with ancient water bodies. This study, aimed at better understanding the connections between these camps and the water bodies, is concerned with a cluster of Natufian sites. A comprehensive geomorphological study integrating field mapping, stratigraphic sections, sedimentological analysis and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages was conducted in the vicinity of a recently excavated Natufian campsite of Nahal Sekher VI whose artifacts directly overlay aeolian sand dated by OSL to 12.4 ± 0.7 and 11.7 ± 0.5 ka. Residual sequences of diagnostic silty sediments, defined here as low-energy fluvial fine-grained deposits (LFFDs), were identified within the drainage system of central Nahal Sekher around the Nahal Sekher VI site. LFFD sections were found to represent both shoreline and mid-water deposits. The thicker mid-water LFFD deposits (15.7 ± 0.7–10.7 ± 0.5 ka) date within the range of the Epipalaeolithic campsites, while the upper and shoreline LFFD units that thin out into the sands adjacent to the Nahal Sekher VI site display slightly younger ages (10.8 ± 0.4 ka–7.6 ± 0.4 ka). LFFD sedimentation by low-energy concentrated flow and standing-water developed as a result of proximal downstream dune-damming. These water bodies developed as a result of encroaching sand that initially crossed central Nahal Sekher by 15.7 ± 0.7 ka and probably intermittently blocked the course of the wadi. LFFD deposition was therefore a response to a unique combination of regional sand supply due to frequent powerful winds and does not represent climate change in the form of increased precipitation or temperature change. The chronostratigraphies affiliate the Natufian sites to the adjacent ancient water bodies. These relations reflect a rapid, but temporary anthropogenic response to a transient ‘window’ of improved local aeolian-fluvial palaeoenvironmental conditions during the Late Pleistocene–Holocene transition, but don't necessarily point to a wetter or drier palaeoclimate.

This paper summarises typological and technological research on a small assemblage of pottery containers recovered at Kfar HaHoresh (KHH), a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site in the Southern Levant. The majority of the sherds belong to a distinguishable fabric, composed of local marl matrix tempered with vegetal material originating from herbivore manure. Based on the scarcity and properties of the sherds, we propose that the pottery containers at KHH were rare vessels possibly produced for personal use or for use by distinctive individuals for very limited purposes.

A method is presented for calculating the blade productivity of bidirectional (naviform) blade cores, a hallmark of Near Eastern Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) chipped stone tool assemblages. This approach involves estimating the volume of the core that furnished serial blades, together with the mean volume of a typical targeted blade blank. Simple computation of the volume of a wedge in both instances provides an estimate of the number of targeted blades that were produced in an average single reduction sequence. The method is checked against two replicated bidirectional blade reduction sequences, and a refitted bidirectional blade core from the site of Kfar HaHoresh, Israel. Finally, a case study from Kfar HaHoresh is presented in order to illustrate the application of the method, which may have ramifications concerning the evaluation of incipient craft specialization in the region.

The manufacturing techniques of two PPNB plastered skulls each from Jericho, Kfar HaHoresh and Beisamoun were studied by a series of different and complementary analyses. These revealed that all share a common general technological background, and yet marked intra-site details of fabrication can be identified. All appear to have been locally produced. Similar conclusions are reached on the basis of iconographic features. Thus, although the artisans shared general concepts of the objects to be created and their means of manufacture, strong site-specific traditions were displayed. This conclusion is further reinforced by recent information concerning plastered faces from Ain Ghazal, as well as the preliminary reports on skulls from Ramad. Accordingly it is suggested that, while broad pyrotechnological and ritual information was most likely disseminated by oral communication, the artisans producing the plastered skulls were locally based and working within the framework of powerful on-site traditions.