Editing Southern Levant (section)

==Archaeological findings==
{{See also|Prehistory of the Levant|History of the ancient Levant}}

The archaeology of the southern Levant is generally conceived as a series of phases or stages in [[human]] cultural and evolutionary development based, for the most part, on tool technology for early pre-historic, proto-historic and early historic periods. Later phases are generally associated with historical periods and are named accordingly.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Crassard|first1=Rémy|last2=Petraglia|first2=Michael D.|last3=Parker|first3=Adrian G.|last4=Parton|first4=Ash|last5=Roberts|first5=Richard G.|last6=Jacobs|first6=Zenobia|last7=Alsharekh|first7=Abdullah|last8=Al-Omari|first8=Abdulaziz|last9=Breeze|first9=Paul|last10=Drake|first10=Nick A.|last11=Groucutt|first11=Huw S.|date=2013-07-19|title=Beyond the Levant: First Evidence of a Pre-Pottery Neolithic Incursion into the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=8|issue=7|pages=e68061|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0068061|issn=1932-6203|pmc=3716651|pmid=23894294|bibcode=2013PLoSO...868061C|doi-access=free}}</ref> While there is no single, accepted sequence that all archaeologists agree upon, the basic conventions indicate a number of [[Stone Age]]s, followed by a Copper/Stone Age, in turn followed by a [[Bronze Age]]. The names given to them, derived from the [[Greek language|Greek]], are also used widely for other regions. The different ages in turn are often divided up into sequential or sometimes parallel chrono-cultural facies, sometimes called “cultures” or “periods”. Sometimes their names are derived from [[History of Europe|European prehistory]], at other times from local sites, often where they were first discovered.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

Archaeologically, it is among the most extensively excavated regions in the world.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/10962261|title=A passion for cultural difference. Archaeology and ethnicity in the southern Levant|issue=1|pages=45–63|journal=Norwegian Archaeological Review|volume=36|access-date=2016-04-26|last1=Anfinset|first1=Nils|doi=10.1080/00293650307299|year=2003|s2cid=143828715}}</ref>

===Pre-history and Stone Age===
The Southern Levant is amongst the oldest inhabited parts of [[Eurasia]], being on one of three plausible routes by which early [[Hominini|hominins]] could have [[Out of Africa I|dispersed out of Africa]] (along with the [[Bab-el-Mandeb|Bab al Mandab]] and the [[Strait of Gibraltar]]).<ref>Fleagle, John G., Shea, John J., Grine, Frederick E., Baden, Andrea L., Leakey, Richard E., "Out of Africa I: The First Hominin Colonization of Eurasia", Springer 2010 pp 247–273.</ref> ''[[Homo erectus]]'' left Africa and became the first hominin species to colonise Europe and Asia approximately two million years ago, probably through the Southern Levant.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Abbate|first1=Ernesto|last2=Sagri|first2=Mario|date=2012-07-26|title=Early to Middle Pleistocene Homo dispersals from Africa to Eurasia: Geological, climatic and environmental constraints|journal=Quaternary International|series=The genus Homo from Africa to Europe: evolution of terrestrial ecosystems and dispersal routes|volume=267|pages=3–19|doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2011.02.043|bibcode=2012QuInt.267....3A}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rolland|first=Nicolas|date=2013-12-06|title=The Early Pleistocene human dispersals in the Circum-Mediterranean Basin and initial peopling of Europe: Single or multiple pathways?|journal=Quaternary International|series=Middle to Upper Palaeolithic biological and cultural shift in Eurasia II|volume=316|pages=59–72|doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2013.06.028|bibcode=2013QuInt.316...59R}}</ref> During this phase of the [[Pleistocene|Pleistocene epoch]] the region was wetter and greener, allowing ''H. erectus'' to find places with fresh water as it followed other African animals that were dispersing out of Africa at the same time.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Carotenuto|first1=F.|last2=Tsikaridze|first2=N.|last3=Rook|first3=L.|last4=Lordkipanidze|first4=D.|last5=Longo|first5=Laura|last6=Condemi|first6=Silvana|last7=Raia|first7=P.|date=2016-06-01|title=Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|volume=95|pages=1–12|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.02.005|pmid=27260171|hdl=10220/41176|hdl-access=free}}</ref> One such location was '[[Ubeidiya prehistoric site|Ubeidiya]], on the southern shore of the [[Sea of Galilee]], where some of the oldest hominin remains in Eurasia have been discovered, dating to between 1.2 million and 1.5 million years ago.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNuoCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA82|title=World Prehistory and Archaeology|last=Chazan|first=Michael|date=2015-10-05|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317347514|pages=82|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Martínez-Navarro|first1=Bienvenido|last2=Belmaker|first2=Miriam|last3=Bar-Yosef|first3=Ofer|date=2009-05-01|title=The large carnivores from 'Ubeidiya (early Pleistocene, Israel): biochronological and biogeographical implications|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|volume=56|issue=5|pages=514–524|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.02.004|pmid=19427671}}</ref>

Several [[Stone Age]]s, when stone tools prevailed and make up the bulk of artifacts, are followed by periods when other technologies came into use. They lent their names to the different periods. The basic framework for the southern [[Levant]] is, as follows: [[Paleolithic]] or Old Stone Age is often divided up into phases called, from early-to-late: [[Lower Paleolithic]], Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic. An [[Epipaleolithic (Levant)|Epipaleolithic]] (latest Paleolithic) period, also known as [[Mesolithic]] (transition to Neolithic) follows and is, in turn succeeded by a [[Neolithic]] (New Stone Age).{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

The following [[Chalcolithic]] period includes the first evidence of [[Nonferrous archaeometallurgy of the Southern Levant|metallurgy]] with copper making its appearance. However, as [[stone technology]] remains prevalent, the name, Chalcolithic (Copper/Stone) age combines the two.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

===Bronze Age===
[[Bronze]] is used for the following periods, but is actually a misnomer for a good part of that time. An Early [[Bronze Age]] is divided into three major phases, Early Bronze I, II and III, but copper and not bronze was the most common [[metal]] in use, while [[stone technology]] continued to contribute the bulk of [[tool]]s. Early Bronze III is followed by another period, alternately named Early Bronze IV, Middle Bronze I, Intermediate Bronze or Early Bronze-Middle Bronze. In this period the name is apt; true bronze (a [[tin]] [[alloy]] of [[copper]]) makes its appearance in this time span.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

The next period is generally known as Middle Bronze II and is generally broken down into two sub-periods, Middle Bronze IIa and Middle Bronze IIb. Some scholars acknowledge a Middle Bronze III. The next period is known as Late Bronze and is often sub-divided into Late Bronze I and II.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

===Iron Age===
The introduction of [[iron]], although relatively rare, especially in the earliest phases, caused the following phase to be named the [[Iron Age]]. It is variously sub-divided into Iron I, Iron II and sometimes Iron III, with subdivisions becoming increasingly popular as sequences become better known. Some archaeologists suggest that there in the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, the large cultural differences are explained by foreign invasion, that is, the introduction of new ethnicity. More recent evidence indicates that the large culture changes were not the result of a foreign invasion. Rather, the Iron Age people of the southern Levant were related to their Bronze Age predecessors.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ullinger|first1=Jaime M.|last2=Sheridan|first2=Susan Guise|last3=Hawkey|first3=Diane E.|last4=Turner|first4=Christy G.|last5=Cooley|first5=Robert|date=2005-10-01|title=Bioarchaeological analysis of cultural transition in the southern Levant using dental nonmetric traits|journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology|volume=128|issue=2|pages=466–476|doi=10.1002/ajpa.20074|issn=0002-9483|pmid=15895418}}</ref>

===Later historical periods===
The post-Iron Age is generally thought of as historical and accordingly names of periods reflect this. The very latest Iron Age phase is sometimes called "[[Assyria]]n" and the following period is universally known as the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] period.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

The 333 BCE conquest of the region by [[Alexander the Great]] is accepted as the beginning of the [[Hellenistic Greece|Hellenistic]] period. The [[Deuterocanonical books|Deuterocanonical book]] [[2 Maccabees]] records: "Apollonius the son of Tharseas, who at that time was governor of Celesyria and Phenicia", Celesyria being the transliteration of [[Coele-Syria]].<ref>{{Bibleverse|2 Maccabees|3:8}}</ref> It is followed by the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] period, with an Early and Late Roman sub-period. The 4th century is recognised as the beginning of the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] period, that lasted until the [[Arab]] conquest of the region.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

The following period is known as Early Arab and sub-periods by the names of reigning dynasties. The [[Crusades|Crusader]] conquest of the region is known, appropriately as the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem|Crusader period]], which in part overlaps with [[Ayyubid]] rule, and it is followed by a [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk]] period after the conquering power. In 1516–17 the [[Ottoman Empire]] conquered the region and gave its name to the period that lasted until 1917–18, when the British conquered it in [[World War I]].{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}