MOUSTERIAN CRAFTSMEN IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SOUTH-LEVANT. BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND CHRONOLOGY

The Homo sapiens sample associated with Mousterian assemblages in Southern Mediterranean Levant is composed of specimens from five sites (Tabun, Skhul and Kebara on the Mount Carmel; Qafzeh, Amud and Hayonim in Upper Galilee). They consist of an anatomically diverse sample restricted geographically that constitutes for several investigators a matter of debate with regard to the inter-continental location of the sites, the chronological distribution of the specimens and finally the evolutionary relationships of the human groups represented to the European Paleolithic populations.