THE FAUNAL REMAINS FROM EVRON QUARRY IN RELATION TO OTHER LOWER PALEOLITHIC HOMINID SITES IN THE SOUTHERN LEVANT

The mammalian assemblage and archaeological finds from the Lower Palae olithic hominid site of Evron Quarry, situated on the northern coastal plain of Israel, are described and discussed. In their lithic and fau nal composition, the sites of Latamne (QfIII) (Latamne Formation, Oron tes, Syria) and Sitt Markho (Nahr elKebir, Syria) resemble Evron and a re probably contemporaneous. It is suggested here, based on their lith ic and faunal composition, that these sites may be chronologically clo ser to the site of 'Ubeidiya ('Ubeidiya Formation, Jordan Valley, Isra el; 1.4 myr) than to the sites of Gesher Benot Ya'akov (dated as < 800 ,000 yr B.P.), which differs in both aspects from Evron. The mammalian faunule from Evron comprises a biogeographical mixture, a result of b iotic exchanges with Africa, the Oriental region, and the Palaearctic. This exchange may have been associated with a post-'Ubeidiya hominid dispersal, either from Africa or south Asia via the Levantine ''corrid or.'' (C) 1994 University of Washington.